New inhabitants for Drake's Branch!

Drake's Branch is the name of my fictional New Mexico town where I play my games of Shoot N' Skedaddle.

After a long hiatus, I've added a few new figures (I'll be phasing out older, crappier figures as I replace them).

 A new Knuckleduster 32mm digital sculpt - these are the finest metal miniatures I've received from any manufacturer...absolutely great!

 Another Knuckleduster 32mm - this time a Pinkerton with a sawed off shotgun.

A third 32mm Knuckleduster.  Their current range mirrors the characters from the wonderful movie Tombstone.  I've chosen not to mirror their clothing/paint schemes, so the characters will be more versatile --- the above figure is one of the Clanton brothers I believe.

A Conquest Plains Indian - wonderful figures.

Another Plains Indian by Conquest miniature (now sold under Warlord Games I believe)

I've had a "Soldier" character in Shoot N' Skedaddle since the beginning...been lazy about painting up an actual figure till now!  One of Great Escape Games U.S. Cavalry figures.

And the assembled portion of the new cast...also my first time using 25mm rounds on the Renedra bases as well --- added grass tufts from Army Painter. So far, so good!

Clearing the table...(some more!)

Again, in the desire to clear stuff off my table and starting cleaning up fringe projects and stuff that's been sitting idle for months/years, I knocked out the following small terrain bits.

One is a slightly dry-brushed boat which was too dark to begin with.  Then I completed two small 4-5 space bridges for use with my dungeon project, and two "tunnel" entrances for use with Shoot N' Skedaddle (they'll be adorned with some grass tufts when they show up in the mail!).

Simple and unexciting.  Breath of fresh air though getting some stuff out of "that" corner of my painting table.

And a mechanic shall lead them!

Continuing with my quasi-Mentor Legion fellas, I decided to bash up a terminator for fun.

Going with the older fluff from the Mentor Legion, I decided to add some Mechanicus flair to the unit.  In the ole' fluff, the Mentor Legion serve as a test bed for new weapons and technology.  They work out of a secret home-world, known only to the highest tech priests of the Mechanicus.

As such, I've decided that the Mentor Legion have officers/agents from the Mechanicus added to the Chapter.  Why not?  Seems fun.  Makes sense for those who exist to test weapons and tech.

Here is a kit-bash for ya: (please ignore the legs, they were ruined in a dip accident and I can't figure out a way to save them!)

Modern terminator body with Horus Heresy era arms/shoulders, and a Mechanicus head. 

First Space Marines in 20 years!

Like most people in my age, I stumbled into wargaming through games like Hero Quest, Battlemaster and eventually 40K.  I picked up some packs of cool looking figures when I was maybe 12-13.  They turned out to be Space Marines.

That led to 14 years of gaming 40K (where I actually ended up fielding Eldar).

When Betrayal at Calth popped up I was immediately intrigued.  I have no interest in 40K but I enjoy the fluff and I loved the Horus Heresy stuff.  I picked up a box in the off chance I wanted do something with it (play another game using the models etc.)

In my head I immediately jumped back to Mentor Legion, discovered in an old White Dwarf I picked up at a used book store when I was a kid.  Loved the paint scheme, loved the idea (veteran cadre, testers of all new military equipment, etc.).  Not a normal Chapter by any stretch of the imagination.

I found some MkVI beakie heads and ordered up some fan-made jetpacks from Spellcrow in Poland (easy to find and purchase via ebay).

This is the end result.  Possibly more coming in the future depending on how far I want to go with this stuff.  I can see doing a few more squads and characters, maybe some terminators etc.

Now, for the purists...yes, none of it technically matches up.  I wanted retro-beakie jump marines without spending a ton and this is the result:

Clearing the table...slowly.

I managed to paint up some stuff yesterday.  I'm trying to clean up little bits and pieces as I may need them in my soon-to-be (at least that's what I said 12 years ago) dungeon crawl game.

I threw together a Thief from some Frostgrave bits I acquired in a sprue-trade.  I painted up an Otherworld pack mule which had been sitting on my table primed for...nigh a year.  I used some Perry foot knights to make a couple of armored skeletons (may do more of those later).

Painter's block...damned Ratmen.

Finally got over my hesitation to paint the rest of my simple dozen ratmen (Skaven with some spikes and icons removed and given wicker shields).  Just really didn't enjoy painting these guys at all.  They turned out fine and I'm glad to have them done...hoping this breaks my painter's block as of late.

Shoot N' Skedaddle V2 : Playtest

So I convinced a couple of friends to drive South and take a swing at Shoot N' Skedaddle this week.  I was looking for additional play-testing for the revised edition of this game I'm looking to produce shortly.

We decided to play a three-way gunfight, with no particular scenario rules.  Each player drew up six characters and their equipment.  We placed three characters on two roads (six roads on the table edge).

While turn one was predominantly moving, turns two and three became a bloody spectacle.

The town as it was laid out...

Audrey's Outlaws creep into town...

 

Audrey's Outlaws waiting for John's Lawmen to show up.

 

John's Lawmen anxiously approach Audrey's Outlaws

 

John's Drifter puts a slug into one of Oscar's Rangers.

 

At the close of the second turn, three gunfights had erupted in separate areas on the board.

 

John's Priest fires at point blank into Oscar's Prizefighter - while Audrey's Pony Express Rider gallops around.

 

Moments later the Priest is dead...the Prizefighter stuck a knife in his neck.

 

John's Sheriff shows up with a vengeance, gunning down the Prize Fighter.

 

Nearby, the Drifter had slain the Texas Ranger and stolen his horse...a nearby Caballero ran up, firing wildly with his sixguns...accomplishing nothing.

 

On the far side of the board Audrey's Outlaws go gunning for Oscar's crooked Lawmen.

 

Audrey's Outlaws get properly stuck in with John's Lawmen, blood being shed on both sides as the Thief breaks his disguise.

 

Oscar's Cowboy had galloped off the table to bring back help...upon returning he found his previous friend, the Shootist had turned traitor and joined Audrey's Outlaws.  Hurling a stick of dynamite he shocked both of the baddies - failing to kill either!

 

The traitorous Shootist shows his true colours, systematically gunning down the Cowboy and the Sidekick he'd brought to aid their cause...

 

Across the board, in a flurry of commotion John's Crazy went on a killing spree, gunning down all three of Audrey's Outlaws in a spectacular effort.  Behind him a trail of bodies.

 

All in all and absolutely wonderful game, with a lot of brilliant and terrible dice rolls and a huge amount of bloodshed.  After turn three, we called it - each having three characters remaining on the board.  John's Lawmen were free of wounds, whilst Audrey and I had numerous wounds to count...so we gave the day to John's Lawmen.  If time had permitted more bloodshed would have followed.

Great game, and a great time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stompy Reinforcements.

I finished up a couple more old Citytech plastic mechs.  The Orions are dreadful and unfortunately you can't really kit-bash them without a lot of work.  The Victors were easier to change up.  Short of a few LAMs I may steal from my Robotech minis this is probably near the end of the Mechs until new plastics show up (rumored that the next Btech box set is Clans vs. Inner Sphere so that'll be a whole new era/project).

The Ghost Regiment is 42 mechs strong.  The mechs along the bottom don't have mech cards from the second printing, so I'll use first print cards.

The Rhodes Regulars, also 42 mechs strong.  Again mechs missing their cards will get first print cards until I find a new source for printing.

Newly finished mechs - cards will be added to their respective posts shortly.

Robots new and old!

I've been cleaning off the hobby table (ya know, when you look and have a dozen half-projects sitting in one corner collecting dust...).

The results are a Wyrd Malifaux scarecrow figure done up as an automaton/golem/construct, and a couple of more Battletech figures.

Two Javelin light mechs (older Citytech plastics) and two kit-bashed Wolverines from gashapon figures.  I was going to give one to each side, but I like a bit of difference between the factions so I opted for assigning both to a different side.

A very cool Wyrd Malifaux scarecrow...I removed the crows and didn't bother with the silly pumpkin head.  I opted for blood n' guts instead of straw pouring out.  I figure he may look like a scarecrow but can be used for a heap of other bad stuff.  He's mounted on a 40mm round renedra base.  Really had to have this figure the second I saw it.  It sat neglected on the table for far too long!

Elbowtech Additions:

 

Additional mech cards have been added to the Light and Medium mech card posts, adding painted versions of both Javelins and Wolverines.

Bodies and Boxes

Trying to add some extra bits to my Old West gaming I assembled a couple of Ainsty barricades and a couple of handfuls of Great Escape Games casualty figures from Dead Man's Hand.

It's rare that I gripe about miniatures/gaming stuff...but these were absolutely horrible.  Three of the four packs were brittle, terrible flash, heaps of extra resin, cracked and crumbling.  I was missing a foot, and had a broken leg and arm.  Gobs of resin on some of the faces.  I made the immediate decision to mount them on 40mm bases and build up the surrounds with gravel/basing material to hide the majority of the junk.

This shows the stark difference between the fourth pack, which was darker, cleaner, and much more acceptable.  Overall the sculpts were pretty blase - including terrible foot placement and really awful brick/flattened hands.

This is a guy I didn't even bother finishing...

No interest in trimming all this for a single casualty figure...(all of this stuff also highlights why resin sucks when done improperly)

The fourth pack, despite lego hands, was okay...

The indian was nearly hollow...making him harder to glue down.

This guy had a broken leg I simply glued back into place...and his face was nonexistent, just a big dark hole.

Overall, the worst hobby product I've received in a few years time.  I won't be going for any more resin from this line.  Buyer beware, don't order these unless you can visually inspect them and see what the quality is like.  I'd recommend picking them up in a store where you can inspect them first.  But...life goes on.  I slapped them on a base, painted/based them and I won't be doing any more casualty figures.

The end product is passable, but only for casualties.

I also painted up these barricades from Ainsty.  I actually used a wood varnish on this stuff since it's much cheaper and I've heard good things about it (very much like dip).  I've got mixed feelings.  Definitely doesn't seep in, provide the coverage and it stayed tacky for days...until I just anti-shined it and called it done.

I also put together the 4Ground Undertaker's into a new Town Hall but it's already in a bin for storage so I'll break it out later for pictures.