The Law Comes to The Town with No Name

I've recently had the perfect excuse to look out my Wild West scenery and models. Originally built to play The Rules with No Name a number of years ago, this time they were to see the light of day playtesting a new Wild West skirmish system that's currently in development.  And that's something I'm incredibly humbled to be a part of. 

Of course, back when I did my Wild West project, I barely had any money at all. Now, I'd always looked fondly at the second pack of  Lawmen from Artisan Designs, but never had the cash to buy them.  So you can probably guess my delight at being able to turn that around ahead of the playtesting...

And here they are. Disclaimer time, I absolutely love Artisan Designs models. Minimal flash to trim, and details that just cry out to be painted. So it didn't take me all that long to get them ready, attach to some post '92 2p pieces and level out the bases with some milliput. (The models are stuck to the 'tails' side of the con, so clearly no defacing the Queen's head going on here...!)

When that was dry, I added some texture with my sand (£3 from The Early Learning Centre, long since defunct but a bag of that stuff lasts Wargamer's lifetime) ballast (courtesy of Woodland Scenics) and fine cork chippings (from Hornby if my memory serves me correctly.) 

And when that was properly dry, I set about painting them. 

I've got to be honest, these were the first metal miniatures I've painted in years. And that meant a very different experience to the plastic models I've become accustomed to. It was actually a welcome change and I rather relished returning completely to layering and wet blending from recessed to highlights.

My palette for these models was deliberately muted. Dark Grey's were layered ontop of black. Different muted browns were highlighted up. And the same was done with the flesh tones. 

Bases were painted, Woodland Scenics Earth Blend was then added, and some yellow brown Tufts from Serious Play were added to finish them off.

And here's the finished results...!

The middle one's had a name change since I started gaming with him. He's now Whya Twerp. Honestly. Can't hit the broad side of a barn, that one!

And after a couple of photo opportunities were taken beside the Sheriff's Office, the time came for some playtesting....

This, of course is being done courtesy of Discord in these difficult times. 

...and let me tell you, much fun was had!