Reviresco

28mm Senegalese Tirailleurs

by Steve Winter

John McEwan of Reviresco (the two are synonymous; as far as I know, John and his wife are the entire company) is one of the little-known treasures of colonial gaming. While other companies churn out extensive lines of British riflemen, Zulus, and dervishes, Reviresco quietly fills in the gaps with all the off-beat items that no one else bothered, or even thought of, making. If you can’t find it in the big companies’ catalogs, there’s a good chance that it’s available from Reviresco. These Senegalese Tirailleurs are a fitting example. In the scramble for Africa, France grabbed more real estate than any other nation. It used a largely native army in the process and fought several extensive, hard campaigns against the likes of Dahomey and Rabih’s empire. Despite their impressive record, very few figure manufacturers have paid any attention to the French in Africa beyond the Foreign Legion, and even fewer have produced native troops for French service.

Reviresco stepped to the plate with this set of Senegalese tirailleurs. The figures are available in four small packs of five figures for $5 (command, guards and casualties, charging, and firing) or in one “mixed set” of 30 figures for $25. My mixed set actually contained 32 figures, counting the mounted officer and horse as one: mounted French officer, two French officers on foot (one with pistol and sword, one with empty hands and a sprue of pistol, sword, and rifle to select from), bugler, flag bearer, five guards (two poses), ten advancing (two poses), eight firing/standing, two firing/kneeling, and two casualties. The French wear typical colonial service uniforms and pith helmets. The Senegalese wear a coat belted with a sash, blousy, knee-length trousers, no shoes, tasseled fez, French-style equipment harness with ammo pouches, haversack, and a canteen with a tin drinking cup (aren’t drinking cups always tin?). With the uniform similarities, these could also be painted as Belgian Force Publique for operations south of the Congo. Only five of the figures have fixed bayonets. The rifles are quite delicate, so bayonets probably wouldn’t last long anyway.

The figures run consistently 27-28M on the Barrett scale. They look a bit taller than that because of the fezzes, but it’s an illusion. Keeping up a mysterious Reviresco tradition, the Europeans are less satisfactory than the natives. The officers are unnaturally flattened, like the old tin soldiers I inherited from my father. The Senegalese don’t suffer from that malady, fortunately, and make a very attractive unit. They’re not sculpted to the same standard as Copplestone or Wargames Foundry figures, but they can march on the same table without shame. And march they will, because no one else makes French Senegalese troops.

Mixed Set of 30 figures for $25, or five figures for $5; available from Reviresco, 435 Chenault St., Hoquiam, WA, 98550; online store at www.tin-soldier.com.

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