Yes I agree, always having the sets released is preferable even if there are major historical accuracy issues just because they are usually useful somewhere.

Logical thinking, so I can share my successful experience ordering from this St. Petersburg company two years ago.

I ordered the Muwattali II and Ashurnasirpal II figures, as it was the most efficient way possible to do this in Berlin. The company did a nice job considering the circumstances, but the main issues were 1) They are rather expensive and 2) In addition to paying the company, I also had to pay a customs fee when they reached the EU. So in total the two figures ended up costing about 50 Euros, which is definitely the most I have paid per figure in the 1/72 scale. Also it is a time consuming effort, as I think it took about ten weeks from the initial order for it to arrive in Berlin. They are sitting next to me on the desk here along with the Pharaoh's Chariot from Set #42 of Caesar's, so happy to have gone to the effort.

A historical word on the "Babylonians" of Caesar. One of the reasons I believe they were not released was because they had a major historical accuracy error. Several of the unreleased masters (particularly those of the archers with hair and beards) look fine, but the spearmen are NOT Babylonians. They are based mostly on a single image from Plate D in Healy 1992's New Kingdom Egyptians (Osprey Elite Series #40). The image states quite clearly that they are Canannites, and are shown fighting an LBA Egyptian/Kmt chariot team. As you guys likely know the Canaanites lived in the Levant and had their heigh 1,000 years prior to the Neo-Babylonians, so releasing them as Babylonians would have been erroneous in terms of time period and geography. Given that they are still nice figures though, as the Canannites are underrepresented in the scale as well and they work great with the other LBA sets such as the aforementioned Egyptians/Kmt and Hittites for Qadesh.

Sehr schön, vielen dank!

The pointy boys look ready!

Most excellent! The Ptolemaic Pharaoh will have quite the nice phalanx to rely upon. Great work! 👍 😃

Looking nice!

Nice.

Ja, interessant für mich!

Sacrifice! :P It is definitely time for the 1/72 companies to try to add on to this and the Caesar offerings, maybe with some Tlaxcala or Tarascan warriors. Nicely done!

Schön! Gut für Hojo.

Always good to see some men of Tawantinsuyu! Personally hoping for more pre-Napoleonic South Americans in the future.

One of my Linear-A favorites so far. Pairs really well with the main 'officer' pose from Zvezda's Greek Infantry set, as his model as well as this scene are based on the men of Sparta.

They do look nice when in a shieldwall formation! Always my favorite aspect of the early Strelets Mini sets. Poses are clearly based on information from the Osprey MAA 129, so some of the armor and helmets are suspiciously Dacian (Wilcox & Embleton 1982). This is not a bad thing, as the cultural lines between Germanics/Dacians/Celts/etc. were very blurred and often perceived more by the Romans who wrote about them more than among the cultures themselves. For purists these would be better for the southeastern Germanics, such as the Marcomanni or Quadi, more than Cherusci, which Linear-A's set is better for.

Byzy times coming!

Nicely done! Battle of Thermopylae image from Connolly 2006 (pg. 22). My favorites are the man holding his spear vertically and the second from the left on this last post. 😎

Oops. 😄😁

Yes!

"1-9) I, Hammu-rāpi, mighty king, king of Babylon, king who makes the four quarters be at peace, who achieves the victory of the god Marduk, shepherd who contents him, 10-16) when the gods Anum and Enlil gave to me the land of Sumer and Akkad to rule, (and) entrusted their nose-rope into my hands, 17-20) I dug the canal Hammu-rāpi-nuhuš-niši ('Hammu-rāpi is the abundance of the people'), which brings abundant water to the land of Sumer and Akkad" (Frayne 1990, pg. 341).

Those Babylonians, they knew how to have fun.

"Based on the glyptic art, it would appear the sickle-sword was the most common weapon, but, based on archaeology, the sickle-sword is a relatively rare find compared to spears, axes, and daggers, and appears largely in royal contexts." (Hamblin Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC 2006, pg. 181).

It is a fun period that is very open to interpretation, but generally speaking shielded spear poses working together in a formation (like you guys did with the phalangites in sets #028, #033-034) are our safest guest. We know the Old Babylonians and their contemporaries were well organized. A few axemen are fine too, but not 100% necessary as the axe may have been just a secondary weapon to the spear (like the Standard of Ur infantry, later Greek hoplites with swords). Add some archers with a few royal poses based on the glyptic art like you guys did with the Achaemenids in set #015 and voila, done!

For textual source inspiration see Frayne 1990 Old Babylonian Period Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia Early Periods (RIME) Volume 4 (pg. 332-371). These collect together many of our main sources about Hammurapi's campaigns. The rest should be available in sources you guys are probably familiar with, such as Osprey's MAA109 along with Stillman & Tallis 1984.

Honestly I will probably buy the set regardless of what it looks like, so long as they are actual Babylonians and not Assyrians! Viel glück!

P.S.- I would also suggest Hittites for the future, particularly ones based on a combination with Beal 1992's texts and the images of Bryce 2007. But yes, one project at a time is best.