Sunday 7 April 2013

Gamer's Gold: I'm a winner!

Back in January this year, a competition was announced on the Dice of Legends blog.  The rules were quite simple; to enter all you had to do was to submit an article related to Old West gaming.  Prizes (and there were quite a few) were then drawn randomly from the entrants.  Well, to cut a long story short - I won a blister of figures and it arrived yesterday!  The full list of prizewinners is here: prize winners.


I'd always thought of Rebel Minis as a maker of 15mm models, so it was somewhat of a surprise to discover that they also make a few 28mm figures.  However, I cannot find any mention of this Old West pack, either on Rebel Minis own website or elsewhere on the Internet.

I'm somewhat curious about these miniatures, so if anyone can fill me in then I'd appreciate it.  Are they a limited edition, given away with Rebel Minis' rules?  Were they a failed entry into the market, since withdrawn from the catalogue?  Perhaps they are the start of a new range, too new to be known on the web?  Or maybe the data is out there and I've just missed it?

Anyway, here are the 3 cowboys from the blister.  One holds a rifle, the second has twin pistols and the third is firing a revolver.  The sculpting is decent, but not outstanding.  There were a few mould lines on 2 of the miniatures, but these weren't too hard to clean up and I haven't spotted any other issues with the casting.

Here's a comparison shot with a partly-painted Artizan figure.  This clearly shows that the Rebel Minis models are a bit smaller and slimmer.  My Artizan, Foundry and Dixon cowboys are similar in size to each other, so the new models will probably end up as adolescents or just as smaller than average men.  After all, not everyone was as tall as John Wayne!  Or Gary Cooper.  Or James Stewart.  Or Clint Eastwood...


It might take me a little while to paint these up and get them ready for action.  However, I will certainly do so and they'll appear in future games of "The Rules With No Name".  Many thanks, Dice of Legends!

8 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Yes, it was news to me. Still, they have a few figures in their catalogue.

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  2. I think they have a few sci fi 28mm figs coming out to soon, Khurasan have a few 28mm personality's to.

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    1. There are a few fantasy 28mm models as well. No mention of the gunslingers, though.

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  3. Since you mentioned it, I checked my memory and almost every Western Matinee Idol seems to be a tall stranger.

    I'm sure there's scope for youthful sidekicks. A few crop up in some classic films.
    Off the top of my head:
    Ron Howard had an early role as the young lad who idolises John Wayne's character in The Shootist.
    There's also the young lad (identified only as Jamie) who escapes the massacre and rides with Clint Eastwood in the first part of The Outlaw Josie Wales.

    These sidekicks are usually good shots, not as fast as a crack gunslinger, but able to knock down a couple of bad guys while all attention (and lead) is focused on the big man.

    Perhaps something along the lines of the "Young Guns" series would create some slots for chaps who's figures haven't filled out yet.

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    1. As well as the spunky sidekick, there's always the kid on the verge of becoming bad, but who might still be turned around by a decent father figure :-) .

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  4. Congrats on the prize.
    Can'thelp with the figures all my Wild West stuff is 54mm .

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