Dead Man's Hand Down Under

[Poiter50]

I'm definitely of that vintage. Whiplash, Rifleman and Combat! 

I don't suppose anybody remembers the series "Whiplash", a weekly must see when I was about five 

[starkadder]

God's teeth.

The bloody Kelly Gang in full armour. What a joke.
SPOILER: Shoot at the legs. They fall over quick smart.

Where are the wideawake and cabbage palm hats? Defining headwear.


Ben Hall wearing a widewake. The ribbon is essential.

Where are Ben Hall, Frank Gardiner, Captain Thunderbolt, Morgan, Black Caesar and Sam Poo the only known Chinese bushranger?

If you're going to do Oz bushranging, forget that self-important Victorian twat. Do the Eugowra stagecoach gold robbery.

[Bugsda]

Where are Ben Hall, Frank Gardiner, Captain Thunderbolt, Morgan, Black Caesar and Sam Poo the only known Chinese bushranger?

If you're going to do Oz bushranging, forget that self-important Victorian twat. Do the Eugowra stagecoach gold robbery.

I've heard of Ben Hall, some Melbourne biker I used to hang about with was always singing about him after the 12 can of Fosters. All I remember is that he hates us one and all 

Tell us more, Sam Poo sounds fascinating and Captain Thunderbolt is up there with The Sundance Kid as a top Moniker.

[Ray Earle]

Sam Poo. 

Wasn't there a Captain Midnite as well?

[von Lucky]

Wool sole man!

[axabrax]

All too much for me: I pre-ordered the whole set! Will try to work in some genuine Australian feel if I can rather just using the huge western town that I already have. I'm hoping to use 75% of my current collection and then to add the rest to make it look somewhat authentic. Watched Ned Kelly last night and--aside from the color of the buildings and the vegetation--thought most of the Old West stuff would work ok. Tonight it will be The Proposition...

[Poiter50]

Suggest you watch Mad Dan Morgan as well. Loopy Bushranger, no way was he a Victorian Robin Hood.

[Leigh Metford]

Starkadder - the DMH blueprint demands that a character be realised on celluloid before his/her likeness can be reproduced in miniature.

If GEG remains true to this game-plan there's a good chance that further down the dirt track you'll have access to a 28mm version of an actor called Jack Martin, who will be playing the outlaw in the forthcoming two-hour feature 'Legend of Ben Hall'. The producers have promised that this will be the most historically accurate bushranger pic yet. They're even consulting with a specialist 'bushranger historian'.

If you're prepared to hold out for a truly historical take on the subject, I know of a certain well regarded figure manufacturer with a personal interest in it who has plans to release a colonial Australia range once he's finished with his current projects.



   

 

[starkadder]

Starkadder - the DMH blueprint demands that a character be realised on celluloid before his/her likeness can be reproduced in miniature.

Does this count, Leigh?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159850/

Starred Jon Finch. It played a little fast and loose but was rather good, at least in my memories.

To Ray Earle.

Sam Poo was a minor tragedy. Like thousands of Chinese, he came to Oz in the early 1860s. He couldn't make a go of it on the gold fields and took off from his campsite in February 1865. Just about the only physical description of him is an off-hand remark that he was "a cranky old Chinaman". This was in NSW near Mudgee and Coonabarabran.

Some time after he disappeared, he assaulted a woman and her daughter "with alarm and affront" and robbed them. A trooper called Frederick Ward (curiously also Captain Thunderbolt's real name) went out to hunt him down and bring him in.

This is where it gets murky. In the cheery racism of the time, it is recorded that he ambushed Ward, jumping from behind a tree and shouting "You - policeman, me shootee you!" And did. Ward died around ten days later (from memory). A larger posse went to hunt him down and took him in a brief struggle. He was hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol about eight months later.

It's a brief and sordid story but it created legal history as Ward made a deposition before he died. It was admitted into evidence even though he was dead - a first in Australian law.  I've read the actual case.

Sam (we don't know his real name) didn't go into some awful Chinese parody speak. According to Ward, he asked Sam to surrender to which he replied "You're a policeman, I won't go with you. I'll have to shoot you!" It was a panic move.

It doesn't suit the narrative that he was a poor and frightened bloke a long way from home and utterly alone. Ward seems to have been quite concerned for him.

Not really a subject for a game, eh?

However, a great one to use is Captain Starlight from Rolf Boldrewood's Robbery under Arms. He's a composite of Frank Gardiner (who rode with Ben Hall and was the first man to be deported from Australia) and a bloke called Redford.

And if there has to be a film precedent Sam Neill played him in the film "Robbery under Arms"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089925/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

And Sam wears a wideawake hat (almost).

Hope all of that helps.

By the way, Frank Gardiner was probably the first organised crime boss in the US. Certainly in California. He was the controlling intelligence behind the Wallaby Mob in San Francisco. Hah!

[axabrax]

If that manufacturer was Artizan Designs I'd be really excited 

Starkadder - the DMH blueprint demands that a character be realised on celluloid before his/her likeness can be reproduced in miniature.

If GEG remains true to this game-plan there's a good chance that further down the dirt track you'll have access to a 28mm version of an actor called Jack Martin, who will be playing the outlaw in the forthcoming two-hour feature 'Legend of Ben Hall'. The producers have promised that this will be the most historically accurate bushranger pic yet. They're even consulting with a specialist 'bushranger historian'.

If you're prepared to hold out for a truly historical take on the subject, I know of a certain well regarded figure manufacturer with a personal interest in it who has plans to release a colonial Australia range once he's finished with his current projects.



   

 

[Ray Earle]

That's great stuff, thanks Starkadder. 

It's surprising how much history is overshadowed by Kelly. Although, in his defence, sticking a bucket on your head is pretty special.

For all these bushrangers there must have been plenty of easy targets for them to help themselves.

[Ray Earle]

If that manufacturer was Artizan Designs I'd be really excited 

I doubt it. I think Mike has his hands pretty much full with the NWF. Although I've been looking to use some of the Northstar Africa boers as Kelly hunters and I reckon you could push some of the less fantastical IHMN range into service. Some of the anarchists would make great bushrangers.

[starkadder]

That's great stuff, thanks Starkadder. 

It's surprising how much history is overshadowed by Kelly. Although, in his defence, sticking a bucket on your head is pretty special.

For all these bushrangers there must have been plenty of easy targets for them to help themselves.

He's certainly the most spectacular, Ray.

Ben Hall generally gets the Robin Hood title although he wasn't a really nice bloke. He had form from an early age.

Easy targets, indeed. Thee is much play about the amount of help they would get from the local populace. My grandfather told my father about how he as a boy had to take the best thoroughbreds out into pre-arranged points and leave them tethered for the bushrangers to take them. (Yes I am THAT old. We marry late in my family.) It was a protection racket. Their barns, stables and livestock would be destroyed if they didn't. It was no use complaining to the coppers. Half of them were being bribed or were related to the 'rangers.

It's an interesting period.

The scary ones are the early ones in Tasmania. Cannibals and worse.

[Leigh Metford]

Sorry Axabrax: not AD, but someone equally respected with a product of similar quality.

Yes, I know about the Ben Hall TV series, Starkadder, but as far as inspiration for DMHDU goes it seems that GEG is only interested in big screen movies of recent provenance. If they're even aware of it, the 70s TV series is probably too old and too inaccessible for them - although it was what first sparked the interest of that figure manufacturer I've alluded to. 

[Ray Earle]

not AD, but someone equally respected with a product of similar quality.

Can't think who that would be off the top of my head, but look forward to adding some to the collection if they match in style.

It's an interesting period.

The scary ones are the early ones in Tasmania. Cannibals and worse.

I'd heard some of the stories about Tasmania. 

I get the feeling that the attitudes haven't changed that much in the area. When I was in Mudgee we visited a friend of the family who regaled us with tales of dodging the cops when they were younger and generally getting in trouble. As he sat in his armchair making hunting knifes..

It was around the time the law came banning the ownership of semi-auto rifles. I was told that a load of them had got around the ban by sticking all their guns in a shed somewhere in the outback. I believe it was quite the arsenal.

Do you have any recommendations for books about the bushrangers?