Beginner in old west wargaming !

[sundayhero]

Hi,

Yesterday I found a cheap train during my shopping, and I couldn't resist buying it  :






It's now the starting point of a new collection and gaming, based on old west era.

I will use 6 guns sound (two hour wargames) ruleset, since I want to play it solitaire most of the time (and perhaps sometimes coop). I don't know any other ruleset allowing campaign and solo gaming. Any advises will be welcome


Concerning minis, I'm thinking about Dixon ones. As you can see in my train topic :

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=48584.msg565719#new


The train is maybe a bit small for "heroic" 28mm figures. Dixon website says that minis are "big 25mm" so I guess it will be good, what do you think ?



thank you !

[Digits]

I've never thought them to be large 25mm other than their heads!  They should be fine.

[sundayhero]

I'll go for dixon. Europe shop, scale wich should fit my train, cheap, and I love the style of them.

One question, do you know any dixon figure who I could use as train crew/mechanics ? I didn't find any in old west range.

thanks

[Digits]

http://www.brigadegames.com/American-West--Western_c_40.html

Don't know about dioxins but Brigade do a nice rail worker set

[terrement]

Figure size is always an issue for me.  I know some folks freely intermix everything from old Pass Of The North (small 25mm) to Black Scorpion (large 28/small32mm) and have no problem.  I've been at this long enough that i have a lot of Dixon figs, as when I started, they were available, numerous poses, and I thought well sculpted and animated.  So, now that we see very nice minis like Black Scorpion or Blackwater Gulch coming out, I can admire them.  Just can't use them.
Although incomplete, here's a good reference:

http://oldwest.witchhunter.net/old_west_scale.html

I can use basing tricks to get away with mixing old Foundry with the newer Foundry and Artizan figs, but the "large 28mm" are just too big for me.

Though comparable to the Artizan figs in size, I'd also recommend Knuckleduster.  Nice line of figs, nice owner (Forrest Harris).  Brigade Games also has some very nice figs that I'm sure you'll find similar looking to some folks on TV and in he movies.  Purely co-incidental, I'm sure.  Same with some of the West Wind "Cowboy Wars" range where the names may be a give away.  In addition to play-on-words naming (Like the father and sons of the Wheelwrights) references to who they were in the movie (Butcher and The Kid being Danny Glover and Kevin Costner in Silverado) and others in homage to gaming greats and freinds of the sculptor (Stoneyfeather should be an easy guess for any gamer, and Glumthing is Hal Thinglum who was the editor of MWAN for a long time).

For rules, I'd recommend Six Gun Sound - Blaze of Glory over the older, now free version of Six Gun Sound.  Much better material, character types, campaign options, and designed with mechanics that well support either solo or group play.  The Rules With No Name (free at the Yahoo group, or with pretty color pictures from Foundry at a price) has a wide following and is easy to learn/play.  Gutshot has a good sized following as well.

Best of luck!

JJ

[sundayhero]

thank you for your answer. Dixon minis are the way to go for me, since the range is huge, price good, quality too, and they are METAL (I'm an old school guy who likes collecting metal minis only, except for my heroclix customs and a few rescukpted battletech mechs  ).

Concerning rules, I'll take a look on the ones you're speaing about. The important thing is that they must contains a solid solo ruleset  and campaign mode.

[sundayhero]

Another question, is there a good source for old west style cart wheels ?  I'd like to sculpt my own carts and wagons, but I know wheels are a pain to built.


thanks

[Elbows]

4Ground has some brilliant wagons and carts...don't think they sell the wheels separate though.

[brigadegames]

Here is the link to our Western range

http://www.brigadegames.com/American-West--Western_c_40.html

We have a $10 shipping special going on now for International orders over $50