Dracula's America.

[Vampifan]

Dear Vampifan, you've just stolen my words, mate!   

A mix of Gothic Horror and Old/Weird West sounds very appealing to me, and since I've grown with a big 40mm scale Old West sandbox in the basement, I am a strong believer that everyone must have his own old-fashioned western town at some point of life!  

I am just waiting to see the minis to figure out their scale in order to start planning my town's buildings!   

Concerning Dracula's America, from what the author himself kindly revealed in advance in this thread, I think that we'll have a very nice set of tools to have great gothic western adventures in the not so far future!   

Dinohunterpoa We are very much in agreement here. Even if the rules aren't up to scratch (although I suspect that won't be the case), I can still use the figures with my THW High Moon and Shadows of Brimstone rules.

Regarding your comment that everyone should have their old fashioned Western town, I totally agree. I already have one, but it's in 54mm scale, which takes up far too much space to use at home. When I gamed at my local wargaming club, my Wild West buildings could easily fill a full-sized table tennis table! Now, I'm slowly building up a collection of 28mm scale buildings. I'm mainly concentrating on those produced by 4Ground, simply because they are the best. 

I am also looking forward to being able to purchase the miniatures for this game, although my wallet would disagree! 

And just as importantly, I hope we don't have too long to wait for the rules to be released. Exciting times, pardner! 

[dinohunterpoa]

Vampifan, I totally agree with you!  

Dracula's America is due this August, so I hope! I really liked some of the things the author kindly brought up in this thread - his action is a very nice start for any ruleset IMHO!    

A 54mm western town must be such a beauty!  My dad had lots of western plastic minis and scenery in 40mm, I remember we had a blast at least once a month with lots of people of all ages around that very big (3m X 1,5m) sandbox for the whole afternoon!

What 28mm minis do you use for your western games? Do you have any AAR of them? I liked that NorthStar vampire dancer mini so much that I will look for miniatures in the same scale!   I would like to use WestWind's Cowboy Wars minis for starters, because I really like their approach to have both an on foot and a mounted mini for the same character! (Knuckeduster have a set of cowboys characters with on foot and mounted minis, but they are in 32mm) (I mildly remember reaching high insanity levels when making mounted models for a large number of my Fantasy/Horror characters years ago! )

My next project is almost certain to be a Gothic Western town with enough figures for townsfolk (for RPG adventures) and different factions for fast skirmish multiplayer games; lets see what happens...    I've seen 4 Ground buildings in the web and they look very nice indeed; the same with Battle Flag's Blackwater Gulch series. But since the import fees to my country are outrageous, I will have to wait for my next trip abroad (in mid 2018) to get them! In the meanwhile, I intend to just scratchbuild a fantasy town with a mix of western and gothic horror architecture (Malifaux, anyone?  )...

And as you've said: Exciting times, pardner!  

 

[Fenrir]

Thanks everybody for your comments- it's very encouraging and terrifying all at once, as the burden of expectation begins to settle on me in the run-up to August!.. 
If real-life allows, I'm hoping to visit a couple of shows with the North Star chaps and run some demos; starting with Partizan in August.

@Grimjack: I'm on it!  Thanks for the comments; hope it all went well at the Expo.

@Dinohunterpoa: The official miniatures are 'standard' 28mm scale, and having seen them 'in the pewter' so to speak they are very nice- my personal collection of Old West minis are currently all 32mm from Black Scorpion, but I will be starting a new collection of Dracula's America models as soon as I get my hands on them (beginning with the Dark Confederacy- those Confederate Revenants are probably my favourite models in the range so far!

@Vampifan: As I'm a fan of both Westerns and Horror, I've first and foremost tried to write a game that other fans of one or both genres will also get a kick out of- if you have any other questions about Dracula's America, feel free to drop them below and I'll do my best to answer...

[dinohunterpoa]

Fenrir, once again THANK YOU VERY MUCH for answering our questions! I'm glad the minis are true classical 28mm, so they will go well along Artizan, Dixon, WestWind, Foundry, Copplestone and others! A real clever decision IMHO!

Looking forward to see the rulebook and the minis!

Wish you and the NorthStar/Osprey guys all the best! 

[Vampifan]

What 28mm minis do you use for your western games? Do you have any AAR of them? I liked that NorthStar vampire dancer mini so much that I will look for miniatures in the same scale!  

My next project is almost certain to be a Gothic Western town with enough figures for townsfolk (for RPG adventures) and different factions for fast skirmish multiplayer games; lets see what happens...    I've seen 4 Ground buildings in the web and they look very nice indeed; the same with Battle Flag's Blackwater Gulch series. But since the import fees to my country are outrageous, I will have to wait for my next trip abroad (in mid 2018) to get them! In the meanwhile, I intend to just scratchbuild a fantasy town with a mix of western and gothic horror architecture (Malifaux, anyone?  )...

And as you've said: Exciting times, pardner!  

 

I use a wide range of figures for my Wild West games and I'm quite happy to mix scales from 25mm up to 32mm, because in real life people come in all shapes and sizes. Most of my Wild West figures come from Black Scorpion and Wargames Foundry, but I've been collecting since the late 1970's so there some really obscure out of production figures that I own. 

I don't yet have an AAR posted on my blog yet but I do have a whole section dedicated to the Wild and Weird West stuff I collect. Here's a link to it - http://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.co.uk/p/weird-and-wild-west.html
I still have loads to add to it as I'm only just starting out on this project. 

Like you, this will probably be my next BIG project.

I, too, have fallen in love with the North Star vampire female dancer. She's at the top of my shopping list! 

I wish you all the best of luck with your own Western town build. 
It does suck that import fees can be so prohibitive. I've encountered similar problems with stuff I've wanted from America. 

[dinohunterpoa]

I use a wide range of figures for my Wild West games and I'm quite happy to mix scales from 25mm up to 32mm, because in real life people come in all shapes and sizes.

You're right! I think it's just the matter of choosing carefully. No matter the scale of the majority of the citizens, no town of mine will be complete without Reaper's Ellen Stone, for example!  

I don't yet have an AAR posted on my blog yet but I do have a whole section dedicated to the Wild and Weird West stuff I collect. Here's a link to it - http://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.co.uk/p/weird-and-wild-west.html
I still have loads to add to it as I'm only just starting out on this project. 

Thanks for the link, mate! The Doves are PRICELESS!  And now I know that I really, really need a Chinese laundry, a Tong gang and a wandering young Shaolin monk in search of his half-brother, OMG! 

Like you, this will probably be my next BIG project.

As some LAFer recently said: "Old West is the new Pirates!" 

I, too, have fallen in love with the North Star vampire female dancer. She's at the top of my shopping list! 

Hope she arrives with some other vixen friends! 

I wish you all the best of luck with your own Western town build. 
It does suck that import fees can be so prohibitive. I've encountered similar problems with stuff I've wanted from America. 

Thanks, mate! I wish you all the same!    And due to that damn import fees, I will certainly be obliged to travel to UK next year! 
(in the meanwhile, I've just bought a ton of wooden coffee stirrers!)

[The_Beast]

Wait, Gothic in the wild west? Hasn't everybody? 

Of course, our issues were with real loup garou, and not native skinwalkers.

Interestingly, they were auto-moved, and there were three of us fighting them AND each other.

Doug

[Vampifan]

You're right! I think it's just the matter of choosing carefully. No matter the scale of the majority of the citizens, no town of mine will be complete without Reaper's Ellen Stone, for example!  

Ellen Stone is such a great figure and is certainly one of my favourites as well! 

Thanks for the link, mate! The Doves are PRICELESS!  And now I know that I really, really need a Chinese laundry, a Tong gang and a wandering young Shaolin monk in search of his half-brother, OMG! 

I thought you'd appreciate that link, Edu. I have a great Kwai Chang Caine figure that I converted in 54mm scale but I've never been able to find a suitable 28mm scale version of him. 

As some LAFer recently said: "Old West is the new Pirates!" 

Wise man! 

Hope she arrives with some other vixen friends! 

Oh, yes! Absolutely! 

Thanks, mate! I wish you all the same!    And due to that damn import fees, I will certainly be obliged to travel to UK next year! 
(in the meanwhile, I've just bought a ton of wooden coffee stirrers!)

You can never have too many wooden coffee stirrers! Them and matchsticks are so useful for scratchbuilding projects and conversions. 

[dinohunterpoa]

I have a great Kwai Chang Caine figure that I converted in 54mm scale but I've never been able to find a suitable 28mm scale version of him.  

When I was a kid aeons ago I used to have these two 54mm versions of Caine: as a Shaolin student and as a wanderer in the Old West:


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They were manufactured in Brazil by Gulliver, but I think they were originally Casablanca/Elastolin sculpts.





So begins the search for a suitable Caine in 28mm!



EDIT> I remember when Caine and his Kung Fu student Tarzan - yes, the King of the Jungle - took an entire posse of bad guys in Gunsmoke Town in an epic fight that took almost an entire afternoon... but this is another story! 

[Vampifan]

Hey, they're really cool figures! Very nice indeed, and quite obviously "Grasshopper". 

But, yes, the search continues. 

[dinohunterpoa]

Hey, they're really cool figures! Very nice indeed, and quite obviously "Grasshopper".  

But, yes, the search continues.  

We had vampires and werewolves in the "Wild Wild West" TV series (1965-69) and Jack the Ripper and Skinwalkers in "Cimarron Strip" (1967-68), so a wanderer Shaolin monk in the Old West hunting vampires is definitely in the order of day for Dracula's America!  

And maybe fighting Ninja Vampire River Pirates in the Mississipi, of course, inspired by George R. R. Martin’s "Fevre Dream"! 

  

[Vampifan]

And maybe fighting Ninja Vampire River Pirates in the Mississipi, of course, inspired by George R. R. Martin’s "Fevre Dream"! 

It's been quite a while since I read "Fevre Dream" but heck yes, it would be a great fit for Dracula's America.   

So many good ideas are coming out for this game. Fenrir, just take my money now! 

[Malamute]

We had vampires and werewolves in the "Wild Wild West" TV series (1965-69) and Jack the Ripper and Skinwalkers in "Cimarron Strip" (1967-68), so a wanderer Shaolin monk in the Old West hunting vampires is definitely in the order of day for Dracula's America!  



  

Two of my favourite genres: The Old West and Gothic Horror.

 But I can't get my head around the two merging into one. I just don't get the Weird West idea.

[dinohunterpoa]

It's been quite a while since I read "Fevre Dream" but heck yes, it would be a great fit for Dracula's America.   

Ok, now I OFFICIALLY need a wandering Shaolin monk AND a Mississippi River Boat! NOW! 

So many good ideas are coming out for this game. Fenrir, just take my money now! 

+1 !!! 


And maybe, just maybe... a big stagemcoach with steam horses... with enough roof space for cinematic fistfights... just maybe!  

[dinohunterpoa]

Two of my favourite genres: The Old West and Gothic Horror.

 But I can't get my head around the two merging into one. I just don't get the Weird West idea.

Malamute, it has been said that Gothic Western is just a thing of moving the original horror setting across the Atlantic... and Weird West - with those steam-horse powered stagecoaches - are just an earthly setting of Martian VSF!    

EDIT> OMG, do they have Vampires on Mars!?