Workbench Update: Projects on the Horizon

It looks as if my collection of Warmachine Cygnar models will all be completed by the end of September. Although I love the game, I don't plan to add any substantial amount of new units to my Privateer Press collection in the near future. I have enough models to play 1000 points (with options) with either Cygnar or Trolls, and there are just too many other geekly pursuits I'm interested in.

With that in mind, I recently acquired (from a generous member of the Lead Adventure forum) a couple of PDF files containing building templates for making Spanish style adobe buildings, including a large church.



I took some thick card and, using the templates, started work on the pieces of a basic A-frame. As you can see, I started scoring the card to simulate planks.



I plan to assemble the building, and then paint it up as either:

1. a wooden cabin-type affair. If this works out, I would like to play either an Old West game using Legends of the Old West or some French & Indian War project with a low model count. I've heard that the LOTOW supplement The Alamo has some sort of French & Indian adaptation in there, but I have no idea how it fits with the base ruleset
   
2. an adobe structure, as the article's author intended. This would surely cause a craze of pirate action in our group, probably in the form of Legends of the High Seas. It would involve plastering over the card to get the right texture, but then again, it would save the effort of trying to simulate planks and wood grain.

In either case, I'd like to make enough buildings to create a convincing and inspiring setting for the period at hand. Using a ruleset with a small model count (i.e. 5-10) is important to everyone in the group. We have enough involved projects ongoing and coming up (Warmachine, Impetus, Heavy Gear Blitz) without having to immerse ourself in another game with a long turnaround time.

As to inspiration, here's some of the models I've been looking at lately that have started the wheels turning.

Old West Models (Artizan and Foundry)

The Artizan range of Wild West figures are amazing. All of the models feel like they just stepped out of a classic Western. The rest of the range is here. The Foundry Wild West Collection is also quite staggering.

Pirates (Foundry & Crusader Miniatures)


The Foundry Pirates Collection and the Crusader Miniatures for the same era are fantastic in my opinion. Furthermore, the ruleset Legends of the High Seas is essentially the same as Legends of the Old West. Both are Warhammer Historical publications - different settings, same rules.

French & Indian Wars (Conquest Miniatures)

I know that Ken in particular has mentioned this period. I would love to play it, however, most of the rules out there are directed at larger model counts (i.e. 30+ figures). As I mentioned, we are looking for VERY small model count, so the search continues. However, just tonight one of the geeks pointed out these beauties by Conquest Miniatures. Very tempting.


So, as you can see, my head is swimming with geekly possiblities. As the terrain starts to take shape, and fellow group members start conversing, I'm sure we'll hone in on one of these games and eras. In the meantime, let the construction begin and I'll keep you posted!

Thanks for reading,
JET