Head West for a Western Game

Mike's MDF buildings that were our town we had to defend from claim jumpers

One of our regular Sunday night gamers, Mike S, drives over from Springfield, OH, pretty much every weekend. So, we thought it was time to return the favor and headed west out to his place this past Sunday. I think most having Memorial Day off the next day convinced them that the extra drive time to get home was okay, but we started early to be on the safe side.

My leader Dakota (spitting image and grandfather of the Pulp character in our games) peeks around a building

Mike has been wanting to do Westerns for awhile, and has been collecting and painting 28mm characters. Still he asked Keith and I to bring along some of ours, so we had plenty. Each player had two gunfighters -- one was the leader type who had two action cards in the deck, and the other was the follower type, with only one. Mike was using Gunfighters Ball -- the intro version being a free download from Knuckleduster Miniatures. We had played games with it the previous weekend at Drums at the Rapids in the Toledo area. Mike adopted the rules modifications that two GMs there recommended. In hindsight, we decided to back off the modifications next time and play the rules "as is."

Joel's man in black also peeks around a building to take a shot at Steve's claim jumpers taking cover in the trees

There were eight players, three of which (Joel, Allen, and myself) were the townies -- defending our settlement from claim jumpers, who accused us of cheating them out of their proceeds. Things looked bleak for us when a couple random deadeye "head shots" from Steve V and Jason S took out one each of Allen and my characters. At that point, the other five must have felt sorry for us and began shooting at each other. This turned it into a free-for-all on their side, while us three never took a pot shot at each other. In the end, with bodies laying all over the table, the claim jumpers skulked off into the woods and we had held onto our (ill-gotten or otherwise) gains.

Rats! More "monster" progress...

Splintered Light Miniatures Rats -- who will be taking on the role of "Dricheans" in my Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago

My upcoming Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago campaign is taking a slight spin-off from the worldview that the creators of the game envisioned. Instead of human adventurers exploring the South Seas, I am using the Splintered Light Miniatures animals as my races. So, my players have chosen from among my Badgers, Mice, Bears, etc., to fill out their crews. Similarly, I am modifying the "monsters" they will encounter. One of the races said to inhabit the Ghost Archipelago's islands are called Drichean -- essentially Bronze Age humans. I decided to substitute these out, as well, and make the islands "rat-infested."

My favorite rat is the one in the center here - the dark gray with light gray drybrush fur came out best, I thought

Here is what should be the last of the monster I have to paint up to be ready to game -- my Dricheans, Splintered Light Rats. I painted them in a variety of fur colors, with a tendency towards dark gray. So, in that way, they are not a whole lot different than my Splintered Light mice that I've painted up. However, they certainly look nastier, which is on whole the difference between a mouse and a rat...ha, ha! I gave them solid but dull colored clothes, and primitive looking shield designs. For decoration, they have copper rather than bronze or gold.

Rats guarding a treasure token somewhere on a "rat-infested isle" in the South Seas

Also pictured in each is one of the dozen resin chests that I painted up as treasure tokens for Frostgrave. One of the main objectives in games of Frostgrave for the adventuring parties are scrambling for (and fighting over) treasures located on the board. One of my friends had given me a bunch of these that he had cast up from Hirst Arts molds, and I also had a couple Acheson Creations ones. I also painted up some with stone floor bases (not pictured) for those that I'll tuck inside ruined temples and such.

At this stage, I just have the odd monster or two to paint up, in case my players encounter multiples of the same monster. So, look for me to actually run my first game in a month or so. I still want to create player aids - such as cards for the monsters and spells. Not everyone has rushed out and bought the rules, so I think having these will move the game along much better.

Toob Lizards!

Touched up giant lizards from the clear plastic "Toob" creatures that you can find at craft and toy stores

I apologize for the very short update, but I wanted to post a photo of some more monsters I finished for my upcoming Ghost Archipelago games. When going through the list of wandering monsters, I saw the "Giant Lizard" category. I have one painted 25mm Iron Wind Metals Komodo dragon, but I hadn't thought to stock up. So, I needed more, in case more than one makes it way onto a board. I don't buy them very often, but the craft store Toob creatures can sometimes come in handy for miniature gamers. In this case, they had some that looked good, and would fit the bill.

I touched them up by dry-brushing them (light green for the green lizards, and pink for the red ones). I re-applied the speckled pattern, and touched up the eyes and mouth. Finally, I gave them a black wash and epoxied them onto a base and flocked them. I think they look pretty good for a little over $1 each.

Next up: Splintered Light Rats (which will be taking the place of the "Dricheans" on my South Seas Islands).