Wild West game ideas...

[FifteensAway]

Not mine, yours, if you please.

I've amassed and am now ready to start working on a prodigious collection of wild west and plains war figures in 15 mm and am looking for ideas beyond my own imagination on how to put these to use.  Let's start with a run down of what I have:

CAVALRY
The 7th cav, 12 troops plus command
Provisional Regiment of cav, one battalion each of 2nd, 4th, and 9th (2nd and 4th generic and, of course, the 9th can also be the 10th)
One Brigade HQ company and HQ command plus two Army supply wagons, a pack mule train, a herd of horse as remounts, and a herd of beef cattle as provision on the hoof
two troops of native scouts
two limbers with attendant gatling guns
And a garrison for a fort - (artillery and crews and infantry can be borrowed from my ACW)

FRIENDLY LOCAL NATIVE FOLK
360 mounted plains warriors (8 groups of northern plains and two groups for southern - apache, etc)
288 foot warriors (as above)
258 villagers (twelve groups of 36 each for separate villages and the balance with travois to represent a village on the move)
36 wigwams and other bits and pieces to make 6 separate villages (or one really big one)
a pony herd of 72 horses
a buffalo herd of 108 beaties
a pronghorn antelope herd of 24 or 36(?) beasties
near two dozen deer
and a pack of wolves

ABOVE THE LINE TALENT (for you hollywood type)
Marshall, Sheriff, Reservation Police; Rangers, Pinkertons, Scouts; Magnanimous Dozen, Cowpokes, Hardluck Cowboys; Range Boss, Gun Hands, Rustlers; Mexicans, Comancheros, Desperadoes; Outlaws, Robbers, Bandits
- these all are in groups of twelve with mounted, dismounted, and dead figures, plus enough standing horses to represent each stands horses when dismounted (one for three) -

"INNOCENT" BYSTANDERS (by the gross, more or less)
The Rollers:
Horse drawn wagon train, ox drawn wagon train, two different stage companies represented by 4 stages, the freighting company with the hearst annex, trainmen (to crew the train), stevedores (to load the train), and a yard crew (to mow the grass on their roofs )
The Out of Towners:
Prospectors, Miners, Trading Post, outstation, farm one, farm two, ranch one, ranch two, shepherds, and pioneers
Upstanding Folk:
Town Fathers, Tophats and Undertakers, Speculators, Mormons (?), Shopkeepers, Shopping Women, Women and Girls, Children, Passengers (for the train or stage), Armed Men
Working Stiffs:
Civilians including blacksmith, Workmen, Townsmen one, Townsmen two, Hangtown to include the preacher, Militia, Militant Veterans, Lost Expedition (some naval types), Working Celebrants (stay tuned below), Armed Women
Ethnics (oh, don't start, its just a descriptive ):
Shaolin temple crew, Chinese Men, Chinese women and children, Freedmen, Freed women and children, Mexican men, Mexican women and children, Native Indians in town (breeds?), Native women and children in town, and Missionaries
Libations and Ladies:
Barmen, Gamblers, Saloon one, Saloon two, Serving wenches, Drunks, Card players one, card players two, Dance hall girls, and Temperance Marchers
-- these are all in groups of twelve but not more than one in five are armed, if that, plus there are some more recent arrivals that will add a few more groups - some fancy ladies - on the right side of the track (maybe), figures to make a snake oil salesman wagon and a traveling photographers crew - and, hey, just though of this one, the crooked governor (with a mistriss )...
and then there is Sister Veronica and her two pack mules (perhaps it is only a rumor that she sometimes goes by Veronica Voluptous-but I've got the two figures, just in case!)

And then there is the town I'm building - currently named Anachronism but that may change as may the territory where it's located, Jodaho.  And I've got a model of the Far West and other riverboats.  Train is the one thing still not solidified but I'm working on that.

So, if that didn't exhaust your interest, toss out ideas on how to use this collection.  The genesis of this, by the way, was Hallelujah Trail so ideas with tongue in cheek are gladly entertained.  You may have noticed that the basic unit for all is 12 figures and basing will be three to a base.  The cavalry has one for one dismounts.  Lots and lots of casualty figures (two per group except for those ego happy Talent above the line), plus a plentitude of dead horses, also many dozen cacti and plans to build a mine (copper or lead?).  Owe, I forgot the herd of longhorns - 48 but can jump to 72 by borrowing some Zulu style cattle.  And a herd of sheep as well as other animals to stock the farms and ranches.

Ideas, ideas, ideas, ladies and gentlemen.  I'm sure we can all come up with the obvious but what about the more imaginative?

I do plan on a convention game to be entitled "The Whole Wild West - All At Once"
That is, if I get all painted before my bones turn to dust!  

Damn, that pile is intimidating.

[FifteensAway]

Having posted the above evidence of my diminished mental state, I was moved to sort the last bit of figures out and assign them "duty."  I added another group (one of three to the Army post - the signal men and their tower) and a third supply wagon.  For the civilians I added the photographers group and wagon (have to double check the wagon), and the Governor's Party, the Governor's Ladies party, an Indian Commissioner's Party, Town's Leading Ladies, a group of homesteaders, one of Outstation traveler's, and last - but not least - "Sadie's Crew": three armed women protecting their hired men as they unpack the latest fashion's from Paris (lady's foundations, mind you!).

Took a long time to collect this lot but I'M FINISHED adding to this.  (that's to remind me!)

Of course, many of the civilians will be useful for the ACW as well.

And lest anyone thing I'm bragging  just think of the painting task in front of me.  These two posts are as much a record for me as for you fine folk.

Also, a reminder to get my butt in gear and paint...and paint...and paint...

[Admiral Benbow]

That's an impressive list, FifteensAway, and I'm sure a lot of people would like to see some pics ...
 

[warrenpeace]

Do you like to paint? Or do you, like so many of us, suffer from lead acquisition addiction? I think the way to start is by sending 2/3 to 3/4 of those figures off to Sri Lanka to be painted.  That will get the bulk of those figures out of your sight until they return all painted and beautiful. Then when they do arrive, they will provide you with more figures than you will ever really need to use for gameing. That will leave you a reasonable number of figures to paint yourself while you watch every western movie ever made.

The mass of those figures would support huge battles like Little Big Horn.  Also, you could model the battle at the end of the movie Heaven's Gate, which is based on a historical battle in Wyoming between settlers and the stockgrowers association's army of hired gunmen. The Sword and the Flame could be adapted for those larger sized games.

For a convention game, you might try borrowing the idea used by a guy in my area. He set up a western movie trivia game, awarding points throughout the game for answering western movie trivia questions and for identifying western movie music themes.  Players got a kick out of that.

Otherwise, you might just have to create a role playing adventure with many different characters, just to be able to pull a few figures out of that mass from time to time. You could start off with some set scenarios such as those found in the old Avalon Hill game Gunslinger. Otherwise you can create scenarios based on scenes from every Western movie ever made, which I'm sure you will be watching, if you haven't already.

[FifteensAway]

Admiral and Warren - photos will have to await a little more paint on figures (or a lot) but maybe the herd of bison will be ready in a reasonable time.

As to sending the figures off to Sri Lanka - an understandable recommendation - it's not workable because I'm planning a very stylized painting program, an almost but not quiet sepia tone.  By that I mean I will use a particular color of primer to create a unified effect.  Or so is the hope and part of the reason the painting has awaited the completion of the collection.  That does not mean there will not be "color" on the figures.  I have reconciled myself to a basic gaming standard rather than the awesome paint jobs often seen here.  Otherwise I'd be genuinely insane before completing the figures.  And it should be noted that when I dive in and paint, I can paint pretty damned fast, 500 or more figures in a month.

As to the movies, yeah lots and lots of them in my collection and I'm always on the lookout for more.  So, thanks for the recommends.  And, yeah, I do plan to "single" out certain figures as special characters.  The reason for the quotation marks is each stand will have three figures on it - single based figures just take too much time to move around.  Now, to give a sample of characters, you are of course familiar with Wyatt Earp - well, the town sheriff of my town will be Quiet Burp.  And as to the name of the county, well that will await being revealed until I complete the county courthouse and the name will be emblazoned on it - I think you'll find the name worth the wait.

Appreciate your input, thanks.