Town nearing completion?

[Sunjester]

My table layout for a gunfight last night. I still need to design and print signs for some of the buildings but I think it's getting there. I keep getting tempted by the idea of a big corner hotel to put at the junction.

Am I missing anything else essential?

I also have a bunch of generic adobe buildings if I want to clutter the table more and add a Mexican quarter.

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[Thargor]

Your town is looking good.  Can't read any of your signs, so thought I'd list buildings that are almost mandatory for an Old West Town:

Sheriff's Office

Saloon

Hotel

Gunsmith

Undertaker

Livery stable

General Store

Stage Coach Office

Bath House / Barber / Dr / Dentist

Bordello



After that you may want:

Marshall's Office

Clothing Stores

Chinese Laundry

Claims Office

Telegram Office

Railway Station

More Saloons

[Black Burt]

Looking pretty good, how about a bit more clutter it looks a bit too clinical at present such as, outhouses (toilets), water troughs, hitching rails, barrels, vegetation etc.

[Golgotha]

Town looking good - been thinking this myself namely what buildings does an old west town need. I would combine Saloon/Hotel/Whore House all into one.

To add to Thargor's list...

Cemetery
Animal pens
Houses
Mine

Where Telegraphs not sent from the railway station? Will need some telegraph poles.
 

[Johnno]

A bank is essential as well.

[Sunjester]

So far I have got the following:

Sheriff's Office
Saloon
Hotel
Undertaker
Livery stable
General Store
Stage Coach Office/Post Office
Apothecary/Dentist
Tailor/Dressmaker/Milliner
Chinese Laundry
Land Office/Claims Office
Church

As it is a small town several businesses double up on their purpose. I'm not sure at the moment if It's big enough to warrant a bank, or whether the Land Office would hold valuables. I'm not planning of adding a railroad at this time as it's too out of the way.

I currently have one unassigned building, which might be a telegraph office (so I would need telegraph poles) or a photographer, because I picked up a figure with a camera at a B&B last year. Or something completely different!

I'm working on the mine, but that will be out of town and the other primary venue for scenarios.

[wolfkarl]

"Boot Hill" near or by the church.

[Elbows]

Looks pretty good to me.  Things you could always add:

1) Vegetation...despite popular myths the desert has plenty of trees/brush in Arizona/New Mexico.  Not huge trees, but a lot of mesquite trees etc.
2) A small river (dry or active) with a bridge is an easy addition.
3) Always more barrels/boxes/junk.
4) Laundry lines?
5) Outhouses
6) Sheds
7) Stacks of building supplies
Corral for horses (you have the fences, so that's cake)
9) Tents or Tent structures for the poorer or newer folks?
10) A gaming mat (home-made or purchased) could make the town really pop
11) A gallows which is always a fun custom build if you don't buy one
12) Some buildings under construction?
13) Lamp posts/telegraph poles as you mentioned
14) Add hills/terrain on the outskirts of the town if needed?
15) Cemetery to go with the church

Lots of options but I think you've got a very solid table/town set-up.

[FifteensAway]

Good ideas but definitely add the hitch rails and water troughs - and you can double your wagons easily for effect (and for cover).  One often forgotten item is a cafe for people to eat at - not everyone is going to be a guest at the hotel or want to eat at a saloon.  I like that you think your town is too small for a bank and too remote for a train.  

Animals would be good, horses in the corrals and some cattle, at least a milch cow or two.

Okay, hours later from what I posted above and I've been back to look again and something is really bothering me - and its not just this old west game board - but most old west game boards.  The buildings are just much too far apart for most towns.  There are real life exceptions to a limited degree but even the exceptions I am familiar with support my contention.  Bodie is pretty spread out - but the 'main' buildings were pretty close together and often abutting one another.  And photos of other old west towns show similar.  And, certainly, the many bits in the area I live in (the old west) are definitely much closer together.

So, to really make it look like an old west town, most or all of the buildings should be a lot, lot closer together.  I understand the need for 'playing' space but I actually think putting the buildings closer together gives more playing space rather than less.

I know, as I build my old west town, each block will be pretty tight together.  Where space will come in is in the roads being wide and, maybe, the 'back lots' will be deep - the roads especially need room for a wagon pulled by four horses be able to make a 180 degree turn.

So, I guess you can make your town seem more authentic by tightening it up.  

I am, of course, open to counter arguments.  I suppose some of the midwest towns might be more spread out - but most of the actual photos I've seen of old west towns show buildings very close together - if not actually touching.

[Elbows]

I would second that...I know we tend to spread out buildings, particularly as we try to cover the board.  This is where vegetation, outlying corrals, tent camps, small creeks ("washes" if they're dried out) etc. can come into play.

As I build more buildings my goal is to thicken up the central town area.  Ideally many of the rows of buildings would actually share walls etc.

  This is a copy of a map from Tombstone the city.  You can see that the busier blocks were heavily clustered.  Obviously a bit less so in the small towns.  Even smaller towns were reasonably close, a good example is the town from Open Range (well worth the watch).



Always liked the muddy run-off area on the left of this picture, made worse by the rain storm in the film. 

[Sunjester]

Thanks for the comments and ideas Guys. I think I need a few more shacks/sheds and outhouses behind the main streets, plus some houses rather than stores. I shall probably put the buildings closer together at the town centre, probably keep buildings more spaced out in the residential area.

I do need a nice house with white picket fence on the edge of town, every old western I saw in my youth seemed to have one of those!