Legends of the Old West: Marshall Ambrose Mills and the Brave Citizens of New Assumption, Oklahoma

My gaming group is at the beginning of a second Golden Age of Old West gaming using the Legends of the Old West rule set. After my first Lawmen posse was annihilated, I started a new one and, I must say, they are coming off pretty strong out of the gate. So here they are:

(L to R) Deputy L'il John, Marshall Ambrose Mills, Half-Tonne Carl

(L to R) John Black, Casper, Bud Masters, Old Gabe, Wendell Hobbs, Reubon Drummond, Willy Dicks, Eli Mason

I've been playing a Lawmen posse ever since we first got into LOTOW years ago. I guess it was only fitting that I play the town defenders since I built the entire town and all of the supporting terrain in the first place. We "wrote" quite a story during our first campaign around the fictional town of Assumption, Oklahoma. We decided this time around to keep the same general location and have renamed the town New Assumption.

My Lawmen consist of two groups, both visually and functionally, My heroes consist of Marshall Mills (Sheriff) and two Deputies - L'il John and Half-Tonne Carl. The bulk of the posse is made up of the brave citizens of New Assumption. They have pooled their money to hire the infamous Marshall-for-hire with the hopes of driving the outlaws from their land.

There are a number of players in our group right now but I suspect that Marc's Outlaw posse will be my main opponent, Here's how they look at this point in the campaign:

(L to R) Will McGraw, Bull Tucker, Halfbreed Bob Kickingcrow, The Philadelphia Kid, Dutch, Sly Bill

A creature of habit like myself, Marc has also only ever played one posse-type for LOTOW, his treacherous band of outlaws. They are currently known as the 4:20 gang, "on account of how they done robbed the 4:20 express from Bluff Creek, Arkansas." You might notice that Marc has far fewer models in his posse, only half as many as me, in fact. The truth is, since Marshall Mills and his Deputies arrived in town, Halfbreed Bob has lost some of his best men. Marshall Ambrose Mills would rather shoot an outlaw on sight and save the time and expense of a trial. Hopefully, the Marshall's vigilante-style won't come back to bite the citizens who brought him to town in the first place.

The Campaign So Far...
Marc and I have probably played about half a dozen or more games so far. I'm already on my second posse since, as I mentioned earlier. Marc's outlaws annihilated my first posse. So, he generally has more experience characters but I greatly outnumber him. I've included a few pictures of some of the games we've had so far. 

The 4:20 Gang advances on Hackett Farm.

Marshall Mills and his men drive the outlaws back to the forest.

The Marshall and his men track the outlaws to their hideout. Better take cover Will McGraw!

Sly Bill and Bull Tucker creep up through the turnip patch. Shoulda turned back when they had the chance.

Casper and John Black ready themselves before rounding the corner with guns blazing.

Stylized Counters

There's something to be said for a project the second time around. For instance, you often find yourself completing all the smaller details that you never found time for initially. Case in point - I printed a colour pdf of the counters from the original rulebook and mounted them on 25mm square bases. Then I colour-coded the bases to really make them stand out on the table. Marc and I found them to be a very attractive addition to the table.

The plan is to take this project to the same level as my Gothic Horror project. I already have a solid collection of Old West terrain and buildings, but my painted collection of models had only reached 25 strong by the end of our first campaign some years ago. I've recently ordered some new miniatures - specifically, enough to paint up two new posses. My first new posse will be cowboys. I've always wanted to do a cowboy posse. Can't beat henchmen with repeating rifles. The second posse,,, actually, I'll wait on that one. Nothing wrong with a surprise now and then.

Thanks for reading,
JET

P.S. After some experimenting with different blogging platforms, I've decided to continue using the old site. Expect to see some changes and "spring cleaning" in the near future. I should mention that, although I haven't been posting for the past couple of years, I have been painting and playing. I have lots of new models and terrain to post in the coming months. I hope you stick around and enjoy.