Three more down!

Finished three more models tonight...

From the Cowtown Chaos pack.

Drunk from the Cowtown Chaos Pack by Knuckleduster.

Laughing Cowboy with pistol and rifle.

Painting Update

Here is a few more that I finished off this weekend. Just need to work on the eyes a bit and the bases as usual but done! Whoo!

Outlaw Gunman with sawed off shotgun.

Cowboy with lasso.

Sidekick

Outlaw Gunman with rifle and pistol.

Outlaw Gunman with pistol with mask.

Painting Update

Managed to wrangle up a few more models now. Still need to finish the bases and touch up the eyes but overall I am knocking out these models at a good pace.

Earp Brother

Another Earp

Just another Earp

Doc Holiday

Sheriff Behan

Earps, Doc and Behan

Outlaw

Masked outlaw with sawed off shotgun.

Rear shot.

The first of the Outlaws.

Gambler

Texas Pete

Gambler and Pete

Calamity Jane

Close up of Jane.

Painting Update

My apologies on not posting sooner, I have a ton of material to post up but just little time to organize it as of yet.
Well, been painting on the Knuckleduster Minis for about two weeks now. Things slow down at times due to various things going on but so far everything is progressing at a good pace. Sometimes I wish there was more time and I had a bit more energy to put into painting that I do.

The  bases need to be finished and some of the eyes I need to finish up but that is minor detail work for later.

Bandito with repeating rifle.

Bandito with two pistols.

Drunk Bandito

The head Bandito!

Bandito with pistol.

Bandito with repeating rifle.

The Banditos "Friends of the Red Devil"

Figure from the Cowtown Chaos with Repeating Rifle.

Calling him "Buckskin Bob"

I think this is Texas Jack or Billy Thompson from the set.

Marshall

Bass Reeves, little known but decorated black US Marshall

Lawman with repeating rifle.

Lawman running with pistol.

Native American Lawman

Group shot of the Marshall's

Belle Star from the Women of the Gun set.

Going to call her "Scarlett Belle"

Armed with a repeating rifle and pistol.

Granny Mae with shotgun.

Soiled Dove with concealed derringer.

Native American Princess with pistol.

Female Anti-hero.

The ladies in a group.

Outlaws Guide to Infamy

From my reading online is that the Outlaw posse tends to fall short to other types of posse groups in the game and often players are looking for solid advice. After reading over the rules here is what I have come up with as advice to current and starting Outlaws everywhere.

Overview:

The Desperado Hero is the only model with 4’s for several stats. Namely shooting and fighting along with Grit. The rest of the gang takes on the average 3 for everything except the Toughs that get a Grit of 4. With the rest of the gang with a Shootin’ of  5+  life is going to be hard, but that is why you’re an outlaw anyway!

Building up the posse:

First off, take as many heroes as you can pack in. Out of all the posse choices, the Outlaws allow you to take 4 (one more than the standard 3 of most others). Kids are fairly cheap and can prove to be useful. How? If you take 3 Kids and 1 Desperado you have 5 FA points in your early games to use. Simply put, you can control a game by calling Quickdraw, Yee Haw! and Time for a Whuppin as well as modify a dice roll at a critical part of the game. That’s five there boys and girls! No other posse can bring that much Fame to the table!

Second, take as many Toughs! Why? For 2 dollars more you can get a Grit of 4! So a six-shooter needs a 5+ to wound you instead of a 4+. Harder to hurt equals longer life span as a henchmen. Plus if he gets to become a hero then blam! He already has one 4 in his stat line that makes him better than a Kid at that point.

At a glance there was three builds that hit me right off:

1)      Tons’o’Guns: The concept is simple, cheap guns and bodies. Your goal is massed firepower to bring down your opponent fast. You are playing the numbers game in essence.

Here is an example of the build I had in mind:

Desperado with pistol. $35

Kids x3 with pistols $63

Rowdies x5 with pistols $70

Toughs x2 with pistols $32

The concept here is simple, you have more guns than they do, walking on the table with 11 models to most others with 8 gives you a slight edge to numerical advantages and also lets you focus on the mission by using some as sacrificial lambs while you stick to the scenario. In a straight up firefight fan those pistols! Fill the air with so much lead you’re bound to roll a few 6’s and take more of them out than they can. Then run for cover and reload. Repeat as needed.

2)      Only the best can ride with us! Take the best of the best, you will need them!

Example Concept:

Desperado with six-shooter. $35

Kids x3 with six-shooters  $63

Toughs x5 with six-shooter pistols x5.  $80

Rowdie with six-shooter x1 $14

This is a slight variant to the first one, your maxing out on Toughs instead of taking Rowdies. While you still have the same number of heroes, the Toughs in this list are less likely to get wounded and survive as well as more likely to get advanced to a hero themselves making that bargain of $2 more a very sweet deal!

3)      Ranged Robbery!

Desperado with repeating rifle $46

Kids x3 with repeating rifles $96

Rowdies x2 wit Rifle $44

Rowdie with a six-shooter $14

Deploy your rifles to vantage points and sit back and shoot your targets down and force a Pluck test before they can get close enough to inflict damage on your gang. Really, this gang isn’t playing the mission, just trying to drive off the other gang to win the scenario. The Rowdie with the pistol hides until something comes within range to give his support, after the first game you buy him a rifle. The real weakness to this list is the lack of bodies, you’re only starting with eight and rifles are slow to reload.

Weapons for your Posse:

Desperado: Should take a heavy pistol or repeating rifle if possible. He has the best Shootin’ score and should take advantage of the best weapons.

Kids, Rowdies and Toughs: My only two suggestions here are six guns and sawed off shotguns. SOS requires no S stat to shoot, just aim and fire, ignores cover and hits tons of targets. Six-guns are cheap and your basic weapon that allows you to “fan” your shots. This lets you toss out tons of lead at once for that desperate shot, it is up to the dice at that point. I am all about taking down your targets quickly, if you lack the skill you make up for it with dirty tricks.

Weapon Loophole: Want to save some cash? The Outlaw weapon chart is cheaper for some weapons for heroes/henchmen than the other chart!

Cheap Hero Weapons: Six-guns are $1 cheaper and sawed off shotguns are $3 cheaper.

Cheap Henchmen Weapons: Shotguns are $2 cheaper.

With the limit of 4 weapons per model you buy the cheaper weapon off the chart with that hero/henchmen type. Example: You want to give 5 six-shooters to your 5 Toughs, buy 7 six-shooters for your Kids and allocate them out to the gang (see below).

Deploy your models and bottle out voluntary first turn. Draw your XP and basic income.  Hire your henchmen before the second game. Is it dirty? Yes it is! Is it legal? Yes. Outlaws have no code of ethics!

Taking on more hands!

After your first game, work on expanding your posse with new hires to bulk up the size and add new gear to the gang to help you in the campaign. I always suggest to take as many models that you can instead of taking on a hired gun. While a Rowdie isn’t as great as a hired gun you can get more of them for your money and no upkeep to them. You could very easy purchase two Rowdies with six-shooters for the cost of a single Gunslinger.

Research your hired guns. There are two types of hired guns to me. Support or Combat oriented. All hired guns have their own perks and benefits. Here is my suggested hired guns for both that I think could be worthwhile:

Combat: Gunslinger, Prize Fighter, Chinese Rail Worker, Scout, Mexican Ranchero, Knife Fighter, Explosives Expert, Pony Express Rider and Renegade Soldier.

The best fighters are the Renegade Soldier, Gunslinger and Mexican Ranchero. Top notch stats, gear, abilities and all around boosts your gang in the weak point of shooting. Close combat is found in the Prize Fighter, Chinese Rail Worker and Knife fighter. Each can be nasty in up close situations, if plan to go that route. The last three make up an odd niche if you will the scout makes a good sniper using the stealth ability, the Explosives Expert can double as a sniper and a demolitions man to toss templates or achieve goals, last is the Pony Express Rider, for $20 you get a horse, pistol and a 4+. When you’re on the cheap this is one of the best options you will get.

Support: Soiled Dove, Prospector, Reporter, Cookie and Tejano Guide

Support models have a specific use in the gang. The Soiled Dove is to harass your opponent, the Prospector a cheap demolitions expert and bonus income, the Reporter to get extra Fame, Cookie if you want a larger gang and the Tejano Guide if you want to hire Legends or get hard to find gear, his major perk (and cheap!) is the ability to move 3 models after deployment before the game. Support models give you a tactical advantage in the game. Choose wisely.

Knuckleduster Miniature Review

I just placed a purchase a few days ago for my first round of miniatures from Knuckleduster Miniatures to start playing Legends of the Old West.

Why I picked this company:

1)      Price, hands down works out to about $1.66 per figure giving you the most bang for your buck. Most other companies charge on average between $2-3+ a figure.

2)      Approachability, Forrest at Knuckleduster was very prompt to respond to my inquires (by email and on his blog) and answered my questions about his products in a professional quality and was a very “down to earth” guy.

3)      Discount, Knuckleduster offers sales at times and gives a general %15 off when you hit the $100 order mark. Shipping is also very reasonable and local to the United States.  He has even taken the time to sign on an overseas distributor as well to allow savings to carry over to the other side of the pond to compete with the other products over there.

Mailing/Packaging:

Order was placed October 2^nd, processed on October 3^rd and arrived on October 6^th (it was mailed on the 4^th). Everything was boxed up well and arrived in great shape.

Each set of models is in a simple “zip lock” style baggie with a single staple through the middle with the Knuckleduster cardboard and baggie. With a quick pop of the cardboard cover the baggie can be used to store the figures until your ready to work on them.

What struck me later was how the package was already set for a retailer to add it to a peg board for quick product stocking. The size of the bag takes up minimal space to allow someone to merchandise their store to maximum effect for space.

Quality:

Knuckleduster uses the “white metal” for their miniatures and what they use seems to be of a stronger than average variety. Sometimes you get some models made of white metal and they seem to bend very easy or don’t seem to be very strong.

Cleaning so far has been very minimal on most figures. I only had to trim a few mold lines and clip a few items of flash off. Most of the worst spots are around the inside of the legs and any small points around the elbow that may have a small gap there. Pictured below is a model that was a bit tough to get into. I had to use a round file to remove the flash inside.

As with all metal figures there was some bending of a barrel here and there back into position, but the quality of metal that Knuckleduster uses was both tough and was able to deal with a slight bend with no weakness to the model.

Overall, the figures are well sculpted and detailed to catch the feel of the old west. I am looking forward to finishing basing them and spraying them with primer once the weather gets better.

Final Thoughts:

I would recommend anyone that is shopping the 28mm line of figures to purchase from Knuckleduster. Forrest runs a great company by offering good sculpts and a down to earth price with a nice touch of customer service. He is the type person that takes the time to sign a note to my invoice wishing my wife and I “happy anniversary” after I mentioned in an email to him that my wife let me place an order of miniatures as my gift from her.

My only wish is that he could sculpt more stuff! He just released two sets of mounted cowboys to match the 6 figure cowboy set that look amazing. I regret not waiting on my order to slip these figures into the order.

Support small business owners! Buy American! Two wins to a cowboy by the name of Forrest Harris.

Shot of my 60 miniatures based already!

Legends of the Old West Markers

I was walking through the dollar store the other day picking up a few things and found this! Just a buck!

Figure the gun and spurs will go to a donation box. The star makes a good "drop" marker and the bullets was easy to clip apart to make reload markers.

Welcome Ya'll

Welcome to “Dice at High Noon” this blog is dedicated to miniature gaming in the Wild West era using a range of 25mm to 28mm models. My primary focus is in Warhammer Historical:  Legends of the Old West but the information contained within this blog could be applied to other Western themed miniature games with minimal work.

Preview of things to come:

• Advice on how to build, organize and run your posse during a campaign LOTOW.
• Scenery and Terrain to the Wild West theme that I am building.
• Painting Features of models that I am going to paint.
• Model review from various companies that make Western models.
• Battle Reports of games played.
• House rules for new Trading Post gear.
• House rules for new Hired Guns.
• House rules offering a new skill chart.
• New scenarios to play.
• Links to various companies that make Wild West miniatures.
• Links to other websites that offer additional information to the hobby.
• Inspiration for ideas for the hobby.

My goal here is to entertain you and help enjoy your miniature gaming experience. I hope that I don’t disappoint your expectations. If you have comments, suggestions or feedback feel free to post here or drop me an email. Make sure if you do email me that you put a header in the email to ensure I read it, otherwise I may consider it junk mail!

If you happen to manufacture any 25-28mm Western figures, contact me if you want to sponsor this page!