"Bang, bang....you're dead....!"

Last night, Rick and I joined Julian for a trio of quickfire Western Gunfight games, using the Knuckleduster “Gunfighters Ball” rule set. As there were only three players available from Julian’s normal pool of around eight, we decided it was a good opportunity to have a rerun of these skirmish level rules. As it was really a learning process, we had one figure each in game one, two figures each in game two and just to shake things up a bit, three figures each in the third game!

Julian opted for the forces of law and order, and had Wyatt Earp in game one, added his brother Virgil in game two and rounded it out with Doc Holliday in game three – which seemed appropriate as he spent his working life as a dentist!

Rick had John Wesley Hardin, Old Man Taylor and some other guy whose name I can’t remember in game three, whilst I started with Maria Luisa, added Elly the Rancher and then Mysterious Dave Mather in the third encounter.

I won’t give a blow by blow account but I seem to have taken quite a few pics, even though I think I missed most of game two, so will add descriptions below each

 

Each of the "official" Gunfighters Ball figures comes with one of these character cards

 

Game one - John Wesley Hardin passing the saloon on his way to bushwhack Wyatt Earp at the Marshals office

 

Above and below,

Maria Luisa recently arrived off the train from Mexico

...Sarissa railway station in the background

Ricks lovely Dixon Miniatures stage coach

 

Hardin and Wyatt Earp face off outside the Marshals office….

 

Earp despatched Hardin, but in the meantime, the Senorita from south of the Rio Grande had sneaked up and shot him from behind!

 

But in the next turn, the gut shot lawman put a bullet into Maria’s groin – ouch! One odd thing about this rule set is that gunfighters lying on the ground shot in the gut or groin or spine, suffer no negative on their ability to fire at opponents, but they are 10% harder to hit…

 

The start of game two, and I added Elly to Maria Luisa. Again, as she is a Knuckleduster figure, she has a card. I intend to create similar cards for my collection of western women, so they can get in on the action too!

 

My version of Elly is slightly different from the image on the card

 

These are Julian’s character cards for game two

 

Slightly out of focus shot showing the inside of the Marshals office – most of the buildings are Ricks and also come from Knuckleduster

 

A general view of the whole town

 

Ricks cards and figures for the second game

 

Above and below – two more general views of the town and various ancillary pieces that Rick has painted in this collection

 

Game Two – Maria Luisa – “La Pistola” – slips down the alley way next to the Marshals office…but that dirty varmint John Wesley Hardin has sneaked into the adjacent building and targets her from the upstairs window!

 

 

 

I got a bit carried away in this game and didn’t take any pics for a few moves – this is the end of things, with Rick’s two figures ganging up on a wounded Elly and shooting her in the back  - the bar stewards! Prior to this, the two lawmen and La Pistola had bitten the dust

 

Game Three – the Earp’s and Doc Holliday confront John Wesley Hardin behind the Dentists building

 

Doc Holliday exchanges pot shots with Old Man Taylor across the main street

 

Mysterious Dave and Maria moving cautiously up behind the three lawmen

 

“La Pistola” sneaks a peek around the corner of the building at Virgil Earp

 

Virgil and Maria in close proximity

 

“Draw, gringo!” Maria and Virgil face off in a quick draw contest

 

Rick’s “Third Man” sheltering behind the livery stable

 

Virgil and Maria did serious damage to each other, although Maria did survive this encounter and spent the remainder of the game rolling a D3 to crawl away….Virgil had cashed in his chips!

 

Mysterious Dave takes down Wyatt Earp

 

The “Third Man” takes a pot shot at Mysterious Dave and puts him down on the ground!

 

But a wounded Elly takes him down with her trusty Winchester! By this stage, only Old Man Taylor and Elly were still standing, and both had leg wounds that halved their movement. As they were at opposite ends of the town, we decided to call an end to hostilities – all three lawmen were dead, as were two of Ricks three characters. Mysterious Dave and Maria Luisa were both Hors de Combat. Either gut shot or shot in the groin! With a couple of beers, lamb shank pie and a nice red wine thrown into the mix, it was a great way to end the working week.

The "Hot Trod"

Noun​    Hot Trod (plural hot trods)

1.(obsolete) The legal pursuit of Border Reivers across the English-Scottish border, in order to recover stolen goods.

These two mounted figures come in a pack with a couple of “sleuth – hounds” (Noun - sleuthhound (plural sleuthhounds) A bloodhound similar hound formerly used in Scotland) from Col Bills Reiver Range. The hounds are yet to be painted and shall join their human colleagues at a later point.

 

 

 

Again, you will notice the slightly unconvincing sculpting of the two horse, although the trumpet players is not too bad. That figure does have rather indistinct sculpting around the face where the trumpet connects to the “mouth” but overall, I am happy with the two figures. In case you have not researched the arcane details of the Borderers and their particular local judicial customs, a legal pursuit across the border in either direction had to be announced as such – two of the prescribed methods being to sound a horn and to carry a smouldering piece of peat on a lance tip….

 

 

Also completed are six foot figures by Col Bill – however, I have run out of old 10c coins to base them on, so these will have to wait until I obtain a resupply of this crucial element of my basing technique!

Mary, Queen of Scots

This is the Belt Fed Games figure of Elizabeth the First but I will be using her in my Border Reivers skirmish game. She may be Mary Queen of Scots – in which case, this is Version One – as I am also intending to purchase the TAG (The Assault Group) version of the “Faerie Queen” – that will then be Version Two. Depending on which one I end up liking best, one will be Her Grace Queen Mary and the other will be a lower level Borders gentlewoman.

As a brief aside, if you have not seen the film Mary Queen of Scots starring the Irish actress Saoirse Ronan, I would thoroughly recommend it – unless your idea of a good movie is Fast and Furious Seven – then, probably its not your cup of tea!

It’s a very nice figure although the horse is a bit odd looking….I guess the sculptor is better at the female form than animals. 😊

Following the five angles of the figure there are a few images of a couple of hours my wife and I spent on a new walk today. Only about a half hour drive from home, we visited the Waiuku (pronounced as three syllables – Wye – Oo – Koo) Forest, a place we have intended to visit for many years but have never actually managed till today – it was very nice and we will definitely be making a return visit!

 

View of the River Waikato estuary as it joins the Tasman Sea

 

 

The track we followed that ran parallel to the river

 

 

In some places, this sharp edged grass was five or six feet tall. 

My bare ankles took a bit of a hammering from the razor like edges of the grass and are now a mass of little cuts!

 

The view to the south west. Looking at the settlement of Port Waikato across the river and down river to the Tasman Sea

 

The view looking eastwards, back up the river Waikato

 

After walking for an hour or so, we returned to the car and drove about five kilometres until the road ended on the cliff top overlooking the estuary of the Waikato river

 

Very pleasant way to spend three hours on a Saturday and upon returning home, I spent a couple of hours at the painting table before a couple of neighbours popped in for a drink between four and six, then we had dinner as the sun set in the west. Not much to complain about when you have days like that!