The humble Chinese laundry washer: the unsung hero of the Wild West. Always there to wash a sweaty gold prospector's jeans or to toil under the sun on the railway line. Brought in via San Francisco to work as cheap labour on the Pacific railroad connecting the Wild West to the East Coast, thousands of Chinese immigrants entered America. They worked harder, longer and for far less than their fellow railroad workers but in the end they brought the Wild West one steel bar closer to civilisation.


(Wargames Foundry Old West Figures designed by Mark Copplestone)

The pen is mightier than the Smith and Western.

The pen was indeed mightier than the Smith and Western. Editors perceived themselves as the voice of reason in the Wild West. Self-righteous guardians of morality, they named and shamed violent youngsters who dared disturb the peace with their brawls and bravado. And not letting a brick through the window get in the way of a good story, journalists overstepped the bounds of objectivity by encouraging vigilantism and admonishing lacklustre judges. Through the printed word, the Wild West was brought to its senses.

(Wargames Foundry Old West Figures designed by Mark Copplestone)