A greenhorn entering the wild west (Update April 10 2025)

[terrement]

Like your posts - please keep them coming!

A few unrelated (to each other) comments:

Your "Bill the Butcher" mini might be a relation (brother? cousin?) of the actual Bill the Butcher.

https://www.google.com/search?q=bill+the+butcher&sca_esv=594082483&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS1082US1082&sxsrf=AM9HkKk5AGCpuQE6aWt1xR5bDDept_AcRA%3A1703713445372&ei=pZqMZdSfFp-h5NoPhqq54Ak&gs_ssp=eJzj4tTP1TcwMS00MzVg9BJIyszJUSjJSFVIKi1JzkgtAgB3Mgjw&oq=bill+the+&gs_lp=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&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#ip=1

 The character from Gangs of New York actually existed and was at least if not more so larger than life as the gent in the movie.  Of the many various gangs in the Five Points area, Bill was effectively the leader of the gangs that identified as White Anglo-Saxon Protestants and they fought against any that were not.  Their major opponent were those who were Catholic immigrants, most notably the Irish.  These were considered by the WASPs to be lesser beings and as such did not belong in the same area as Bill's gangs.  The leader of the Irish Catholic side was as big of a character as Bill, one John "Old Smoke" Morrissey

https://www.google.com/search?q=John+%22Old+Smoke%22+Morrissey&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS1082US1082&oq=John+%22Old+Smoke%22+Morrissey&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDEwOTdqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#ip=1

The history of Morrissey is part of the book "Paddy Whacked" by T. J. English

https://www.amazon.com/Paddy-Whacked-Untold-American-Gangster/dp/0060590033

Which might also be of interest to Pulp, or any of the various "cops and robbers" wargaming.

Next is your three-gunned lady.  Historically, folks carrying two pistols did not do so to use two handed.  They were actually intended as an "instant reload" for when they emptied their first pistol.  Whether your lady is normally a two handed shooter or just wants to have an extra instant reload on hand, an extra never hurts.

I'm not aware of many ambidextrous shooters either  historically or portrayed in media.  Bill Hickock was one, Elfego Baca, and perhaps Bass Reeves are the only historicals of which I'm aware.  TV and movies, again AFAIK, offers the Lone Ranger, Wild Bill Hickock, Elfego Baca, Kevin Costner in Silverado.  I don't consider Doc in Tombstone when you see him shooting with both hands at the OK Corral as he traditionally used just his one sidearm.  More than happy to learn of others.

[Legionnaire]

I'm not aware of many ambidextrous shooters either  historically or portrayed in media.  Bill Hickock was one, Elfego Baca, and perhaps Bass Reeves are the only historicals of which I'm aware.  TV and movies, again AFAIK, offers the Lone Ranger, Wild Bill Hickock, Elfego Baca, Kevin Costner in Silverado.  I don't consider Doc in Tombstone when you see him shooting with both hands at the OK Corral as he traditionally used just his one sidearm.  More than happy to learn of others.

Dallas Stoudenmire? But I could remember it wrong  .

[terrement]

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-dallasstoudenmire/

Though dangerous, the 6’4″ man was said to have been quite a gentleman around the ladies, who found his handsome face and sharp dress quite attractive. However, Dallas had a nasty temper, especially when intoxicated. Continuing to hone his shooting skills, he became equally accurate with both hands and always wore two guns.

and

Just three days later, he was involved in one of the most famous gunfights in Texas, the “Four Dead in Five Seconds” gunfight. On April 14, 1881, while Constable Krempkau was in Keating’s Saloon, one of the worst pestholes in El Paso, Texas, he got into an argument with ex-City Marshal George Campbell. Also in the saloon was one of Campbell’s friends, John Hale. Hale, who was drunk and unarmed, pulled one of Campbell’s two pistols, shouting, “George, I’ve got you covered!” Hale then shot Krempkau, who fell wounded against the saloon door. Realizing what he had done, Hale ran behind a post in front of the saloon just as Marshal Dallas Stoudenmire appeared with his pistols raised.

Bolding by me.  Documents his simultaneous use of both.

As for you possibly mis-remembering, I'm fond of a quote from a good if mostly unknown movie, "Sunset"

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096193/ which went something like:

"That's exactly how it happened...give or take a lie or two"

[terrement]

And though you'd never know it from the video preview, a major part of the movie is Tom Mix (Willis) and Wyatt Earp (Garner) solving a murder mystery.

[Malebolgia]

More new stuff! First off, two more ladies. Once again HIPS models from Great Escape Games. They paint up so fast and are so much fun to do!





And I am also working on more scenery. First some bits I bought last Saturday and painted during the same weekend! That's always great.

Gibbet

I saw this big chunky piece of pvc in a local game store and had to buy it. A perfect piece for my games and being pvc it's very rugged and easy to paint. It's only two parts, so both assembly and painting went very fast.

More rocks!


These are from the "Battlefield in a box" range from GF9 and I wanted to buy these for a long time. But never found any in stock here on mainland Europe. So when I saw it on a shelf in the game store, it was an instabuy. It is the Badlands version, so with a very dark base and very red stones. Wasn't a huge fan of that, so had to repaint them. But first I had to rebase two pieces...when I unpacked them from the box, both me and my daughter dropped one piece each, shattering their bases . But with some foamed pvc that was very easy. Then it was a matter of repainting them in sandy colours. Now they will fit in much better with the rest of my stuff!

Next up will be more ladies and some cactuses...cacti?

[CapnJim]

Them thar womenfolk sure look purty...nice rocks, too...

[FifteensAway]

plural is: cacti, singular is: cactus. 

The gal in blue with the double barrel shotgun and blue dress and braids, she could be a "half-breed" helion - though no idea if that fits with your plans.

Glad to see more. 

Here in the Old West we call them gallows or scaffolds rather than gibbets.  Not the normal sort you have there but it will work well enough.  And nice work on the repaint of those rocks - a paint job that will fit in many places.

[Malebolgia]

Thanks lads! Time for more scenery.

First off, a derelict caboose. A cool mdf kit by Sarissa I got as a gift from a mate. Easy to assemble and fun to paint. I wanted it to look old and forgotten, so with faded and weathered paint. I first painted it in wooden tones, super easy. I then applied masking liquid with a sponge all over the areas I wanted to apply the faded paint to. After this dried I covered it with dark red paint and then with some light red paint (like a faded red). After this dried, I rubbed off the masking liquid (and parts of the red paint) with my fingers, giving me a caboose with some faded red paint on it. Exactly what I wanted. Not super realistic, as paint chips off differently in real life, but more than good enough for on the gaming table. And for the rusty parts I used the best stuff there is: Dirty Down rust.




And I wanted a loooooot more cacti (thanks FifteensAway ). The sets by Pegasus Hobbies are perfect. You get two sprues filled with plastic cacti. Easy to assemble and painting was also a breeze. I airbrushed them with a military green primer from Vallejo, then coated one half with Militarum Green Contrast and the other half with Warp Lightning green Contrast. This was drybrushed with resp. Scale75 Fall Green and Foundry Bright Green 25C. Some fast painting on the bases and done! Love these things, especially as they will add more colour and variation to the final table.



Next up will be more ladies, a water mill, rock pillar and hill!

[Sgt_T]

Looking good!

T

[CapnJim]

Looking good!

T

Indeed!

[FifteensAway]

While the Sarissa train stuff is a bit of a mis-mash of Old West and European style equipment - and perhaps a limitation of the material used, your paint job is nothing short of fantastic.  I've seen old equipment around that looks very much like that.  I've been a model railroader since 1968 and seen lots and lots of old railroad stuff; lucky enough to live near some great railroad museums. 

Love your new cacti.  And now I know for certain where the stuff I have came from - sadly bought at a sale of a late local gamer's collection but at least he wasn't young, 71 or 72 when he passed (a month from brain tumor diagnosis to death) and a spectacular modeler.  His Old West collection was simply the best Old West painted stuff I've ever seen anywhere - bar none and there is some stiff competition out there.  Alas, wrong scale and far too expensive for my wallet but worth every penny being asked for it.  Don't know where it landed but whoever got it owns a real treasure. 

[Vagabond]

The cactus are nice, I made mine out of Daz the airdrying clay but I think I'll try and get some of these, they look a tad more real. 
Cheers

[Malebolgia]

And more done!

Rock Spire, hill & Sarissa Wind mill
I made the rock spire from cork bark, some thick cardboard, foamed pvc and a lot of modelling compound. Easy and fast. And it has a nice height to it. The wind mill is a Sarissa Precision MDF kit. Easy to paint, but TERRRRRRRRIBLE to assemble. Probably the worst mdf kit I ever did. Urgh. So glad it's done! It's a nice set once finished and the mill can still spin. Weeee! And finally a corner hill. So I made it so it can fit in a corner of the table. Don't know why, but it looks nice









And finally I also finished my first Sheriff! An old Black Scorpion model. Quite flashy, but I like him.

[trev]

Excellent painting.  I like the Cacti too.

[Malebolgia]

Thanks man! Cacti are so much fun to paint

And I got some new stuff, which was a lot of fun to do. I asked in a different topic about shrubberies for the Old West and Malamute gave the awesome tip of using rubberised horsehair. So I ordered a slab from Etsy and started on some bushes:
1) I cut a base from foamed pvc, beveled it and covered it with sand.
2) Paint the base
3) Tear off some of the horsehair from the slab or horsehair
4) Glue it to the base with hot glue
DONE

Suuuuuuper easy to do and it looks fantastic on the table. Exactly what I wanted. Very happy with them. I might do another batch and flock them with a different green to add some variety.