I was recently gifted a large group of miniatures from an old friend who had come into them as by-products of other sales and trades. His focus has recently shifted and I was fortunate enough to benefit.
I have recently started some 'cowboy' posses, including Texas rangers and 'desperadoes' for skirmish games like Legends of the Old West and Dead Man's Hand, already with his help securing some great models from KnuckleDuster and a few others. But these guys open up whole new possibilities and one that was not in the original plans. Here in the US, I am of an age where we grew up playing 'cowboys and indians', half of TV shows and probably a good quarter to a third of Hollywood movies were still westerns when I was a kid. (I don't really know; I 'm guessing, but there were a lot.) Even sitcoms like F-Troop were based on westerns or western themed.
So, these old minis will fill a few niches, not just 'western'. It's always fun to bring old models back to life and I wish I had done the same sort of blog report(s) last year when I restored 55 Ral Partha LotR Riders of Rohan to their former glory. That was fun and pretty simple. Liberal use of some Army Painter washes and then highlights can be a real face-lift for guys like these.
Like homework in Middle School, I'll start with the most difficult subjects first: the cavalry. Most of the horses are painted one color with very little to no detail picked out. The Native American horses have been attempted to have markings painted on them. Kudos to the anonymous original painter, but... they will need re-done. A quick (1 minute) Google search found several sites where Native American horse markings, their color, placement and meaning are explained. While this entire project is intended to be quick and simple, I am really looking forward to spending a little extra time on the horses.
I have enough metal Game Accessory bases to mount all the horses. I will not spend extra time doing too much for the bases; it *is* a reclamation project after all. But I have enough and the first step will be to start gluing riders to horses and horses to bases. Also, finding the right rules set is in order. I've a few leads but literally *finding* copies may prove more difficult.
I'm thinking several posts ought to do it and hopefully you will find it interesting enough to follow along and watch the process.
Dismounted Cavalry. Not terrible; just not something I personally would bring to the table as is.
The NA are in a little worse shape. Probably because there was no 'uniform' like their white counterparts. These will need some work to be presentable.
Many broken arms and missing weapons. This can be fixed.
Again, not terrible.
Nice guidon. It's modeled on aluminum foil. The lettering is actually well done. When I re-do old models, I always try to leave some parts as is as a sort of homage to their original paint jobs. Even with a few mars, I will leave this guidon as is. I may try to create one myself. I'll need an 'F-Troop' right?
I have no idea who the maker is but the poses are pretty good. There are some real dynamic shooting poses and many good riding poses.
Important historical note: it is my understanding that not just the 'chiefs' wore the big war bonnets but actually any battle proven warrior had the right to do so. At least that's what I learned back in college. They will be fun to paint, I hope.
Should be enough overall models for a pretty fair sized game allowing for both the 'cavalry coming to the rescue' theme *and* enough NA for a real ambush to be sprung.
Stay tuned and feel free to comment.
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