Dystopian Bob Wars

At the time I did a test game using 2nd edition Rules , the idea was a Confederate Rebellion force of Raiders,  attacking a Union Garrison. The Confederate force was mainly old models (some currently unavailable)

Led by Bill Quantrell( I’d had him some time but only recently painted) a force of two Bandit Outriders (one painted years ago and a recent Confederate painted one), and a buggy (old paint job) with the addition of Frank James as a Sniper (old paint job)

The Union Force consisted of Grant and two bots, and Sherman and Two Troopers with Heavy Wpns . Not too happy with paint jobs on these, The GW. Contrast Levidian Blue is too thick and went gloss, Army painter Dull coat didn’t seem to work. I have some Vallejo Matt so I might try a coat of that to see if it Dulls them down.

Well…. this project is a re vamp, it started as a Spring Clean and now someone decided to have a WWE gunslinger league….

Now most of this update is pre the league being started. I had a mad spurt on this earlier in the year, I probably (probably)won’t be buying the new starter set as I have two plastic boxes of painted figures already.

Some time ago I decided on a American Civil War theme for it and had been building a Confederate Rebellion and a Union Posse, who would be fighting around the Resurrected Town of Rio Morpork.(see previous update).

As Gerry will tell you I don’t build official style lists and my forces are built with a more Fluffy Narrative,  I fancy painting that !.

Anyway one of the things that I did finish at the time was the Town of Rio Morpork,  a mix  of old and new, the new being mainly TT combat building and a Warcradle Adobe Church.

In addition a few of GW industrial piping and Chimneys have been added for a bit more Steam punk feel..

Way back in the day  I used to work in the Town of Bilston, on the outskirts of Wolverhampton. The Town used to be famous for its Iron Works, now only famous for the largest number of £1 shops, Chip shops and tatty old tat shops in a high st.

The advantage was you pick up bits for various games at ridiculously low prices. Famous Buys were my army of plastic Giant Ants for B movie sci fi goodness.. and a long forgotten Timpo Train Set.

It unfortunately is the 80’s-90’s remake not the original one from the 60’s which I believe was a lot more detailed particularly in respect of the Interior  which was on a par with their 54mm Cowboy figures for detail( I had a couple, legs and torsos were posable,  with different coloured gun belts and waistcoats, changeable heads and hats for unique figures. I remember a member of Chase wargames group way back when it started in early 70’s had a mountain of them, a full scratchbuilt Town and one of The Trains, which I vaguely remember dying messily in when trying to rob it. ( the game ended rather spectacularly when some one threw a stick of dynamite into the Caboose which was full of Gunpowder!)

Now hazy memories may have made the model look better than it actually was plus I don’t know how much the gamer in question had ‘modified it, but it was way more detailed than what I purchased.  But what the hell it cost me a tenner!(£10 for those across the pond)

Although its technically for 54mm , it doesn’t look too out of scale with the heroic scale Wild West Exodus figures.

Not only that, the background fluff says the Union uses Big Track……so!

Now it needs a bit of work probably with some Dirty Down Sprays on exterior, the interior of both the passenger car wants some work and the the Track wants painting.

Luckily it appears the rooves clip off.

They are a bit stiff so think post Easter I will cut off the clips and magnetise the rooves for ease of game play use.

I intend to get a few solo trial games in over Easter Sunday and Monday  so have laid out a rough plan of the Revised Rio Morpork. This will change post the weekend as I have a couple of new items from TT comat coming to round it out in the form of a Railway station, a hotel ( my current one is the H’mph H’mph) and another gunsmiths.

It is subject to change, for instance the Town planners may not have wanted the formentioned Hotel  next to the Church.

Eventually the new hotel may go there  like the one above it has stories  but has a removable roof  and will be probably be made up as a combo Saloon/hotel, as in were do you go after Church on a Sunday!

So here is the Town as it stands for the weekend, very much a work In progress, ( historically for the game as much as the Hobbying)

For any one interested the Spanish style Church is from Warcradle Studios   Ben has featured it on OTT, and was a very nice replacement for a scratch built one I had until damp got to it in my old garage and warped all the walls and roof.

The Journey into the Dystopian Wars reminded me of all the Wild West Exodus figures I brought about 4 years ago. I had painted up about 40 figures ( 0ne  of the old starter sets)and was painting a Confederate possie and literally stopped mid paint…

So for this years Spring Challange ta ra! (trumpets and drums please)

It was time I decided to go back to the old Mexican, border town of Rio Morpork , the Town developed around an old Mexican Settlement about 30 years before current events in the Dystopian World ( The Town is actually that old, many of the buildings were Resin models from various Sources, the figures that originally populated it were mainly Guernsey Foundry before the merged with Wargames Foundry, some Dixon, and other sources I can’t remember but do include some very old Hinchcliffe!)

The Town developed as the setting for a series of participation games we did for a couple years at shows , school fetes and even break dance tournaments!

The game participants would find themselves on the Streets of Rio  Morpork for the 4th of July boxing match. The match was to start with the firing of the Noon day gun. Various groups within the town were all planning various nefarious acts covered by the noise  , a jail break , bank robberies ( yes plural) murders etc. Various character populated the Town well known to Gerry and other Pratchett fans. Mrs Palm ran the H’mph H’mph Hotel, as in ‘I’m just going to the H’mph H’mph Hotel my dear’

The obvious visit to see the ladies of negotiable effection being glossed over. Bill Doors was the Undertaker  though no one knew why their was a Sythe on the sign  and why he called his horse Binky.

It also was the scene of many ‘spats’ between the Town Marshall Wynot Burp  and the semi outlaw Clactons

( Sheriff Vimes was County Sheriff Gerry!)

As with many such projects the Town was left to prosperity, apart from the valiant defence against the Giant Ant outbreak. So Its only fair that we return to see how the Town has faired in the Dystopian age.

So going back to the WWE figures  Bit of a journey down memory lane as most of the already completed figures were pre  contrast paints and more importantly pre project on OTT. All done with base colour paints and washs.

I added a bit of yellow piping and red for the heavy wpns (Confederate Artillery)

I then brought the Confederate Rebellion starter set  as I wanted the new rules and Gubbins, even though it doubled up some of character figures. I brought the Wayward Eight and Deadly Seven Possies as …..why not?

The confederates I already had had been primed originally in Army Painter uniform grey , two coats and then given a Nuln oil Wash way beck in the day.

Some I had dry brushed in a lighter grey, not sure what it was , this time I just mixed one myself using Grey Seer and Army painter Matt black, and dry brushed them  a couple of times, lightening the colour and the pressure each time till I got the effect I wanted .

Then it was just a  case of block colouring and washing wpns and faces .

1. The newer starter posse, I decided to try  with Contrast Paints, mainly Gryph Charger Grey , over Grey Seer base, they came out ok, but not sure they were ant improvement on the original method and certainly were no quicker to do

I had built my Wayward Eight posse , and having looked at the artwork , I realised it was a lot of brown variations, wasnt sure how it would look on my broken desert Sand bases

(just miliput with a knife bodged lines to create the effect, Painted in base Zandri Dust, A wash of Reikland Fleshshade, then dry brushed lightly Zandri Dust and Wraithbone)

I picked a Marshall figure from the old starter set  and tried a sample pant scheme using various Brown Contrast shades and Washs.

• I was reasonably pleased with the result  but decided to try with the various different Grey Contrast Shades for the historically predominant montone colours that more modern Western films portray.

Sorry but they are!

The scheme on these was based on the box cover, which seemed to be various metallic shades in a sort of camoflage.

1. Basecoat Leadbelter.

2. Bands of GW Basilicum Grey and Steel.

3. Overall coat of GW Agrax Earthshade, over camoflage areas. And Nuln oil the rest.

Various areas of model in GW contrast yellow.

Most of the time I was painting this Fleet  the Red Choir at the beginning of the ‘Hunt for Red October ‘ ran through for my mind.

Considering I was listening to Terry Pratchett ‘ Guards Guards’ and ‘Men at Arms’. so it was a complicated noise.

Anyway they were a fairly straightforward paint job.

1.Sprayed GW Grey Seer, for base.

2. An all over wash of GW Apothecary Grey.

3. Dry Brushed all over in GW base corax white  then a lighter dry brush in army painter white.

4. Decks in GW Skeleton Horde.

5. Metal work done in GW Leadbelter.

6. Parts of above were washed in GW  Flesh Wash.for brass effect.

7. Detail picked out with Apothecary Grey.

8. The various generators were painted either steel or white and the given various colour washs to help differentiate between them.

Apologies for the photo quality   I follow the @Avernos school.pf Photography , plus I’m in the middle of a Games room tidy and re-organise…..!!!!!!