Tuesday 29 May 2018

Vampifans Views 107 - Monthly Musings 77

Greetings to all my followers and lurkers. I have had a very busy month hobby wise, which I'll tell you about shortly. But first we have another picture of Vampirella painted by Miguel Sanjulian. I can't fault the painting, which is quite spectacular but somehow this picture doesn't excite me as much as most of his other work. I think it's because I can't see Vampi's face that puts me off it. Your mileage may differ.

So, what I have been up to this past month? Painting and modelling. I built some more 4Ground Wild West buildings and added interior detail to them and a few other buildings in my growing collection. Nearly all of the figures I painted this month were for my Wild West campaigns. This included my 10 Reaper miniatures Wild West characters (5 males and 5 females), whom I will show very soon, 7 undead outlaws from Shadows of Brimstone, a couple of Knuckleduster Gunfighters Ball figures, and a lot of Black Scorpion Tombstone figures. I love the Tombstone figures so much that they are my favourite Wild West figures. I have been buying a lot of figures from this range and next month I'll order the remaining sets I need to give me a complete collection of their range. Amongst the figures I've been painting from this range are mounted and foot figures of the same character, a concept that I wholly approve of. Now I have about a dozen mounted and foot matching figures.
One thing that surprised me with the Knuckleduster figures I ordered (6 good guys and 6 bad guys) is that they come with MDF slottabases, something I'd never seen before. These really blew me away. I think they're fantastic. Unfortunately they don't sell the bases separately. However, a company called Warbases, who appropriately enough specialise in all kinds of bases for wargamers did sell them. I ordered 10 sets of packs, which each contained 15 MDF slottabases and used most of them to base my collection of Black Scorpion Tombstone figures.
I was hoping to post my first Wild West batrep this month but it didn't happen. Boo! However, I have good news for you waiting to see it. It will appear in my next post and here a few teaser photos to show you my town set up and the main protagonists of the scenario.
This is Stillwater in New Mexico, not far from the border with Mexico. The main street runs north and south and the side street runs east and west. The residential buildings have the pale brown roofs and all the business buildings have black roofs.
A view of the southern half of the main street. The Sheriff's office and jail is the only building not produced by 4Ground. It was produced by TT Combat and comes unpainted. I stuck fine grade sandpaper to the roof, which works extremely well. The back half holds the cells and was an optional expansion set, which I thought was an essential purchase.
This is a view up the side street. The background pictures came from the New Modeller's Shop (http://www.newmodellersshop.co.uk/backscenes.htm ) who specialise in model railway products. If you scroll down the page in the link you'll see the desert background set that I bought. This shows a desert scene that is 15" tall and 120" (10 feet) long. It comes rolled up in two 5 feet sections, which I cut in half and stuck onto four pieces of foam-board. I think they are excellent and look very effective in my photographs.
The scenario will be a Gunfight encounter from the Two Hour Wargames Six Gun Sound rulebook. I'm using the much more detailed first edition rules, with a few additions from the second edition. This is the Quick Draw version of the Confrontation encounter with two Rep:5 Bandidas taking on four Rep:4 Outlaws. The two females are called Maria Alvarez (in the red dress) and Sara Sandoval. These were the heroines of a Western film that I thoroughly enjoyed and I admit to falling in love with both of them. They were played by Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek respectively. Does anyone know the name of the film I'm taking about and have you seen it? I'll give the answer in my next post. Because the film is not very well known I'm sure some of you will do a Google or Wikipedia search for it. I'd rather you didn't but there's nothing I can do to stop you.
I have played the scenario and I'm busy editing my photos and typing up the batrep. In the Six Gun Sound rule book the author states that Quick Draw Confrontations are "quick and deadly." He wasn't wrong!

Finally, June 1st is the start date of the Forgotten Heroes challenge and once again I will be taking part. However, my output this year will be considerably less than the last two years when I entered four figures then upped my game and produced six figures last year. This year I'm only entering one figure, whom I'll reveal in a near future post. Best of luck to anyone else who is entering this fun contest.

37 comments:

  1. Great post. I too like Black Scorpion figures. They may not be the most historically accurate but they look so good who cares and besides only a real nerd (puts hand up) will ever know. The back drop looks good and it really sets the town off. All in all excellent stuff.

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    1. Thank you, Clint. Some folk were disappointed when Black Scorpion switched from making figures in metal to resin. This didn't bother me. I love their resin minis so much.

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  2. Cool musings Bryan, and makes sense it has a wild west theme with all the work you've been putting in on it recently, the town looks very effective and the back drop is a great touch. Will you be returning to the world of Judge Dredd and Necromunda as well ?

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    1. Thank you ever so much, Dave. Most of my attention has been focused on Wild West gaming recently. Regarding Judge Dredd and Necromunda, they most certainly will feature on my blog with batreps and figure reviews. It may seem like I've forgotten them, but I haven't.

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  3. Brill post Bryan. Your town looks fab!

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  4. Town looks great Byran & only makes me want to get into the Old West even more, but I've a few things needs doing before that.

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    1. Cheers, Frank. I fully understand. So much to do and so little time.

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  5. It's looking good Bryan, thanks for the link to the background print, I've been thinking I should have one but been too lazy to look, this is a good find. Knowing you, you will have done a thorough search, did you come across any without the mountains, just flatish desert with a big sky?
    Next question - the waggon with the cover, did you make the cover or buy it? I have seen resin covers but they are very expensive, either way it looks excellent.
    The town is looking excellent, am looking forward to your games, I found with the quick draw game in 6 Gun Sound, it was all over very quickly and you had very little control over what happens, and too many guns get emptied too quickly, with cap and ball guns that's a bad idea.
    Bring it on is all I can say. :)

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    1. Thank you most kindly, John. This was the best desert background I could find. I know exactly what you mean, but I never came across anything like that. Mind you there are a hell of lot of firms selling backgrounds for model railways so maybe someone will make a "proper" desert background but I suspect it will be unlikely.

      The wagon model came with the cover. It is made of plastic and is removable. It nicely slots into the wagon.

      You're not wrong about the Quick Draw scenario being quick and lethal. It was all over in one turn. I'll post the batrep real soon.

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    2. Thanks for the info on the background, I'll try and get round to having a look for one.
      The waggon and cover sounds interesting, do you mind me asking who makes it.

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    3. You may also want to look at vivarium backdrops John, as they do a lot for desert dwelling creatures

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    4. John, I'm sorry but I can't remember who made this chuck wagon. All I know is that it was a Japanese firm. I bought it way back in the 1980's, so it most likely is now long out of production.

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  6. I love your wild west town Bryan, that looks the business that is one town worth fighting over!

    Best of luck with your Forgotten Heroes entry, I'm looking forward to getting underway myself now.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thank you so much, Roger. I'm immensely happy with my Wild West town.

      Thank you for the good wishes on my Forgotten Heroes entry, I'll probably reveal who it is after my Wild West batrep.

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  7. Marvellous layout Bryan, and well worth all your hard efforts. I'm looking forward to seeing what you conjure up for "Forgotten Heroes" :-)

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    1. Thank you, Simon. I'll reveal who I'm working on for my Forgotten Heroes entry next week.

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  8. Oh man that game looks great! Looking forward to the report. 😉

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    1. Thanks, Tom. Fortunately you won't have long to wait.

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  9. Stillwater looks real purdy pardner, an' I'm lookin' forward to seeing more of it up close an' personal like when the shootin' starts!
    Excellent work Bryan :-)

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    1. Much appreciated, Greg. There will be lots of close up shots in the batrep before, during and after the gunfight.

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  10. Hi Bryan, I have been a lurker of your blogs for quite some time and of course enjoyed this one also. I believe the name of the film is 'Bandidas' and since there are two women involved, I'm happy to share. ;-)

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    1. Hi and welcome, Solo Gamer. Many congratulations - you're right, the film is called "Bandidas." I didn't think anyone was going to get it.

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    2. Thanks for the warm welcome Bryan. Please feel free to check out my blog and...are you aware of this company? https://www.ragingheroes.com/

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    3. You're most welcome, my friend. Do you have a link for your blog? Regarding Raging Heroes I am most certainly aware of them and I do like most of their products but I haven't been able to afford any yet. If I was into Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000 I'd use many of their figures as proxies instead of the GW figures.

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    4. Link to my blog. https://singledice.blogspot.com/

      They would be awesome to use in 40k and I'm thinking their Jailbirds Coyote crew would do for Necromunda. Thoughts?

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    5. Thank you kindly. I'm now following your blog. The Jailbirds would fit into Necromunda very well, in my opinion.

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  11. A very nice set up. I must get some card ruins for a Morheim/ Frostgrave set up.

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  12. AWESOME town, pardner! Done with the same fabric epic tales are made of! :O)

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  13. My jaw has not yet left the floor due to those teaser pics...

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    1. In that case check out the actual batrep, Russ.

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