Building the Old West

Finished up the team of horses. I also base coated the wagon’s MDF base in Army Painter Desert Yellow, then positioned the wagon and horses, then glued the horses in place and removed the wagon. I then used some base filler to even out the puddle bases in the horses before going to the next step.

Matte coat and basing done, here’s the gallery of the complete minis.

I’ve started applying washes on most of the minis. Once that’s finished I’ll start drybrushing and finish up the bases. They’re all pretty glossy at this point but will look better once they get a matte coat.

Generally speaking when painting figures, I generally start from the skin and work out. So after the skin, shirts, beards, ties are usually next. Then vests, jackets and hats. Specific details like holsters and belts get worked in depending in location and surrounding details.

Most of the basic colors are laid in. Cleanup, washes and dry brushing are next.

With the terrain and civilians mostly done, I’ve started on the first posse, the Lawmen. In Fistful of Lead, you usually only have five people but the Dead Man’s Hand posses are seven figures, so I’ll have a variety of figures to choose from.

The Great Escape Games figures are pretty good but removing seam lines and flas is required on all figures. Fortunately it only takes five to ten minutes each.

Slowly but surely making progress on the wagon, I finished up the driver today. I also finished up the riderless horses. I also found a townsman that the cats had knocked off my painting table. Moral of the story, lock the hobby room door to protect your pets and your hobby.

I built up some animal shipping crates from a 4Ground kit and laid in the basic colors on my riderless horses.

Updating the project log is getting difficult. It’s taken multiple attempts over several days.

I’ve finished the townsfolk and a few of them will have special rules. For instance the doctor may either heal or cause a wound, the undertaker will either reassure you that you’ll live or unnerve you by measuring you for a coffin. Most of the rules will come from Fistful’s own rulebook but a couple like the prisoner or the lady in the blue dress will have scenario specific rules I’m working on.

The townsfolk are mostly done, just a little bit more to do on the bases. I’ll work on rules for most of the characters but fortunately, Fistful of Lead has a whole section for civilians and their special rules.

The wagon itself is done but the question is, should I make the team of horses a separate, removable component? Or permanently attach them and the drover to the wagon?

For a change of pace I decided to start on the citizenry of our town. I’m doing a fairly straightforward assembly line approach to painting. Basically I chose a color and then apply that one color to every model that needs it. Then move on to the next.

First I blocked in the bands and faces with Vallejo Dark Flesh. Then I moved on to Army Painter Matte White and applied it to 9 out 12 of the minis. Then Ultramarine Blue on the pants of two of the minis and so on.

It’s taken two days to post this update and even at that I’m having to go back in and edit the update.

I finished up all the 4Ground furniture I have and started on assembling a few more citizens for our town. The furniture can be just for atmosphere but a few pieces will have in game effects.

The saloon of course has a bar and that can provide cover during a shootout. The poker table and chairs could represent a densely packed area. So possibly treat it as rough terrain that slows you down?  There’s an upright piano in the saloon as well. Perhaps it gives a morale boost as long as the piano player isn’t interrupted?

The Sheriff’s office got a simple table and chair and a stove. The stovepipe exits the roof so I can envision a scenario where someone climbs into the roof of the jail and blocks up the pipe in an effort to smoke out the deputies.

The safe can go anywhere but will probably go in the assayers office to guard the gold dust. It’ll probably just wind up being an objective piece.

As for the coffin, that’s mostly just for atmosphere. But it should make players nervous if it’s always leaning up against the doctors office.

The new citizens are, left to right, a doctor, a politician, a prisoner, a preacher and a laborer.

I also got three riderless horses. They are simultaneously terrain, objectives and of course characters in their own right.

One of the big issues with gold boom towns was getting their gold to the bigger markets. Enter Wells Fargo. A true logistics company, they provided regular and insured deliveries via multiple means but stagecoaches are their iconic brand. These coaches carried both mail and passengers.

There’s lots of potential scenario ideas here but for now, our stagecoach has stopped off at the post office to deliver the mail, the horses are unhitched, maybe being watered over at the horse trough? And isn’t it interesting that the flyers posted on the side of the dentist’s office face the location where the stagecoach passengers disembark? And the ads featured products that someone on a long and dusty ride might crave at that exact moment?

And isn’t there a saloon right across the street?

Don’t you just love urban planning?

Yellow is a tricky color to work with so trying to do touch ups where I was trying to paint over the Rough Iron paint that had gotten where I didn’t want it was going to be a challenge. A trick I learned is to paint the offending bit pink, then painting the yellow over the pink.

I painted the rear luggage area Army Painter Leather Brown and the attached it and the roof rails. The rough rails and door handles were painted Rough Iron.

I had to cut down the floorboards for the coachman’s area in order to get it to fit then glued it in place.

Other than a few touch ups, I think the stagecoach is done. I may add a team of horses later.

I spayed the undercarriage with Army Painter Demonic Yellow then painted the rims and hubs with Army Painter Rough Iron. I need to do some touch ups but fairly pleased.

The spring leafs and roof rails were also painted Rough Iron. I used Vallejo Brass on the body for the gold work and an Insane Detail brush. Again, needs some touch ups but worth it.

The white piece on the back is to cover the luggage and would’ve been either leather or canvas, not sure which. It’s just tacked in place for now. I’ll paint it separately and then reattach it.

The drivers seat is a separate sub assembly and will need modification to fit properly. The flooring is just too long to allow the assembly to fit flush with the front cabin wall.