I don't know there was a lot of pre-production work involved in this set as the poses appear to be minor conversions of figures already produced in their Southwestern Cavalry v. Apache series. This may have made it less expensive to put together and therefore attractive. It does answer a demand in the hobby - I don't know how many of us there are, but there are some of us who can't get enough of the Alamo - or the Texas Revolution. It is one of those subjects like the Little Bighorn that continues to fascinate folks. I mean, just about every US Cavalry set is advertised as the 7th Cavalry. There were OTHER regiments doing the job out there. But I'm also fascinated with this battle as well, maybe it's the Lost Cause aspect, like Thermopylae?
Paragon has done Alamophiles a favor here. First, these are more hand-to-hand poses, one imagines the battle broke down into a brawl after the breach. He also answered the requests of more than one collector (of which I admit to be one) to avoid coonskin hats and as much buckskin as possible as that as been done to death. Even Conte overdid the "frontiersman" look IMHO. I remember reading what the costumer for the Billy Bob Thornton Alamo (2004?) said in an interview on the topic - "it was kind of like a cross between Charles Dickens and "High Noon" [I think I have the quote right, but the point is made]." I think both this set and the previous set done by TSSD fill this void. These aren't stand-alone sets but if you have Conte's and other figures you use for Alamo defenders they'll fit nicely. And I think they can be used nicely for other eras and wars, too.
They're not as readily versatile for conversions as I hoped but as has already been stated, it won't take much to do some head and weapons swaps. I also agree their greatest strength - their uniqueness- might also be their weakness. How many bags do you need?
Overall, I am well pleased and intend to have some fun with these guys doing some headswaps and changing weapons - who knows, I might need more than one bag. As to overall quality I think I'm going to withhold final judgment until I see them painted up. In the meantime, thanks Paragon, hope you make your money back.
