2020 - In Review

Despite most of the year being in lockdown  and my enthusiasm draining as the year went on I did a quick calculation that I'd managed to paint up over 250 figures!

It turns out I was on quite a roll until about the middle of August  - the last time I  slapped paint on anything.

The year was taken up with a couple of games of "Jimland" early on and a couple of 'test western games in the latter part of the year,

I concentrated on two of my projects, "Jimland" adventures and fauna, with a few explorers thrown in for good measure. The other project the Sudan, had a lot more added to it, Zoauves,  civilians and market stalls for example, along wioth Egyptian infantry and cavalry.

 Here's the photos:

[The Molyneux Expedition (iirc)]

[Sudan Officers]

[Jimland Adventurers]

[Civilians for the Sudan that wouldn't look out of place in Jimland}

[More civilians for the Sudan]

[Gnus or if your prefer, Wildebeest - os of other new fauna too for Jimland]

[One of many stalls I produced, and one of the few I finished!]

[Lots of Egyptian Infantry]

[And a few Cavalry]

[A few Zoauves toom thrown in for variety ]

[Plastic Afghans - that will double up as Slavers in Jimland...]

[...and with Fezzes, they make decent enoough Askari too !]

The Aphgans/Askari were the last figures that I painted up and I then went on to that all fall-back position of showing models from my Westerngames, that I scratch-built or bought) from yesteryear, when I was a lad ! )I may not be profductive again this coming year, but at least I have several more armies to show inthe :Forgotten armies' series I;ve used in the past.

The good news however is that I have been converting some of the plastic figures that I bought recently for western games in the future - more on this anther time.

Overall I'm happy with what I;ve produced this year, for me, it's been very productive !

I doubt I'd get anything don without this blog and the encouragemebt I get from felllow bloggers and with that I'll say I hope you akll have a very prodcurive year next year!

Have a joyous and pious New Year  !

That's it from me until next year, thanks for taking the time and effort to visit; as always, your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.

 

Merry Mithrasmas,

Yes, it's that time of year when we celecrate the winter solstice on a pagan holiday and like many others. I'll be doing the same without most of my family (sadly), but happy in the knowledge that they're all safe and well and I'm still awaiting the opportunity to hold my new grandson of four months, but I'm a patient chap!.

[All my new, soon to be, citizens of my old west set-up]

The photograph above happened by a chance visit to a "Pound Shop" (Not Poundland), where I took the opportunity for a quick visit, whilst SWIMBO was doing someboring shopping elsewhere (food, presents etc.). I came across a whole section of these figures and quickly bought a couple of packs to scale them against my 54mms.

[The two 'sample' packs]

After testing for suitability, my daughter volunteered to set out and buy what she could as they scaled up well and here's the proof:

[The three gentlemen, flanked by two timpo figures]

[They'll require a bit of work, but they have a great deal of charm imho]

[The ladies, there'll be a lot of cutting to do and the fifth figure is a rear view of the preceding one]

As a bonus I also had my daughter nab a few lamposts! :-

[At least double the size of a figure and the wreath is just snapped on and easily removed]

The children will require a lot more work, they have a lot of extra bits (snowbaords ffs!), but it's the adults that will get seen o first.

 A very welcome find and a something that has amanged to cheer me up in these dismal times.

No matter how or if you  celebrate this holiday, I hope you all keep safe amd have a good a time as possible.

Thanks for taking the itme to visit and of course your comments are always welcomed and appreciated.

 

Happy Xmas, Hannuka, Mithrasmas or whatever, I'm off to slaughter a bull and drink its blood before the exchange of presents for Saturnalia.

More Westerners and Others

If you're a follower of this blog, you will be aware of my dearth of females in my collection, this however has been somewhat rectified with an ordr of figures placed with Steve Weston's  Toy Soldier online store. 

I found a few more females to add to my meagre numbers, plus a few of their more 'intersting' civilians.

[Here's good ol' Abe, two ladies and a trapper type] 

The figures are all 1/32nd scale and fit welll with my mainly Timpo collection.

 

 [Saloon girls and bar staff]

[Obligatory rear view, for those that like this sort of thing - you know who you are!]

[Timpo with the figures shown for scale]

[Drinkers, as the listing says - drunkards maroe-like imho]

From a medieval set, (Robin Hood and co.) I got these two excellentcharacters, a Barkeep and a Tavern 'wench'. These willconvert tothe 19th century with little effort.

['Wench' and Barkeep]

[Rear view -(bit obvious- Ed.)]

sorry aboout thefollowingpitures, theplastic figures are a very  bright whte, and despite my limited photograph manipulatiing skills I was unable to get any reasonable photos  of them, They are Mexican peasant, eight figures in the set and I have six sets of them- all for £10 in a deal of some sort !.(That's about 21p a figure!)

[Two wounded figures (or drunks?) and the all important female!]

[Obvious rear view]

[More,well, animated imho, peasants]

[Rear view, showing well the  'camera killing' white of the plastic]

[Another size comparison photo]

I do have plans for the peasants, who will mostly beconverted to something, imo tht will bealittle more useful ! 

In addition to these I got some horns for my few Britains cows ( their bells don't work) to convert to longhorns, they'll require a little surgery in the rudder region.

[Horns (padding photo - Ed.)]

The final photos show what is an excepitonal chunk of resin, sutitable for any period after the Napoleonic Wrs to the presentday and should be an immediate purchase for anyone using 54mm figures.

Yes, it's an upright pian and it's in resin, but (and it's a big but) it came ready painted as above andall for a measily £3.50 !!!!. I can't recollect seeing anythiingclose to this value for money in any resin kits I've seen.

[Here's a omparison photo of my own scracth-built plasticacrd piano and the resin one]

So that's it for this week, some more recent, chance purchases, will be the subject of next week's blog, but that's it then for this week.

Thanks for taking the time to visit and as always your comments are both welcomed andtruly appreciated.

Gunfight II - conclusion

 It took me two sessions, each about an hour long to conclude this small gunfight. The reasons varied  from constant interuptions, a bad cold and camera battery failure, but I managed to finish it.

Ike, one of the two remaining Lawmen, hiding behind the wagon, for cover, was the only one able to shoot, he targeted the only Bandit he could see, Carlito, hinding behond the water trough. This was a long range shot, but with the aid of an Action card, and his actiavtion he aimed and shot the Mexican, causing a knock down and a serious wound ! (just)

 [The loss of Carlito would be a major blow for the bandits !]

Elwhere

[Across from Carlito,Antonio shoots at the padre, causing him to flee from a graze]

George hadn't moved, the last Mexican hadn;t turned up and the turn ended abruply and only a four cards - even with a double deck these things still happen !

Ike walked out of his cover to get to get a shot at the two remaining bandits and George repositioned so he could see around the corner . Likewise Antonio repositions to get a shot at the lawme, but Carlito , surprising, struggles to get up and find cover behind the torugh, depsite his wound! 

Ike is looking very lonely, now, in the middle of the street, up against three opponents.

[Carlito, even with a serious wound, is the equal of the best lawman (Ike)]

 

[Ike wondering why he ever left the satey of the wagon;s cover]

[Benito licking his lips at the prospect of gunning down the lawman]

The next turn saw a fusilade of shot from all and sundry, but the mexicns escaped unscathed wilst poor Ike was turned into a calander. He took two flessh wound the a serious chest wound, laying hi spawled in the dirt, This left poor George as the only remaining lawman against three opponents and a potential fourth. Sensiby he decided to look for reinforcements and thus the game ended ! (george had actually failed his nerve test !)

 [Ike's fate]

The game had ended, imho with a satisfactory conclusion; it had flowed well with few rule hitches or the eed to delve into the rulebook (I only really needed the page on shooting and the reulsts table.).

So where to go from here ?

I'll be looking at adapating my movement rules to include horses, wagons etc. it seems strange that one oculd have a system where a train, for example unable to move in a turn, despite currently moving at full speed.

Weapons and reloading need a re-think to incorporate early revolvers using 'cap and ball' and a long hard look at shotguns. The latter seem to be the 'wonder weapon' of guns in a lot of rules - multiple hits, bigger chances of hitting etc. So why didn't everyone carry them ? (Answers not required)

That's it then for another week, as always I hope you've found something of interest  and of course your connets are welconed and appreciated.

Gunfight II - Setup

 So after considering the changes I thought needed  to TRWNN to suit my less chaotic style of play, I set up another simple scenario as a trial run.

[The Law, given a couple of rifles to even out the side]

The Law this time would have five characters, using the character generation rules as previously, save for one major change as I've added a new charater class which I've entitled "Gunslinger" and lies between "Gunman" and "Shootist"

Randomly determining the Law, I used the following results on a D20

1-4 Civilian; 5-9 Gunman; 10-14 Gunfighter; 15-19 Shootist; 20 Legend. 

Using this system the Law had a Citizen (J above), 3 Gunmen (F,G,I above) and a Gunfighter (H above).

The Banditos (below) had a vastly superior force, though they too had a civilian (E below) in addition to their two Gunfighters (A ,  B) and two Shootists (C,D)

[The Banditos]

The scenario was a simple one, the Law have just come from the telgraph/post office with th latest wanted notice but on emerging (a 2D6 random didtance towrds their office) instantly recoginise the notious Mexican gang on the notices coming down the street towards them The Mexicans are merely going the Bog Hotel looing for their friend.

The 'Citizen' of each group would be in a random building and would emerge on hearing a gunshot and on their action card if they passed a 'Nerve' Test (I've reduced the Nerve values by one  from the original TRWNN rules). A Civilian having two 'Nerve' adding one for each Level above to finally a Legend having a Nerve of '6'.

[The main street, where all the action will take place. Top left is building one, clockwise to building six]

[The Law heading down Main]

[The opposition heading up Main towrds the Law]

For the Action Deck, I used two cards for each Character and added the four necessary Action cards, one for each  Class. With the additon of the end of turn indicator, te Joker, this gave me a deck of 25 cards - much better for shuffling !

With orders of "Head for cover " fromBoth Leaders (C and F), the game started.

The first card out allowed Diego to activate and he immediately opened fire on rifle wielding Frank, despite the range and throwing only a single die he managed a '6' to hit, giving him a serious leg wound, leaving him lying in the dirt for the remainder of the turn.

[The Law all headed (successfully) to cover, leaving poor Frank where he lay]

 [Benito (top right is killed, but Jake (with his rifle] emerges from the  "Silver Dollar" back door]

The Meicans too headed for cover and given a second intiative Diego managed to get into the doorway of the big hotel, poor Benito though, having made it into cover was hit by a single die roll of a '6 was dispatched with a further double '6' 0 right between the eyes !

Frther exchanges of gunfire caused no casualties and Erico was still to appear (he did activate but failed his Nerve test.

With all the Joer turning up, indicating the end of the turn, I decided to call it a day and return to the game later this week. Setting up had taken well over an hour and even though I'd shortened the distance around the table, standing playing a single turn for about a further hour was as much as I could take. (bad back, old age,,arthritus, weak eyes etc., oh, I also have a cold!). 

Part two then next week !

I enjoyed the simple scenario, with its random elements and my idea for walking running and sprinting worked well imo. I also allowed the Mexican Shootist to have a pistol ability of '6'. as having read through the skills is even plausible with the original TRWNN rules. He may be a tad exceptional, but is equally easy to kill!

Doubling the number of character cards also worked well imo, giving a much better act and react typ of game and a much better 'feel' overa;;.

In case you're thinking rolling 6 dice, to get a '6' is a bit excessive - he had to roll a '6' three out of four 

times  to get there.

And for those that are interest (though I doubt anyone is), here are all the percentage chances of getting at least one '6' dependent on the number of dice rolled:-

No of Dice:                    1          2         3        4        5         6         7

Percentage chance:     16%    31%    42%   52%   60%    67%   72%

That's it then for this week, hopefully there is something here of interest and as always your comments , brickbats a bouquets are welcomed and appreciated. 

Gunfight - the Aftermath

 The aftermath of last week's game was that I took a long hard look at the TRWNN rules. The shooting workesd well imo, low casualty count and a quick game overall. The game took about three hours overall, half of which was setting it all up !

[The Bounty Hunters from the game]

Movement was a joke, though I'm pretty sure a lot of TRWNN players have probably never questioned it. I intend to change it to a more player firnedly system, using ideas of my own, some of  Dave Docherty's changes from his version of TRWNN ("Blazing Dice") and some of the movement mechanics from Shoot n Skeddatle. I will be referring to my old "Old West Skirmish Rules" as reference for all changes.

I don't mind random movement rates and even if figure has to use all of what he rolls on the dice (citizens only), but being able to walk fater than a run is a bit ludicrouse.

 [The Outlaws from the game]

 So I'm considering the following -  a walk will be a standard movement of 5", which the character may use all or some of.

A run will be either normal or fast; a normal run will be 6" plus the roll of a D6, giving 7" to 12".

A fast run will be 12" plus the roll of a D6, giving a range of 13" to 18".

This gives imo, a more logicalspeed ratio, no longer will someone be able run faster than somone running 'slower' and I will be getting rid of the double (or triple) '1s' making you fall - it's silly.

Horse movement will operate along the lines of my vehicle movement, horses will go through an accelartion of +6" each turn and a decelarion similarly plus a D6.

The intended effect is that overall the players will have a better idea of what their figures can do.

[Not exactly a cast of thousands, but a lot of my early 'conversions']

I'll also be looking at what actions a player can do within a turn, drawing a gun, opening a door, climbing and so on.

It did perturb me a bit that the low number of cards for initiative/activation meant that there were times when only a few characters acted beforre the turn was over - the very first turn had only two of the Outlaws moving before the end of the turn! With only a very few characters, this will be inevitable.

To combat this, and to make most turns lasting a bit longer, I'm going to double the number of each character's character cards. It may have the opposite effect I intend, but but it will give a much better chnace of each character acting at least once.

 [two Britains' conversions,a one of my own conversions.] 

Civilians took no part in my last gsme, but in every game I played in a town, there were always civilians, everyone in the town outside of a building can hear gunshots (and some inside too) and we always had the civilians do something (mostly runaway), so I'll be looking more closely at the civilian rules in the future. I also need to have better charactersitics for the characters too - Are they brave, cowardly, notorious, hated/loved and so on. TRWNN has some of these elements but no real guidance of how and when to use them save by player choice. Shoot n Skedattle has Abilty and Strength as characteristics but only mention them three times in their rules - bit of a waste. TRWNN skil set needs close inspection.

[Britains again, plus a random gypsy dance of unknown origin]

The game and the rules used still have a long way to go to et the game I want.!

[The total female population of my towns, save for a couple of sitting females] 

Civilians in my games reacted according to their stats , with results of either standing watching runnibg to cover or joibibg in; whn I've gone through the long (welcomed)  list of citizen actions in TRWNN, I may have a better idea of the direction I wish to head in. 

I do howver need a lot more females ! - in 54mm they;re very hard to come across though I may have to look at having them printed in 3D (there are three usable ones  on "Thingyverse").

[More citizenry, with some of the then newer Timpo models]

That;s it then for this week, I've done very little, other than reading a lot, watching a few westerns (Watch "The Sisters Brothers", if only for the use of cap and ball revolvers]and made a couple mor lamps from beads.

Thanks for taking the the ot visit, sorry for the por post, but as always your comments are welcomed and appreciated.