Reviresco

28mm Mountain Gun with
Pack Train and Crew

by Steve Winter

This is actually two separate sets of figures from John McEwan: the gun and pack animals come in one set, and the gun crew comes in another.

The crew package and the Reviresco website state that it includes six figures, but my pack came with seven, all different: three Europeans — standing officer, standing ammo carrier, and kneeling — and four native askaris — standing ammo carrier, kneeling loader, crouching, and horse holder. These can serve equally well as either a British or German crew in African service, and could be converted easily to early 20th century French colonial troops with little more than a different paint job. All are in shorts.

The Europeans have boots and pith helmets, while the natives are barefoot and wearing fezzes. They measure 26-28M on the Barrett scale, sole to eyeball (some might consider them to be thin rather than medium — their proportions are realistic, not beefed up). The native figures are nicely done, if rather plain. The Europeans are not Reviresco’s best, and behind the curve when compared to many other newer pieces. On the other hand, they’re perfectly adequate gaming figures, and the style is whimsically reminiscent of older “toy soldiers.”

The horses are the same as those in the Pack Train set. The review pack came with four horses (two different poses) and one mule. The packs make up a disassembled version of the mountain gun. It’s broken into five loads: the gun (barrel and breech), the barrel housing and recoil cylinders, the carriage, the wheels and axle, and cases of ammo.

The gun itself is a beautiful little thing, crisply cast with delicate wheels and breech mechanism. McEwan is at his technical best when making guns and other equipment. This particular model is a British 2.95-inch mountain gun. My package came with three gun barrels for some reason; if you didn’t want the horse-packed version, you could use the carriage and wheels intended for the horse packs and an extra barrel to build two complete guns instead of one. The horse packs, however, are tremendously useful for small-scale games with plenty of maneuver, and are a really nice addition to the set.

These two sets together are mainly geared toward WW1 in Africa or Palestine. Although this is technically a British gun, you can use it for any nationality. The Germans in Africa used lots of captured equipment, so it wouldn’t be at all out of place in either army — or, for that matter, in a band of Lawrence’s Arabs (another reason why the crew is sold separately, I suspect).

Mountain gun pack — one assembled mountain gun, one gun broken into five packs, and five pack animals for $10; Gun crew pack — six (seven?) gun crew figures for $5; available from Reviresco, 435 Chenault St., Hoquiam, WA, 98550; online store at www.tin-soldier.com.

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