"New to 54mm Gaming" Topic

Well I'am finally taking the plunge, and will be dipping my foot into 54mm WILD WEST. I've been drooling over Paragons Apaches and US cavalry and all the other lovely things that Steve Weston sells at Plasticsoldiers.

Could anyone recommend other plastic figures that aren't available through Steve.

I've already moved away from 28 to 40mm skirmish wargaming and the 54's bring back such fond memories of playing with my old Timpo stuff which I still have some of. Just wish I'd kept it all.

Any good rules out there for wild west/cavalry v indian encounters in 54. thought of adapting the Warhammer Historical ones.

I ran across a pic on the Valiant Miniatures website, of Wyatt Earp, if I recall correctly, so they may have some others too.

Any good rules out there for wild west/cavalry v indian encounters in 54.

Rules are not size specific.
Try:
Gutshot
The Rules With No Name
Six Gun Sound
to name but three.

Check out Toy Soldiers of San Diego (ISSD). They have 54mm Plains Indians, U.S. Cavalry, Cowboys, and Mexican Vaqueros / bandits.

They paint up nicely!

Thanks for mentioning Gutshot, guys! We always appreciate it!

Psychobilly63: What sort of action are you looking for? Armies of figures swarming the table, or a small handful of figures fighting it out in a town or in the badlands? It also depends on what type of play you're looking for, as each of the games mentioned (plus a few others) have different styles and appeal to different fans.

Here's a recent discussion of the differences between Gutshot, TRWNN & 6GS:
TMP link

There's also a review here worth reading:
link

Finally, our downloads page has the sheets and other info that you need (and as an experienced gamer, you'll figure out some of the mechanics just by looking at Character Sheets): hawgleg.com/downloads.asp

I hope this info helps you find the right game for you and your gang!

Mike Mitchell
Hawgleg Publishing
hawgleg.com
arnicarealestate.com

Barzso makes a great Spanish adobe village, as well as some other neat "Old West" pieces.

TSSD has the Earp brothers out, now, too :)

Careful with scales. TSSD and Paragon are a bit larger than 54 mm and are closer to the 60 mm figures. Check out Marx recasts in both 54 and 60 mm. The Western Townsfolk by Marx in 60 mm are fantastic figures and will fleah out your town games in spectacular fashion. There are also fabulous Auburn Cowboy figures. Ideal, TimMee, JoyToy, Remsea and Jecsan all make usuable 60 mm Cowboys
In 54 mm there are the Marx Miners and Trappers which would look right at home in Deadwood. Marx also made Cowboys and BoonesBoro Pioneers. Airfix was once the standard for cowboy sculpting as you can see by the hundreds of rip off copies that China made. Britains makes pre painted cowboys in 12 different poses. MPC made cowboys too.

Oh, Yeah! Marx also made 7 th Cavalry in both scales. Man there is so much you can pick from that I don't think you can ever go wrong. Have fun.

Check out this site which will show you loads of figures including his own creations which he sells. Larry is a great guy and very easy to deal with

pandpmilitaryminiatures.com

"Could anyone recommend other plastic figures that aren't available through Steve Weston"

Steve is pretty good, I've got nearly all my 54mm stuff off him (plus some stuff from Harfields).

Other recommended (mainly UK) suppliers:

Len Cooksey link – Conte, repro Deetail and various other ranges (website doesn't tell the full story) and cannons that go 'bang!' Also started a small range of resin figures and amenable to requests. Based in Rotherham.

Tradition traditionoflondon.com – expensive and nice metal stuff.

CTS classictoysoldiers.com – US supplier of, well loads of stuff. Postage & customs issues but good and fast service.

Transport Models link

HLJ hlj.com/scripts/hljlist – based in Japan – sometimes have very cheap stuff.

Harfields harfields.com/Catalogue.aspx – cheap for some ranges, especially A Call to Arms.

One thing to watch is that the definition of '54mm' is wildy variable, Armies in Plastic in particular are HUGE, yet I have an Aifix 1/32nd scale driver for a car who is dwarfed by tiny Italieri 1/35th scale figs.

I don't mind especially as I like the toy soldier look, but some people might.

I have a boxful of old Airfix and Britains stuff, and a few Timpo bits including the Prairie Rocket railroad set. I recall Airfix made cowboys, indians and 7th cavalry. The Britains stuff had greater range with Mexicans, Apache, cowboys, 7th cavalry, ACW amongst others.
Let me know if you desperately want anything and I'll see what I have and if we can come to some arrangement.
NW UK

I would love to see photos of 54mm gaming, by the way, no matter what rules you finally decide on.

Look up 54mm toy soldiers on the web or 54mm wargaming for pictures.

Mannie Gentile has a tremendous blog "Toy Soldiers Forever"

Thanks. I'll look those up, too.

Here is some our 54mm Funny Little Wars stuff:

link

link

link

Lemax figures, the Christmas village stuff you can find at K-Mart, Jo-Ann's, etc., they make some figures that work wonderfully for civilians. Cheap too.

Some of them are pretty good for conversions as well.

Thanks for all the replies and inparticular the ones on rules.

I've been thinking about this since I put the initial topic up. I really need one set for gaming with frineds and then one which is good and easy to understand for my 10yr old son until he gets the hang. Having said that he picked up the zombie board game Last Night on Earth fairly fast and often gives me a good thumping.

Just ordered this evening 1 box set each of Paragons Apaches and US Cav, along with a gatling gun and couple of mules with crates on back from Steve Weston.

Can't wait to start painting them when they've arrived. Also came across an old log cabin of Timpos in the cellar which I'd forgot was down there along with three indian canoes, alas no indians in them.

Anyway the old west 54mmm project is finally underway. Quite excited, its like being a youngster again, although the wife isn't sharing these feelings. She'll come around.

Marx also made four different towns, a Fort Apache with a couple of variations, a mine, an Alamo set, and several western buildings in colorful tin litho. Some are expensive and some are common and relatively cheap. Most have useable interiors and you can buy reproduction plastic furniture for them. The plastic Fort Apache walls will probably be the most useful and least expensive for you. The have been reproduced and you can find originals on EBay. Watch out though, as collecting this stuff can be very addictive. :-)

My figures ordered from Steve Weston came early this week. Have to say great service and quick delivery on the part of Steve.

The figures are excellent and will definately be ordering more in the future. Paragon have a new set of buildings coming out in March 2012, which make up an impressive fort. Not cheap but a must have I think. Hopefully take some pictures when painted up, figures that is.