CapnJim's Pulp Stuff (2nd Matewan Convention Game AAR - Pg 15...08 Nov 23)

[carlos marighela]

I love the sepia toned pics. Very atmospheric.

You know with that collection of minis you are inexorably heading towards Matewan and the Battle of Blair Mountain. Just need to fill out the ranks with a few hillbilly types.

[CapnJim]

I love the sepia toned pics. Very atmospheric.

You know with that collection of minis you are inexorably heading towards Matewan and the Battle of Blair Mountain. Just need to fill out the ranks with a few hillbilly types.

Yes, I'm aware of that.  Matawan's already crossed my mind....

[carlos marighela]

Great minds think alike my friend. Started building a collection a little while back myself. The idea of a gaming scenario where you can legitimately listen to Loretta Lynn at the same time is too appealing.

There was an on-line article in one of your country's gun nut magazines that went into some detail on the weapons used and the archaeology of the brass and lead found on the battle site at Blair Mountain. I'll try and dig it out for you.

[carlos marighela]

Found it quicker than expected and it wasn't even bookmarked.

https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/guns-of-the-battle-of-blair-mountain/#:~:text=Of%20the%20cornucopia%20of%20arms,and%20the%20Thompson%20submachine%20gun.

Great potential,  as at one point, the Coal Company used an old Curtiss Jenny to drop homemade bombs on the workers (it crashed) and the Federal Govt sent the USAAC down south.

[CapnJim]

Interesting article.  Thanks.  I knew about the lever guns and the Tommy Guns, but Vetterlis?  I think the rifles in the Wargames Atlantic Partisans set just might pass for those....

While Blair Mountain is a bit big for me to want to tackle, as I mentioned Matewan is right in my wheelhouse.  I would just need to paint a few more informally dressed rifle-armed guys for the miners.  I have suit-clad chaps with pistols and Tommy Guns already, and a perfect figure for Mayor Testerman.  I can surely do 13 "detectives" vs. Chief Hatfield, Mayor Testerman, and a bunch of miners and townsfolks with various weapons. But I think I would have them fight along Ferrell Street near the RR tracks (like in the movie) instead of along Mate Street where the actual fight took place.

Hmm. Maybe I could do it at one of the Fall conventions around here...

[carlos marighela]

The beauty of that is that looking on Google maps street view and modern photos of the town suggests that the relevant bits of town haven't actually changed that much since 1920 and that many if not of the original buildings remain intact. Sure there's a gas station, a Rite Aid and a Family Dollar along with enormous piles of empty OxyContin bottles but a decent modelling guide remains.

[CapnJim]

Yup.  Already looked at it on Google Maps.  And it's just a 6- or 7-hour drive from me.  May have to do some on-site research...

[carlos marighela]

Like the commitment. I have bought into another 9 hour flight to go and look at Vietnam again. This time I'll be going to Hue and Da Nang along with Vung Tau and Ba Ria. Maybe we can work out a photo exchange. Requests for shots of specific spots will be taken.

[has.been]

Yup.  Already looked at it on Google Maps.  And it's just a 6- or 7-hour drive from me.  May have to do some on-site research...

Wow! I live in the middle of England.
 Two hours tops, in just about any direction & I'll be in the sea!  .
Lots of battlefields are a short hop away:-
Bosworth, Edgehill, Naseby etc. etc. Bugger all from the ACW  or Vietnam though.

[carlos marighela]

Nine hours in a car gets me to a giant sodding coat hanger in a city best known for an opera house that looks like turtles fucking and whose population has the intellectual depth of a teaspoon.

A bit under that in another direction gets me to a city*, of sorts, whose profound dullness is only partly relieved by its history of grisly serial killings and child abductions. It's somewhere that makes Milton Keynes, Patterson, NJ or Santiago in Chile look positively cosmopolitan and lively.





* Adelaide. There was twat from Adelaide captured during the invasion of Afghanistan, training with the Taliban. The Yanks whisked him off to Guantanamo where he was banged up for a decade or so. Said to be the only person on earth who has ever evinced a desire to return to Adelaide.

[CapnJim]

Hmm.  I can certainly share any photos I take down in Matewan.  Not just with you, but anyone else who might be interested.  My wife and I are discussing a road trip down there yet this spring.

As far as shots from Vietnam, let me ponder that.  I may indeed like a few shots to give me terrain ideas...thanks, Carlos!

[CapnJim]

I've painted up some more figures for my Prohibition-Era Gangster collection.  These 28mm guys and gals are from Empress Miniatures, and are part of their Very British Civil War range.  They are called Brummie Mafia on Empress' site, and are based on characters from the British TV series Peaky Blinders.  I think they will do nicely in my Gangster collection.

These figures are great.  Sculpted my Paul Hicks, they ooze character, and were a joy to paint. They measure 28mm foot-to-eye.  For those of you familiar with the show, I did not specifically paint them to resemble the characters they represent.  I just painted them up in fashions I made up on the spot.  I'm quiet happy with how they turned out.  I will say, though, that they must have smuggled the SMLE and the Lewis gun down from Canada...

[Digits]

Good paintwork fella.

[carlos marighela]

Looking good! 

You can almost hear the irritating, adenoidal, tones of the Brummy accent. 

Justify their presence in the US as BSA sales reps or Canadian bootleggers.

[Cat]

Empress Brummie rules O.K.