Back to it.. Works in Progress

Time for some new WIP's I think. The main Old West gaming has been moved over the new blog site "Blazing Dice" to leave this one with it's original aim of recording the painting done. I seem to have just about  shaken off the various injuries and illnesses that have hit over the winter as well . So what is on the table?

First up sees the return of the 71st Highlanders AWI unit , with the Grenadiers under way.

I have been prepping a range of other figures for a clear out of the lead pile. The centre companies for the 71st. An Elite miniatures  Vistula Lancer regiment fom Mark at the WHC. Empress miniatures British Zulu sets, Dixon and Steve Barber miniatures for the Bootleggers game later in the year. Doctor Who , a Tardis and a Mummy. Perry Napoleonic command set and adc's as well. So all in all a reasonably diverse selection.. oh and there may be an odd stray cowboy...

So lets see just how quick I can clear this little lot , as I am in need of some serious points over at the Analogue Hobbies 3rd Annual painting challenge.

Tumbletown Stage Robbery- Serenity Campaign -Game 6

The James gang (now there is a classic Old West name for you) , were up next. They were planning to hit the Stagecoach into Tumbletown coming from Hope Springs while it went through Pikes Pass just near the edge of town. One of the gang "Jeff - the Boom"  had been left in town for a period and was planning to use his explosives skills to help cause a distraction if any of the locals of the 4 town lawmen thought about interfering.

The other members of the gang had taken up position in the rocks, the stage thundered into view.

 The route into town

 All quiet in town so far

The stage moved through pass, the turns of the card gave it 3 almost consecutive moves - if Steve who was rolling for the movement had rolled anything above a 5 on two dice , it may even have got through the ambush!

 Something had to be done to stop it. The Greenhorn Bart moved forward and using an action card let out a warning shot attempting to halt the stage - this shot was also heard further down in town. Now everyone knew there was something afoot. The stage driver put a hand on his shotgun , and cracked the reins to move the team along. 

"JJ" the Terrifying , Ambidextrous , Shootist (he's a nasty character alright) gang leader sensing things had the potential to go wrong , moved in and started blasting away at the stage, hitting the coach and also killing two horses which brought the team to a halt .

The stage occupants , and gambler and an actress hit the floor. The gang approached the stage. "JJ" pointed his guns into the coach , "Your Money" he demanded with a menacing look. The two occupant's checked their nerves , and proceed to empty their purses.. $300.00... not enough thought "JJ". 

The first shot had brought one of the town lawmen out on horseback to investigate , trouble is it was the Daniels the greenhorn with shotgun. He rode into view and seeing what was going on he lifted his weapon , and moved in closer. Seeing the terrifying "JJ" he panicked and galloping away, rode off further into the pass and past Bart.  Bart not missing an opportunity to back shoot the lawmen let loose with his rifle. FATAL HEAD SHOT, ouch. One law man down.

   The unlucky deputy , back shot by Bart.

Back in town the other 3 lawmen were heading for their mounts, a cowpoke who was in town even offered to come and help them. Time for Jeff to light the fuse on the distraction. He threw the single stick of dynamite toward the mine supply company, it landed fine, just ready and waiting for his chance to blow it with his Explosive skill test. The "fizzing fuse" card was shuffled into the deck, a test for "Kaboom" would be made when it turned up.

The fire starts to take hold

The card turned up pretty quick , Jeff threw and passed "Kaboom" it went off. We tested to see for extra collateral damage. There were 4 more sticks of dynamite that went off . The building was ablaze. Jeff legged it out of town wishing his horse was nearer! We made every character in town take a PANIC test as they activated. The Sheriff was seen cowering behind the jail. Two others were OK and mounted horses to try and deal with the desperado's.

Back at the stage , more threats were issued and the gang flushed with success after killing Daniels set about systematically raiding the coach. More money was found, altogether they had $3000 in 3 lots.  However they were a little distracted by this success, and missed Stumpy the stage driver who had recovered his shock & overcame his fear and flicked the shotgun up, BOOM. The shot was on target and Bart the greenhorn at the rear of the coach took the full force 3 hits , down he went with lead poisoning, FATAL GUTSHOT

"JJ" spun and shot at the driver , missing , but still caused driver to drop the shotgun and off he ran. The wild shots at such close range did however hit both the cowering passengers wounding  the gambler and the actress.

A rescue party from the town.

Two lawmen from town were now getting close. The gang headed back for their horses. A shot was aimed at "JJ"  wounding his leg and knocking him down. Would the lawmen be able to capitalise?

Smith the lawman had closed in enough for an attempted arrest (we were not letting the lawmen shoot opponents on the ground), just then "JJ" recovered and got up. Now it all depended on the turn of the cards. Seeing more lawmen approaching from town Smith decided at such close quarters to try a Hand to Hand combat which would knock the bad guy out so they could have a proper trial in town. The two slugged it out trading blows , but "JJ" was getting the upper hand, Smith went down. "JJ" was able to recover and at this point picked up a group of action cards, meaning all the remaining  gang would get a turn,

"JJ" made for the horses , the rest who were mounted already turned and made ready to gallop off, the cards were played , and the gang were off. 

The lawmen had to move to help the the wounded occupants of the stage, hell this mob had shot a woman. Time to get out some "Wanted" posters printed

The gang hit the trail hard and were last seen heading through "Serenity" boasting of their exploits so much some young fool has tagged along in the hope of adventure.


This was a game that really could have gone either way , if the lawman from the town had all arrived together just as Stumpy on the coach let fly with his shotgun they would have overwhelmed the gang. As it was it was getting close , but "JJ" picking up a "fist full of action cards" meant he was able to get all the gang away. Once more we had the result that the bad guy gang member who  has pulled off the kill has become a victim himself.

Now of course this was the Stagecoach from Hope Springs .. the new law there  AKA the "Scott Mob" may come under pressure to do something about the lawlessness in the region.

Hope Springs - Smash & Grab- Serenity Campaign game 4

Well game 4 (and 5 of sorts) last night. This saw the 5 man Scott Mob attempt to carry out an audacious -and sneaky - plan. Their leader and his shootist partner had spent a campaign move turn making nice and being friendly with the locals in the mining town of Hope Springs. The town had only two incumbent lawmen one of which who was partial to a drink.The remaining 3 members were heading into town to cause trouble and make the other two look good in the eyes of the locals.

 It was all quiet.

The 3 strangers rode into town and  met at the Lapetamaine Mining Supply Co ignoring the potential affections of the saloon girls on the way. At the other end of town Scott had engaged Sheriff Duke with his Smooth Talking skills and was busy offering a drink from his hip flask to keep him there. 

Kelly  the other gang Shootist was holed up in the Grand Hotel keeping an eye on the townsfolk, sipping his whiskey with his gun hand.

The 3 men seeing all was still quiet moved into the Mining Supply Co, where the slightly crazed steely eyed Terrifying gunman Sharpe looked hard at Lapetamaine, levelled his weapon and with menace demanded money and dynamite all of course with mo payment. Lepetamaine gulped, thought about making a stand , but failing a panic test handed over the goods. So far so good. 

At this point one of the saloon girls moved over to try and see if she could encourage some custom, through the door of the Mining Company she saw the levelled weapon and the look of fear on Lepetamaine's face , a scream rent the air, as she turned and fled. Sharpe swore as he spun around.

Sheriff Williams across the street moved to see what the problem was, drawing his pistol. One of the gang quickly felled Lepetamaine with a blow from his pistol - one threat gone. The gang then burst from the building one by one heading for thier horses. Williams called for them to stop or he would shoot - he was thinking twice , he was outnumbered 3-1 ... where the hell was Duke when you needed him - no doubt in the saloon. He saw the crazed terrifying look of Sharpe and decided perhaps today would not be a good day to try and arrest them. He held back from shooting, after all he was not sure what had happened. 

At this point Ned Johnson the Dry Goods store owner and members of the Citizens Vigilance Committee decided there was something very wrong here , and that something needed to be done .He picked up his Shotgun stepped out of the store and pointed it towards two of  the mounted gang galloping out of town. He let loose , BOOM, BOOM , but his aim was off just behind the fleeing horsemen.

                                                      Ned lets fly with his shotgun

 The  3rd gang member Dawson shot at the Sheriff before he had chance to recover his composure or got reinforcements , but missed. The stranger from the saloon appeared and fired after the fleeing horseman , but they were out of pistol range..

 

 Sheriff Williams recovered his composure and shot after the fleeing horseman, hitting Dawson with a legwound , but "click" , out of ammo. The 3 horsemen sped off out of town, just as Scott and Sheriff Duke arrived running from the far end of town.

                                          The Sheriffs parting shot, a wound to the last stranger

Lepetamaine was discovered alive but battered , with a $1000 taken and several sticks of dynamite handed over. What were the town going to do... There was a call for a posse !! Hell there were only 3 of them to chase. Scott , and the cool stranger from the saloon offered to join with the two Sheriffs, and  Johnson the blacksmith volunteered to go with them , that made 5 against 3. The bad guys were only a few miles ahead heading out towards Pico Canyon

 The town posse sets off in hot pursuit

The posse tracked the gang through the canyon, Williams an experienced Shootist was vigilant for an ambush as they entered a likely area. All eyes were peeled when a shape was seen moving atop a rocky outcrop

Hmmm , looks like ambush country

Where were the rest of the gang, shots began to ring around from both sides. It was a fine place for an ambush.

  Find some cover boys

The Posse sped through shooting wildly looking to get some cover, , strangely two of them hung back

 

Dawson the previously wounded bad guy was looking for some personal revenge, and drew a bead on his moving target, the shot cracked , Williams fell from his horse, struck between the eyes.

  Long range death!

The blacksmith saw Sharpe , but fired and missed , Sharpe turned & felled the poor blacksmith , filling him full of lead, leaving him seriously wounded and knocked out - to be finished off later. Sheriff Duke was all alone , but he was feeling courageous and spurred forward to engage the bad guy who had killed Williams,calling for support. He found the gangs horses, and thought to shoot them , but seeing he was alone again  he drew his pistol an blazed away at the bad guy on the rocks.

 Sheriff Duke finds the gangs horses, and wonders where the others have gone?

Dukes retribution, but too late, he was then overwhelmed by the gang. 

The Scott gang had eliminated the town lawmen, but had lost a gang member. The two of the Scott gang members who had been in town recovered the casualties, the stolen loot and dynamite and  returned to Hope Springs with a sorry tale of ambush , but they had recovered the loot and killed a bad guy - unfortunately the Sheriffs were dead... seeing as there was was now a vacancy in town could they apply?

After some discussion the Town Committee accepted Scott and his friend for town sheriff and deputy . Hell they needed someone to keep law and order...

A clever plan by Steve produced two interesting encounters. The first proving it was not all about shooting , but some long term campaign planning, Mind he was a little lucky on the card order some turns, but that just made it all the more frustrating for the "good" guys who were always on the back foot. Again this scenario really needed a GM which I did to help keep the other players in the dark for bit. It was all part of building gang experience and resources until the main players start to meet each other.

It will interesting to see where this strand goes as the Scott Mob look to take over the town, will other gangs react , Legends of the West turn up, other random events?  All good fun...

I am going to move the Old West campaign onto a dedicated blog Trouble in Serenity Territory , and keep One Man & His Brushes for the painting and new projects.

Dom’s Good Deed. – Serenity Campaign – Game 3

One of the real delights of the cowboy campaign is that it is throwing up various styles of scenario, and with 8 active players each with differing approaches to achieving success giving me some things think about while I organise it.

So last night saw one of the gangs who were out in the Indian Territory being presented with a scenario where they had heard a commotion from over the hill and had set off to help and save the intrepid settlers/explorers – the Pearson family who were under attack from a notorious Indian leader “Two Clouds”.

Steve was playing the Indians, The Pearson’s were played by me as GM and were nervous as hell!!  Pa a prospector had taken the family into the hills to seek his fortune, Ma, Sissy and Junior were at the wagon when Indians were seen up on the rocks, and warning shots had been fired.

The commotion had alerted Dom’s gang to some excitement. Could they get some good fame points by rescuing the embattled Pearson’s, or better still see off the pesky varmints. 

 "Runs with the wind" KO's Pa Pearson

Dom got lucky dicing to come on the side of the table with no Indians between him and the Peason's.

“Two Clouds” looked on as “Never Silent” and “Grey Wolf” harried the poor citizens with some long range fire. “Runs with the wind” using his SWIFT skills raced from the rocks charging towards the tethered horses looking to incapacitate one. Pa Pearson seeing the threat moved to fight him he could not use his shotgun for fear of killing his animals. A vicious hand to hand took place with multiple blows being exchanged , “Runs with the wind” was getting the upper hand and finally felled Pa Pearson – Junior and Sissy panicked and ran for the far hills – Ma Pearson picked up the heavy frying pan to defend her honour.

Dom’s gang  (Dom, Russ, Pete, Walt) rode on together  and raised rifles to start long range shooting – but to little effect . This seemed to instil more urgency into “Two Clouds” band  .

"Two Clouds" makes his way into the game

The rest of the Indians emboldened by “Runs with the winds” success charged down toward the wagon . A shot rang out – a flesh wound to “Runs with the wind”, Greenhorn Walt had found that lucky shot. Dom had sped his horse to intercept Junior as he headed round behind the rocks .He managed to calm the teenager and get him onto his horse.

Russ charges his steed towards the wagons in the hope of picking up young Sissy and Ma – he managed to get Sissy but came up short of Ma – “Two clouds” was heading their way intent on bloody murder. An action card was played , Russ moved again managing to get Ma on the front of the horse , but  with 3 people on it the move was curtailed – would he get away.?

“Two Clouds” took aim with his bow, and the horse was hit and impaled, next he charged in and pulled Russ from the saddle intent on using his fighter skills to overwhelm the rescuer, with the next action. Ma fell from the horse as Sissy panicked once more and the wounded frightened horse sped off carrying her away from safety. “Two Clouds” took a vicious swipe from Ma’s frying pan - “a cracking 10 being rolled” she was a tough old bird- leaving him with a real sore head. He turned and felled her in the next round of hand to hand.  

“Two Clouds” had his blood up and was intent on felling Russ next , but had missed Dom climbing up on the rocks taking aim with his rifle – crack – One Hit – “Fatal Head Shot”, the Indian leader was felled.

“Grey Wolf” mean time had taken the opportunity to scalp Pa - much to “Runs with the winds” chagrin, “Never silent” was intent on looting the wagon and hiding from the horsemen.

Pete finally deciding to do something galloped his steed to rescue “Russ” before the remaining Indians got themselves back together. He pulled of a superb shot while galloping past the wagon , seriously wounding “Runs with the wind” in the leg – he won’t be so fast now!  Thanks to a few action cards he was able to pick Russ up and move on round the rocks to meet up with Dom – they decided to call it day , no gang members were wounded , and they had rescued the now orphan Junior.

The Indians were squabbling over who will take control, and had found a rather fine bag of gold in the wagon – Pa had been a successful prospector after all.

Sissy on her wounded horse did not get far. She was rounded up by “Grey Wolf” and his band - another scenario for another day “The Rescue of Sissy”

Junior has joined Dom’s gang – where else would he go. He “Hates” Indians, and had picked up a useful “Explosives” skill while working with his Pa, he needs to grow up a bit to lose his RUNT skill though.

Dom’s crew headed to the nearest town “Casper”  where Junior told his tale of daring rescue by Dom, parents murdered , his sister being lost , and the demise of the notorious Indian leader – the gang were feted in town – extra bonus Fame points for good deeds. Oh and tales of a gold strike in Indian Territory – talk about trouble brewing.

Apologies for the moment , technical difficulties with getting the better pictures off Steves phone, we will have another go at it tomorrow!