" The Kelly Gang for Dead Man's Hand Down Under" Topic

Pre-order details at greatescapegames.co.uk on Friday, March 20th.

[URL=http://s186.photobucket.com/user/greatescapegames/media/DMH%20Down%20Under/Kelly%20Gang%20Pic800px_zpskg8m0ps3.jpg.html]

[/URL]

[URL=http://s186.photobucket.com/user/greatescapegames/media/DMH%20Down%20Under/DMH%20-%20Down%20Under%201_zpspkqbqqfa.jpg.html]

[/URL]

Excellent!

Visited the jail where he spent his last days back in '88.
This I may have to jump on!

Oh my, these are awfully nice…Very, very tempting stuff. Any chance you will do some Aborigines in "native dress"?

Hi,
The subject of gaming with Australian aboriginies is something which has provoked some controversy in the past. Personally I'm not sure I'd game with them but I would buy a set if someone made one because they could be quite nice figures to paint and have such a distinctive look.
I love all of the Dead Man's Hand Australian sets and I'll be buying them all once
they are released.

All the best,

George.

Did the whole gang have armor?

History gets in the way of gaming, Schogun. They all had armour, only Ned had a helmet, they only wore it once and there were only four in the Gang.

I don't have the rules but I assume reality doesn't make up the minimum points!

I wonder if there will be an unarmored set?

It should be possible to create the historical Kelly Gang from these figures with head and weapon swaps.

I don't think gaming frontier conflict is quite as 'controversial' as it was several years ago, bong. Some of those who were the most strident objectors back then seem to have softened their opposition, and I like to think my educational efforts here and on other fora have played a role in that process. Also, during that time the topic has been exposed more widely in the popular media in this country; for instance, just recently a local version of the US 'The Story of Us' 'coffee table' documentary series was screened here. One episode actually addressed frontier conflict at surprising length for commercial TV, and included, by way of introduction and example, a – unfortunately rather shabby – dramatisation of Pemulwuy's attack on early Parramatta. Another example: a few years ago there was a rather more scholarly three part documentary series on Australian explorers on a public TV channel. Two episodes depicted frontier conflict incidents (my friend Dr Nic worked as armourer on one of them).

Having communicated with Stuart about DMH Down Under I know he has no plans to expand it to include frontier conflict, and with hindsight I can see that he's right not to do so: his source material is movies, not history, and the only celluloid attention the subject has received doesn't provide an adequate basis for inclusion in DMH.

Hi,
I realised that the new Dead Man's Hand figures are more movie based and they seem very reminiscent of characters in "The Proposition". Which leads me to a question. Where is "The Proposition" set? What colony do the police in it belong to?

All the best,
George

bong67, The Proposition figures can be found in the Bushrangers set.

"Such is life"

I don't think 'The Proposition' was set anywhere more specific than 'outback Australia'. It was filmed in Winton in central west Queensland, which actually (like most of frontier Australia) did experience frontier conflict (and perhaps some bushranging), but a couple of decades earlier than the movie's putative setting of 1884.

Interestingly, the opening credits of 'The Proposition' feature part of an original studio shot of a section of Native Mounted Police from Queensland, but it was taken in 1864. It appears to have at least partly inspired the fictitious police costumes in the film.

All QLD police received a new uniform in the late 1860s that was stylistically unique to that colony in including a waist length 'jumper' in place of the old skirted tunic (piped in red for the NMP), and like those of other Australian police forces, their kepis had the traditional forward-sloped top.

Iceaxe,

I thought all of the gang had helmets … Take a look at the armor on display at the National Museum of Australia….

Since I believe they only wore the armor once, there really is a need for an unarmored version of the gang.

I have that fact stored away from god knows how long ago, so it could well have been updated now. All having helmets makes more sense, as does wearing them when the shooting starts. I believe they realized their visibility was far too limited, so took the helmets off. Ned put his on to make the break to get the reinforcements (allegedly, I know, I know). Happy to be corrected.

Looking at the NMA site, there is a report on the analysis of Joe Byrne's armour and it concludes that there was only one identifiable hit on it. So if Glenrowan happened as written, the Police must have been really bad shots!

PS none of this detracts from the fact that the figures are excellent & I don't care how accurate or inaccurate they are. And it's nice to see our wild colonial days getting some attention.

Siege of Glenrowan here i come….I ahave a good collection of Ned Kelly books and love to read about the period. It would be good to have some not in armour so we can do stringybark creek….although the scenario will have to be evened up for the police. Sergeant Kennedy was a brave man and deserved better…..how to model the coppers in civilian gear?

It looks like a fun release for a fun game, and I'm looking forward to the release. We had our share of wild times on the frontier, but nothing like the wild west in the States.

In what sense, McWong?

Rodrick Campbell !!! we need a set of these in 18mm, you must do it man! :)

Now on pre-order!

greatescapegames.co.uk

Four helmets were made

Short barrel 1873 winchesters were recovered also

Sorry Henry, in the sense that our outback had far less population which in general meant less incidence of crime. Our legal and law enforcement system also had less layers allowing for a concentration of resources under a lighter administrative structure (no counties and county level law enforcement, was all colony/state level only).

Also didn't have the population waves that the US had, our intake was at a steadily rising pace but never the floodgate the US received from Europe (till post WW2).

Then as regards frontier conflict, again we had a far smaller indigenous population which was also far more widely dispersed.

So not saying it wasn't a frontier with all the shennanigans that allow for gaming fun, but that it was a lot smaller in scale. 15mm should do it ;P

As a kid Edgar Penzig was a family friend, so I'm pretty stoked for this release. From what I'm reading, sounds like a lot of fun.

The comparative levels of criminal activity in different communities can't be measured as absolutes; they can only be accurately gauged on a per capita basis. I've read numerous contemporary complaints from colonial authorities about rampant crime in 19th century Australia; hardly surprising given the origins of most of the settler population. In places where law enforcement was weak or non-existent it was often totally out of control – and frequently out of sight and poorly or not documented..

I think if you were able to time travel to early 1850s Melbourne and speak to a resident you might have received a different opinion on demographic changes.

Some more recent estimates of the Aboriginal population of Australia at the time of first settlement go as high as one million. As you'd expect, here just as in the Americas, population density was a product of resource availability. The deserts of the US southwest were nearly as sparsely populated as those of inland Australia. Conversely, in areas such as eastern Queensland, population density was relatively high due to climate, geography, and the availability of food. The areas of the country where few Aborigines lived were also avoided by whites – and for the same reasons.

Enjoy your DMH Down Under games.

How about doing a miniature of this guy here? : link