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Awhile back Little Wars TV offered a complete starter set for skirmish gaming in the Wild West; they called it the Tombstone Tinderbox and it came with everything you needed to get started. The one caveat was that there was a limited number of boxes and once they were gone, they were gone. Not quite moving fast enough I missed out on the box and didn't expect to get another chance. On a whim however I checked their site and saw that they were selling the box. I'm not sure if they actually made more, they found a few forgotten boxes, or if some were returned and truthfully it doesn't really matter. All I knew was that I got a second chance and I leapt at it. Getting my hands on the box I decided to write a thread detailing my adventure in building, painting, and playing the game. Figuring the first few nights might not make for a very good read though I held off writing anything and now I'm nearly finished. Whoops, at least there'll be plenty to see and hopefully I'll have enough to say too. Though not quite a review I'm going to attempt to go over the box from top to bottom. First up is the actual box it came in. Once you peel off the shipping label I've got to say this is a pretty nice little box. Though you'll need to add a second box for the completed buildings transport to the game store shouldn't be bad. The system itself is Ruthless which is only one page of rules front and back. Even better they gave you two copies so you and your opponent can each look up rules or reference the sheet simultaneously. It also comes with a mini campaign with a few scenarios. It also comes with six cardstock buildings and thirteen fences. Having never built cardstock terrain before I have to say these were a blast to put together too. The box also has a small tape measure, 10 Woodland Scenic trees, 18 15mm miniatures, bases (metal washers), character cards, a deck of playing cards, some gaming tokens, card sleeves, a dry erase marker, super glue, and wooden dowels. Last but not least they include a 24" x 24" felt game mat. Knowing I wanted to tackle the buildings first I jumped right in. Having no prior experience I've got to say these buildings really made me rethink my terrain collection. They went together quick and easy, they look great, and they store well too. Getting to the miniatures they painted up very quickly and I typically got four done each night. You'll need to forgive the extreme close up shots and the sins they reveal. At tabletop though they look great and the colors help them stand out on the board. At this point there are only four more cowboys (two standing and two mounted), and two horses left to paint. So just a few more figures to paint before I can really dive into the system. Bonus Though they are not from this box I painted an additional four figures in this scale that I happened to have on had. If memory serves they all came from a Box of Goodwill at some point. First up are a two period "appropriate" figures. These two however are pretty out of place, unless you wanted to add a time travel element to the game.

GEG's Cowboys boxed set, of multi-piece plastic miniatures on two sprues has just been released. They sent me a preview sprue (11 heads, 5 top body, 5 bottom body, whole lotta arms, pistols, etc.) and I assembled some cowboys based on what poses would round out my collection! Other metal figures are Pinnacle Entertainment Game's "7th Gun" figures, GEG's "Cowboys" figures, and Reaper's Chronoscope figures.

“Well, there’s no such thing as cowboys,” the child said. “They’re imaginary, they’re in movies and TV and stuff. They’re not real. Like Santa Claus and dinosaurs.” The conversation between the sixth graders had been about Halloween costumes, and whether or not Li’l Shannon could reasonably go as a cowboy. Not a cowgirl; a cowboy. Jeans, boots, and so on. She seemed to feel that cowboys were cool, whereas cowgirls were lame, and where does one find pink jeans and pink Stetson, anyway? And Josh blew it all out of the water with “I don’t believe in cowboys. They aren’t real.” And it was at this point where I had to ask, “Josh, what makes you think cowboys aren’t real? I grew up in deep south Texas. I knew lots of cowboys. Who do you think raises the cattle that go to make your hamburgers?” “Well,” said Josh, a little taken aback, “There USED to be cowboys, sure. But now all that is automated, and stuff.” I had a bizarre vision, out of nowhere, of robot cowboys riding motorcyles, herding cattle, and squealing ‘yee haw’ in electronic voices. “So... you’re honestly telling me to my face that you believe that cowboys are extinct?” He looked troubled. Contradicting one’s teachers isn’t normally standard procedure for sixth graders, but he felt like he needed to stand up for his belief system. “Well, I said there USED to be cowboys,” he said. “I mean, someone had to fight the Indians*, and fight at the Alamo**, like Sam Houston and Davy Crockett, and all that. But now, there’s just people who dress UP like cowboys. They don’t carry six shooters, they don’t ride horses, and they don’t have anything to do with cows. Nowadays, it’s all about being in movies about old timey days, back in cowboy times. There aren’t any cowboys NOW. It’s like dinosaurs, you know? We know there USED to be tyrannosaurs, but now they’re only in MOVIES. Y’know? Like private detectives.” I may have stood there with my mouth open. Admittedly, I can’t say I knew any private detectives in high school, but... “Um... Josh,” I began, as gently as I could. “Cowboys exist. So do private investigators. Look up PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR in the Yellow Pages, and--” “Yellow what?” he said, confused. Errrgh. Okay, I stepped into that one. Sigh. “Josh, you live in Colorado. Colorado has mountains at one end, and plains on the other. Those plains are full of farms and ranches. The ranches are infested with cattle. You’ve seen them, every road trip you ever took. Who do you think looks after those cattle? And you can hire a private investigator any time.” “Well, that’s just silly,” said Josh, indignant. “Why would you HIRE a detective when you can just call the cops for FREE? Private detectives aren’t REAL, they’re just in TV shows and movies. Like cowboys. Or dragons. It’s all PRETEND. You dress UP as one, you can’t really BE one. And cattle are domesticated, these days. You just CALL them, right?” I had yet another unbidden vision of a rancher blowing a whistle, and the cattle queuing up neatly to jump into a meat grinder. He was so durn sure of himself. Howthehell do you explain the truth to a child who’s quite sure you’re wrong? I know that insurance companies employ hordes of private investigators to check insurance fraud, even if they don’t look like Tom Selleck or Humphrey Bogart, I know you can hire a PI to see if your spouse is cheating on you and get photos for the divorce lawyer, and I went to HIGH SCHOOL with cowboys, fa potato’s sake, but how do you explain all this to a SIXTH GRADER-- He smiled at me. “Look,” he said. “I appreciate you want to help preserve my sense of childish wonder. My parents felt the same way about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. But it’s okay. I’m grown up***, now. And you have to let go of your childish dreams sometime.” And that was how I witnessed the Twilight Of The Cowboys, right there in the sixth grade... *Actually, cowboys did not often fight Indians. Usually only on long trail drives, and even then, they’d rather negotiate than try to fight anyone while trying to keep a herd of skittish cattle from stampeding. **I do not know how many cowboys fought at the Battle of the Alamo. I do know that neither Sam Houston nor Davy Crockett were cowboys. Sam Houston, in fact, grew up among the Cherokee Indians, and was not at the actual battle... and Crockett was a woodsman and bear hunter who later held a seat in Congress. And while cowboys and Congressmen do have some things in common, they are far from the same thing. ***Don’t talk to ME about grown up, ya little broccoli, with half your education still in front of you, and just WAIT till puberty gets involved... ****Did I mention that this child plays Dungeons and Dragons? But still doesn't believe in cowboys?

Once upon a time there was the first Bones Kickstarter, and one of the figures, Ellen Stone, came out of the mold somewhat lacking in the nose department, and people said, "What can you do with a noseless cowgirl?" and someone (It may even have been me) said, "Paint her up as an alien." Somewhat later I was musing over the Githyanki (who seem to keep cropping up in games I'm involved in) while sorting through my Bones minis looking for inspiration (as you do). In my bag of cowboys (Yes, I sort my Bones minis by theme), I ran across the old Ellen Stone figure, as well as a man's figure which, I realized upon close inspection, seemed to have a skull-like face, almost zombie-like, certainly lacking a nose. And something clicked and I thought "Oooh, yuss." Now, I don't absolutely know for certain that I ever will have a use for a couple of Githyanki desperadoes, and yet, here they are. First is the Bones Ellen Stone, SKU 80003. WIP thread here.

Last August or so I helped TophDNA with his Summer Exchange (I think) and he was painting a cowboy for someone. At any rate, I decided to paint up this Gunslinger as Roland Deschain from the Dark Tower Series. I believe we did these in one evening, although I didn't complete mine. I'd put some crackle whatchamacallit on the base and left it to dry. However, I didn't get around to painting the base until a few days back while I was waiting for something to dry somewhere. I figured I should finish him as he'd been waiting around for quite some time. Really the only thing to note on this one is that I finished it in a record amount of short time as I tend to fuss over things for wayyyy too long. It took months to just finish the base, and oh, I did add a 5 O' Clock shadow while the base was drying. *Spoiler ALERT* Oh, this is Book 2 Roland as he's missing 2 fingers off his right hand... Here you go: Again, with the funky camera, I apologize! I'll figure it out eventually... Thanks for checking it out! -K

DeadTech Aliens came to earth during Wild West. These robots took over the bodies of the dead and are ready to fight. Here are the first few. I like them, but some sculptings looks like fail casts. Especially the hands. I'm really thinking about filing more details into the hands, if it is possible...

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/springboard/blackwater-gulch-rebels-and-reinforcements Project is a followup to the western themed Blackwater Gulch game campaign a couple months back. Here, we have large amounts of various gangs of minis. Sweet spots seem to be at between $100 and $150 (each one gives you different amounts of starter sets, but all give you every single unlocked solo mini) Points of interest: $25 add-on for 10 bottles of Army Painter paints. Essential colors. $10 for 10 scenic bases $50 for a Battlefoam C4 bag $60 for 2 Gamecraft buildings and 2 outhouses $60 for Battleflag bundle of a sheriff's office and a gallows My Personal Favorites These ones in particular, Tombstone is one of my favorite modern westerns.

I was looking for RAFM Mounties from the Riel Rebellion, but found this just a moment ago: There are more on this >>page<<

A while back, in a somewhat controversial issue of the comic Jonah Hex, we met a character named Stove Belly Jack. Jack was a bad man, and like bad men in a Western comic, he did not survive the length of the comic he appeared in. He has not appeared since, bein' dead and all. However, there was something about the character I liked. In reality, the idea of wearing enough armor to stop small arms fire in the Old West is ludicrous; a bullet to the head would knock you stupid, armor or no armor, and why did he feel the need to weld a metal top hat to the helmet, anyway? The character was a buffoon, of course, whose job was to die a violent death. But I thought he might make an interesting steampunk mini. My first attempt did not work out as well as it might have; I'm a lousy sculptor. But, then, I ran across a mini that offered possibilities... ...and so I did some dinkin' around, replacing a hand with a GUN hand... and using the head from the original Stove Belly John (about which, the less said the better). I think there might be some possibilities here... now I just need to figure out what they might be...