Every now and then I have a great idea for a new project which seems on the face of it easy but trying to get the right combination of board design, miniatures and rules for the game to come together has occasionally eluded me and the project goes onto the back burner.
So it was a couple of years ago I picked up second hand here on the Bazaar, The Chicago Way ruleset and a couple of sets their miniatures. However the rules didn't appeal very much and the miniatures got put away for another day. I even thought of selling them on.
However a recent wonderful day at BLAM 19 re-energised my enthusiasm for this genre and thus I present: 'The Unmentionables'.
Most of my games are based on cinematic output (see my other offerings on Follow that Camel, Ice Station Zebra and Boots and Saddles) and this one is no exception. Most gangster films tend to use the very good Kevin Costner/Sean Connery film The Untouchables as inspiration.
However as always I wanted a more nuanced and slightly quirky film to base it on so I chose that classic gangster movie 'Some Like It Hot' starring Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis.
And before you ask, no it won't have Marilyn Monroe appearing (although her character may well do) but instead of Al Capone the gang leader will be 'Spats Columbo' pictured above in the shooting of 'Toothpick Charlie'.
So with a back story ready to set the scene, the resurrected Great Escape miniatures and a few Models of Yesteryear cars I set about creating the game.
First up however was how was the board to look. I wanted to get the street feel of the gangster period with its multi-level Brownstones but without making the board too cramped. I also needed to ensure that I could adjust the locations of key buildings to achieve playability.
I started off with a couple of Sarissa Precision buildings to get a feel for the size and shape of the buildings. Here are the first two roughly assembled but without all the extras that will bring them to life.
These gave me the rough dimensions of how the board was to look. Next I purchased some 9mm MDF cut into 2' x 2' sections to give me an initial 4' x 4' game board. These were marked out with each section of the buildings and the streets. I aim to have the same basic footprint for each of the corner sections and side sections with a central set of buildings that can rotate. This will allow the buildings to be re-positioned each game.
Then I cut out the first of the pavement sections from 3mm MDF which will be glued to the board to provide the framework to hold each set of buildings in place once they are dropped in. This will allow the boards themselves to be stored and carried flat. Here's the rough setting.
And here is how they look with the buildings in place.
These will them be covered in embossed plastic card to provide the look and feel of pavement slabs.
That's all for now but I will be updating the thread as the project comes along.
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April 24, 2024, 12:58:28 PM
