Knuckleduster Wild West Starter Faction

Knuckleduster Miniatures produce a superb range of 32mm scale Wild West figures for their Gunfighters Ball range that, as far as I'm concerned, are second only in quality to the Tombstone range produced by Black Scorpion. As well as selling individual figures, they also sell faction sets, which usually consist of six figures and these are better value than buying the figures individually. The faction sets cost £18.50 for six figures as opposed to paying £21.00 if you bought the same six figures individually. Obviously, the first faction set I bought was this one here - the starter faction. It does contain six figures but I'm only showing five of them here. The missing figure - Honest John - will appear in another post real soon. He has joined another faction.

At the far left is "Rowdy Jack" Ferguson, a cowboy. He is armed with a .44 Colt Army Revolver. Next to him, is his his good friend, "Buck-tooth" Billy Watkins. He is armed with a pair of .44 Colt Army Revolvers. In the centre of the group is hired gunfighter, "Mysterious Dave" Mather. Dressed in a smart suit, he has notched up a few kills already. He, too, is armed with a .44 Colt Army Revolver.

Second from the right is bartender Bob O'Neill who is armed with a 12 gauge Double-Barrelled Shotgun, which he no doubt keeps handy behind his bar. At the far right is "California Kate" Knox, who took over the leadership of "the Graceful Seven" and renamed them "the Elegant Eight." She is a Rep:5 Star with the Born Leader, Marksman and True Grit attributes in Six Gun Sound. She is armed with a .45 Colt Cavalry Revolver and a Knife.
These are really beautifully sculpted figures and I plan on collecting the complete range of them. My favourite figure here, has to be "California Kate," whom I had to add to my Graceful Seven gang as their leader. These are all one piece metal castings. Rather unusually, they come with MDF slottabases, which I like a lot more than plastic slottabases.

DMH The Graceful Seven

As soon as I saw this set of The Graceful Seven from Great Escape Games' Dead Man's Hand range, I knew I had to buy them. They are listed under the DMH Collectibles (Stronghold Terrain) section and they cost £32.00 for all seven figures. A group of gunfighter saloon girls was just what I wanted, although I was a bit surprised they weren't called The Saucy Seven! I guess The Graceful Seven is  more tasteful.The one thing that I was slightly concerned about is no scale was given for them. However, all was fine when I received them and discovered they were about 30mm tall. I named them all and gave them stats for Six Gun Sound. Let's have a closer look at them.

At the far left is Goldie "Dusty" Cole, a Rep:5 Gunslinger with the Marksman and Tough Attributes, who is armed with a 12 Gauge Scattergun.
Second from the left is Lydia "The Cheat" King, a Rep:4 Gunslinger with the Marksman and Expert Gambler Attributes, who is armed with a Smith and Wesson .32 Pistol.
Moving on, is Irene "Lucky" Fry, a Rep:4 Gunslinger with the Marksman and Lucky Attributes, who is armed with a Colt .45 Peacemaker Pistol.
In the centre is Grace "Big Gun" Mullen, a Rep:5 Gunslinger with the Marksman and Quick Reflexes Attributes, armed with a Long-Barrelled Colt .45 Buntline Pistol.

The plump red-headed lady is Abbie "Brawn" Savage, a Rep:5 Gunslinger with the Marksman and Brawler Attributes, who is armed with a 12 Gauge Scattergun. She is my favourite figure out of this group.
Second from the right is Susie "Shootout" Lester, a Rep:5 Gunslinger with the Marksman and Crackshot Attributes, who is armed with a Colt .45 Pistol.
Finally, is Genevieve "Songbird" Hogan, a Rep:4 Gunslinger with the Marksman and Resilient Attributes, who is armed with a Colt .45 Pistol.

Knuckleduster's "California Kate"

Note that these are all Grunts and that I haven't nominated any of them as the Star Leader. I had planned on making Grace "Big Gun" Mullen the leader but when I was checking out the Knuckleduster Gunfighters' Ball range of figures I saw this figure to the left. She is called "California Kate" and I thought she'd be a perfect leader for this gang, although if I did add her I'd have to rename the gang. So, the gang will now be known as The Elegant Eight.
I could have made these ladies a gang of outlaws but I prefer the idea of them being Gunslingers in the style of The Magnificent Seven. I plan on basing them in the Sassy Gal saloon, made by 4Ground, a most impressive building.
As for the figures, they are very beautiful sculpts and look quite delicate. I do like that they come with various weapons instead of all being armed identically. I should point out that there is one potential problem with them and that is they come with separate hands and weapons. The hands have very small plugs at their wrists to fit into very small holes on the wrists of the arms. I glued them with superglue and when the glue was dry I added more superglue for extra strength. Mine fitted together better than I expected but it could be a problem to some. Be warned!
I'm busy painting "California Kate" right now and she'll be a Rep:5 Gunslinger Star with the Born Leader, Marksman and True Grit Attributes. I am very much looking forward to using them in a batrep but that will be later rather than sooner as I've yet to get the Sassy Gal Saloon. However, it is high up on my "to buy" list.

Knuckleduster Dismounted Horses

Okay, I'll admit that this is certainly not the most exciting figure review post I've done but here it is any way. A couple of months ago when I was about to run my first Six Gun Sound batrep, I knew that one element that was missing from my Wild West scenery items were unmounted horses. I had loads of hitching posts but no horses, apart from one pack mule, to make use of them. Fortunately, quite a few companies produce figures of horses without a rider, so it was just a question of finding one that best suited my needs. In the end I chose this range of GBA03 Standing Saddle Horses from the Knuckleduster Gunfighters Ball range of 32mm scale Animals.

Each pack comes with two horses, one of each of pose and they cost £7.50 for the pair. I ordered three sets to give me six horses.

Being 32mm scale, the horses are a nice size, not too big and not too small, and they fit in well with my other Wild West figures. The horses are nicely equipped with saddlebags, blankets, saddles and reins. Note that on the one in the centre I added a small sack made out of Milliput to the saddle. Quite often if I mix up too much Milliput for what I need, I'll use the excess for making little bags like this.

These next three horses have their heads bowed and their legs are positioned differently to the previous three. Once again, the horse in the centre has had a small sack added to it.

Reading comments from other bloggers it seems that many of you don't like painting horses. I must admit that I thoroughly enjoy painting them. I find them a lot easier to paint than humans. As is usual when painting animals, I refer to Google Images for appropriate colour schemes so that my horses look as realistic as possible.
Look out for these figures in upcoming Wild West batreps. I can see me getting a lot of use out of them. If you are interested in purchasing them, here's the link for them - http://www.caliverbooks.com/figures/catviewer.php?i9nop6ugfsuggnci21s9hqonk7&producer=126&range=32mm%20Animals&menu=2

Assorted Heroines of Western Films 01

I have always been a big fan of Western films and I still am. In recent years I've noticed that more and more Westerns are featuring females in the starring roles, and this is a good thing in my opinion. I have already shown the two heroines from the film, Bandidos in action in my first Six Gun Sound batrep. In this post I want to show the figures I've collected for two more of my favourite Westerns - Bad Girls and The Quick and the Dead.
Bad Girls was made in 1994 and very briefly the film follows four former prostitutes on the run following a justifiable homicide and prison escape, who later encounter difficulties involving a bank robbery, a train robbery and being chased by Pinkerton detectives.

The four Bad Girls who aren't really that bad.

In this still from the film are the four Bad Girls, who are from left to right, Eileen Spenser (played by Andie MacDowell), Anita Crown (played by Mary Stuart Masterson), Cody Zamora (played by Madeleine Stowe) and Lily Laronette (played by Drew Barrymore).

These are the figures I've used to represent the gang and they all came from different companies. At the far left is the gang's leader, Cody Zamora. Cody is based on the Reaper Chronoscope figure, 50111 Diamond Sue Dawson, who costs £5.22 from the Miniature Heroes webstore. Diamond Sue Dawson was far too good a name not to use, so one of my Black Scorpion Tombstone ladies has adopted that name.
Next up is Eileen Spenser and her figure came from the Knuckleduster Gunfighter's Ball range and is GBF37 - Elly. I added her waistcoat, made out of Milliput, which was a really simple conversion. Her figure costs £3.50 from the Caliver Books webstore.

Second from the right is Anita Crown, and she was produced by Black Scorpion as one of four figures in the Tombstone Cowgirls 1 set, which sadly was just withdrawn from sale at the beginning of this month. I suspect that was because the new range of Tombstone Females were released at the same time, but that seems like a strange decision to me. Surely more choice is a good thing? I do wonder if these older figures will ever return? If not, that is a sad thing, but I'm glad I bought mine when I did.
The last figure in line is Lily Laronette produced by Belt Fed Gaming in foot and mounted versions. I've already shown her once before in this post, https://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.com/2018/05/belt-fed-wild-west-ladies-01.html However, she is worth showing again, only this time with her three cohorts.
I have created stat cards for these four to use in my Six Gun Sound games. I feel a team up with my two ladies from Bandidos would make for a fun game.

Sharon Stone as "The Lady" or Ellen

Another strong female lead who greatly impressed me was Sharon Stone's character known only as "The Lady" or Ellen from the 1995 film, The Quick and the Dead. The story focuses on "The Lady", a gunfighter who rides into the frontier town of Redemption controlled by corrupt mayor John Herod (played by Gene Hackman). She joins a deadly duelling competition in an attempt to exact revenge for the death of her father by Herod.
"The Lady" character is a popular figure for sculptors of Wild West miniatures. I know of three such figures and there may well be more. Probably the most well known of them is the Reaper Chronoscope figure - 50003 Cowgirl Ellen Stone. I do like how they have combined Sharon's surname with the character's first name. The only thing that prevented me from using that figure as "The Lady" was the fact that she was armed with a double-barrelled scattergun, which she never used in the film.

However, the figure I have chosen for my own Ellen Stone (somehow that name is so appropriate for her) is this new release from Black Scorpion. This is the female leader on foot and mounted from the Female Faction of the recent Tombstone Kickstarter range. I backed this project as soon as it was launched last year. As soon as I saw this figure, I knew that I wanted to use her as "The Lady".

I copied her colour scheme from the photo shown above. All of the leaders of the seven factions from the Tombstone skirmish game come in foot and mounted versions, which I do like a lot. This is a fantastic sculpt, very animated and a darned good likeness of Sharon Stone. As I said earlier, the female faction has only just gone on sale at the start of this month and the foot version of the female leader costs £4.50 and the mounted version costs £9.50. Expensive, I know, but they are high quality resin sculpts, full of detail.