Sunday, January 28, 2018

An Old West Scenario


Getting some plains and woodland Indians finally done over the last couple of weeks, I got the itch to pull out the Old West buildings again - which hadn't seen the light of day for close to two years I think.


My go to rules for the Old West is Dead Man's Hand by Great Escape Games. It's fast and fun and with super easy rules it's really easy to teach. Plus I really love games that have card interrupts :)


I threw this table together really quickly over the weekend in hopes I could get someone over to roll some dice - well, that in fortunately didn't work out. DMH requires at least two players, and I can't see any way to modify things to work as a solo game.


But I do have the Pulp Alley solo deck so I think I'm going to try to write up some leagues for the cowboys and Indians and have a go at a solo game using the PA rules.


I had a narrative ready for DMH which had the Indians attempting to steal horses from the Wells Fargo Express stables.


Stealing at least six horses was going to be the main objective for the Indians, using 1 action would allow you lasso a horse. Two horses would be the max any one Indian could lasso while mounted.


I think this can be a really solid narrative for PA , and it will also allow more objectives throughout the board - specifically the Express building itself and the stagecoach.


Who knows, maybe this can turn into a little 3 or 4 episode campaign - I think the story elements are definitely there for something like that. Perhaps episode 2 has the stagecoach escaping in an attempt to make to the next town.


I kind of went a bit overboard with the scatter terrain around and inside the Express building lol!


This particular WF Express stop has a ton of supplies and why it is a prime target for bandits and Indians.


That's my story anyway, and I'm sticking to it :) Besides, you can never have enough scatter terrain right?


One thing I did do before setting up the table was to finally add shingles to the stables.


This was one of the very first 4Ground kits I ever built, but never did a post about it.


This was also the very first 4Ground kit that I modified. I completely cut off the front façade. I wanted my stables to be more like a large barn on a farmstead instead of a stables in a town.


Unfortunately I only had the bleached wood shingles - I really think the new wood shingles, which are a nice deep brown color, would have really made the barn pop. Now everything just kind of blends into itself. And honestly, I don't like it at all.


I do have some washes and pigments so maybe I'll see if I can darken the shingles up this week.

Until next time, thanks for looking!
Ivor

30 comments:

  1. Great idea and scenario! I love the Wells Fargo wagon. :-)

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    1. Thanks Jay! Now only if you, John, and Roy could swing by that'd be great :) I've always liked the stagecoach, just for the life of me can't remember why I didn't base the entire thing?! Looks really odd seeing it now.

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    2. Lol ... man, that would be awesome! Of I ever win the lottery I'm building a small community of houses ... we'll all live there and wargame. The wargame compound. Lol.

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    3. It won't let me post it, so just imagine that Oprah GiF raising her arms and screaming "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssss"!!
      How about the wargaming cul de sac lol!

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  2. What a gorgeous set up. Shame you never got to play.

    The 'Legends of the Old West' rule set by GW is always our go to rule set for wild west shoot outs.

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    1. Much appreciated Riot! Happens more than not unfortunately, setting up a table for a game and then staring at the phone hoping it will ring lol! I'm not familiar with LOTW, is there solo play rules? Seems that always has to be a caveat these days.

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    2. Unfortunately not. I think the 'pulp alley' rule set is still your best bet for solo play :0(

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    3. Oh well, maybe I'll still give them a look anyway.

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  3. Fab looking table dude. I have always fancied doing something Wild West themed but could never settle on anything. Very envious of your setup it looks great.

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    1. Thanks a lot Simon! It's a fun genre, lots of narrative, fun characters, and locations.

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  4. What a great looking table, I’d have loved to play on it!

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    1. Thanks my friend! I really wish all you guys lived closer lol! I've got plenty of toys for everyone :)

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  5. A wonderful table Ivor just crying out for a game to be played out on it : ) I think a little campaign could work well, game 1 stagecoach heading into town, game two town under attack, game 3 Cowboys ride out after the Indians : )

    I would agree with you on the bran needing a wash or something to bring out the best in it.

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    1. Appreciate the kind words Frank! After posting last night I had a bit of a think on the table and where it can go from there and I see a lot of John Ford's movies sneaking into the storyline :)
      On one hand, super happy I finally got the barn shingled, but super disappointed that the shingles blend in so much to the rest of the barn. Wish I would have had some packs of the new wood shingles, then I could just check this one off the books.

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    2. I think a little wash & a bit of wreathing on the shingles & the barn will be top notch mate so down be down beat on it.

      John Ford you say, now there's a top director I say : )

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    3. Ha! I knew you'd would appreciate that - I've got something really neat in the queue I think you'll like, very Monument Valley Ford-esque :)

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  6. Hi Ivor, wonderful table as usual.
    I myself had a DMH game with a friend this saturday evening ! An AAR is on it's way.
    If I'd dare to give you an advice, I'd say the tiles are fine. Why don't you try to "whiten" the barn's walls ? Then with some weathering pigments and dirts the contrast would be great ! ( and no need to change the shingles - the new ones are definitly too orange to me )

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    1. Thanks a lot Tristan! Does this mean you've got a blog going? You'll have to let everyone know with a link :) Interesting, I'll have to take a closer look at the walls, maybe that will be easier than weathering all the shingles. I hadn't even thought of that.

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    2. Hi Ivor,
      Well not a real blog yet...But my game partner wrote the AAR and posted it on the french studio tomahawk forum ( they did translate the game and modified a few rules here ).
      We didn't translate it for the moment but you can have a look at the picts here :

      http://studio-tomahawk.forumgratuit.org/t3667-ya-pudpapier-compte-rendu-de-partie#37012

      I'll try to send it on the dMH facebook page too.
      Have you got a facebook page by the way ?

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    3. Those are some great photos! Nice to see the church and windmill on the table :)
      I do have a Facebook page (Mo Salah from Liverpool being presented as the king from The Lion King is my profile picture lol!), but I really only go on there for hobby related stuff - Facebook makes it too easy for people, especially in America right now, to show their true colors of hate, intolerance, and isolationism. I don't have time for those kinds of thoughts or people, as a whole we're better than that and we've got to be :)

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  7. Stunning collection of terrain and mini's Ivor, and you've GOT to get using 'em! :-)
    While "Pulp Alley" might work well enough, I'd throw "High Moon" from THW into the ring for consideration - plenty of western 'flavour' along with Ed's top notch solo / co-op rules, which can be played 'straight' or you can add in some supernatural stuff if the mood takes you.

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    1. Thanks for the kind words! High Noon sounds very interesting - I did a search last night and seemed to have found everything but what you are kind of describing, including a card game. You don't have a link or a website you could post up?

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    2. Sorry, I should have done that in my original comment - it's one of the titles no longer available direct from the THW webstore, but you can get it from "Rebel Minis" here.....
      http://www.rebelminis.com/himodere.html

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    3. Much appreciated! The Rebel Minis link is perfect! Thanks again :)

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  8. Hi Ivor I just saw the title of your post on Frank's blog and popped over for a look and glad I did. Shame you didn't get a game in but the table looks really good and your scenario sounds very workable.
    I'm very impressed with the scatter terrain, do you mind me asking did you make the hay bales and if so how and one of the sacks of flour is that a printed label stuck on our did you paint it?
    I've just made some sacks from DAS they should be dry today so I shall be pinching your label idea.
    Regarding the barn, shouldn't the shingles and the lumber age a similar colour? I agree it looks a bit samey maybe you could paint the walls green or some other colour to get a better definition.
    Cheers

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    1. Much appreciated Vagabond! Yeah, Frank and I have been following each other for quite awhile now, he always puts on a great game :)
      Scatter terrain really helps to set a scenario or story and I can never have enough of it lol! Those two particular ones you asked about are actually made for model railroads, so they are store bought. The hay bales come from JTT Scenery and the flour sack is from Woodland Scenics - both are O scale.
      Regarding labels on terrain maybe have a look at something I tried late last year using Mod Podge Photo Transfer Medium http://saturdaymornings13.blogspot.com/2017/11/whats-new.html
      Maybe that could help you with some labels :)
      Yeah, probably in the "real world" the sun would have bleached the shingles to the color they are now, I just need a wash or something to make it so the walls and roof don't blend in together so much color wise.

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    2. Thanks for the info the modge Podge sounds interesting stuff although what I read on your blog and elsewhere maybe not so easy to use.
      Shame about the hay bales, I try to make rather than buy, I am so cheap. I thought it might be some sort of filter but it looked too dense.
      Cheers

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    3. I would definitely give it a try - just don't make the couple of mistakes I made (leaving white on the outside of the image and trying to put it on MDF) and you'll be fine. It would be perfect for DAS clay.
      I don't know if you are in the US or not, but Michael's and Hobby Lobby give away coupons like candy - much like you I'm cheap :), I got the Mod Podge bottle for 4 dollars at Michael's and then the hay bales for 6 dollars at Hobby Lobby. I'll even drag my wife or son into the store at the same time so they can buy something for me and use a coupon too lol!

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  9. Excellent looking terrain and minis Ivor. :)

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