Perry Plastic cavalry

[JArgo]

Just a thought - are the Perry civil war cavalry figures suitable for the Old West 1870's-1880's period as well?

Would there have to be minor conversions?

Cheers.

[Will Bailie]

I once used the Perry ACW cav as Hollywood US Cavalry.  I wasn't worried about historical accuracy, just painted them to suit a John Wayne idea of US Cavalry, so take my comments with a grain of salt!

Comments: 
-all of the figures have sabres moulded on.  You may wish to carve these off. 
-there aren't enough slouch hats for all the troopers.  I ended up giving the bugler a kepi

The plastic is pretty forgiving, so conversions are quite feasible.

[Harry Faversham]

I converted a couple to look as though they were wearing them 'fireman's' shirts, painted either grey or red, they don't look too bad.

[Elbows]

While not ideal, they are useful - particularly if you want to simply make Cavalry units (as opposed to bashing cowboys as I tried).  The horses are sublime and I've used a half dozen of them to mark unmounted horses on my boards.  The sprue also comes with some carbines which are separate from any figures (and a few plastic arms wielding large cavalry pistols).  Just enough bits to make the box a worthy buy for anyone.  I was hoping someone would make a line of metal mounted figures which would slot perfectly onto these horses, they're lovely.

[Frontiersman]

For 1870's and 80's U.S. cavalry, look at Artizan's Plains Wars line and Wargames Foundry's 7th Cavalry collection. These models have the correct uniforms, weapons and equipment.

[JArgo]

Thanks guys.

It was just a price point that lead me to the Perry Cavalry.