From HerrRobert: Dastardly Daddies and Pistol Packin' Mamas (20 points)

Cornpone Junction is a dusty town bisected by the El Paso and Southwest Railroad, lured north from the dusty border crossing with Mexico by the allure of economic growth and wealth along the railroad line. Neatly bisected by the railroad in an old-fashioned arrangement, it's a dusty combination of Anglo wood-frames and Mexican adobe. And, naturally, home to all manner of desperate and dangerous creatures, most of them human.

Ma Baker, J. H. F. Mudd, Minnie the Moocher and the enigmatic Mr. Chen

Cornpone Junction is the Western setting for many of my Western games, mostly played using (heavily) modified Legends of the Old West ruleset, and I'm slowly building up my collection of figures. First up is Ma Baker, the grandmother and diabolical mastermind of the Hoss Posse (pronounced so it rhymes), a notorious collection of ne'er do wells infamous for bank robbing, mine rustling, kidnapping and wanton cattle murder. Ma Baker joins the ranks of the infamous Boss Hoss, Fancy Dan, Bat Masterson, and Gentle Nell.

"Freeze, I'm Ma Baker, put your hands in the air"

"Gimmie all your money"

Ma Baker is a 28mm Knuckleduster miniature from their Gunfighter's Ball line; she can be purchased either independently, as I did, or from their Pistol Packin' Mamas pack. 

My inspiration was the eponymous Boney M song Ma Baker, and the various Hollywood movies around Ma Barker, the supposed mastermind of the Barker Gang, though scholarship is quite mixed on her actual involvement and culpability in the gang's crimes. However, the various movie posters matched the figure almost exactly (just substituting the Thompson for a more prosaic double-barreled shotgun), so I based the paint scheme after one of the many movie posters of the time.

I think I did a pretty good job matching the purple dress, grey hair, and white apron. The dress was several thin coats of DecoArt Cranberry Wine, with a wash of Voluptus Pink contrast paint from Citadel.

Next up is Minnie the Moocher, another Knuckleduster figure available independently as a single figure. In the Gunfighter's Ball Universe, she's the head madam of Front Street. while in Cornpone Junction she's a less genteel and more nefarious character.

Paint scheme comes predominantly from the Gunfighter's Ball card, which I matched as closely as I could. The skirt and hat were fairly easy; it's the same paint mix as Ma Baker, but with a pinker coat between the two coats of Cranberry Wine. Her blouse was more involved, necessitating multiple different shades of pink before picking out the collar, cuffs, ruffled and buttons in white. It was finally all brought together with a light gray wash from GameColor.

She's also named from another song, this time Cab Calloway's Minnie the Moocher; though, with a derringer cheroot and her award-winning smile and personality, she doesn't need the King of Sweden to give her the things she's a needn. 

Though Roz from Monster's Inc might also be claimed as an inspiration.

Next is the enigmatic Mr. Chen, head of the Chinese Benevolent Association in Cornpone Junction. 

Many American cities and towns had Chinese brotherhoods, business associations and secret societies often known as Tongs set up to assist Chinese laborers, immigrants and residents across America. Traces of these smaller and more rural Chinatowns survive, especially in parts of California's Central and Sacramento Valleys.

Mr. Chen is a Great Escape Games miniature from their Tong set for Dead Man's Hand. Again, I stuck pretty closely to the box art for the faction. Black dry brushed with Delta Ceramcoat Pavement (lower robes) or Charcoal Gray (hat) formed the basic design, though the sleeves were painted in Reaper's Dark Elf skin triad. The central jerkin was Mondo Llama Whipped Honey, with Army Painter Soft Tone to take off the satin shine.

I was less satisfied with my choices for skin tone. I didn't have a good paint mix for Chinese skin tones the way I do for various Caucasian, African or Middle Eastern figures, so I had to whip something up on the fly. ChatGPT helped a little, but I'm not satisfied with the results. Since I have lots of Chinese and Japanese figures to paint up for various eras, I'll probably just buy the Foundry triad.

Last up is not a resident of Cornpone Junction. The rapskallion J. Harcourt Fenton Mudd is for my Darkest Africa scenarios. Much like his descendent in the 23rd Century, he is trader of ill repute who will buy, sell, trade, dabble or deal in virtually anything, though he's somehow become an erstwhile representative of Her Majesty the Queen, or so he claims. Though one's choice for consul in deepest Tangayika is quite slim, if he has any official standing beyond sheer presumpton, gumption and the largest whiskers in East Africa.

What wouldn't you buy from, or sell to, a man with a moustache larger than most Frenchmen?

Mudd is a Wargames Foundry figure from DA012 - A League of Exceptional Gentleman in their Darkest Africa line. I picked up a primed and based figure in a cheap figure bin easily fifteen years ago, though he was sitting in the primed to paint pile of shame for at least the last two Challenges.

I went with my usual British Army blue mix for the trousers, leather for the mid-calf boots, a Reaper or GameColor khaki for the helmet cover, and Whipped Honey again for the jacket. It was a fun mix to paint.

Figures were done on Sunday, when the first round of photos went very bad. Unlike my last submission, the black background resulted in blown photos, and the white background was horribly overexposed. After another long session with ChatGPT, I ended up building a riser for my painting studio, putting in a neutral grey foamcore background, and still not able to get a clean background deletion for that crisp black look. I'm not happy with the photos, but I just need to get these posted and on the board.

My photography booth

Scoring:

4 28mm foot figures @5 points per = 20 points

So I'm now 40% of my very modest goal, and ready to dive into some Villistas, and maybe score my first squirrel point.

 

------------------------------------

Sylvain: With your passionate description, your painted miniatures become alive before our eyes. And your paint job is fabulous, based on thorough pop-culture research. I especially like your basing, an evocation of the dry climate of Western country. Bravo

From AndrewG: 'Red' Kelly's Gang (20 points)

“Cattle rustlers and horse thieves… the whole lot of ‘em!”

As I continue working through the small pile of Old West miniatures I bought many years ago, I have been able to put together two gangs in addition to the lawmen I showed last time. Up next in this series is a bunch I've labeled Red Kelly’s Gang. I had previously painted the rascal with the red necktie as a test model for the look I wanted, so I’m not including him in my points claim here. The remaining four gents however were completed during competition time to round out this crew.

If memory serves these are all dismounted versions of metal Foundry figures sculpted by Copplestone for their Old West Cowboys range. I wanted them to easily represent either side of the law, so while I’ve styled them as potential train robbers I could probably also just as easily use them as Pinkertons or other hired law enforcement deputies. I have a stagecoach that I’m currently working on that will be a likely target for them in an upcoming game, so they needed to pass for potential raiders (or protectors) of the mail and the fort commander’s lock box.

As far as figures go these are a relatively quick painting job. I have a good palette of browns at hand that either lean towards red or yellow in their tone – thus the majority of the colours are a mix of Vallejo and Army Painter browns - saddle, leather, oak, and bootstrap for example. A bit of Vallejo mahogany tends to be my go-to for weapon stocks, otherwise it’s just the usual washes and highlighting to bring them together. A splash of colour just to give the figures character, but not too much. Last a bit of blue and grey in the cloths and bandanas tie all the figures together, giving them a subtle uniformity for the gaming table.

Again, the bases are simple 2mm thick rounds, and were done with basing paste, grit from the driveway, and Vallejo or Tajima tufts. Vallejo flat earth was used to finish the rims. Two coats of varnish to seal them, and they’re ready to chase down the stagecoach or take on the Sheriff in any town!

Claiming 4x 28mm = 20 points.

_______________________________

Some great looking desperadoes here, Andrew! As you say, a little spot of colour here and there does wonders for these fabulous figures from Copplestone. Terrific brushwork!

- Curt

From AndrewG: Law, Order, and the Undertaker (15 points)

Tap, tap…is this thing on? Okay! Hi everyone, my name is Andrew and let me start by saying thank you very much to Curt et al., for the kind invitation to participate this year. This being my first time doing the challenge, I set my own bar relatively low with a modest 300 points goal.

My own painting objectives over this winter are twofold. First, complete some small warbands for various skirmish games as my local group tends to play a lot of these. Second, add some more units to my ongoing big battle projects, specifically the Battle of Northampton in 1460 (Wars of the Roses) and the Battle of Bunker Hill/Breed's Hill in 1775 (American War of Independence).

My first entry is a simple one and consists of a couple of 28mm Old West characters which I can use for skirmish games such as What a Cowboy or Dead Man’s Hand. I bought these over a decade ago at a show in the US, and they’ve been sitting in the pile of opportunity since then waiting patiently for the paintbrush.

 

 

From left to right – a Wargames Foundry character (Judge Guthrie Prentice dismounted), the 2012 Partizan Show figure (No.15) - ‘The Undertaker’ - sculpted by Mike Owen, and an Artizan Gunfighters figure representing ‘The Bad’ in the Good/Bad/Ugly set. These will form the core of my law-and-order folks, soon to be challenged by a couple of gangs which I’m currently working on.

I find Western figures a joy to paint – the colours are simple, yet small touches can add some nice variety to an otherwise dull palette. The Undertaker’s waistcoat for example done in purple betrays the fact that his business is booming and he can afford some nicer threads. For the other two, functionality is the key. Simple clothes that hide dirt and a long day’s work.

I painted the figures with a range of Vallejo and Army Painter paints. I started with a black primer and then worked up from there, using colour, washes, and quick highlights where appropriate. The bases are simple plastic 2mm thick rounds. The basing materials consist of tufts from Vallejo scenery and Quicksand basing paste from Legendary Paints, over which I add a highly complex mixture of the free sandy grit that collects at the end of my driveway every spring before the dust cleaners go by (if you live in Canada and suffer winter road conditions, you’ll immediately know what I’m referring to). Once dried, I gave it a wash of Army Painter Warpaints Soft Tone to bring it all together. A bit of Vallejo Flat Earth covers the base rim.

Finally, I do two coats of varnish to protect the miniature for play. Done and dusted and ready for the table!

Claiming 3x 28mm foot = 15 points to get things rolling.

_______________________________

First off, welcome to the Challenge, Andrew! It's terrific to welcome new people into the fold of Challengeristas. 

These gunslingers look terrific and compliment each other wonderfully even though they are from different sculptors. Very neat and tidy brushwork, and your basing is equally on-point (what did we ever do without tufts?). 

This trio will give you 15 points to work towards your target. Well done! I look forward to your upcoming entries over the next three months. 

- Curt

From RobH (HerrRobert/RobertH): Señor Oliverios' Retainers (50 points)

Señor Oliveros crouched down in the scrub, waiting. El Borracho sat nearby, drinking straight from a green bottle with one hand, checking the cylinder of his revolver with the other. In all the years he'd known El Borracho, Oliverios had never seen the man without either whiskey or weapons to hand. His pet iguana, El Guapo, crouched on his shoulder. Men from his hacienda dotted the rough ground nearby, ready for the signal.

Señor Oliverios' Retainers

So begins my second entry into the 15th Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. Señor Teodoro Oliveros leads the men from around his hacienda to confront someone, be they the French, the Yankees, banditos, Villistas, Federales or perhaps even Spaniards or Cuban revolutionaries:

• Teodoro Guerra, Raúl Luna, Luis Aguirre and Loco Sanchez (remember him?) have armed themselves with machetes
• Martin Reyes carries a large scattergun or blunderbuss
• Octavio Montoya and Luciano Peña have muskets
• Javier Solis carries a repeating rifle, perhaps a Winchester
• El Borracho and El Guapo have a six gun

Señor Oliverios leads from the front

Eight of the ten figures (all but Solis and El Borracho) are Wargames Foundry figures from the Old West pack OW161 - Mexican Peons. I'd bought them years ago off ebay, and they'd been sitting cleaned, washed and ready to paint for at least two years now. After our last Legends of the Old West game of the exchange, they called out to paint.

El Borracho is a Reaper Chronoscape figure marketed as Lobo Sanchez, Bandito. My figure's package came with a smudged label which read more "Loco Sanchez." Since I already had Loco Sanchez, I needed a new name. Given that the figure is carrying a hefty bottle of something alcoholic, El Borracho, The Drunkard, seemed appropriate.

The figures weren't too bad to paint up, although the sandals and El Borracho's serape and inner thigh had some trouble spots, as did his hair and Señor Oliverios' cummerbund - the red kept bleeing onto his white shirt.

Three of the figures were painted to test a khaki color combination for the Spanish-American War: Delta Ceramcoat Terretorial Beige for shadow, Khaki for main, and then a wash down with Army Painter Soft Tone. It works for rough cloth, but is too dark for a khaki. I will probably try using a pale gray wash next time, and see if that is lighter.

Rear view of the party

The rest of the figures had the same white I did for Loco Sanchez as a prisoner in my previous entry. Señor Oliverios' pants and hat, along with El Borracho's hat and serape, were both done with Territorial Beige as main and Vallejo Cork Brown as a highlight, then washed down with Strong Tone. It makes for a good medium brown. I switched up my straw hat mixture, highlighting with Reaper Buckskin Pale after the Soft Tone wash, instead of before. It worked much better than doing the Soft Tone wash last, so I went back and touched up the prisoner's straw hat from my last entry.

Before and after capture, showing the touchup on the hat

I label all of my 19th Century colonial figures on the bases, with the yellow, green, blue, red or black of the label indicating skill. It's something I picked up playing a homebrew set of rules for gaming the Indian Wars in my teens/early twenties, and since I started basing my figures for that rule set, it has persisted. Figure names are written in with either white gel pen (0.3mm tip, brand new for the challenge) or 0.005mm artist marker.

The band from overhead, showing the labels

I'm a little more satisfied with the photos this go around. I got a slightly better camera app for my phone, which allows me to control the focus point, exposure and light balance better than the usual point and click of an iPhone. I also bought an attachment for my tripod, so I can use it with the phone. They're not as crisp as the black background photos Curt shoots, but they look better. I may switch to a white background though.

Springing the ambush on some French invaders (the French I bought at a con and need to rebase)

Scoring this entry is:

• 10 28mm foot figures @ 5 points per figure = 50 points.

That's also my first Squirrel Point, and 50 more points in the Colonials duel.

 

 

Sylvain: Not only are your miniatures very colorful, the characters you depict are also very colorful. I like how you add stories to your post,as it makes looking at your figurines a lot more interesting. I also find inspiring the way you coded your bases. All in all a great entry. Excellent work!

 

 

From Rob H (HerrRobert): The Border Exchange (5 points)

April 1898: The Trans-Pecos of Texas is a land of extremes, hot days, cold nights, desolate terrain, sparse population and barely suppressed lawlessness far from everywhere. American and Mexican garrisons soak in the beaching sun, attempting to maintain order as bandidos and Comanches cross the border as suits their own nefarious purposes. Those caught on the wrong, side of the border may yet still face what passed for justice in these parts - or be used as coin to trade for those caught on the other side. 

The prisoner waiting to be exchanged

So begins the setting for today's game of (heavily) modified Legends of the Old West. When I first began wargaming, about thirty years ago in the late 1990s, blogging was the province of self-created websites. Ian Croxhall's The Amazing Adventures of the Red Shadow was one of the sites I had bookmarked and routinely read through for new games featuring the Algerian Goumiere scout and the various misadventures of the French, Germans and Italians across the North African littoral. One of my favorite scenarios was The Red Shadow and the Salami Exchange, which featured the French and Italians attempting to exchange prisoners and the Mujahidine crash the party. Hilarity ensues, naturally.

Side profile, perhaps as a mug shot?

I've always wanted to adapt that to a setting that suits my collections, and the US/Mexico border was the best fit. However, the setting required an unarmed figure to serve as one of the prisoners being exchanged. Fortunately, I had just the figure, already mounted on the base and just needing primed, flocked and painted.

He's a 28mm Wargames Foundry figure from the Old West pack OW166 - Mexican Villagers (2nd from the right above), painted in about 2 hours Friday night after work. I went a bit lighter for his clothes, using Delta Ceramcoat Antique White and then Reaper Linen White, washed with grey and then rehighlighted. His straw hat was a Reaper triad (Chestnut Gold, Palomino Gold and Buckskin Pale), which I washed with Army Painter Soft Tone to bring out the details. He was the first figure I had painted since the last Challenge, and having caught Bargain Bob's Basement Bunker version of the various diseases circulating around California for Christmas and New Years, getting started painting anything was a real effort. It's not efficient by any means, but it was fun just working on a single figure.

I love how sullen his expression came out

Despite lint-rolling my photobooth to remove all stray flock and static grass and making sure my miniatures were well lit, the photos turned out rather disappointing, especially compared to shots from today's game. They have a yellow tone and colors are washed out, which does not usually happen when taking gaming photos using the exact same iPhone. The edge of the base in the photo above should be jet black, and so should his hair. Upon reflection, I suspect the problem may be that the black background and high lighting overwhelm the iPhone camera at standard settings and wash things out. 

F Troop, 7th Cavalry escorting the prisoner to the exchange on the bridge over the Rio Grande

For those interested in his fate, Loco Sanchez was duly handed over to the Mexicans, put in the prisoner wagon, and taken to the jail in El Paso del Norte. However, when negotiating the narrow streets, the wagon bucked dodging a small child. Gunfire from the Mexican garrison killed the wagon driver guarding the prisoner, probably by mistake. Sanchez jumped down from the wagon, made a run for it, and was then shot while attempting escape, bleeding out in a dark alley. 

He's making a run for it!

Life is cheap in the Trans-Pecos.

Scoring:

• 1 28mm foot figure @ 5 points per figure = 5 points

And 5 points on my side for the Colonials duel with DaveD! Yes, Mexico and the Old West counts as colonial, especially Mexico because of the Maximillian Adventure.

On the plus side, this is probably the earliest I've posted anything for the Challenge, so every modest bit helps. And we had a wild, freewheeling 6-player, 5-sided game, which is always good!

Sylvain: Great figurine! White clothes are always tricky to paint and you nailed it. The background story adds a lot of character to a humble model, he's not just a villager, he's "Loco Sanchez who was shot during a prisoner exchange". Thanks for the pictures of your game, it looks great with the scenery and people typical of the old Far West.

From ByronM - Old West Lawmen and Cowboy [History Section, Overdue and Returns] (80 points)

Now that the Christmas season is over, I can actually get down to painting....  One of the projects I really wanted to work on this year is getting in some Old West gaming.  I designed a pile of Old West buildings over 5 years ago for my laser cutting business and sell a ton of them, but have never actually gotten them painted to play with since I never actually had many old west miniatures.  This year both issues have to be resolved...  I aim to paint up a selection of terrain and miniatures.

With that in mind, first up is a group of Old West Lawmen that I 3D printed.  The files are amazingly detailed and come from 3DBreed.com and are from their Join or Die: Wanted collection.

I have still been having issues with my eyes and focusing, making painting detail a real issue.  Just part of getting older, or so I am told.  So while I really wanted them in pin stripe suits and vests, I could hardly make out faces, let alone doing clean stripes, so I kept them extremely simple.

In fact, these were super fast to paint, as I primed grey, then white from above, and then used Vallejo Xpress paints for the most part.  Guns, buttons, badges, belts, and holsters were painted after.  Over all though while very simple and basic, I really like the effect.  

Also included is one other foundry old west cowboy that I painted up to match the one small gang I painted over a decade ago when thinking of playing old west games (but never getting around to it).  He is painted very roughly, with a lot of dry brushing and brush marks, all done on purpose to match the old figures and not my newer painting style.  I don't especially like him, but he does match the other characters I have painted from that era, so that is as much as I could have hoped for.

I am submitting the Lawmen as a historical entry, and the single cowboy as an overdue and return.  I know Curt would prefer separate entries, but I really don't think and entry with one figure (unless amazingly painted, which this one is most definitely NOT) is a great idea either, so this post covers 2 spots in the library.  Points should be 40 points for 8x 28mm figures and then another 40 points for the two theme bonuses, for a total of 80 points.

Ah well, we'll overlook the combining of locations just this once then ;-). It is an amazing entry, Byron. I have printed and painted some of the Join or Die figure myself, and I agree they are great. So is your painting, even if you yourself consider it a simple job. I can't really fault the conspicuous absence of pin stripes, as they look very well as they are! And they are lawmen and cowboys, no East Coast dandies, are they not? A fine job you have done on them, well worth the 80 points!

Martijn

From ScottC: Western Sheriffs [History] (110 points)

My first post of the new challenge, it was a very productive year off!

My first submission is a band of Sheriffs for an upcoming Legends of the Old West or What A Cowboy this winter.

Foot models: The Good Guys faction pack by Gunfighter's Ball - Knuckleduster. The mounted files are 3d prints by 3D Breed. All 28mm.

Elly

Chester

Arkansas

The Duke

Ol' Peg Leg 

Jimmie

And a Murder of obligatory crows!

Points:

Infantry  x6 = 30

Cavalry x 4 = 40

Crows I'm counting as 15mm infantry, 10 @2 points each =  20 points

Bonus Challenge points (history) = 20 points

Total = 110

TeemuL: Very nice cowboys, some of thdm look quite familiar. A productive start indeed!

Edit: I noticed an error on points and fixed it.