The appeal of the Aztecs and other traditional Mesoamerican armies as a subject for wargamers is pretty obvious: their individualistic style of fighting is perfect for skirmish gaming, and the figures are probably the most colourful to be found anywhere, with their feathered headdresses and banners, and the Jaguar and Eagle suits worn by their elite warriors.

With this kind of material to work with, figure painters are obviously going to want an opportunity to show off their skills, and so I have little hesitation in saying that the best figure scale to do them justice is going to be 28mm. And yet so far the ranges of figures available have been limited, as far as I know, to a few Conquistadores and some "cannon fodder" in the form of Aztecs, which greatly restricts the options for gaming what I think is the most fascinating aspect of the subject - the pre-conquest warfare between the native peoples of Mexico. (The "El Dorado" campaign which I outlined in these pages a couple of years ago has yet to really get off the ground - mainly because some promised figure ranges have still not appeared.)

Now, though, The Assault Group has started to deliver the goods in the form of an ambitious range, which is intended to cover not only the Aztecs but the Tlaxcalans and other potential opponents.