Not My Minis!

Here's a few gangs my buddy has put together for our Weird West game using the Fear and Faith rules. First up are his British expat vamps.

Minis from Blue Moon's Horror range.

Those are Whitewash City buildings in the background. They're made for 25mm, he reduced them to 65%, and he says they're still too small. The horror range is definitely "heroic" 15mm, but that's okay, because they look good.

Next, his Redcoat gang of creepy Nosferatu.

Blue Moon again.

I dig 'em. And I can't wait to kill 'em.

I really like those Bobbies and it brings up an aspect of our world that I'm excited to get into. Our Old West is a less settled place. The United States came out of the Civil War a weaker nation, a nation unable to defend much of the western frontier. This has not gone unnoticed by England and the other European powers.

Why go this route? Why, for greater purchasing opportunities! I love the colonial period and there's some great minis out there. There's something really appealing to me about a group of Askari led by a German officer roaming the Arizona territory. Or maybe some British Camel Corps adrift in the Great American desert.

I love 15mm.

Matchitehew's Malice!

Here's another gang for my Weird West project. Led by an evil medicine man, Matchitehew. I haven't really worked on the background for this gang but I might say that Matchitehew is a Seminole who draws on both Native American and African magic. I just couldn't resist this masked necromancer mini from Splintered Light and had to use him for this gang. Love that mask. Here he is with a mighty Sasquatch:

Matchitehew, from Splintered Light. Sasquatch is a Twanax from Blue Moon.

I really enjoyed painting both of these but the Squatch was a blast.

For more scary goodness I decided to add some wendigos to the gang. These are ghouls from Splintered Light's undead range.

Ew.

I quite like how the skin came out on the fat one especially. After a matte spray I went back and used some gloss varnish on the bloody parts. These guys should wreak some havoc with opponents. Hard to kill and cause fear. Yippee.

To flesh out the rest of the gang I have some bow and rifle toting minions.

Warriors from Blue Moon.

And the whole gang together:

Almost the whole gang. No squatch. Oops.

One more gang to go (WEREWOLVES!) before I get to work on more terrain. I have some rocky outcroppings on CDs to paint and my buddy picked up some western buildings from White Wash City that I'm excited to get printed and assembled. I also bought some 2'x2' MDF to make some boards. Gotta start planning. Those werewolves are going to be super easy to paint.

Weird West!

Well, I've got the Blue Grass channel playing on Pandora and a backpack full of western DVDs. It's Weird West time.

All these figs are from Blue Moon and by and large I like them quite a bit. A few of the faces were a little unfortunate but that's okay: a cowboy's life is hard.

I've got two gangs to present here. First up is The McMannus Regulators led by Mr. Chester McMannus himself.

Evil shall tremble before the might of his manly mustache!

From left to right  "Eagle Eye" Johnson, Huey Colbarn, "Colonel" Chester McMannus, Mal Povey,  Handsome Harry, Jed McKinnon

They may be toting some serious firepower but to a man they'll tell you their greatest weapons are hidden away. You see they aren't after your regular scoff laws. No sir. They have more dangerous prey in their sights. That's why they carry wooden stakes and silver bullets. Things have gotten weird out on the plains.

My second gang proves the point.  Viktor von Viktenstein and his Villainous Vassals!

Those cowboys sure are small, ain't they?

Viktor, his bride Vanessa, and their...children.

That there is Richard Henderson III in the center. Richard IV on the left.  Eugene, the red-headed step child with a lot to prove, is on the right. The Hendersons are the public face of Viktor's growing empire in the West.

My buddy and I are using the Fear and Faith rules. I'm hoping to get in a game or two against myself tomorrow night now that I have two gangs painted up. I'm anxious to see how the rules play. Or maybe I'll just start painting my werewolf gang (figures by Splintered Light), or the evil Indian band, led by a necromancer and backed up by two Wendigos. Whatever I choose I know I'll have a good time. This is turning out to be a really fun little project.

Hills!

Slow going in the hobby department lately. But I did manage to try my hand at some new hills after finding this How To over on Cool Mini or Not.

I really like the general shape and more organic nature of them, but I'm not a huge fan of my paint job. I like them much better than the traditional wargaming hills, though, so I'll definitely make 3 or 4 more.

These will see use in my upcoming Weird West games. My gaming buddy placed his Blue Moon order...cowboys, indians, vampires, and some Twanax to use as Sasquatch.

Here's a shot of what he gave me out of his order:

WIP hills in the background.

I took some cowboys for my Monster Hunter gang, some vamps, and a few Indians. I am now eagerly awaiting my order from Splintered Light minis. I'm getting some necromancers, ghouls (for my wendigos!), werewolves, and dire wolves.

We'll be using the Fear and Faith rules from Ganesha Games and I am really excited. I love the simplicity of it. Of course, I haven't played a game yet, but they seem perfect for the kind of game we're looking for.

I just primed 10 cowboys and hope to get some paint on them tonight if my daughter will go to sleep at a reasonable time. I'm also hoping to update the blog a little more regularly as I paint these guys. Keeps my excitement up.

Kra'Vak!

Here's the paint scheme for my Kra'Vak.

I kind of stole the paint scheme from the AT-43 Karmans that I'm using for the mechs. Of course I'm repainting the Karmans anyway so stealing the paint scheme isn't going to save me anytime, but what the hell. I like the scheme and I think now that I have this squad done the rest should go fairly quickly.

I'm really going to have to cruise through these though. My buddy and I have been talking about a Deadlandsish game. (Laughing Ferret's Empire of the Dead posts have been a big inspiration.) So I've really been looking and lusting after the Blue Moon 15mm stuff, the horror and cowboy lines in particular. And I've always had a soft spot for British Colonial history (and minis, of course). Well, today I dropped off a printed copy of The Song of Blades and Heroes for him and we sat talking about a nice small skirmish game featuring cowboys, vampires, indians, werewolves, and more. About an hour after I left him he texted to say that he'd placed an order. Damn. I better get going.