A Mountie Always Get His Man: On Vacation to Blog-Con and Lard Island

We finally finished transiting from planes, trains and automobiles and are now enjoying the first leg our much anticipated spring vacation. I write this from the picturesque town of Delft, Holland after spending the previous week in the St Alban's area outside of London where we enjoyed the generous hospitality of Sidney and his wonderful family at Roundwood Towers. So now that I'm in a gap between gobbling food, binge drinking and gaming I thought I'd crack off a post and provide a blog update on recent goings on. 

As some may know, last weekend Sidney and I drove up to York to attend Blog-Con. DaveD was kind enough to arrange the venue and put on the first game of the day, a spirited cowboy donnybrook in his storied town of Serenity. This was a real treat as I've had the pleasure of witnessing the progress of this wonderful project over the past two Painting Challenges and now I was getting a chance to play a scenario within it. Brilliant!

(Thanks to Phil and Dave for the great Blog-Con photos displayed here!)

Blog-Con: Great company and a good many laughs.

Being the token Canadian in the crowd I was assigned to play 'The Mountie' in the scenario. His job was to escort the villainous 'Budgie' Ray on to the local train for transport to Canada in order to face charges for crimes against beavers (or something along those lines). 

The Mountie

The Mountie's just mission was opposed by a host of shady characters ranging from bloody-minded Pinkertons to vicious lasso-wielding hillbillies all bent on stopping the virtuous Canuck lawman from doing his duty. Nonetheless, our hero jutted his lantern jaw, furrowed a brow over his narrow-set eyes and resolved to get the job done no matter the cost.

Once he saw what was arrayed against him, the Mountie knew he had to take desperate measures, perhaps cutting a few corners regarding the comfort of his prisoner. With this in mind Ray was unceremoniously shoved off the saloon's balcony, with the intention that he would land in the water trough below and save a bit of time in their bid for freedom. Well, as it turned out, both physics and geometry were not The Mountie's strong suit and poor Ray landed just shy of the trough and was knocked senseless. 

Hmm, where's the splash? Oh, sorry about that Ray old boy...

Undeterred, our Canadian hero jumped down to the ground, fetched some rope from his trusty steed 'Flat-Out' (a name soon to be realized), hog-tied Ray and, not wanting to waste time, set off on his horse dragging the prisoner behind him.

A few local miscreants tried to interfere, but apart from of few wild shots, the steely-eyed stare of The Mountie made them change their minds and leave him be. 

Nonetheless, the arrival of a team of cold-blooded Pinkertons soon made things a bit hot for our hero.  The Canadian's faithful horse tripped on the tracks in front of the moving train, but The Mountie managed to bundle Ray to the other side before the locomotive made glue of the Canadian's unfortunate mount. 

The Pinkertons, these chilling mercenaries of American justice (very ably led by Ian), wounded The Mountie several times but the Canadian girded his jodhpur-clad loins and succeeded in getting both himself and Ray into the caboose of the escalating train.  

After securing Ray to the caboose stove a frenetic gunfight ensued with the Mountie fighting Pinkersons at either end of the rail car. My luck managed to hold out and The Mountie dispatched both assailants in a flurry of pistol shots.

The fierce shootout in the caboose.

The next game was run by Sidney using his fabulous WWI figures and terrain. The scenario was titled 'Get Carter' which entailed the British forces scampering across No Man's Land to rescue their popular Captain Carter. From my post-game discussions with Sidney I understood that the scenario would always be a challenging one for the British. Nonetheless, the Tommies made a valiant go of it and almost pulled the caper off, but were ultimately swamped by elite Stosstruppen released from the German tactical reserve. 

It was a great game and very evocative of the period. I won't go into great detail on it here as Sidney has provided an excellent photographic account on his great blog. He also provides details to running this scenario along with helpful play aids. I must say that I particularly liked the scenario's 'whistle blowing' mechanic. This is where the German side accrued 'alert' points through the whistles of their forward sentries. These alert points eventually built-up to the point where various levels of alarm / activity would be initiated. This added great tension to the game as the British try to creep up to the German lines to quickly snatch Captain Carter and make their escape.

Big kudos go to Sidney in keeping eleven players fully engaged in the scenario. It went right down to the wire and was a treat to both play and view. Well done my good man!

A few days later I got to do it all over again when Sidney hosted a variation of the same scenario for his clubmates on Lard Island. Yes indeed, I had the distinct pleasure to be invited out to a club game night with the collective that makes up Two Fat Lardies. I won't go into the details of the rules behind the game but it did involve the development of the upcoming Version 2 of 'Through the Mud and the Blood'. Pretty exciting stuff.

The nerve center (nerd centre?) of Lard Island...

I must say I was a bit star struck in a dorky kind of way. I'm a big admirer of the Lardies rules and I was quite chuffed to meet all of them and especially to chat with Richard. All the members were very gracious in having a colonial in their midst and were a load of fun to hang out with. I quite enjoyed talking with Richard regarding rulesets, styles of play, clubs, etc. 

Richard and Big Al pondering the enormity of it all...

What particularly impressed me was how open they all were to challenging and changing the mechanics of their own rules. Some rules designers can be a bit pedantic regarding their designs but I was delighted with the enthusiasm and creativity of the group in adapting rules mechanics or changing them entirely. I know, it's pretty nerdy stuff but I found it very cool to witness and be a part of in a small way.

Rich and Big Al looking at Sidney: Patent disbelief on their faces, writ large...

At the end of our stay in the UK I gave out a few figures. Two of them were Mounties, with one of them going to Dave in thanks for the figures he provided me and his great efforts in organizing Blog-Con...

...the other went to Phil whose Pulp Adventure collection seemed desperately in need of a man from the NWMP (North West Mounted Police - the precursor to today's RCMP) to fight the good fight.

I also gave a figure, a French WWI aviator, to Sidney in deep gratitude for his marvellous hospitality over the week.

He just needs a long-ashed gauloises gripped in his fist to complete the scene. 

Thank you Sidney, it was a delight and a privilege to hang out with you! I very much look forward to the next time.

So there we have it! That's brings us pretty much up to date with my adventures. Next up is an update on my participation in the Lead Painters' League and more importantly my gaming visit with the excellent lads from the 'Royal Dutch Water-Bicycle Detachment'. Stay tuned!

From DaveD: 28mm 'The Mountie' (15 points)

From Dave:

OK so here we have a new "lawman" for the town of Serenity, He has come come down from "The Great White North" on the trail of that infamous Badger smuggler and alround ner'do well  "Budgie Ray" and has decided to search for his target in the seedier parts of town. 

Now a certain German bombshell "Miss Lilly" plans to work her charms .... will he be "like wet saurkraut?" or will he resist her charms?

Now "Stumpy" and his street howitzer  don't take kindly to outsiders... will the Mountie get his man..?

This lad is yours to keep after our meet up in May my friend..

Haha! I've been up for waaay too long and I needed a good chuckle, thanks for that Dave.

'The Mountie' will give Dave 15 points to his tally and my grateful thanks. I look forward to seeing 'The Mountie' in York in a few weeks...

From KevinH: T34/85, Zombie Cowboys, Cowboys, Rasputina Gang & Challenge Desperado (160 points)

From Kevin:

OK, just call me "Last Minute Larry"...

Right down to the wire this time.  Here we go...

First off, a set of three Warlord/Bolt Action T-34/85 tanks.  These are the older, resin models - as such, no decals it seems.  Therefore, I had to hand-paint the turret numbers.  After recently watching a clip on Youtube for an old, Czech movie, "Tank Brigade" ("Tankova Brigada"), I think I might try and find some Czech tri-colour roundel decals for the turrets!

Next - FINALLY got my "Wild Bunch" entry finished!  I had to AT LEAST get that one done!  This is a Foundry model, from the "Maxmillian Adventure" line, I think it was...  The model on their site is painted a bit oddly - all "white shirt" but the model doesn't seem to be sculpted that way.  So, since it looks like it's wearing a "sweater vest" over it's shirt, I decided to paint it like a peasant sarape.  I think it turned out pretty good.  And it's got EYES!  I hate painting eyes (hands just aren't steady enough anymore) - so hopefully Curt LOVES those eyes!  ;-)

Next, a pack of Foundry Western Gunfighter Zombies.  I found this pack among the items I bought from my friend's Estate sale.  Nothing too fancy here - I figured they'd be a quick few points as the deadline was drawing near.

Since I did the Western Zombies, I decided to paint up a few Foundry 'human' Gunfighters too.  You can always use more Western Gunfighters!

Last, but not least - the Rasputina gang/crew for the game, Malifaux.  There is beginning to be more interest in this game locally, so I decided it was time to paint up some figures.

The 'crew' consists of Rasputina (a spell-caster type), an Ice Golem, a December Acolyte (a 'tribal/cultist' type with lots of "sneaky" skills), a Wendigo (the model looks like a Chewbacca "mini Me!"), and three Ice Gamin (these are like small Demons or Imps).

I replaced all the "Warmachine/Hordes" style bases with aftermarket resin bases from Dragon Forge < http://www.dragonforge.com/ >

Since the back story on Rasputina has her being up in the mountains of Malifaux, I decided to add a "snowy" touch.  A little thinned white glue and baking soda, and presto! --instant snow!

Well, I haven't had time to total it all up, but I don't think I made my points projection this time around.

I wanted to do some of the Baker Company "Winter War" figures, but I'm still waiting for some to arrive (he had lots of problems with his casting machine, but at least he's keeping people "in the loop!"  I like that.)

Thanks again, Curt.  Hopefully, I have a better showing next year, if you invite me.

Always a pleasure Kevin and thank you very much for the Desperado and providing us with such a feast of miniatures to enjoy.

This collection of excellent figures will give Kevin 160 points, which is precisely what he needed for him to achieve his 300 point target. Nothing like chipping it into the cup Kev! Seriously, brilliant work.

From RossM: 28mm Desperados (20 points)

From Ross:

The pictures below are my final entry for this years Analogue Painting Challenge. The four figures are all 28mm in scale and are again from Artizan Design. A common source of figures for this year's challenge and in keeping with your theme as well. Each of the four figures will see action as a part of a lawman gang in Dead Man's Hand and have been a pleasure to paint. So much so, that I painted a second of the entry fee figure to match! This time however, he was more clean shaven.

I had hoped to achieve much more in this years challenge, however life and work have taken over so far in 2014. Hopefully all will be resolved in the next week and the dust will start to settle. Never the less I am pleased with the finished figures and my planned Last Stand will appear on Brushes and Bases soon.

Thank you again for organizing the Challenge and I am eagerly looking forward to 2015's challenge.

Awesome work Ross! I like your use of a muted palette and all of the figures tie in nicely with one another. A great looking gang.

These four lawmen will give Ross 20 points, enough for him to exceed his Challenge target. Well done and it was great to have you in the Challenge again Ross!

From Millsy: 28mm WWII Steiner's Squad & Bart (70 points)

From Millsy:

This is my final entry and as has become something of a tradition for me I've kept my entry fee submission right to the end. I'm calling this "Plastic Bart vs. The Magnificent Seven" for reasons you will soon understand.

Part one is a set of 28mm miniatures depicting the central German characters from Sam Peckinpah's WW2 classic Cross of Iron. The miniatures are by 1st Corps and quite unlike anything I've painted before. They are proportionally correct and absolutely packed with character but at the same time the sculpting is kind of overstated. The clothing and boots in particular are really chunky, making the subjects look like they're wearing some sort of odd costume. For all that they great fun and I enjoyed painting them far more than I expected.

I used a black undercoat and then numerous coats of lighter shades and highlights to build up depth. I don't often paint black undercoat at this scale but given the palette it works for me. The iron cross is a resin piece and sets things off rather well IMHO, hinting at the subject without giving the game away too easily.

Part two is more of an accident than anything else. When I was rummaging about last week looking for bits for my Napoleonic vignette I came across him in my enormous collection of junk. [ahem] I mean indispensable modelling supplies.

The figure is a *really* crappy plastic cowboy I dug up in my backyard years ago when landscaping. He somehow made his way inside and has been lurking ever since. Yes, really. Plastic Bart is exactly 54mm tall, made of vibrant bright blue bendy plastic and almost certainly came out of a cereal box. Looking at him I thought about how as modellers we often dismiss items like this out of hand. Yet at some point in time an aspiring sculptor quite likely spent a good few hours on him. They put in a pretty decent effort too and I thought I'd see what I could make of it.

So I scraped a LOT of flash and abraded plastic off to begin with and then undercoated him in white. Everything got a base coat of flat colours before inking on the blue and red vs. varnish dip on the other warm colours. Following that there was a lot of blending and adding details in places where much had been rubbed off like the face and hands. He came out much better than expected to be honest. He's no DaveD but he'll do given what I had to work with. Next year I'm going to have a go at converting a thousand Goodies Plastic Spacemen into 40K Terminators. Stay tuned.

So that's my challenge done. Time now for a quick couple of thankyous before I sign off...

To Curt who is truly one of life's gentlemen. Of all the wonderful people I've encountered in this hobby you sit right at the top of the pile, devoting time, copious amounts of effort and mountains of good will for no material gain whatsoever. Unless you count a handful of painted lead and (bright blue) plastic of course. Thanks Curt, you're a true mate in every Aussie sense of the word.

And to my fellow challengers, who are unbelievably talented, funny, creative, inspired, unstinting in their praise and fellowship and in one or two cases I suspect slightly touched. You know who you are. If the interwebs have done nothing else for mankind they have brought us together from all over the world and that'll do for me. Here's to you guys!

And that's it! I'll be in touch soon mate, but for now take care and try to get a little sleep. :-)

Thank you very much for these excellent figures Millsy, but more-so for the very kind words. I'm a bit speechless really. No easy feat there. It means a lot to me that everyone in the Challenge has a good time and gets an opportunity to mix with some of the best people in the hobby. As I've said before I think this 'blogging thing' is social media at its best - if we did not have this technology available to us we would not be able to make these connections around the world, share our interests and enjoy a few laughs. I've made more friends in the past 4 years of blogging than I have since my days in university. It is a great , great gift.

Bart rocks btw.

...and 70 points for you sir!