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The Purchase: I picked up one pack of Rifles with Command but it was some time ago so I am not sure of the exact catalog number. They were purchased at The Emperor’s Headquarters in Chicago before they closed their retail shop (a sad loss as they also sold my AB’s). The bag contained 81 figures in thirteen unique poses (see chart below). Since rifles are often in skirmish order, individual figures are more likely to be seen so variety is good. However, the proportion of command figures (officers and buglers) seems quite high. First Impressions: Like all the Old Glory I have seen these figures always strike me as “lumpy.” That is, the equipment is always pronounced, especially the cross-straps, so that there are far too many peaks and valleys on the figure. These are hard to paint and detract, in my opinion, from the overall realism of the figures. Secondly, a lot of the poses seem very strange. I’m often just not sure what a particular figure is supposed to be doing (though I often figure it out by the time I’m done painting them). On the plus side, you get a lot of figures (65) in a wide variety of poses. The Thigh Bone’s Connected to the Hip Bone: The anatomical proportions in most Old Glory figures are generally sound, and these figures are no exception. Body parts are the right size, not only in relation to each other (hands relative to faces and so on) but from one figure to the next. The faces may have some strange expressions at times (the officer looks drunk or sleepy to me and too many of the men appear to be screaming) but features are discrenable and reward some attention when painting (I wash in Model Master Earth Red, then dry brush lips in a pale orange). Beware of Scrambled Eggs: In general the details here were pretty clean. But as with most of the Old Glory figures I’ve seen, when a lot of equipment overlaps in a tight space, it can be very hard to tell one from another. Compare the figure with the trailing rifle on which all the straps are clean and crisp, to the rifleman firing from a kneel. His straps all blend into one jumbled series of ridges (since they’re all black it is hidden well here) which would be very hard to paint of different colors were required. God Is In. The Details: Comparing the figures to a variety of reference material, the uniforms all appear accurate. The sword-bayonets seem a bit thick and the shakos are perhaps a little oversized. However each rifleman has a powder horn, some have sculpted buttons on the jacket, and the rifles have a modest amount of detail. The Verdict: Overall I would give this purchase B-. The Old Glory line is certainly inexpensive, and this purchase did give a lot of figural variety. However, the gravity-defying poses, and at times jumbled equipment detail ust really draw away from the overall quality of the figures. Paint By Numbers (My Paint Choices): Uniform jacket and pants - Colour Party Rifles Green; Bedroll - Model Master Neutral Gray 4757; Rifle - Howard Hues Rifle Butt; Haversack - Model Master Dark Tan 4709; Canteen - Tamiya Medium Blue XF-18; Powderhorn - Model Master Wood 4673; Flesh - Citadel Elf Flesh washed with Model Master Earth Red. The following chart details the different poses and quantities of each contained in the bag of figures. The bag contained 81 total figures (perhaps 85 - I may have lost or sold a few). Click on a thumbnail to see an image full size.
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