Old Glory Cowboy Wars: Crazy Horse and Gall

Old Glory makes a line of miniatures titled Cowboy Wars that are intended for skirmish games in the Old West. The scale appears to be one-to-one, although I have never read the rules.

What interests me is how Old Glory markets the product.

The buyer typically gets six figures for around $20.00. The pack includes two mounted figures and two dismounted figures of the same name, plus two horses. The figures each have an assigned name. 

I have an ongoing variant project based on Osprey's The Men Who Would Be Kings for the Great Sioux War of 1876, although the fighting really began in earnest in 1864 after the Sand Creek Massacre.

I've painted several vintage figures from Minifigs and RAFM in 25mm to get me started.

In searching for more vintage figures, I came across the Cowboy Wars line on eBay. I bought one pack to see how close to scale the Cowboy Wars 28mm figures were to my vintage 25mm figures.

Well, they are bigger, closer to 30mm, but interesting figures nonetheless.

I picked out the pack that named the figures as Crazy Horse and Gall. Crazy Horse and Gall were prominent war leaders in 1876 and played a dominant role in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. The Sioux and their allies, the Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho, destroyed most of George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry in the battle the Plains Indians called the Battle of the Greasy Grass.

The figures are heroic, characterized by exaggerated features and poses that are fitting for a fun one-to-one skirmish game. They do not fit all that well with my vintage 25mm RAFM, Minifigs, or my 28mm Wargames Foundry 28mm Cheyenne Dog Soldiers.

They might fit as unique leader figures when I get around to having enough figures painted for a game (if ever). For now, they are lovely vignettes and were a lot of fun to paint.

Pictures Below

I assumed this is the Crazy Horse figure, although I am not certain. Note that the figures are wearing very little. That did happen. You can clearly see the heroic features in the hard body muscles that stand out. What I really liked about this figure is the Winchester repeater and the revolver. Archaeology at the Little Bighorn has recovered approximately 10% shell cases from various repeating rifles. The 7th Cavalry was armed with Springfield Model 73 breech-loading carbines, a weapon with a slower rate of fire but also susceptible to jamming. I painted Crazy Horse's Winchester with brass tacks, a common practice of the Plains Indians.

I assumed this is the Hunkpapa Lakota war leader Gall. Gall was very prominent in the battle and made several decisions that sealed the fate of Custer and the men under his immediate command. Again with the Gall figure, we see the exaggerated muscle features as well as the oversized war axe that would seem to have more in common with Vikings than North American Plains Indians, who were fond of war clubs. It is a cool figure, however, and was a blast to paint up.

Plains Wars, American Civil War, French and Indian War picture sampler.

 

For various reasons, I am now working with 25-28mm metal figures even though I started the blog with an emphasis on 1\72 plastics. I am especially interested in old school 25mm historicals like Minifigs, Hinchcliffe, Garrison, RAFM, Ral Partha, and Scruby.

We also recently moved, and I was experimenting with my iPhone, taking some shots with a white background. Here are the results of the experiment.

These are 2nd Generation Minifigs Confederates. Minifigs are still around in the UK.  They are pricey, going for about $2.40 apiece for a foot figure. Postage from the UK is also expensive. Minifigs are of the "chunky" sort with a style all their own. I'm glad to have some in my collection.

These two figures are from the RAFM 25mm Indian Wars line. I have quite a few of them, including their Plains Indians. RAFM was headquartered in Canada. The officer is supposed to be Custer, but the figure has sergeant stripes on his buckskin jacket. Some of the troopers are not wearing their blue jackets, which is a nice touch. I am currently adding to this collection via eBay whenever possible, as RAFM historicals are no longer in business.

This figure is also from  AFM. I think he and some others were marketed as scouts—at least that is what I'm portraying them as. It's a very cool figure. I need 8 mounted and 8 dismounted for my Plains' War project, and they need to be in different poses if possible.

This Minifig Confederate made it into my scout unit for my Plains' War project.

1st Generation Minifig Union Officer. Like quite a few of my vintage figures, he was an eBay buy. There are a lot of vintage 25mm for sale on eBay UK, but as noted earlier, the postage will kill you.

I also game in the French and Indian War, and for that, I have quite a few of the newer  8mm. They are never mixed in the same units with the older  5mm. This is a Warlord chief figure (I think it's from Warlord). The redcoat is a nice touch.

A Warlord 28mm warband for Rebels and Patriots.

These are Irregular Miniatures, also from the UK. They have a more old-school look to them compared to Warlord. They are unique in my FIW collection in that way.

I live in SE Wisconsin, land of the Sauk and Fox. The Sauk and the Fox were allies of the French, and some traveled a long distance to take part in Braddock's defeat. These were a lot of fun to paint, and while the Fox and Sauk are no longer present in Wisconsin, their place names remain. We live along the Fox River, for example. They are very colorful figures from Warlord.