Fistful of Lead Reloaded Game Report Three

 

 

I set up another run through of Fistful of Lead Reloaded at the club yesterday and, despite forgetting to pack my figures or a terrain cloth, managed to squeeze in two consecutive games. The first was a re-play of 'The 4.10 to Yucca' scenario and the second one a new scenario we hadn't tried out before called 'Snitches get Stitches', which involved an attack on the jail to eliminate an informant.

 

The two scenarios worked really well and ended in a win for both sides in turn, so everyone went away happy. There were some edge of your seat moments, particularly at the end of the first scenario, along with a few rules queries that we were able to resolve with a closer inspection of the rulebook and some educated guesswork. A big thanks to Alan and Andy for the loan of their figures too.

 

I got to use my newly assembled and painted terrain, which went down well with the crowd, although this had to be plonked down on top of a paper tablecloth that I had to rush out to get from Sainsburys next door! In the end this looked surprisingly effective and was only three quid, so I've kept it for emergencies and until I can make my own purpose built terrain boards for the game.

A Fistful of Lead [22]

I've had the dreaded lurgy the last couple of days so haven't been up to much to say the least. However, I'm over it now and to celebrate my new found sense of well-being, I've splashed out big time on a brick built bank kit from Sarissa Precision. This will form the starting point for the final phase of my Old West mdf marathon, along with a handful of buildings from the ever useful Products for Wargamers range and some extra bits of scenery including some old Citadel plastic modular hills, some fencing, a wind postmill and a proper track bed for my railroad. The deadline for this lot is half term in three weeks time, so I'll have to get cracking!

Back of Beyond Magazine Special

 

I saw an advert for the next issue of Wargames Illustrated in the current magazine and thought it looked very interesting (for a change). The theme for next month is the Back of Beyond including terrain construction, how to make adobe buildings, some scenarios and even an article on armoured trains in 28mm. All good stuff and there's a very nice specially sculpted figure of Trotsky in 28mm as well, which I think I will have to get hold of for my Bolsheviks! I wonder if my scratch built armoured train will make an appearance?

A Fistful of Lead [21]

 

The last of the Products for Wargamers buildings was assembled late yesterday night, give or take a few extra details which I added later including the boardwalk, barrel and sacks. The kit had some missing pieces so I didn't have a porch or boardwalk to glue on to the front. Instead, I adapted the backing for the false front to use as the boardwalk and added the barrel and sacks as structural support. I like the toned down shade of the walls which is Halfords Ford Tuscan Beige, although it looks rubbish when you first spray it on, only looking good once you've drybrushed and matt varnished over the surface. 

A Fistful of Lead [20]

 

I was wading through piles of marking today but, in my tea breaks and later on this afternoon, I was able to scrounge time to put together this Products for Wargamers saloon. I already have two saloons so decided to turn it into something else, in this case a bath house and barbershop. I added a lean to using the spare barn extension from Warbases, a chimney from a plastic block and a pipe, then added some appropriate laser cut signs. I think it looks quite good, even if it doesn't have any interior detail and could do with a stripy pole!

Post Apocalyse Big Rig

I've been looking for suitable die cast Hot Wheels toys to convert into post- apocalypse vehicles for Gaslands over the last couple of days. I already have some muscle cars that I've converted and painted but would like to have some more Mad Max style cars and trucks, complete with add on armour and spikey bits. Although I have already stockpiled a load of 50's style Hot Wheels for just such a thing, I have been struggling to find a suitable big rig truck and trailer, until now.

A trip to the local toy shop yesterday turned up this beast of a truck, complete with yet another hot rod car for the convoy escort. The conversion potential is obvious and I'm thinking of adding side armour sheets to the trailer for a start, together with some gun platforms or turrets. The cab with also get some add-on armour plating, a ram plate and some sort of forward firing heavy armament. I just need to get all the bits together and it's off to the chop shop for some welding!

A Fistful of Lead [19]

 

 

  

I've been all over the place today but I have assembled the Products for Wargamers sheriff's office and jail, albeit very quickly and with a few short cuts in the painting department. The end result is OK but I'm not so keen on this model compared to some of the others I've put together. It just doesn't look quite right but I can't put my finger on what exactly makes it a bit off kilter?

 

 

As I used a laser cut County Marshall sign, which also needs something more done to it to look 'right', I suppose I could now get a dedicated sheriff office instead, probably with the very nice Battle Flag model as the first choice. I've also added some of the laser cut signs to the Warbases livery stable, which does look a bit better compared to just the bare planking on the basic building.

A Fistful of Lead [18]

I've been stupidly busy with work the last few days so haven't had a chance to sit down at the workbench and get anything done. However, I have received a timely delivery from Products for Wargamers today, which included the laser cut signs that I commissioned, together with a couple of extra buildings for my expanding Wild West cow town.

 

 

 

These are an undertaker, which I'll be using as a gun store, and yet another saloon, as you can never have too many of those and it is a really nice kit. The great thing about the PFW kits is that you can order them in several different roof configurations including flat, pitched or sloped and in different lengths, giving you loads of scope for variations. The signs are also really neat and I'm looking forward to using them, especially the Wells Fargo one which is very cool.

 

 

In the meantime, I have started on a Sarissa Precision small building to add to the two that I already have. These are relatively cheap and quick to assemble, so perfect for filling in the gaps. However, I am thinking of toning down the colour scheme for the next few buildings as my town is starting to look a little bit garish with all the green, blue, red and yellow paint.

 

I have a busy weekend ahead but, hopefully, will get some more construction completed by the end of play on Sunday. The priority is to get the Sheriff's office and jail done but I may have to leave that for the moment as it's quite a complex kit, with a couple of the less tricky buildings being glued together instead. I also really need to find an inexpensive bank to stick my new sign on to!

A Fistful of Fed Up

I was supposed to be running a game of Fistful of Lead Reloaded at the club tonight but this has had to be postponed due to a domestic meltdown. The resident teenager decided to kick off, so I've been calming things down and smoothing things over at home instead. I'm fed up as I was really looking forward to the game, I really like the rules and I've been working hard to assemble some terrain.

I've promised to do a re-run of the game next week, so all is not lost and I will probably have some more terrain to deploy as well, including a rather nice ranch house from Blotz, which arrived in the post today. This will be perfect as a hideout for outlaws or as a bunkhouse for some cowboys, which is one posse that I still haven't got round to painting yet. The kit comes on several sheets of mdf and has lots of detail, so it should be fun to put together.

A Fistful of Lead [17]

 

 

I finally finished the Warbases barn / livery stables this evening, although my first attempt at painting the roof ended up a bit rubbish. I had planked the roof using brown paper strips from the craft section of my local Poundland, stuck down with liberal coats of PVA glue. As I was short of time and trying to mark a set of books and cook the tea simultaneously, I grabbed the first can of paint to hand and sprayed it light grey.

 

This looked terrible, even after a judicious dry brush with various washed out shades, so I re-sprayed the whole thing in the last of my Halfords ultra matt camouflage brown. This was then wet and dry brushed to provide a bit of definition and weathering. The end result is fine although it needs some signage and some more internal clutter to really look the part. It is a really simple kit but well worth a tenner plus a couple of quid for the lean to and the ladder.