We have only played Dead Man's Hand once but it was such a hoot and the reaction so positive we knew we'd play more often and of course what do you need to play an Old Wild West game but an Old Wild West Town!
Before I go into the details of construction here is the town all laid out!
The street width is pretty wide but can be adjusted and does allow easy game play...
I was in two minds when it came to this build, do I make just facades and have a Hollywood town or make complete buildings, well I went with the latter!
I figured we'd need; a Saloon, A Bank, a Post Office A US Marshalls Office, a Blacksmith with adjacent 'Corral', two other miscellaneous Buildings and a railway Platform. Big ask from scratch. I had a Battlefield laser cut Shearing shed which could easily be a blacksmiths or a building under construction and Al (our master craftsman) said he had a Wild West Saloon already built great news!
My on hand parts included; 2mm 1mm & 0.5mm sheet styrene, pop sticks (ice-cream sticks or coffee stirrers to others), wood skewers, some roughly cut squares of thin wood, a piece of Masonite and some balsawood.
Here's my initial work, a floor of pop sticks dictated the building size...four slab sides and the usual Wild west high front for signage...
A door and windows only on the front wall only and it would be topped with a flat roof. I scored the sides at 5mm intervals to give a planking effect...
Okay so I had cut parts for; two buildings 10.5cm x 12cm x 6cm, two buildings 12cm x 12cm x 5cm, one building 16cm x 12cm x 6cm (only one with a peaked roof) and a railway platform 22cm x 6.5cm x 1.5cm and the building frenzy commenced. At this point Al brought over his magnificent Saloon/Hotel with a store along side it. Crickey it was good and surprisingly was a façade only, the very construction type I was going to do initially DOH. Doesn't matter it will all be fine on the gaming table!
Here's the basics of one of the buildings cut from 1mm sheet styrene...
In this picture the scored wood planking can easily be seen, the only issue with this technique is it causes the sheet to curve hence the bulldog clips required to keep things looking square!
The production line in full swing with Al's beaut Saloon in the background...
...and of course the railway platform...track is also from Al's great terrain stash!
All the details such as windows, door frames, signboard edging were cut from 0.5mm sheet styrene. For the signs I downloaded a free Wild West Font called Western Bang. The bases are cut from Masonite and 'flocked' with sand...
A close up of Al's Saloon and Mining store, unlike my rough buildings this was painstakingly made from balsawood with delicate detailing!
Hope this inspires others to crank out their own buildings!
Stay tuned for a game (and town name) soon!
Very nice work.
ReplyDelete"Marshal, I heard tell the Gatlin Boys are a fixin' to ride into town at high noon tomorrer..."
Thanks Gonsalvo!
DeleteGatlin Boys eh, luckily for the residents the Burp Brothers are on Hand!
Hi. Where did you get your cowboy's from?
ReplyDeleteHi, sorry I bought the rules with figures on the second hand market as a job lot not sure what brand(s?) they are thanks for posting!
DeleteNicely done. Most of my buildings are scratchbuilt, but I used milled basswood that looks like shiplap siding. Lots if basswood in my builds. Yours look great!
ReplyDeleteHi! Thanks! Your buildings sound more realistic excellent, a bit like my mates Saloon which is mainly balsa wood, mine are designed to look as good as possible yet be simple to make 😀 Cheers!
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