The fame of the Texas Rangers extends far outside of America, and their history stretches back over two centuries, from their original founding under the Mexican Republic, through the Texas Revolution and into the annexation of the state by the United States. Their history is, to put it politely, colourful, and for many years they were raised, used to deal with some problem, and then quickly disbanded. They were not always called rangers – other names used included gunmen, spies and minutemen – but they were always volunteers, required to provide their own weapons and horses, and sometimes had scant regard for authority or the chain of command. Above all they were cheap, and since state coffers were always empty during these early years, that alone was enough to recommend them to those in power. However, when properly lead they were also very effective, and both natives and Mexicans learned to treat them with great respect.

Whatever name they went by, these rangers wore no uniform, and instead turned up in whatever civilian garb they thought best, which involved hard-wearing, practical clothing for the most part. In this set we find an array of figures wearing various shirts, jackets and trousers, plus an assortment of brimmed hats, all of which are perfectly reasonable for the period. One figure seems to wear buckskins and a coonskin cap, which some like to think was the typical ranger outfit, but the truth was much more varied, and nicely reflected in these figures. One man wears a double-breasted jacket that might perhaps have some history as a military item, and it would be easy to imagine an ex-military man donning his old jacket prior to joining the volunteers. In general, these men have just a bag or perhaps a canteen, since much of what they might carry would have been left on their horse, and they would only need to carry powder and shot for the fight itself. Again, the variety on show here looks good, and it is pleasing to see many have a knife (doubtless all carried one somewhere), and some a powder horn. In appearance, therefore, these figures are wholly appropriate.

The clothing could apply for much of the 19th century, but the weapons help to narrow down that date range. All but one figure here carries a musket, and while the detail is not great, all look to be flintlocks. This makes perfect sense for the first two or three decades of the existence of these men, with percussion firearms only slowly replacing them, but one weapon here can be more precisely dated. This is the brace of pistols held by the last man in our third row, which look to us like the famous Colt ‘Walker’ pistol of 1847, which is closely associated with the Rangers. This man therefore dates from the late 1840s at the earliest, but the rest have a wider timeframe in which to operate, though we would still describe all these men as ‘early’.

These figures exactly match those produced in the first Strelets set of Rangers (Early Texas Rangers), both in terms of style and quality. The proportions are not bad, but the general appearance is not elegant or appealing, though the rough nature of the real thing helps to make this aspect less important. Weapons are a bit wobbly and rough, but some of the faces are quite expressive, and the long hair and beards, as well as the patching and tears of clothing, help to give them an unkempt look which is well suited to such men. The flash is mostly very low-level, though in a few places it is much more prominent, and there are a few areas of excess plastic in hard-to-reach places, but not too bad overall.

The poses are all of fighting men, and work well with those found in the first set. Most are engaged in using their musket, or moving forward, and have enough action about them to be perfectly acceptable. The man with two pistols looks dramatic, but is probably not the sort of thing you would normally see during a Ranger action. The man using his musket as a club must be in a desperate position, as muskets were expensive, often useless once abused in this way, and any Ranger would much prefer to shoot at his opponent from a distance rather than engage him in face-to-face combat like this, though it did occasionally happen. The man crawling on the ground with musket and knife is possible, but a circumstance we thought likely to be very rare, and the man firing his musket whilst prone is really just a bad choice. It is impossible to reload a musket while on the ground, so having to keep rising to reload before laying down again makes no sense. Ironically, the box artwork shows this, but with men wearing clothes and using cartridge weapons of fifty years after this set, which seriously misrepresents what the figures actually look like.

While a few of the poses are at best very unlikely, most of this set is reasonable and a fair extension of the first one. The look of the figures is not great, but if you own the first set then this is just more of the same. As with set 1, the civilian clothing here gives these figures some scope for use elsewhere, not just for the Rangers, and the appearance and weaponry encompasses a period up to around the end of the US-Mexican War, so another interesting set for a period that tends to attract little attention from modellers and wargamers, yet offers many interesting actions for both.