Thursday 22 June 2017

Assorted Wild West Children 01

As I mentioned in a reply to one of the comments made last time, finding figures of Wild West female townsfolk is hard but finding figures of children for this genre is even harder. Fortunately, I do have some. Here's a sample of some of them.
All of these are plastic figures, with the four to the left coming from an old boxed set of Airfix 1/72nd scale (20mm scale) Cowboys. I got these as a child during the 1960's, and I still have the figures from that boxed set. Seeing as I was after figures of children, their lack of height compared to 28mm scale figures actually worked to my advantage. The small girl and boy at the far left were designed as children for that set. Now they fit in as young children, in the 4 to 7 age bracket.
The next two figures in line were adults from that set but work well as older children in 28mm scale. I have to admit that the detail on them is muted, especially on their faces, which are very featureless. But, no matter. They suffice for my needs as crowd fillers. The figure at the far right was given to me by my dad. He used to collect Lledo vintage cars and vehicles and this figure came with an old newspaper delivery van. He is true 28mm scale and although he is meant to be from the 1930's I thought he'd fit in with my Wild West figures. He is also the only one of these children whom I have named. I called him Joey Black, after an NPC of the same name who appeared in an old TSR Boot Hill scenario called Mad Mesa. Joey was a paperboy working for the Mad Mesa Gazette, so it seemed appropriate to use this figure for him.
I'm currently painting a couple of child heroes for the Shadows of Brimstone game - male and female orphans, and they are superb sculpts. Not all children need be innocent bystanders. I strongly approve of Flying Frog's decision to include children as hero characters in their Weird West game. I'm planning on buying the two Wild West children figures from Reaper's excellent Chronoscope range next month, so expect to see some armed children here soon.

18 comments:

  1. Wild west children also suitable for any Victorian children I would think. Maybe the Baker street Irregulars. Indeed many if not all could be used for VBCW as well.

    Nice to see a variety of makes and models and brands of children... badly written but you know what I mean.
    Excellent stuff mate excellent takes me all the way back to my childhood and my dad reading "Tom Sawyer " to me.

    Fantastic for that Memory alone!

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    1. Absolutely right, Clint. Indeed I'd say the Victorian and Wild West genres are interchangeable in many respects.

      I'm glad I could evoke such happy memories for you.

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    2. Interchangability is very good.

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  2. Great use of alternative models Bryan to fill the roll, and great paint work

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    1. Thanks, Dave. Your comments are always most welcome.

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  3. I wouldn't have recognised most of these as Airfix plastics! But you're right: a 20mm model of an adult could often be used as a 28mm child.

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    1. So true, Hugh... especially unarmed figures.

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  4. Brilliant set of young 'uns Bryan, they all look great and the size of the old Airfix figures works well even in the "line up", so they obviously fit perfectly on the table during a game.

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    1. Cheers, Greg. I was very happy I could find a use for these exceptionally old Airfix figures.

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  5. These looks spot on Bryan great idea and nicely painted to boot.

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  6. Nice collection of kids Bryan. I've got a set of modern day kids and they make for a great addition to zombie gaming. Great post. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thanks, Tim. I have far more figures of children from the contemporary era than any other genre. The problem I find is finding figures of kids for other periods and genres.

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  7. Nice work mate, I always struggle to find good child sculpts

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    1. Thanks, Andy. It sure is a struggle to find decent figures of children.

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  8. Lovely stuff as always Bryan.

    Cheers Roger.

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