Nice review
I'm buried in skeletons after buying a few different sets to fill out my classic 90s Warhammer Quest monster roster. I initially dismissed the Oathmark skellies because they had too much armour (naked skellies are faster to paint). However, in retrospect I think they'd have been a better choice than the Warlord Games and Wargames Atlantic models I ended up using--not to mention the hodgepodge of ancient and broken
GW skeletons I dug up on eBay!
The Warlord Games (previously Wargames Factory) skellies are indeed fiddly and fragile. Still, they look great and you can get a lot of them for your cash. They may be better suited to games where they're based and moved in units, like Kings of War regiments or WFB movement trays, so that you don't have to keep picking up and moving the flimsy individual models. Or, as you say, as decorative deadies for terrain. Can't go wrong with a box of skellies for terrain.
The Wargames Atlantic skeletons are solidly built and sturdy. The main problem is that they have limited weapon options. If you want spears they're perfect, but you only get a handful of swords and bows in each box.
The other problem with the
WA skellies is that one body on each sprue is in separate pieces for some reason--it's even fiddlier to assemble than the
WG ones. On the other hand, he's handy if you want a skeleton posed to ride a steed, because each leg is separate from the pelvis (!)
To make extra bowmen, I've had decent results by combining the Wargames Atlantic bodies and heads with Warlord Games arms and bows. The
WG arms are a little thinner than the
WA ones, but it's not too obvious. The heads however are too small for the
WA bodies.
A trick to make the Warlord Games skellies look 'Warhammeresque', should anyone wish to do so, is to give them the weapon arms from
GW's previous Deathrattle Skeleton Warriors kit, now
OOP. The thin arms suit the
WG bodies well, while the oversized swords/spears give the models that heroic-scale look. (The connection points at the shoulder need a quick bit of work to fill in the holes in the
GW arm sockets). The Deathrattle skellies also had good gothic-looking shields.
BTW, in any thread about SKELETON WARRIORS it's obligatory to link to their theme tune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3ZlpTp_dJA