And at the end of the winnowing day(s)...

Last night I finished the winnowing of the 'on foot only' civilians.  Still 'too many' but I will manage.

And, important to note, I can easily drop twenty 'sets of six' and the matching dead so that would reduce the total 'figures to paint' by 140.  This would be done by not painting multiple units if I find I have enough of a certain type like 'armed white men', etc., or of only painting one of the two full groups of saloon 'sets of six' - 42 figures per group plus seven dead (21 men, 21 women - one set is half men/half women).  

And the total does not count 60 multi-based figures I painted recently or the 12 dead (though four of those will get reworked to make the female dead more 'female' by using glue soaked tissue paper to 'dress' them), nor does it count 36 multi-based plus a command group of six figures (these are all Mexicans) along with three horse holders with six horses that were painted for me by a different painter a while ago, nor the 24 figures painted/almost done being painted for me figures with four dead (again, will need to rework two dead for females - or adjust the remaining dead to paint perhaps).  That adds up to 142 already painted.  No need to drop any of these - and some might 'replace' those waiting to be painted.

The sets of six works out to 88 though one is only one man plus six mules, a prospector figure and his transport.  So that adds up to 528 (6 x 88) figures plus one for 529 figures, subtract the six mules and that leaves 523 human figures to paint - and then add in 18 more people since 18 of the women are sculpts of two figures - either a baby-in-arms or a child quite literally at her side so 541 total people.  There are also four tables, four chairs, and two pianos to paint included in the saloon groups (and I think two faro tables to add in along with some other details bits) but I will count that as scatter terrain.  To the 529 sculpts then needs to be added the 88 dead figures to meet my 1:6 ratio (one can be a dead draft horse to represent the mules),  That means 617 figures to paint (28 of the dead will be modified to be female dead, seven to be children - just use the smallest casualties from the Vietnamese village dead from Peter Pig, and maybe 7 of the women mods will include a dead child since seven of the groups of women include those 18 attached children - again some of the Vietnamese dead figures might work here.  For those not comfortable with dead women and children - life was harder back in those days and more stark.)

While more than I was hoping for, that is still more than 1,000 fewer figures to paint.  

And then there is the 'really cool part': a very large number of the 88 sets are six unique figures, only duplication within a set where absolutely necessary.  Sure, there is duplication across sets but even there not excessive.  I didn't do an exact count but I'd say maybe 70-80% of the sculpts to be painted are unique figures.  I think that is full-on awesome.

Here is the break down, and I'm breaking out the ethnically diverse from the white folk since I want to know how that is working to meet my desire to include a more representative 'real Old West' rather than the nearly lily-white Hollywood west - even though my games will often be more Hollywood than history.

Armed white men 6, 6, 6 

Armed white women 6

Trenchcoat men with guns 6

Mountain men 6, 6

Lawmen 6, 6

Masked Bandits 6, 6

Gambler Gunmen 6, 6

Town toughs with guns 6

Men with shotguns 6

Female gunfighters 6

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Top hat men 6

Local merchants 6

Professional men 6

Salesmen 6 (one for the snake oil wagon)

Surgeon 6 (a man operating and others bringing a patient (one woman in the group)

Wheelwright 6 (and maybe the Cooper, too)

Blacksmith 6

Local workmen 6, 6 (carrying various loads)

Farmer men 6

Miners 6

Prospector 1 plus 6 mules

Train Crew 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 (only five crews for nine steam locomotives)

Mormons 6 (2 men, 4 women - with 2 attached children)

Old fashioned film crew 6 (hand cranked camera, 5 men, 1 woman)

Cameras 6 (two glass plate style cameras and four subjects, 5 men, 1 woman)

Folk 6 (figures I just wanted to keep (4 men, 2 women)

Women's Temperance Union leaders 6

WTU group A 6

WTU group B 6

WTU group C 6 (WTU to redo battle of Whiskey Hills from movie Hallelujah Trail)

Upper class women 6

Shopkeeper women 6

Women at work 6

Women shopping 6

Women with children 6 (and six attached children)

Young women 6

White girls 6 - children [there are some two figures sculpts among the various kids sets]

Farm women 6

White boys 6 - children

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Saloon entertainers 4, 4 (piano players, standing and seated banjo players, male singers)

Card players 8, 8 (seated at tables)

Bar staff 6, 6 (barkeep, two workmen, three serving women)

Drunks 6, 6 (all men)

Dancing girls 6, 6 

Soiled doves 6, 6

French bauds 6, 6 

Crib girls 6 (probably paint these as Mexican, black, and Chinese - a reality of the profession)

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Armed Mexican men 6, 6, 6

Armed Mexican men 6 - machete only

Mexicans with dynamite 6

Armed Mexican women 6

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Mexican men 6, 6

Mexican women 6, 6

Mexican boys 6 children

Mexican girls 6 children

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Native men 6 (these are the 'hang around the fort' types, old and infirm - lots of armed natives to come)

Native women 6 (3 attached kids)

Native children 6

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Colored men 6

Colored women 6 (2 attached kids)

Colored children 6

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Chinese men 6

Chinese women 6 (2 attached kids)

Chinese children 6

Chinese workers 6 (for railroad workers - carrying baskets on poles or on back)

Shaolin 6 (a couple of priests and other Chinese men - probably should replace one as more western to represent Kwai-chang Caine from the old Kung Fu TV series)

That works out to 310 men, 171 women, 42 + 18 attached children, and the six mules.  And 87 dead people plus one dead horse (mule).

I think it safe to say that listing will allow just about any scenario possible.  And, of course, the 58 already painted (well, some being painted for me) along with at least three more I need to paint, cowboys can be tossed into the mix - all of these having a mounted, dismounted, and dead version.  

That doesn't account for the 26 groups of 12 mounted/foot/dead still waiting its own winnowing down.  But before I get to that, the next winnowing project will be my figures for the army fort - which will include some infantry.  And I think after that, I will sort out some Apache figures. 

Even if I reduce down to a third of the total when I started, I will still have a dramatically excessive but extraordinarily diverse group of figures for gaming the Old West and the Pony Wars.  

My new conundrum relates to Old West - using Fistful of Lead for skirmish games - versus battle sized Pony Wars games using Rank and File.  For the latter, need multi-based figures for sure.  But maybe smaller unit sizes to keep the painting total in check.  Have to think upon this.