Building Crabtree.....The DEEEEE-LUXE Outhouse!!!

Soooooooooooo...my wife built ANOTHER Outhouse for my Western town...
This one is the "Deluxe, side by side two-holer model", for when you and your friend can't handle the chili and you can sit side by side and commiserate as you do yer business.
The model is from Knuckleduster.
I think she did a pretty dang good job of it.

Let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

Building Crabtree - FIRST BUILDING DONE!

Soooooo...second blog entry of the day.

My wonderful wife (Gawd bless her!), helped me today as I started the building and painting process for my Western town; and SHE has the honors of having the first building completed for the town!

Yes..first building of my town built by my wife...Gawd bless her again I say!

An outhouse by Knuckleduster.
With the exception of the little flocking at the base, and sealing, it's done!
She has her priorities in order in "What needs to be built first..."

More to come!

Building a Western Town... Building Crabtree

Greetings once again, dear readers...

So in my previous post, (located here: http://littletoysoldiersandsuch.blogspot.com/2016/02/laying-down-plans-for-western-town.html  ), I discussed my early plans for my games at Little Wars and my designs for a Western town.

I love Western gaming and the town design has taken on a fascinating life of it's own.

First off was the name:

What's in a name???...

On looking over various Western sites, I came across a variety of names, some geographic, some colorful, and some just kind of "wrong". Some of the more colorful ones (besides Tombstone and Deadwood, were "Two Guns" and "Diablo Canyon/Devil's Canyon", "Prosperity", and "Eden".  I myself was stuck between two names.

My original idea was for the town of "Rimfire". It has a nice classic action oriented name to it. But at the same time I was interested in the idea of a name that was more "historical". So in good measure I started researching names, and during this time, I came across information on the famous 19th Century Actress Lotta Crabtree. (She was so famous they even had her in an episode of "Bonanza", (she was played by Yvonne De Carlo)....

Lotta was an unusual and spunky young lady for her time, (and a good investor), and so I figured, "If Judge Roy Bean could have "Langtry, Texas", then I could have the town of Crabtree named after Miss Lotta herself.

So now I had a name....

What came next?

Well the original plans...(which was shown on the map in the previous post.)

And then came the buildings....

A mysterious package arrives....

So Saturday came and there was a ringing of ye olde doorbell.

I opened it to see my friendly Postman, (who never rings twice), getting back in his vehicle and driving away.

"Hmmm..." sez I....

Then I looked down and saw a box....

So I brought it in....

Hmmmm.....What could it be now...(as if I didn't know...)

Well, well, well...look what was in the box!!!

Buildings and figures!!!  Go figure....

Sidekicks....we all need 'em....

What's a saloon without customers?....Out of business!

For some reason, Forrest and Co. felt that my order took too long, so they included a little freebie gift!  Most awesome!

A little note from Forrest apologizing for the delay.  I am honored and very happy with their service.

Sooooo after getting ALL of my current Knuckleduster stuff together, this is what I have to build for the convention....

The beginnings of a Wild West Town....

Including the "Two Holer Outhouse" for those night when the cafe is serving Chili and Beans and you just can't wait no longer....

Stacked them all up to see what it looked like on the table...

Wow...I have a lot of work to do...

Guess I need to get cracking!!!!


More to come....

Laying down the plans for a Western Town!

Well, I've gone and done it.

As stated in the previous blog thread, I've signed up to run not one, but TWO (2) games for Little Wars in April.

With that being said I am now faced with the monumental task of "ahem"....BUILDING THE DANG TOWN!

Not to worry though!

I have approx. eleven (11) weeks to screw around and procrastinate...errr...I mean..."git 'er done"....

So today was step one...the paperwork part.

First off I had to get an idea of what buildings I have already on hand that I have or coming in that I can use. So It took a count.

Eleven.

Each building is numbered, (and #11 is the Scratchbuilt one I showed in the last blog). I am planning on that being probably the undertakers place.

Hmmmm...the beginnings of a small town...on the Wild Western Frontier....

Naturally in true wargamer fashion, AFTER doing all of the "this is what I have", I then did the list of "This is what I would eventually want..."

And the town suddenly exploded....

BOOMTOWN!!!!

Then it was time to start laying out the lay of the town..."Platting" I think is the term.

I knew that I didn't want all of the streets to be entirely straight and I wanted some variety, plus I wanted to use the old movie studio trick of having a street curve off and around to give the eye level illusion that the town is larger than it seems.

Some side streets and alleys, and The Sheriffs Office and Jail at the end, (ala "Rio Bravo" style).

Plan #1: Not bad for an emerging burg that will soon be riddled with lead, and littered with dead bodies....

Plan #2: Similar but a few changes....I still need a hotel for this one, and for Plan #1....

I decided to also put this little gem to use:

An amazing book from Knuckleduster. Gives me all sorts of back shootn,  rootin' tootin', tobacco chewin', spittoon spittin' fun and inspiration....

And for the buildings I will be going with a wide variety of suppliers (as well as scratch-built and modified, but for right now I am starting with good old TCL/Knuckleduster.

Here's the first one:

The General Store: This will probably end up being...well...The General Store....(duh...)

Building #2:

Building #2: Small Store with a Stepped Roof: Instead of a store, I am thinking that this one will become "The Mockingbird Cafe"; A place for fine suppers, fresh pies, and hot coffee....

 And then there is Building #3:

Building #3 is another small store. This one will probably be a General Mercantile store or something....

Well that's it right now for my update. I've got more buildings coming in the Post and a lot of work ahead of me, but I am pushing the schedule and working to "Git 'er done"....

More updates to follow.....

100 Posts, Convention Games, and "OOOOOH SHINY!"

Well, it's time for me to post another update and this time I have big news and good news....

Let's get on with it shall we???

100 POSTS!!!!

First off this is post #100 for this site....

So a big thank you and sincere appreciation to everyone that supports this little blog o' mine by coming here and reading and sharing.
Here's the the next 100...May they come more quickly....

LITTLE WARS 2016 GAME EVENTS!!!!

That's right! For all of you sitting out there on pins and needles waiting, well...your wait is well...progressing....

Due to requests and some discussion I ended up submitting not one, but TWO (2) Game events.

Game Event #1 is for Saturday afternoon. It's a Parent/Child Game and is an Old West Shoot 'em up. and will be running a version of the Gutshot Rules that I call "Gutshot Lite"....

Game #1: 

JAILBREAK!!!

In the Western town of Crabtree, Big Boss Mitchell is behind bars in the jail!  The Sheriff and his pards are determined to keep him there until the US Marshall arrives. The Bosses outlaw gang is just as determined to bust him out of the hoosegow and get him out of town before the Marshall gets here.  Oh, and while they are at it, they just might rob the bank also....

Will the outlaws get their boss out from behind bars and out of town, or will the tin stars save the day?  

This game is a Parent/Child participation game (age groups for kids being 10-14), with the Parents taking on one side, and the Children taking on the other side. Designed for quick play and fun, and a chance to play "Cowboys", and to try their hands (and shooting irons), at each.

Prizes awarded to the winning team...

And then there will be the second game...

The second one is set for Saturday night, and is a 19th Century Western/Pulp/Horror Game....

"The Mystery of Lonely Hollow"...

Lonely Hollow is a small, desolate, isolated town in The Old West, and nothing much happens there; that is -until a mysterious black carriage showed up in town right after sunset. Now the telegraph wires have been down for over a week and the stage hasn't been seen in 10 days. Some cowboys from a nearby ranch went riding into town to see what was going on, but they ain't been heard from since....

Now it's your turn; and as you arrive at the ridge overlooking the quiet town, you notice that the sun is just now starting to set....

Now it's up to you and your fellow members to get into town and find out what is going on, and to solve "The Mystery of Lonely Hollow"....

Dang, that sounds like an old "Nancy Drew Mystery"....

So I am looking for all sorts of fun!

And now onto surprise #2....

OOOOOOOH SHINY!!!!!!

So here I am minding my own business today and drudging through a day of Windows Server Infrastructure 2012 class training, when the doorbell rings. I open it up and lo and behold. USPS dropped off a box...and it's from......THE UK!!!!

DUN-DUN-DUNNNNNNNNNHHHH!!!!

And I open it up and there they are...my very first direct Foundry order....

To refresh your memory this is what I got:

A nice party of chaps to go hunting with....whether it be foxes, rabbits, or werewolves....

Yes...the entire collection is now....allllllllllllll mine.....muah hah hah! *rubs hands and chortles*

So hopefully I can get to work on these, or add to my little lead mountain....sigh...

More to come in the future, so stay tuned!!!!