Hope everyone is doing well so far this year. Luckily our Midwestern state missed the snow but we are scheduled to get some in the next 2 weeks, so we will get our dose of winter.
This chilly weekend allowed me to do a little worktable time, (but not enough as I was diverted by Empire; Total War, and pushing a Polish Offensive against Sweden...), but I was able to get some things done, and it's remarkably surprising when you tell yourself, "I'm going to paint this today." and when you sit down you find your interest on something completely different.
Case in point today.
Readers will know that I like the Old West. Being a history major, the period has fascinated me. I've been to Pecos, Texas, and been to Tombstone, (twice), as well as other old western spots along the way. I think it was my interested in this period that helped me set down the initial rules and groundwork for what would later become "Gutshot".
Over the years, I've always wanted to have a real nice looking Western town setup. I've experimented with paper buildings, and some resin buildings, and some of the Ertl Cowtown buildings, (which can really be modified to look better.), but over the years and the moves, I just never got a chance to really start working on a town.
But today I sat down and for some odd weird reason, pulled out a building I did about six years ago and never finished. (And we wargamers know that "never finished/aka:"Ongoing project" can be forever.), and I start fiddling with it.
The building is a small scratchbuilt store I did. Made from foam-core and covered with the wooden stir sticks from Starbucks, (perfect size). It looked pretty good. I sprayed the foamcore black. Glued on the wood sticks/boards. The front door and window is from a O Gauge Model RR Supply. The original idea for this is that it is going to be an undertakers shop. Hence the large windows to see his "work", and "Who is on display"....
The wood covering was run with a burnt umber basing and highlighted with brown, raw sienna and dry-brushed with cinnamon acrylics. All in all a pretty good realistic weathered approach.
You can see the old original undertaker sign there that has been painted up. More signage is on the way.
All I have to do is put in the windows, the second wall to make a back office, and wallpaper, and add the new signage and this one will be done....and a new building to my little Western town will be done.
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| The front....almost ready to be "open for business".... |
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| An oblique shot showing the side window and the false front.... |
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| The other required oblique angle.... |
So after doing a little work on it, I decided to see what it looked like with people.
So I toss some WIP figures out front and let them have some fun.
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| Everybody loves a good fiddle tune.... |
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| WIP: "Johnny Allen plays "Zip Coon" on his catgut fiddle while "Two Step" Tom McGinney shows his stuff, as Shopkeeper Sam and Consuelo watch the commotion...." Figures are a mix of Foundry, OG, and Dixon... |
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| "While the music is playing, that mysterious man known only as "ZZ Fandango", waits quietly, hidden around the corner of the building, his trusty Winchester lever action in hand as if he is "expecting something"....." |
I've got some more coming up in this flavorful period, as I recently pulled out of the box some of my original Western figs that I painted up for the early Gutshot playtest games from 2000-2005...
True some of them have paintjobs 10-15 years old but I am looking at redoing some of them, and putting them back ready for play....
I'll get some photos of them up real soon.....
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