Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Old West => Topic started by: Tommy20 on January 21, 2019, 05:54:28 PM
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I'm dipping my toe into the Old West real estate market for the first time, and am curious what buildings everyone feels are necessary for a proper Old West town.
As a little background, I usually play in a large town that my buddy Rupert of Hentzau has accumulated. When my son picked up the cowboy bug, however, I decided to put together a small town for quick games at home. So I'd like to concentrate on buildings that will work for a small standalone town, but also able to do double-duty alongside my friends collection as needed.
So, what are the must-have buildings for a very small town (I'll start the list with the obvious)?
1) Saloon (every town needs at least one!)
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Sheriff’s office / Jail.
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Just watched Eastwood's Pail Rider
Town of LaHood is wonderfully small (there's a tent town a little way off)
One side of the town is
Cafe
Mining and Hardware store
Post Office (alternatively an Overland Mail and Freight style office)
Drug Store
Dentist/Barber Shop (small town version encompassing barber-surgeon/dentist/doctor)
On the other side
Bank
Liquor store
Blacksmith, livery and windpump and trough
La Hood's Mining Offices plus a minehead wheelhouse round back (as if the town grew around the original mine)
Surprisingly for a Wild West town no specific saloon (may be in the liquor store or one in the tent town), hotel/bunkhouse (again maybe provided by the tent town) or sheriff/marshal/jail -- all of which I would add to any wargames table.
Also consider land office, Chinese laundry, church, gunsmith
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After the first saloon, the hotel though probably the hotel came first. A livery stable. Banks and jails come later but are good to include, probably a jail before the bank. Livery stable should have a blacksmith but could have both. Dry goods store and feed store. If on a rail line, a train station - passenger and freight, can be combined or separate. If its a cow town, a cattle yard. And then several additional saloons. Which means its time for at least one brothel. And that is likely to ignite a church. And then that means a school isn't far behind. At some point there is going to be a newspaper office, which might include the local telegraph station - or it might be in the train station (more likely). Somewhere in there, an undertaker will show up - and he (or she) might double as a doctor and maybe even a dentist. If the town is a bit pretentious, it might show off an opera house, or at least a theater. Dance halls show up. So do gymnasiums - yup, really. A barber shop is pretty common. An eatery and maybe a confectionary establishment. And a haberdashery where the cowboys can blow there pay - well, some of there pay since portions are reserved for other establishments. Such as a gambling hall, they weren't always in the saloon. The list goes on and on but that covers most of the core. And don't forget houses for people to live in, they didn't all live "upstairs" by any means. Something I don't recall seeing modeled but an abattoir for the local butcher? That should keep you busy for a few days. ::)
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And everyone has forgotten the outhouse(s).
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If you want them to be usable alongside your friends, then you need to watch duplication.
A town doesn't need two sheriff offices for example.
I have contemplated, but not built, a set of buildings with magnet based front signs that could be changed out as needed/desired.
Something like that may work for you.
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I have contemplated, but not built, a set of buildings with magnet based front signs that could be changed out as needed/desired.
Something like that may work for you.
I've done that on my old west buildings for Beaverlick Falls, it works very well. Print the signs and mount them on magnetic paper then build magnets into the front of the building. Simple.
This is the Beaverlick Falls bank, the sign has been given a wooden frame to give it a bit more stability.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/33/1512-160518010923.jpeg)
More here http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=105875.msg1319046#msg1319046 (http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=105875.msg1319046#msg1319046)
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Well I think a town would need at least one hotel/boardinghouse/saloon. A supply store of some kind. A livery stable. And maybe some kind of law enforcement establishment. At least plus some kind of outhouses or latrines for most if not all other buildings. And a few houses for locals. As for the idea that only one sheriffs office is all you should have, well there are several times that there were as many as 4 different lawmen with competing or over lapping jurisdictions. Each one would have their own base of operation. Federal marshals, state or territorial marshals, local sheriffs, and town sheriffs. In some cases the local or town sheriff was some times hired by or in alinement with the local nerdo wells, so a town villigence comity would hire their own sheriff. So this would lead to a number or conflicts. And some towns built up around army posts, so you might want to show these building too.
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I think it might depend on what type of town your going for, how big a table your playing on & how many figures a side your thing of, the set up doesn't need to be the whole town don't forget it can be just a part of it.
So today you plan a bank robbery then a bank would be needed, next game you want to do a gunfight at the ok corral type game then you need a different set up.
That would be my view on it :)
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Like I said in the OP, this is going to be a very small town for pickup games with my son (we play Gunfighters Ball). I'm thinking no more than a half-dozen buildings.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far!
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If only wanting 6 buildings then I think I'd go for saloon, sheriff/jail, bank, corral, store & maybe telegram office with say a doctors above it, that give you different reason objective for gaming reasons.
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Hi there Tommy20,
Louis L'Amour, in his 1976 novel "The Rider of Lost Creek" describes a border settlement thus -
"[they] rounded a bend and looked down the street of the rickety settlement of Apple Canyon, so named because of an orchard once planted, and now almost gone. There were four buildings on one side of the street, three on the other."
"The nearest one is where the doc lives. He's a mighty good sawbones, but a renegade from somewhere and something. Next is the livery stable and blacksmith shop, all in one. That long building next door is the bunkhouse, and Bert's place is just beyond... On the right side is Bill's place ... Right alongside is the big joint of Apple Canyon - the Border Bar. The last house, the one with the flowers, is Nita's."
RMZ
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Remind me to lend you my Cowtown Creator when you're over next. Some great info in there.
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Livery stable, knocking shop, undertaker. And the gallows isn't quite a building, but to my eyes very much part of the scenery.
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Knocking shop?
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Knocking shop?
English slang for brothel.
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Knocking shop?
A place respeckable gennl'men an' ladies doan' even know about.
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Had no clue myself but googled up "knocking shop" and it is British slang for a "Pig Farm" which is American slang for a brothel. Contrary to movie versions, a goodly portion of the women "in the trade" would not have been considered, shall we say, comely. Rather to the contrary.
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As a lover of the TV series Deadwood, a centre for the Chinese population... So possibly a Chinese Laundry (not on the main street obviously) should figure.
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Absolutely essential - and a lot of fun to build - would be a few outhouses. They add a little something to the barer sides of buildings, and provide a little bit of cover too.
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Leven's Wild West buildings include a set of outhouses.
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For authentic outhouses, some doors should have star openings and others have the crescent moon - these indicated gender appropriate usage! Of course, an isolated ranch probably just had one unisex establishment.
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My town has, in no particular order, a bar & bunkhouse, saloon/hotel, sherriiff's office, bank, billiard hall, general store, assay office, gunsmith, livery stable, oil company office, gallows, church and about 6 miscellaneous houses and barns (people have to live somewhere, right?)
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A pic from my town minus a few pieces
(https://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/blue-willow/other/Colonial/A00A1656-BC09-4FEC-98EC-09E44612B9FF-692-0000006608AE47C7_1.jpeg) (https://s56.photobucket.com/user/blue-willow/media/other/Colonial/A00A1656-BC09-4FEC-98EC-09E44612B9FF-692-0000006608AE47C7_1.jpeg.html)
I like to have two or three buildings that are two storey and the remainder one storey.
Key buildings for me
Saloon
Guest house
Livery stable
Bank
Sheriff/jail
General store
(http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/blue-willow/other/Colonial/9F9A050D-CF3E-4692-B49E-B46933F95670-692-000000661D8AB263_1.jpeg) (http://s56.photobucket.com/user/blue-willow/media/other/Colonial/9F9A050D-CF3E-4692-B49E-B46933F95670-692-000000661D8AB263_1.jpeg.html)
(http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/blue-willow/other/Colonial/044E9971-6FB3-4D1B-BDC7-2C44A3B80158-692-00000067485650EF.jpeg) (http://s56.photobucket.com/user/blue-willow/media/other/Colonial/044E9971-6FB3-4D1B-BDC7-2C44A3B80158-692-00000067485650EF.jpeg.html)
Mexican selection
(http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/blue-willow/other/Colonial/9F9A050D-CF3E-4692-B49E-B46933F95670-692-000000661D8AB263.jpeg) (http://s56.photobucket.com/user/blue-willow/media/other/Colonial/9F9A050D-CF3E-4692-B49E-B46933F95670-692-000000661D8AB263.jpeg.html)
(http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/blue-willow/other/Colonial/DF602B02-37EF-4DB9-BB36-7F28CCC9530B-692-000000673B69326B.jpeg) (http://s56.photobucket.com/user/blue-willow/media/other/Colonial/DF602B02-37EF-4DB9-BB36-7F28CCC9530B-692-000000673B69326B.jpeg.html)
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Saloon (2) Need a classy joint and a run down jo
Barber Shop
Livery
Laundry
Butcher
Freight office
Cigar shop
Hardware store/ Dry Goods
Mining Supplies
CattleMan's or Mine Owners Association
Newspaper (2) Cause every story has 2 sides :)
Jail/Sheriff's office
Dance Hall
Gambling Den
Assayers Office
Lawyers Can always be the 2nd floor of a building
Bank
Gun Shop
Hog Town (outside of town)
Brothel
Gumberry and Ridge Springs has these in the works to one degree or another. I use Arnica. Best buildings ever made.
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Grow organically is the key. Stick with your basic six and then, each time you game and someone says “ wouldn’t it be great if we had a bank” or some such, then go build it. Don’t try to design the whole town in one go. Just like in the real west, if an entrepreneur comes to town and spots an opening, he may stay and build.
Now, one thing I’ve never tried but would be cool.
In opening episodes of Deadwood, you see some folk setting up in big tents whilst waiting for real estate or a building to be put up. Build a pair of square tents with changeable board signs to represent the recent arrival of any entrepreneur you like!
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In opening episodes of Deadwood, you see some folk setting up in big tents whilst waiting for real estate or a building to be put up. Build a pair of square tents with changeable board signs to represent the recent arrival of any entrepreneur you like!
Anyone got a link to imag s of these square tents? I’ve seen plenty of rectangular and bell tents - are the square ones like marquees or just square versions of the rectangular type?
Doug
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Best I can do is link you to this railway model article
https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/30441
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Best I can do is link you to this railway model article
https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/30441
Thanks - very useful (and great to look at :) ).
I think the chimney is essential to give the right look. I just need to work out ow to make some nice tents in 54mm.
Doug
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Check out Dr Death’s Beaverlick falls project log in this forum too. He has tents and a fantastic town to boot....
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Thanks - very useful (and great to look at :) ).
I think the chimney is essential to give the right look. I just need to work out ow to make some nice tents in 54mm.
Doug
I made my Beaverlick Falls tents with a frame first and then used cotton soaked in thinned PVA for the canvas
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/32/1512-260418171257-325131180.jpeg)
Signs are separate as has been suggested by Digits so I can use them for different purposes.
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Haven't been on in awhile, catching up on old posts. While this is a slightly earlier era, I think this chimney design works better.
(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-43stwky708E/XMOeI6f-PoI/AAAAAAAAB8k/uYUQH8DNIwwFJEvRf3M5MFRICq0pagjdQCLcBGAs/s1600/tent.jpg)