"western figures? " Topic

I got some terrain ( fat dragon Rio Draco and I think Hotz? Whitewater gulch) while deployed. I was welcomed by some reaper cowboy miniatures on my homecoming. I'd like to get some more, but the reaper line is real limited. I'd also like some mounted figures. Could I get some recommendations in figures that scale well with the reaper line, they are a bit larger than my Perry ACW.
Any suggestions on good rulesets would be welcome too.

There are multiple postings about rulesets for Old West on TMP. Just do a search.

Welcome home!

The best line of mounted and foot figures is the Cowboy Wars range from Old Gloyr:

link

By "best" I mean most figures are available mounted and on foot. The figures are very nice but I cannot answer your question re size comparison with Reaper.

For rules you are spoiled for choice.

Gutshot! is a very popular and good set of rules that give a very cinematic game.

The Rules with no Name use card based interaction and also give a fun game. The rules have quite a following.

My set, Six Gun Sound: Blaze of Glory, has a good following. It is more probably the most lethal to characters of the three.

There is also a good set from…can't recall. They make a line of pirate ships and thingies. Anyone?

The Rules with no Name can still be downloaded for free from somewhere and you can get a taste of the Six Gun Sound flavor from the free Chain Reaction download from Two Hour Wargames.

I'm sure others will chime in with their thoughts soon.

Thank you for your service and again, welcome home!

Bob

The Reaper Western figures are a bit problematic. Some of them, the madam & the bartender for example, fit well size wise with other figures from Foundry, Westwind, Knuckleduster, & Artizan. Others, such as the old prospector, the Josey Wales pose, & the Mexican bandit are much larger.

-Elaine

Hey there

I'd like to invite you to check out my game, Blackwater Gulch – blackwatergulch.com

You can download the rules for free, and we will be releasing our figures in stores in the next month or so (finally!) plus a printed color rulebook. We also just launched a new Kickstarter campaign to fund more starter sets :) Our figures are all around 30-32mm tall, so they will be more in line with the larger Reaper figures or Black Scorpion minis.

This is a good time to be playing Old West games.

Foundry makes a great line of miniatures, both mounted and on foot. The Cowboy Wars miniatures from West Wind (Old Glory) are good and less expensive. Knuckleduster has a small, but very nice line. Artizan and Brigade Games have figures, as well. All of these can be mixed. Some Reaper minis and all Black Scorpion are larger. I haven't seen the Black Water Gulch miniatures, yet, but they should be in the larger range.

As far as rules go, again, you are spoiled for choices. All of the ones listed above have pros and cons. Blackwater Gulch is a good "posse" game, You can personalize your characters well. Gutshot and TRWNN are more focused on one or two miniatures per player. Neither of them is an IGO/UGO system.

I need to pick up a copy of Six Gun Sound.

And then there is the grandaddy of old west rules, Desperado and Once Upon a Time in the West, two very different sets of rules.

And then there is the grandaddy of old west rules, Desperado and Once Upon a Time in the West, two very different sets of rules.

Er … grandaddies then?

Dixon Miniatures work well with Foundry, Artizan and Knuckleduster – I'm surprised that nobody's mentioned them already. As well as mounted and foot figures, they also do a stagecoach, wagons, civilians and lots of other useful bits.

I think the real thing you need to consider is what type of game you want to play?

- How play players will there be?
- How many miniatures do you want on the table (i.e. how many figs to player)?
- Do you want to play cinematic or more historically accurate games?

All of the rules listed above (and they're all good) have different strengths. GUTSHOT, for example, is an Origins Award Winning game that excels at games with strong RPG and cinematic elements. Although you're provided with templates for standard characters (sheriff, deputy, outlaws, townsfolk, marshals, farmers, etc.), you can also easily customize characters. There is also a campaign system for running the same characters through multiple adventures and improving their abilities and skills. Horses are also treated as individuals -- there are seven types of mounts (some horses are old and reliable, others are fast and skittish).

And before anyone gets on to me for tooting my own horn, I do want to fess up and admit that I'm one of the creators of Gutshot, so I reckon you can all guess that I have a little bit of bias towards this game.

HOWEVER: Gutshot isn't for everyone. If you want to run a game with 30 figures on the table who are constantly making morale checks to see if they run or fight with a selection of 60+ firearms, then this probably isn't the game for you. There are several others out there that will fit that kind of bill, though, and if you tell us a bit more about what you're looking for we can help you find them.

If you're interested, mosey on over to our website and poke around: hawgleg.com. Make sure you read our past adventures to get an idea of what game play is like: link Then check out our downloads: hawgleg.com/downloads.asp We've got sample chapters, character sheets and a GM Players Handout with most of the tables for easy reference.

Finally, we have more than a dozen free adventures to download: link Most are on our Showdowns & Shootouts page, and even if you don't get Gutshot, I suggest downloading these so you can adapt them for other rules systems. If nothing else, you can use the maps and plot ideas for your own games (and Whitewash City was a sponsor of this contest, so you'll find that the towns in these games are built using a lot of Whitewash City buildings).

Good luck in your hunt! These are great times to be a Wild West gamer because there are so many options out there. Give us a little more info and we'll help you find the rules and minis that are right for you.

Mike Mitchell
Hawgleg Publishing

PS: Knuckleduster.com and Blue Moon have some very nice minis. Definitely check them out. Ditto for Blackwater Gulch.

Thank you very much for the ruleset input. I was just going to run with gurps, but generic only gets so far, and I do want to do outlaw josey wells and paint your wagon type scenarios with larger skirmish groups. Gutshot and blackwater gulch will both get the tires kicked…and six gun sound.
I've gotten Rio Draco built and some of the whitewash …so thank you again for pointing me in the proper direction to populate the town!
It isn't for tournament, just a few friends who like RPG, and a button counting Napoleonic friend whom is ready for skirmish wargaming. It is also a project for my kids who have helped assemble the PDF terrain and paint the reaper figures. We are making a winter project out of it …more fun than monopoly! ;)

@ MC…thanks, it is an honor to serve ;)

@ Necros
I really like the native warband and the rangers, my daughters like the inclusion of the fairer sex in the gangs.

Mr Mitchell, that website is really nice..but your letter to parents hooked my wife! ;)

Reaper models are at the larger end of the scale. Black Scorpion is a little larger, but Foundry and Brigade Games also do OK. Artizan is kind of small. That said, you only really notice if you compare them up close. On a shelf or tabletop you can barely tell.

Also, keep in mind that Reaper divides its Old West minis between "Chronoscope" and "Savage Worlds." If you look at one product line, but not the other, you will not see everything they have to offer.

-Solo Sam

cowboyminiatures.blogspot.com