Daily Chronicle: 3/22/2010: LoTOW: 'Frontier'

Yesterday I decided to head out to one of the few independent gaming stores in the Chicago area (Games Plus in Mt. Prospect) to see if they have a WWII Skirmish rule set called "Rules of Engagement" by "Great Escape Games" that Rob over at "Drunken Samurai Painting Blog" has recently picked up. If there is a store that will carry this game in Chicago, it would be Games Plus.  They have just about every type of independent game and miniature available.  So I'm perusing the aisles and sure enough I find the rule book, as Rob mentioned it is a nice hard back style of rule book, but it also had a nice price tag of $52.00.  The next aisle over were all the rulebooks for Legends of The Old West.  I have the main rulebook for LoTOW, but I do not own any of the supplement books.  Seeing how I started this blog to chronicle my hobbying/gaming of Old West miniatures and I really have not done much of that, it made me really think what do I want to purchase.  A  new rule set that I only own a few miniatures for (WWII), or pick up the supplement "Frontier" for LoTOW.

Well after perusing the "Frontier" book and noticed that they have a section in their for competitive gaming and the rules for building your Posse's for competitive gaming, my son and I decided that we should probably pick up the supplement instead of learning another rule set.  As I stated in my New Years Resolution, I need to cut down on the new games I pick up and concentrate on the one's I have.  I also stated that I will be getting more involved in LoTOW this year.  Just 10 more days until we move, then my two core games will be Warhammer 40K, and Legends of The Old West.  This will be followed by Warhammer Fantasy and Lord of the Rings.  If time allows I will then also play other games.

Last year I purchased plenty of building for LoTOW to play the game, but we were lacking in the rest of the terrain.  Seeing how Games Plus has 'everything' there, I decided to check out some the terrain that they also have.  Tim K over at "Cursed Treasures" has gotten me hooked on loading the table up with terrain, and the terrain does really make the table look awesome and fun to play on.

I headed on down to the terrain aisles and came across the following items that I thought we would add to our games.

Wooden Fences - 6 pieces

Wooden Boxes and Crates (8) pre-painted

Wooden Barrels (approx. 22)







All of these items are made by "Pegasus Hobbies", and I already own one of their fence sets, so adding the above to our collection will nicely fill out our gaming table.

With LoTOW Frontier and the above terrain, I walked out of Games Plus for close to the same price as what the rule book for "Rules of Engagement" would have cost me.  I still would like to play the WWII Skirmish game (maybe if I meet up with Rob and Tim) but I really want to concentrate on LoTOW first.

April is going to be a real busy month for me in regards to painting.....  Now I need to add my Old West building to list of items to paint.

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List for 2010

Since most of my friends have made a list of things to do for 2010, I'll give it a shot. I'm going to try and keep it simple for 2010. With the move back to Arizona coming in late May / early June I really do not want to buy too much while still here in Chicago just to haul it all back. So here we go.

My main goal for 2010 will be to concentrate on two core games Warhammer 40K and Warhammer Fantasy.

Warhammer 40K: PLAY MORE.... thats my goal. I really do enjoy playing this game, especially with 5th edition. I love the idea of playing for objectives and the random games. You never know what will happen. I'm looking forward to the new Missions Book that will be released in March.

Hobbying: try to finish 1750 points of my Imperial Guard before I move back. I will then work on expanding that army after I move. IG will be "my" W40K army going forward. I also have a Space Marine Ultramarine Drop Pod army that is sitting just basecoated, these will bot be touched till after the move. I just "boxed" them up yesterday. Not sure how much more I will get done on my son's Space Marine army. I have 1750 points painted for him, and plenty more models that we can add to his list. The Salamanders are his W40K army that we will always expand on.

Warhammer Fantasy: Recently I started playing WFB more and more and I'm also starting to really enjoy this game again. The Dark Elves have rejuvenated myself and Fantasy. I was getting tired of always losing with my Empire. I am also organizing a "Spring League" here in Illinois and looking forward to those games. I definitely want to play more in 2010.

Hobbying: Get my Dark Elves done to 2250 points before I leave. I am really making progress on these guys and I can see this happening. I really want a Skaven army, this will also wait till after the move. The DE will be done and gives me another new army to start. I also plan on getting the Wood Elves finally done for my son. We'll slowly add new models for him replacing some of the older versions. I have been making a lot of progress on this. I finally also decided to let him paint some of his own models. He's starting with the Treekin. Not sure what Fantasy army he will want next. Maybe he'll try out my Empire army for awhile. There is some models we can replace/add for that Army. My Dwarfs are in a good state right now. I have a 2250 point list that I like to play with the options of changing it up from time to time. Just need to redo the bases on some of the models.

LotR: My son's not going to like to hear this....... but I have no plans for LotR in 2010. The interest for me is just not there at the moment. Maybe when the new "Hobbit" movie comes out, or if I get a little burned out from W40K/WFB I may then paint a few. My son really loves this game, but hopefully we'll be playing the above 2 more and he'll start to like those more.

LotOW: I have buildings, I have models..... I have not really done much or played much in 2009. That will change in 2010. Again as soon as we move, I can see LotOW replacing LotR as my third game system. I hope living in the desert again will spark my interest.

LotHS: I need to play this game.... I have yet to play it. I did get a crew finally painted up. My goal when I go back to Arizona is to play this game with Tim K. Before we play any other game together, we are going to PLAY LotHS. I'm calling you out Tim.

FOW: I have an American Tank army painted and a partial Soviet Tank army painted. I would like to finish up the Soviet Army just so I can have two armies to play the game. I played FOW a few times in 2009, 2010 is looking a little bleak at the moment. I will keep the models/books though in case I want to throw down.

So I thinks that's it for 2010. I need to try to go back to the core and not stretch myself out. If all I play is W40K and WFB I'll be happy ( as long as I actually play). If I get to play the others also, that will be bonus.

OK, onto 2010.......

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First Games of LoTOW

Sorry for the delay in writing this, but actually been busy painting. Getting ready for AdeptiCon 2009, I had to touch up my Warhammer Fantasy Empire Army for the Fantasy Team Tournament, and I have to work on getting together a 350 point force for the LotR Team Tournament.

Anyways, this past Saturday 2/28/09 my son and I got in a couple of LoTOW games. We played two games of High Noon. Figures/Building are not yet painted (they will have to wait till after ACon) but we threw down anyways.

I played the Lawmen consisting of 8 models, a Sheriff/Deputy/3 Vigilantes/3 Citizens. My son played Outlaws consisting of 10 models, a Desperado/9 Rowdies. We each had a mix of weapons from sixguns, heavy pistols, rifles, repeating rifles, and shotguns. We each played with $200 starting posse.

In the first game, the Lawmen won, and in the Second game, the Outlaws won. They were 2 fun games and quite different from LotR. I really enjoy all the shooting that takes place in the game. Its a good change from all the HtH that takes place in LotR.

We'll be playing again this weekend, and I think we'll probably start doing a campaign between the two of us. Seems like it will be fun playing with the experiance and upgrades and purchasing more models for the posse. My son really wants to play with Billy the Kid, so we'll see if he can earn enough money.

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Cowboys Assembled

Well, I spent the last two nights assembling all 48 cowboys and got them done. Painting them will be a different story. With AdeptiCon coming up the first weekend in April, I still have alot to get ready for that. I need to make sure my sons armies are done for LotR and W40K. I need to make sure my Fantasy army is ready for the Team Tourney, and I just found out yesterday I may be playing in the LotR Team Tourney that Saturday. If I end up playing on Saturday, I may have to paint up some more LotR to add to my army.

So the cowboys will probably wait till after AdeptiCon before they see any paint (then WotR will also be coming out......)

I'll still play with the cowboys unpainted until then, but probably just at home. Playing at a store with unpainted mini's is something I really dont like to do.

So come back tomorrow for a write up of our first LotOW game.

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I'm so excited!

The doorbell rings....... I had a feeling it was the Old West building that I ordered. I go and answer the door. The mailman is holding a large box, yep its my buildings. "What's this" I ask myself seeing a smaller box on top. Black Scorpion Minatures... oh yea, my Old West mini's came in at the same time. That's pretty quick considering they came from England.

When I get back this weekend from the GitD 2009, I'll take some pics of the buildings.

It's gonna be busy when I get back.... cleaning/paintingg buildings, building the mini's, and I'm gonna work on building an Old West table.

So stay tuned.....

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Old West Terrain

So you cant play with Old West miniatures unless you have some Old West terrain. Again, it took awhile researching on the web to find some that I like and that was cost effective. There is a manufacturer here in the states that does make 28mm terrain, but they are currently in the process of selling to another manufacturer. So their new site was not ready yet, so I had to look elsewhere.

I ended up finding a company called Frontline Wargaming. Frontline Wargaming has a distributor here in the states RLBPS based in Rockford, IL. This was great. Seeing that I just moved back to Chicago, IL the shipping will be really quick. RLBPS was also currently selling alot of their Old West buildings for 25% off, so I had to snatch some up. For now I ordered around 8 buildings, again enough to get me started with a small town.

If it turns out that I like their buildings, I'll probably go ahead and order some more. Plus I'll also start to scratch build some buildings when I have time.

Here are some pics of the buildings that I purchased. They shipped out yesterday, so hopefully I'll have them soon and paint them up.

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Black Scorpion Miniatures

So the other day I made my first investment into Legends of The Old West. After spending quite a few hours researching all the different miniatures for Old West out there, I decided to go with Black Scorpion Miniatures. They have a very nice line called Tombstone and enough variety for me to get started. My other option would have been Wargames Foundry. They also have a very large collection for Old West and I still may mix-n-match with them to add some more flavor.

To start out with, I went with the following:

Billy The Kid (x1)Pat Garrett (x1)
Sheriff (x1)

Tombstone 1 (x2)

Tombstone 2 (x2)

Tombstone 3 (x2)

Tombstone 4 (x2)

Tombstone 7 (x1)

This should be enough models for me to get started with my son. I eventually plan to add some of their Outlaw, Mexicans and Apache models once I expand into the LoTOW Supplements.

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Welcome!

Welcome to The Old West Chronicle. The blog for Miniature Gaming set in the Old West. I will use this blog to detail and keep track of my progress with my gaming and miniatures from the Old West era. I also have miniatures from The Lord of the Rings and Legends of The High Seas that I will also be posting here. The miniature scale that I use is considered to be 25-28mm.

The main ruleset that I will be playing with for Old West is "Legends of The Old West" by Warhammer Historical. This is a "skirmish" style of game play where each posse has a maximum of 12-15 miniatures (not including "Hired Guns"). LoTOW gameplay is very similiar to the other two games mentioned above, LotR and LoTHS. These smaller style skirmish games is what I enjoy playing most now, and the low model count helps in getting them painted.

Well sit back and relax and I hope you enjoy the wagon ride out west.

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