Smile when you say that, pardner.

 

     For reasons unknown to me, I've developed a taste for skirmish gaming in what might be called the Old American West. There are still plenty of skirmishes in the modern American West, but they don't interest me. The idea of a limited number of figures all armed with roughly the same weapons interests me. Something like "The Three Musketeers" sword fight gamess or Sardukar vs. Fremen in the Dune sci-fi setting holds some interest for me. So I jumped in with both feet.

Alan Quartermain... not really Wild West but close enough.
My wife insisted. (Copplestone Castings limited edition figure)

A gunfighter I named Billy Stahl
after the good friend who painted the figure for me 25 years ago.

Buffalo Bill Cody is what Reaper Miniatures calls this fellow.
He has the right rough-and-tumble look about him for the game.

Doc Holiday - another Reaper fig
Dapper and deadly.

Trooper Landry - a good start for the US Cavalry part of the game
Another Bill Stahl gift 

Reaper's Lobo Sanchez - 
Sandals, bottle, iguana... what more could I say? (Reaper)

Lobo's best friend in his bottle... I mean, his iguana, Ignatio!

Dusty... one tough guy from Reaper

Malcolm Reynolds or maybe his ancestor (Reaper)

Our lawman, Marshal O'Dowd
I have no idea how long I've had this figure and his knife.

Nameless Lambert... another Reaper figure

Pancho (Manufacturer unknown)
Short but deadly.

Pepperbox Mercer - six barrels of hurt
(Reaper)

Rustler Jake (Reaper)
I think he's a rustler since he has gloves on. He's the only working man!

Shotgun Sally (Reaper)
Beware of sunburn!

Bearpaw, a scout (RAFM figure)

Bearpaw's brother, Ed
RAFM figures come in two's... so we have twins!

Grizzly Jim (Reaper)

Pecos Wil... also from Reaper
No, they're not twins. (They were born 2 years apart.)
Yes, they are the same figure. Paint can do a lot!

Shady Kate (Reaper)
At least these Wild West gunfight females wear a bit more
than many of the D&D females.

Swift Wind (Unknown)
I thought he deserved a checked shirt.

Tall Jizelle (Reaper)
Big gun, big hat, small waist.
(I named her; Reaper called her by another alias.)

Ted the Gun (Reaper)
Very business-like.

The Madam (Reaper)
complete with lever-action Winchester.
The house NEVER loses.

Is it the payroll from the mine?
Is it fabulous documents of great import?
Is it a heart (or gizzard) for Dr. Frankenstein?
You'll have to wait for the next episode!

--From Old Glory's Maori Wars range--
British troops painted as Canadian Militia for the Fenian Raids
Maybe they'll show up at the border of a norther state...

Marshton Reynolds
The Malcom Reynolds figure painted in a variant
More than likely ready to misbehave.

Pulp Miniatures... Sergeants Three...
Probably never to be seen in the American West...
Probably... maybe...

Maeve prepared the photo shoot and approved the entire thing.

I'm looking at a few sets of rules. Simple... direct... fun. I'll let you know.

By the way, I'm back to blogging!

Latest Off the Painting Table

 

Despite the seeming inactivity forced upon me by the COVID-19 virus and the lockdown/continued aftermath, I have been painting... some. Not as much as I'd like some times but some.

First, I received the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from Skull & Crown Miniatures. They are excellent castings and really catch the gist of the subject. I'm not much for "undead" but the quartet of Revelation inspired riders were worth while.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (the Book of Revelation 6: 1-8)

I heard one of the four living creatures call out, as with a voice of thunder, “Come!” 
I looked, and there was a white horse! Its rider had a bow; a crown was given to him,
and he came out conquering and to conquer. (Pestilence)

When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature call out, “Come!” 
And out came another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace
from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another;
and he was given a great sword. (War)

When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature call out, “Come!” 
I looked, and there was a black horse! Its rider held a pair of scales in his hand, 
and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying,
“A quart of wheat for a day’s pay, and three quarts of barley for a day’s pay, 
but do not damage the olive oil and the wine!” (Famine)

When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature call out,
“Come!”I looked and there was a pale green horse! Its rider’s name was Death,
and Hades followed with him; they were given authority over a fourth of the earth,
to kill with sword, famine, and pestilence, and by the wild animals of the earth.
(Death "on a pale horse") [I like the hourglass in his hand.]

Gruesome figures to be sure, but a great addition to my collection. I received these a while ago and they'd been sitting patiently awaiting paint and brush... and there were lots of others with them.

More Slovak infantry gifted to me by my friend, Ralph.
He told me they were originally Romanians, but someone took a file to their helmets.
I think they works well as Slovak "Light Division" troops on World War II's Eastern Front.
(The manufacturer is unknown.)

D&D Figures serving wench... usable for so many games!

Skull & Crown torch bearer... lighting the way for the Four Horsemen?
(This was a free-bee that came with the Battle Rabbits a while ago.)

Through a purchase from the Hamilton Tabletop Gaming group's "cyber bring 'n'buy", I got a hold of a few of Bob Murch's great Pulp Miniatures. There's so much character in these figs. I think these are from his set called "Femme Fatales."

She struck me as an armed RAF Auxiliary from WWII. 

A female explorer with hunting rifle, machete, and cool hat.

A little different angle and light.

Finally a paper model. I had done one of these as a WWI German A7V tank in 20mm and I thought that if I did up another one, it might be fine as some Epic Warhammer 40K Imperial behemoth tank. This one didn't go together as easily as the first one, but I'm satisfied. The pieces were inexpensive since I printed them on my computer on card stock. The "treads" were some abandoned balsa wood since the printed treads were very, very fiddly. It's not the best I've ever done but it'll do... and I could make another very quickly. My usual Epic 40K opponent may have something more to add to his Imperial Guard army, while I'll field my Tau equipment. I hope I can report on that in the coming months.

Crude, but effective... I hope.

Thanks for reading! Have fun... 'cause if it's not fun doing this, you might as well work! 

Recent painting

I enjoy Easter and the Easter Season. I enjoy the worship services of Holy Week and I find them quite meaningful. I do get tired because there is a lot to do and plan for during this time. So I don't paint much and what I do goes slowly.

I did get to paint a little lately. I even finished a long term project of some 25mm ACW troops. I had made an order from RAFM in Cambridge, ON. That's really quite local. They brought the figs to Hot Lead, a convention for Southwestern Ontario, and made good very quickly on a small mistake they made. I like the figures and many of their other ranges are quite fine as well.

My latest rendition of the 54th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment
They were recruited in and around Lehigh County in Pennsylvania. The town band I played with for 16 years -
The Macungie Band - had volunteered as the band of this regiment at the beginning of the war for a 6 month enlistment.

The command stand including an officer, a First Sergeant with the national flag, a soldier
with the regimental flag, and a drummer.

A better view of the flags.
I had intended to use my computer's printer to make better flags, but the coloured ink has crapped out and  printed
red as a sort of pink. The flags that are included in the box of Perry Zouaves is not correct. The national flag only has
eleven stripes! So I fell back to painting my own flags by hand.

Flags and troopers

All the figures are RAFM. They are nicely moulded and the firing figure and the kneeling figure
without the pack have separate heads. The ARE true 25's and so look a bit smaller next to some others.

I use commercial acrylic paints and ink the finished figs with a watered down ink.
I think the colours - with certain exceptions - are quite true. The blue of the coats is
called "Blue Velvet" and is very, very dark, far darker that the same company's "Navy Blue."

The group I play with is converting our rather large personal stocks of ACW 25's to Black Powder basing. We'd been doing a "home-brewed" skirmish game with singly mounted figs. I worked slowly, one base at a time. Probably not the best way, but what I could do under the time constraints.

Another short term and amusing project involved some Peter Pig ACW 15's I've had in back-stock for a long time.

Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln

The finished couple

After I took the photo, I touched up the spots where the primer coat showed through.
I don't generally ink my 15's, but a little might help Mary look a little less ghostly.

The 54th PA on a photo trestle.

More to come before too long. Quite a few things have been going on.