[One of the challenges with more than one blog is that sometimes it is possible to post to the wrong blog - which I did with this post over on my Pirates of the Carob Bean Sea blog back in July. Just fixing now. Also, I have added some new groups, a few, based on recent figure releases - they are not in the listing. Hard put to justify adding more unless it is a purpose designed horse drawn hearse, mud wagon, or tumble weed wagon. Oh, and each group of civilians - other than the 'specials' not listed - are 12 figures plus two casualty figures, 1,372 figures including the dead. Already made a start on reassigning the White Hat/Black Hat mounted/dismounted/dead groups (see earlier post) - those below in this post all being on foot.]
I have been working this week to assign, or sometimes reassign, the various civilian population groups to all those towns and other population centers. A detailed list eventually but for now, it is working out this way:
Anachronism 34 groups (408)
Lodgepole Creek 13 groups (156)
Alkali Wells 13 groups (156)
Muleskinner Canyon 6 groups (72)
Mescalarilla 6 groups (72)
Dork's Claims 2 groups (24)
Bull's Butt 2 groups (24)
"Environs" 22 groups (264)
That is 98 groups of civilians (1.176), a considerable ballooning upwards from 60 groups. Much more important change is that some groups are actually painted and many groups are primed - almost all of Anachronism and Alkali Wells groups are primed and all groups are washed so just need minor filing work before gluing to the also prepared bases (primed on the underside for labelling) and, once the glue is dry, priming.
Environs refers to, mostly, groups out in the hinterlands like farmers and ranchers, trading post and stage station, prospectors and miners (Dork's Claims being a gold mining area located in the Pyrite Hills and Bull's Butt, home of a 19th century type copper mine). The 'mostly' also includes my photographer group and a recent addition, an Old Fashioned Film Crew - can fit that into the tale end of the Old West.
There are more civilians but they are in smaller groups and meant as 'personalties' and 'characters'. Need to count this up.
Why so many? No good reason but no bad reason either, just somehow I have gotten to that point. Oh, all of the above are on foot with the only animals included being the pack horses/mules for the prospectors (6).
And the above doesn't count the two wagon trains of 25 people each (plus 12 dismounted armed men for any fights - who replace the seven men wagon drivers). This also adds 28 draft horses and 28 draft oxen to pull those wagons. It also doesn't count all the wagon, cart, or stage drivers (and passengers, shotgun) or the cowboys tending the various herds (18 of the latter, both mounted and foot versions, plus the 18 horses they ride). I guess I need to count up the drivers and passengers, too, and the associated animals pulling those vehicles.
I suppose now I need to do some reassigning of the mounted civilian figure groups, the white hat/black hat groupings. Those now 27 groups add 324 more men to the total civilians. Finding mounted females for the Old West just doesn't seem in the cards. (And each of those 27 groups include 12 mounted, 12 dismounted, 12 dead, and 4 standing horses - so a lot more than 324 figures to paint.)
All told, that means at least 1,500 but probably closer to 1,650 civilians in my fictional Old West county in the equally fictional Joetanazona Territory. The county has a name to be revealed when I am ready to do so. Plus there are some uncounted 'babes in arms' for some figures.
Anyway you stack this up, that is a LOT of figures. My towns are not the improbably sparsely populated towns of Hollywood's Old West towns due to the costs of hiring extras but more like 'normal' towns - though even my numbers are small compared to many towns, especially some of those boom towns of the era.
