More Cortesian/Mexican Federale Conversions Underway & Figures I'd Like to See Made.

I decided to make some of my Federale figures more Mexican looking and less Japanese. The Mexican regular government forces started in dark blue or white uniforms and transitioned to light khaki ones Leggings and gaiters were less common than trousers unrestricted. Bandoleers were also common. These blokes, below, are lucky as most of them have bandoleers AND cartridge boxes. In reality it was probably one or the other and some figures I am removing the ammo boxes from.



            Just to add an individual touch, this soldier has added a neck-shade to his cap. The Mexican forces, including regulars often looked less than fully uniform, which makes them more fun to convert and paint. I have decided, as you will see in later posts, to vary the khaki with off-white trousers. These figures would also stand in for various South American Armies. (Remember the Bolivian last battle scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).

 I am well on the way to finishing painting these figures and will post picks of their final appearance.

  As you can see, it has been Autumn here and today is the second day of Winter. Chloe, the cat has been frolicking in those leaves.

  SKIN COLOR:

Mexican skin tones vary greatly according to degree of Spanish or Indian genes. A good base color, I found, is Games Workshop Scrag Brown with highlights from Ratskin Flesh.

USES FOR THE FIGURES:

These figures will figure in my imagi-nations Cortesian army (Army Lime Green). They would also be handy for re-creating some Western scenes set in the early 20th century, particularly The Wild Bunch.


   MY WISH LIST FOR AIP AND OTHER PLASTIC TOY SOLDIER MAKERS.:

Unfortunately, AIP has not put out new sets for some years now. What I would love to see would be figures for Pershing's Punitive Expedition into Mexico. Americans in 'Lemon Squeezer' slouch hats (like Mountie hats) and Federales in peaked caps would be nice. Also, WW1 Brits in peaked caps would be good, as well as Belgians and Evzones (in combat poses) and WW1Australians in slouch hats.

  Other wars that are seldom covered are the Indian Mutiny or/and Sikh war. The Maori Wars would also be interesting.

  And here is something from left field: Retro SF figures such as Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers and John Carter's worlds. ElastoWit does the first two.

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Comments

  1. RogerJune 3, 2025 at 4:11 PM

    'Spaghetti Western- styled' games did come to my mind seeing these. Nice conversions!

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  2. AnonymousJune 3, 2025 at 7:00 PM

    The secret to such games is making the 'heroes' especially good shots with multiple saves and to see how long hey last against overwhelming numbers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. RogerJune 3, 2025 at 11:55 PM

    True. But even if you make your heroes better shots and gives them multiple saves, sometimes they just goes down at the firstshot...

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJune 4, 2025 at 5:29 AM

    One thing I like about the Games Workshop rules is they enable survivability of characters. In both the old Fantasy rules and futuristic 40K characters can join and leave units. The characters then do not have to be removed as casualties from shooting until nothing else is left. However, they can die in melee if defeated by the enemies they are in base to base with. In the Funny Little Wars rules you 'count along' to see if a character dies so there is still a good chance he won't be hit. I say once a unit is down to a few figures to roll a dice to see if chance kills the hero, musician etc. Warhammer characters tend to have two or three wounds. I also have a system with campaign games where a 'killed' character is really 'unconscious' but might end up a POW if in territory captured by the enemy. He or she then has two or three and even four 'lives' to use up over the campaign and is knocked out for the next map move.

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