The Saloon owner & the herd!

A few parcels turned up the last week. Amongst them from the US was the Blue Moon Manufacturing "Tombstone" civilian's set - they also do a fantastic Hearse with horses all done up with feathers for when we have to get the "3 coffins ready". For those of you familiar with the HBO series it contains a very creditable lookalike for a certain Deadwood's Al Swearengen played by Ian McShane.

A rather fine casting I must say. Who will shortly be taking over the a new establishment  in town the "Cattle Exchange Saloon"

Well we can hardly have Old West Cowboy scenarios and a Cattle Exchange Saloon without cows can we. I looked around in the UK for some , saw some expensive metal etc, but i wanted to be able to have a large number for a rustling , or stampede type scenario. I found these guys from the US , they are 1/64th scale hard plastic Herefords , a breed popular in the west made by ERTL. They were pre painted ,I gave them a matt varnish and then a light brown wash , and dry brush, also had to dot the eyes in. I based them on 60mm across flats 2mm MDF Hexagons from the ever helpful Warbases - This means the herd or elements can be a multitude of shapes , and can be easily controlled on a d6 for random movement. These cost the total sum including shipping of £18.50 for 40 cows and 10 calves! 

So it is Sudan preparations next week , along with picking up a collection of Sudan figures , the Mahdi's; drums are a beating.

Old West Town "Serenity Flats"

Welcome to the town of Serenity Flats. There has been some construction work lately with the towns first hotel the "STAR". This is a Sarrissa Precision MDF lasercut pack. Simple construction and simple drybrush to give a little distressed look.

Little Miss Sanders & the Barman "Friendly Brown"

 Doctor Chapman - the town surgeon.

The "Mills gang" - Scorpion Jones, Rider Ray, Shane - "Gutbucket" - Fox, Bart "Shooter" Mills

Deputy Daniels

Now of course as this establishment has a card table it has attracted a certain "Doc Holliday" 

I get the feeling it is going to be anything but quiet around here.

All but Doc Holliday are Black Scorpion figures, he is another of the 3 part set from Artizan Designs.

The cattle corral is on order with 50 head of cattle on the way!.

Zulu Wars. British Artillery

It has been a productive weekend , with just varnishing and last touches to bases meaning a number of items are now finished!. I was suitably inspired after doing the Rorkes Drift characters that having found this set I got earlier in the year I decided to complete it. The gun model is a finely detailed piece of equipment - and a total pain to assemble! But once done it painted up nicely. I have gone for a double basing option with the gunners individually based , but  done so they can be put onto a a textured base which has wheel ruts etc for the gun, It gives different options. All figures etc by Empress Miniatures. The blues for the gunners is the ever reliable Andrea Color blue set..

7lb gun & crew

 

9lb gun & crew with base

 

 Or the option without the main base

 So it is back to cowboys and buildings next

"Fill your hands Mister"

There must be any number of Old West cliche's to be used here. Anyway I finished up the first lot of the "Old West" purchases from Salute. Enough to get a game in I reckon. Here we have Ginger Lily and her gang. These are all Black Scorpion miniatures

Also that perennial Old West favourite - "Doc Holliday" , by Artizan Designs

I did these to a basic game standard - simple blocking work , washes then a drybrush. It gave a pleasant dusty look to the end result. I see some fantastic painted Old West stuff , but some of it is just too clean looking to my eye - i magine the old west as being dirty & muddy or dusty!. I have another 30 or so figures a mix of townsfolk, gunslingers ,lawmen etc to do and I will do them all similarly. Once done i will revisit to improve the overall look if need be. Looking forward to the first game against Scott's Marauders!

Zulu Wars - "What about the soup sir?"

I have finished the other Empress Miniature releases picked up at Salute. Now if you have seen the film you know the quote. This figure is yet another excellent one.  I even checked the film just to see what he was wearing - the striped shirt.

and with the others from the Rorkes Drift defenders set

 

Next up Reverand Smith, Surgeon Reynolds & private Hitch

 

And everything from  this week together

I have also "found" (as in forgotten i had bought last year) a 7lb artillery piece set from Empress too, so have assembled that and the gunners are undercoated. So it is choices time for what to do over the rest of the weekend. Teutonic personalities, Cowboys, Old West buildings, Mahdist horde or Zulu War gunners. Choices indeed! hmmm.. it might just be Cowboys as there may be be a game in the offing..."Hey you in the jail....."...  "Oh the Deadwood stage...."  and I have even found a fantastic Al Swearengen figure - he's on order!"

Zulu Wars.

First lot of recent acquisitions completed. Empress Miniatures new character releases.Assistant Commissary James Langley Dalton & Corporal Schiess. Absolutely superb bit of sculpting by Paul Hicks. Really enjoyed doing these two. More to come over the next week.

Added some troopers - done the "Silver Whistle" way - to test it for future large scale Zulu project.  White undercoat, blocked and acrylic washed - definitely a way of getting them done for an en masse. Cheers Pat.

Also Lt Colonel Pulleine

And a 3 day weekend to come, so some painting time planned