Safari Ltd Union Soldiers Collection 2

This set brings us to a close in regards to Safari Ltd Civil war toys. To the best of my knowledge they have four sets of figures, a tent, and a bridge and with today's post we'll have covered them all. Enjoy!

Officer Mounted with Drawn Sword

This horse is in anything but an action pose. In fact he looks totally disinterested in what's going on. The officer could be part of an artillery battery and is ready to give the order to "Fire", or...?

Standing Firing rifle

Kneeling Firing Rifle 2nd Pose

The Kneeling Firing Rifle pose in Collection 1 is clearly pointing his weapon upwards, while this soldier is pointing his weapon straight

Standing with Cannon Swab

Howitzer or Mountain Howitzer

Howitzer and 'Swabbie'

Here he is with an Americana cannon

Safari Ltd Union Soldiers Collection 1

Here's our first look at Safari Ltd's line of American Civil War Union Soldiers, what they call 'Collection 1'. Like the other two sets we've covered it too contains six pieces made in a flexible vinyl, containing five figures (two of which are duplicates) and a wall section.  The sculpting is very good for inexpensive toy soldiers, the painting is decent, and the poses natural. This set is a little unusual in that there are two distinct poses of the ubiquitous 'Standing Loading Rifle' soldier. There are also two 'bad actors' (soldiers that won't stand upright easily): the Flag Bearer, which was also a problem in the Confederate set, and one of the Standing Loading Rifle poses. Because these have no proper base as is common with other brands, if a particular soldier isn't molded just right they become lopsided and will not stand without glue or other means of support. Enjoy!

Flag Bearer

Kneeling Firing Rifle

Notice he's shooting uphill

There are two of these figures in the set

Standing Loading Rifle 1sp Pose

You can plainly see how lopsided he is making this figure very hard to pose. I stood him, and the Flag Bearer, on a small platform held at an extreme angle in order to get these shots.

Standing Loading Rifle 2nd Pose

Safari Ltd Confederate Soldiers Collection 2

We're gonna take a quick look at another set of painted Civil War figures from Safari, the Safari Ltd Confederate Soldiers Collection 2. As with the other sets this one too has six pieces in a flexible vinyl; 4 figures, 1 horse, and 1 howitzer. Enjoy!

Officer with Pistol, Mounted

Advancing with Rifle at Side

Standing Loading Rifle

Standing with Cannon Swab

No, this is not prop for the movie "Honey, I Shrunk The Cannon". At first glance one would perhaps think that Safari wanted to save money by making a dinky little cannon, but in fact small artillery pieces like this were not uncommon during the Civil War and were classed as either Howitzers or Mountain Howitzers. They could be disassembled and hauled into rough, mountainous terrain using mules.

This photo was taken after the war and is titled "A post of mountain howitzers that saw war service"

One can plainly see the small size of these pieces.

Library of Congress

"Richmond, Virginia. Confederate brass mountain howitzers"

Library of Congress