From FrederickC - The Devil's Right Hand - Gunfighters of the Old West and Two Circles of Hell [Greed][Wrath] (145 points)

In the Spring of last year I picked up the rules for 'What A Cowboy' from TooFatLardies. The mechanics of the game has similarities with their 'What A Tanker' rules, which I enjoy playing with the local gang of Fawcett Avenue Conscripts. However I didn't have any appropriate figures to go with the rules. While on my re-enacting travels I came across two sets of multipart plastic figures from Great Escape Games to go with their Dead Man's Hand rules. Each box contains two identical sprues with five sets of legs and torsos, but with enough options of heads, arms, and weapons to build ten unique figures. They have since come out with a box of mounted gunfighters, but the heads, and torsos match those in the first of the two sets. That is definitely a future project of building mounted versions of the gunfighters I have just painted.

In July I attended Historicon and the theme was 'From Hollywood to Historicon". Their 40th Anniversary Mini was a figure of ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’ sculpted by Paul Hicks. It will be a useful addition to all the other gunfighters.

All the figures came with small oval bases, so they got glued onto larger 25mm round bases, and a layer of fine sand was then added to the bases with PVA glue. They were primed black with a rattle can before being painted with a variety of Vallejo and Army Painter acrylics. All the figures were given a coat of Army Painter Soft Tone Wash. The bases were painted with craft acrylics and a few tufts of dry grass were added. Here is the final result.

21 unique gunfighters of the Old West

Here are some closeups of the figures built from the Gunfighters box. There were two figures where I didn't like the fit of the neck to the torso, so I covered up the area with a bandana sculpted out of epoxy putty. I have arranged the figures in the two photos so that the legs match from left to right. I was able to create ten unique figures from the options available.

Gunfighters - Group A

Gunfighters - Group B

 Here are some closeups of the figures built from the Gunfighters II box. Again I have arranged the figures in the two photos so that the legs match from left to right. It shows the variety that can be created from the options available to once more give ten unique figures.

Lady Gunfighters - Group A

Lady Gunfighters - Group B

 I am going to use the gunfighters with masks, in the act of robbing the town bank, the train from Deadwood, or the Wells-Fargo stagecoach, for the fourth Circle of Hell - Greed.

"Hands up," says Bill Miner. "Hands up!" 

"Reach for the sky, sodbusters!"

"Plutus guarding the Fourth Circle of Hell - Greed" by William Blake

Now we come to a tale of murder, hatred, revenge, and retribution with Clint Eastwood as 'The Outlaw Josey Wales'. For those who may not have seen the movie, watch the official trailer on Youtube. I will use this figure to represent the fifth Circle of Hell - Wrath.

"Well, you gonna pull those pistols, or whistle 'Dixie'?"

 

"The Stygian Swamp of the Fifth Circle of Hell - Wrath" by William Blake

The eight female gunfighters not used for ‘Greed’ I will bank for the present to use as succubi or seraphim at a later point in the Divine Comedy. Whether tough and wily Cowboys, stoic Lawmen, ruthless Outlaws and crazy Desperados, they are all member of the cult of 'The Devil's Right Hand'. 

The points being claimed are as follows:

21 x 28mm foot figure @ 5 points =  105 points

2 x Circles of Hell - Greed & Wrath = 40 points 

Thanks for stopping by.

Sylvain: Pilgrim, that's a lot of Colts for a single posting! You did a good job creating diversity with the set you had at hand. And your colors for your figurines really evoke the Far West. Very nice work!

 

 

 

 

From SteveA: Cowboys at Church [New Acquisitions] (115 points)

Heya there, my first post here on the last possible day before getting the boot.  

To check out a 20 point challenge tome from the Front Desk and New Acquisitions  I have here a fist full of western gunslingers (mostly 3D prints from 3dbreed's  'Join or Die wanted collection'  along with a couple model finds from Thingaverse)  as well as a MDF model church from NorthernLightsTerrain which I had converted a bit by cladding it in stir-stick 'lumber' and cardboard 'shingles'. 

What I have painted up here are New Acquisitions because these are among the very newest additions to my pile of unpainted shame  potential....... representing a rare occurrence where my models are fully painted before receiving a layer of dust while awaiting the touch of a brush.  I'm happy to say it was only a mere few weeks between a conversation with ByronM about Western themed minis and games sparked getting these printed-up shortly before start of this year's challenge and posting them painted here now.

I'm not sure with what system these models will first give cause for me to roll some dice in a old west style shooty-shooty-bang-bang skirmish game. So in addition to these being among the quickest turnaround between acquired to painted in my collection, they are also the first set of models I completed painting before ever putting them into the field of play.

I learned a bit in this painting effort to push a the edges of my comfort zone, as this was the first time I used a variety of  Army Painter speed paints on models I finished, getting used to how each speed paint provided coverage and color, while also spending some time mixing speed paints for different shades of blues, browns and reds used here. I don't think I figured out yet  how to best get speed from these speed paints, but they did boost my rate of progress to be a tick quicker than that of a tortoise on a tea break.  Also, this is first time I painted with white on modules and terrain to any significant degree of satisfaction where I decided it was good enough to game with and time to move on to the next  in my pile of unpainted.

I started this painting effort on the first day of this year's challenge, working them as a batch of somewhat related color schemes.  I'd like to say a combination of xmas holiday and familiy events kept me away from my paints to delay readiness for my first post until now,  but I confess it was more due me getting back into the painting groove, trying out new "speed" paints and more than a few rounds of paint correction due to color experiments gone awry (and due to accidental pigment applications to unintended targets arising from unfortunate incidents of suboptimal brush control).  So now with my painting digits recalibrated, paint pots relocated, and ocular orbs re-sighted I aim to pick up the pace to stay on my total challenge points target, and prepare more models for future game tables.

Cowboys, Bandits, Marshalls (28 mm Foot Figure) 15x5pts = 75pts

Church  (Terrain) 5x7x8 inches, score as 6x6x6 inches @50% off due to simple color scheme  = 10 pts
Topic "New Acquisitions" =  20 pts

Total = 105 Pts

TeemuL: Welcome back to the Challenge Steve! It is a nice group of cowboys, bandits and marshalls to play with. I agree the "Speed" is sometimes not so obvious, especially when learning new things. But they do give some kind of a boost, I'd say. Unfortunately the Score Sheet (nor I) doesn't recognize "terrain with simple color scheme" so I must reward you with fully 20 points. Terrain scoring  is bit hazy and usually terrain is painted very simply (like hills for example) so I don't see any issues with rewarding you fully 20 points. But I might be more pedant in the future, if you don't add your Challenge Map. ;)

From ScottC: Westerns & Swords and Sandals (240 points)

 

I painted up my Knuckleduster miniatures mounted Jesse James faction. I have a lot of their miniatures and they always seem to get better and better!

I also painted up 2 horses for my 4ground prepainted wagon and the driver.

Next up:

I painted my Crusader Gladiator miniatures that I have always dreamed of painting. Gladiator was my favorite movie growing up and holds a very high nostalgic factor for me. It was an absolutely blast to paint these guys up.

Total:

26x 28mm infantry (25 gladiators + driver) = 130 pts

7x 28mm cavalry (6 jesse james + 0.5 per horse) = 70 pts

 Bonus Challenge points x2 = 40 pts 

Total: 240 pts

Let's see if I can make it to the Directors Chair...!

What great sets of figures, Scott! 

Tamsin

From StuartL - Counting Down the Days - Western, Gift Shop & Limo (289 Points)

Hello all,

I have quite a few things to post today, so let's get started.

First off, a trip in Lady Sarah's Limousine to an unplanned stop at the Gift Store. To pay for this, I offer this model is from Wyrd Miniatures' game Malifaux. Malifaux has 8 factions each with about 8 sub-factions (known as Crews) and this model is taken from the Showgirls crew of the  Arcanists. The Showgirls are illusionists and tricksters, running a smuggling operation from the basement of the Star Theatre in Malifaux city. This figure is the leader of the group, Colette DuBois.

Last week, my wife found some garden ornaments at our local dollar store (100 yen store actually), that she really liked. However, they were quite plain being mainly white clay with just a hint of colour. Knowing that I have a room stocked full of paints and other colourful substances, she suggested that they would look much nicer if they just had a tiny bit of pigment added. Figuring that these would qualify for the Gift Store bonus, I agreed to take time out of my schedule and paint them up.

Miniature Arab for scale.

So, after googling some pictures of hedgehogs and having my wife select one that she likes, I set to work. As the ornaments had a lot of texture sculpted on already, I settled on a 'wash and wipe' technique. I first applied some dark fleshy tones to the feet and mouth, then put Vallejo washes on the parts of the body that needed them. Before that had a chance to dry, I wiped a folded tissue over the figure, trying to remove some of the wash on the top layers of the fur. I then added a second darker wash over the top of the body and repeated the process. Finally, I painted the eyes a bit more, as the originals just had small dots of black in the centre rather than a fully black orb. Once everything was dry I varnished them and quickly grabbed some pictures before my wife could transfer them to the garden. 

With that quick pit stop out of the way, it is on to the next part of the studio, the Western stage, but to get there I need to pay my way in the Limo, so here is another Showgirl for Malifaux.

The Western stage is a tricky one for me as I don't have any real Western figures. However, I do have a lot of Weird West figures, or more accurately Wyrd West. Malifaux is a game set in an alternate world circa 1900, where magic is real. Using magic, people opened a breach between dimensions, linking Earth to the strange land of Malifaux. In this new land, humans have gone forth to settle and plunder, creating a new frontier of colonisation. Leading the way are an organisation called the Guild, they control traffic through the breach and maintain law and order in the most draconian ways possible. They maintain magically powered automata to bolster their forces as well as countless guards, undead hunters, monster slayers and more.

These are some Guild riflemen backed up by two Wardens, machines designed to apprehend and detain possible suspects using grappling claws. These five will form the start of my Guard crew. The Wardens can also pull double duty in one of my existing crews as well, so that is a bonus. Malifaux figures are usually in the 32mm range, but the constructs are bigger, standing around 40mm+.

With my main studio visit out of the way, it is time to see what else I painted up this week. I've been on a bit of a Bolt Action/WW2 kick this time and so I present the following, in 5-man Squirrel sized squads.

Some African soldiers to fight for the British against the Japanese in India and Burma. Models are from Warlord Games with heads from Gripping Beast.

Some Frenchmen, equipped by the Americans to fight the Germans in Italy. Models are from Warlord and Artizan (or Crusader, I forget) with heads from Gripping Beast.

Some Germans to fight pretty much everyone in Europe. Models are from Warlord Games.

And some Russians to fight for the Motherland. Models are from Warlord Games.

And some Death Korps of Krieg, just because I was painting Germans and thought the colours would be a good match for these models. The figures are from Games Workshop and are part of their Kill Team range. Being GW Imperial figures with a name like Death Korps, they obviously bear a lot of skulls. 1 on each helmet, belt and backpack and 2 each on most guns.

So, with that, I just have to pay for my trip to the last section of the studio before the Director's Chair, the Fantasy Studio, which I will be tackling next week. One more Malifaux model should do the trick.

Ok, on to the scores.

31x 28mm models @5 points = 155 Points.

2x 40mm models @7 points = 14 Points.

3x Limo Rides + 2 Studio areas @20 Points = 100 Points.

Hedgehogs = ? These were really fast and simple and I didn't paint large sections of the lower body. If my minion feels like giving me some bonus points, that's fine, but it was mainly just splashing on two layers of wash.

Total = 289 Points

My side duels.

Squirrels + 6 = 34

Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Dwarves, Fire Giants, WW2 Polish, Daemons, Viridians, Vasa, Junkers, Turnips, Necrons, Tau, Genestealers, WW2 Japanese, Teutonics, Lizardmen, Gnolls, Arabs, Space Marines, Kung Fu Chinese, Wolf's Dragoons, Merfolk, Fishmen, Fish, Mummies, Greek Myth, Peasants, Desert Terrain, Guild, WW2 Africans, WW2 French, WW2 Germans, WW2 Russians, DKoK

Skullz + 24 = 224

Turnips - 115 Points

That's a lot of squirrelling. Great work, love the western ladies. I'll count he hedgehogs as 28mm cavalry, just for cuteness.