Revisiting Yellow Ribbon- A Project

[sepoy1857]

WoW! great painting. Looks like it would make for a fun and interrsting game (unless Custer in leading...then it may be over in about 20 min!).

[FifteensAway]

After my last post here I went out and took photos of all (I hope! - probably quite a few in the Old West setup that didn't make the shoot, pony herd, etc.) of my non-Africa and non-Prehistoric animals which I am in the process of adding to my blog but that is going to take some time - a lot of photos.  Not all of the figures are painted, just wanted a visual record for myself.

I am just posting one here for now, the longhorn cattle getting reinforced by my 18 oxen and 36 Masai cattle - and then I added in 4 'ancient' mounted Frontier cowboys (wish I had more!) to ride herd, too bad about the poor guy that gets to ride drag (behind the cattle and the dust and other stuff cattle leave in their wake).  I do have another 14 mounted 'cowboys' but they are just Peter Pig armed ones, not yet painted but primed, rather than having lariats like the Frontier ones.  That's 150 cattle in the photo!



I won't post more photos here but I may post a link once they are all up on the blog. 

I want to see more of OB's work.

[OB]

I look forward to seeing them all on your blog.

I will post my Crow Indian Band in a couple of days.  They are mainly Peter Pig with a few from Minifigs and QRF.  Following that it will be the All Brave Dogs Lakota.  Then a Cavalry HQ Company, then more Sioux and Cheyenne. I'm currently working on an Indian Village.

I have ordered a few more bits and pieces for this project.  What I would like next is an Ambulance, QRF have a nice one.  Speaking of QRF my order arrived within a month allowing for February being a short one.  Castings were sharper than the originals as the moulds were redone.

I have nearly finished Powder River by Hedren.  First rate stuff, next up is Rosebud.  I intend to write a half dozen scenarios for Yellow Ribbon, play them and put them on my blog.  The should work with other rules too. 

Lots to do and I'm enjoying it all.

[FifteensAway]

Looking forward OB - especially to your scenarios.

And here is the link, north of 100 photos, domesticated and wild animals, painted and not yet painted:

https://whiskeyhills.blogspot.com/p/the-apache_20.html

Don't be alarmed by the word Apache in the link, it goes to the renamed page for critters but apparently still picks up the old name for the link.   

The link is to my Whiskey Hills blog, the Critters page, that overall is focused on Old West and Pony Wars with a profound amount of evidence of how over the top my collection of figures for it is.  Not all of the page links have stuff there yet but will eventually.  The main posts cover a lot of stuff including some mental meanderings at times related to the collection.

With the photos of the animals, I tried to include pointers for where to find the animals - if still available.  No idea on the soft rubber toy animals, I found all of them in spinner racks in toy stores or zoos for some.

The "moral" of the photo-story is always keep your eyes out for what you can find, be creative in the looking, and Buy It When You Find It or it will be gone when you go looking for it later!

[OB]

Thanks for the link.

There is a post about the Crow and some more pic’s on my blog.  I have one Crow Warrior Band only in my collection.  They will be fielded in full as US Cavalry Allies or in smaller numbers as Scouts.

The figures are all 15mm from Peter Pig, Minifigs and QRF.  I think they work together nicely enough.

If it is of interest here is the link:

http://youdonotknowthenorth.blogspot.com

[Harry Faversham]

Great looking Scouts OB. Can't wait to see the Plains Indians, and read your 'Yellow Ribbon' AARs.

[OB]

Thanks Harry.  I'm just painting my HQ Detachment and working on a couple of scenarios.  About to order a small cattle herd too.  Peter Pig and I'll get a few Buffalo too.

[FifteensAway]

"Small cattle herd" and "a few Buffalo"?  Hmm.  You don't want to go as large as I did then?! 

More power to your sanity, then.

Very nice on your Crows and your background on the blog. 

I look forward with great anticipation to your review of the Hedren book on Rosebud - and his writing style in general.  My Old West/Pony Wars book collection is pretty large but I'm never averse to more books.  But the prices are a bit steep from the university press so a review before spending seems in order.

Hope, once you have all your stuff painted, you keep on posting games using yours - or other's - scenarios.  Love to see more and help keep me inspired to move forward with my own collection.

I've posted about his before: When wife and I visited Little Bighorn we broke the day by going to lunch across the street at Crow cafe/store and were served in part by the granddaughter of the last war chief of the Crow nation.  Sort of cool.  Bought his book - alas, not a great read.  Still cool to get to that degree of connection. 

[OB]

 You have the got right visual effect but I couldn't afford the storage space for anything like that. I'd like to claim sanity but, well you know.

My fauna are going to be  very modest.  I want the Longhorns as food on the hoof for my Cavalry Column.  Naturally the Indians will try to run them off.

The Buffalo are great just because it is the Great Plains and there should be Buffalo.  I also want to use them as a trigger event in games.  Crooke was sneaking up on the Cheyenne when his Crow allies spotted Buffalo.  Immediately the hunted them.  The shooting alerted the Cheyenne and Crooke's surprise evaporated.  I'm thinking about a game mechanism for that.

Hendren is good and writes nicely.  I'm nearly finished Powder River then it is onto Rosebud.  Both my copies are paperbacks. I would have liked hardbacks but that meant delivery in September.  I couldn't wait.  The paperbacks are not cheap but I found them affordable as books go. I will do a review for each of them, not sure when though.

I'm working on a scenario roughly based on events in the Powder River Campaign.  It involves an Indian attack on a HQ Detachment.  The Army will have its hands full trying to defend their cattle herd, Mule Train, Wagon , horses and the wounded.  To do it they will have a Company of Cavalry and one of Infantry.  The Indians will appear at Dawn from a dice decided direction.  How the Army player has posted his Scouts and Pickets will count.

I'm about half way there with it.

More to come as soon as stuff is done and thanks for the encouragement.

[FifteensAway]

Thanks for the reply OB. 

I found and posted photos of the wild turkeys, see link above.  Also, my Indian Pony Herd and the cavalry remounts (remuda).  And under the Lakota and Apache page, a look at my collection of teepees, just primed so far.  And a 'main post' showing the painted railroad track.  And under another page, the first painted folk for Mescarilla.  I suppose with the army figures, about 36 painted Apache (need to paint two of them), and the Mescarilla folk, I could run a game of some sorts.  Just not sure when.  Heading back to try and get photos of my supply of "standing saddled horses" for decorating all those hitching posts I've got in my possession and awaiting painting.

I am posting this to encourage OB to include both a pony herd and cavalry remounts - though it sounds like he might already be moving that direction.  Also for the teepees so he can see some options.

[OB]

That's very helpful, it's great to see what is available.  Manufacturers don't always oblige.

Yes, I have an Indian Pony Herd 18 strong. All of my cavalry have unmounted horses for when their riders fight on foot.  That's 32 in all.  The horse holders remain mounted.

I have Apaches too. Just 12 mounted and 24 on foot. Enough for a game.  Yellow Ribbon caters for Apache.  The stats are very different as you might expect. 

I have just finished my Army Wagon and I'm starting on my three Companies of infantry. Eight men to a Company.

[CapnJim]

I like those scouts.  Well done!

[OB]

Thanks Jim.  They were a joy to paint.

[FifteensAway]

OB, another thought for your fauna.  One of the concepts I've considered is to have my pronghorn antelope herd roaming about on the table and then - poof - it turns out to actually be a band of mounted Indians.  Would need to be at a distance to justify the misidentification.  Or, the pronghorn could actually remain on the board having been used by the Indians as cover of their approach.  Could do the same with your buffalo. 

To get a real sense of what it is what like observing, pick a point you know and then move a minimum of one mile away - better if two miles - and then observe the activity at the known point and consider it as if you'd never been to that point and were trying to figure out what was going on.  I have one description of cavalry observing the Little Big Horn pony herd and couldn't really see it - and it wasn't a small herd - and the Indians said to look at what looked like worms wriggling on the ground.  I think that was more than two miles, maybe closer to five miles.

[OB]

That's an interesting example.  The Indians unaided could see the pony herds. It was familiar to them. The soldiers couldn't the herds even with field glasses.