Yet another silly newbie question.

[Rob_bresnen]

I have always loved these figures by wargames foundry, but felt they were too out of period for my Old West games. Could they be used for Canadian Coureurs de bois? If not, why not, and what would it take to convert them?

[Galloping Major]

They are very nice figures sculpted by Mike Owen and still some of his best work IMHO: I always liked them, gave them their individual names and wrote the series of supporting articles that appeared in WI to accompany their release.

In short, they're dressed for their time period, 1820s-1840s. Some would take relatively little work, e.g. Jim Shaking Snow and a few of the others that don't appear here. With Jim Meredith for instance you could get away with a head swap or at least replace the hat. Others would require a lot more work, and in many cases it would be easier to start from scratch. By the time enough changes had been made to push them back a few generations, I fear a lot of the things that charmed you about them may well have been lost. For instance, although many Canadians in the backwoods may have been unshaven for periods of time, in an age when beards were about as "out" as they've ever been, such luxuriant tonsorial splendour as sported by many of the mountain men would have been rather more than unlikely.   I suppose it depends on how concerned you are about having them look right for the period.  

If it were me and I liked them as much as we both do, I'd get some anyway (I have them all), paint them up as what they're meant to be, maybe run the odd skirmish between them or with same period Indians, or just keep them for their own sake  
Then I'd go and buy some figures created for the F&IW  , let me think ... Canadian Militia from a company very dear to my own heart perhaps  

Other manufacturers are available. 

www.gallopingmajorwargames.com

[HerbyF]

A few of them might be passable. Head gear being the most noticable. There dress is a little out of period too. There are one or two out of each pack that I would use, but most of them look a ittle late. Many of the western woodland indians would not have changed much and skirmishes would still be about the same though. Things didn't change much until fire arms started improving.

[Rob_bresnen]

Thanks for that response- very knowledgeable. I see what you mean about the beards. Perhaps I will have to continue to look for something I can do with them. In the mean time I will look at the GM site.

[Conquistador]

I have room for Mountain men in my 1800's Old West setting in what was still Nueva Espana (to the 1820's) or Northern Mexico (to the mid-1840's.)  These would probably be perfect for that setting (I currently own - thanks to Ebay - one Mountain man and 2 squaws.)

Thanks for the confirmation that these fit into my timeline for games.

Gracias,

Glenn

[Galloping Major]

Glenn, they'll be great for your hispanic North America stuff. Mountain men wandered south a fair old bit, one party famously being arrested in Santa Fe and sent packing for their trouble 

Rob - keep an eye on developments 


www.gallopingmajorwargames.com

[DS615]

People don't tend to change much unless forced to, and not many folks could force "mountain men" to do anything.
Meaning if those guys like wearing what they're wearing, they aren't going to change it just because some tea totaling city folk says their hat is old fashioned.

All these seem like they would fit fine.  Use them if you want to.

[Eric the Shed]

I use two of the Mountain men as trappers...nice figures

Eric

[Cory]

The third pack with a weapons change remains valid for parts of the northern rockies through today. In fact the Broken Hand Fitzpatrick figure is a perfect match for a fellow in my office a couple of hours ago.