Red Vectors Fences

To add to the scenery selection for Dracula's America I picked up the Fences pack by Red Vectors from Minibits - part of their Wild West range.

The pack included two small sheets of MDF, with punching out being very easy as the connections were minimal and well thought out.  The set includes a selection of fences (as you'd hope) - three long sections, four small and a gate:

But that's not all - the pack also includes some additional elements that are even more Wild West-y - a Tall Gate, a trough and a hitching post(does it have another name? I don't know):

The Tall Gate and the Trough were the only elements featuring more than two pieces to glue - but both very simple to do.

As you can see, I've used my standard texture dip on the bases across the set - these I'll paint to match the Dracula's America collection in due course.

Overall I'm really happy with the pack - and intend to pick up a couple more pieces from the range for our little town of Bethany, Nevada.  

Cacti and Wares

I've been on a bit of a brain-hype thing about Dracula's America again recently (got a homebrew posse in the works that I'll share when a first draft is ready!) - so had a look around for some suitable scenery bits, namely cacti!

I came across a seller on eBay - chcha_5648 who was offering a range of 3d printed items, including a selection of cacti.  I opted for a mixed pack of 8 different plants to use as scatter in games of Dracula's America.

Of course the main draw was a couple of iconic tree-like cacti - these are a little taller than the others so will give some nice height to the scatter pieces:

The pack also included a couple of columnar cacti, one being a small cluster for added variety:

Finally on the cacti front, there was a globular style cactus and an Opuntia (Prickly Pear) style one:

But the pack also included a couple of leaf succulent style plants too which really adds to the variety:

These all just need some very minor cleaning up (you can see it mostly on the succulents) but I'm very happy with them.  The print quality is good and the integral bases make it easier to get to the table.  These were just what I was looking for!

At the same time I picked up a pack of Bazaar Props - I figured these would work for games set anywhere around the Mediterranean, the Middle East or North Africa.

First up a selection of woven baskets and a tall-necked vessel:

I'm not so happy about this - the vessel's neck is broken (an easy fix) but the tall woven basket (in the front of this pic) looks half-finished and the base is very 'spooly' for want of a better word.  I'm not sure I will bother trying to salvage this particular piece.

Thankfully the others in the set are a little better - the highlight of this piece is the rolled fabric in the pot:

This piece has a rectangular basket to give increased variety:

Finally this piece has a stack of rolled fabric in addition to the usual baskets and vessels:

The grain of all these pieces is much coarser than the cacti pack - which is ok on the woven baskets, but will look rather rough on the other items.  The basing sections are all pretty bad so I'll have to try to do something with those on any I plan to try to make work.  A bit frustrating and overall I can't really recommend the Bazaar Props pack.

A mixed bag overall - but those cacti (and their leaf succulent buddies) are perfect so I'll chalk it up as a minor victory 😅

If you notice this notice...

 

You may remember the WizKids Bounty Board I was less than impressed with - well, I figured it would be easy enough to paint up so it hit the paint table - I'm pretty happy with the result:

I wanted this to be as versatile piece - so I kept the smaller posters/notices as 'writing', but the large central one needed a bit more... I went with a generic 'WANTED' and some offer of cash - be it dollars, gold crowns or pennies!  I added a couple of tufts (Serious Play) that I used across my 15mm Dragon Rampant collection - I figured these would add a little bit of interest and texture to the bases without tying the piece too strongly into one setting or another.

Overall I'm pleased with the painted piece - and the sculpt was better quality than the fountain (mould lines aside) - but I don't think I'm likely to purchase a WizKids piece again... but never say never I suppose!

WizKids Deep Cuts - Bounty Board

I spotted the WizKids Deep Cuts range and whilst the miniatures don't really have anything that's my style, they also do some scenic/terrain pieces.  I took the plunge and ordered a couple from sellers on eBay - the first has arrived!

It's the Bounty Board:

As you can see - it's allegedly primed and 'paint ready' out of the box... so let's get it out of that box (well, blister pack but whatever WizKids):

On first impressions, I'm pretty happy with it - it's going to be useful for all sorts of games I think - Mordheim, Dracula's America, Frostgrave, Burrows & Badgers and more spring to mind straight away. So let's check that 'paint ready' status shall we... OK, it's assembled, seems primed in some light grey paint (not my first choice cause let's be honest - black is my go to - but it'll do)... wait, what's that I spy?

Rather nasty mouldlines down the two posts... now, the product is very fairly priced, it's a nice design, it has clearly been assembled and primed in the factory which is an obvious time-saver.  But can anyone tell me what is the point in it even being primed if I'm going to have to scrape down these mouldlines?!

Not very impressed at this point... I have another item from the range on its way to me so will see if it's a recurring issue or not.  Based on this, I cannot recommend this range - but watch this space to see if the range can be redeemed (if it can, I'll update this post in the interests of fairness!).

TTCombat - General Store and Bank

I've now finished the remaining town buildings from TTCombat for Bethany, Nevada, which I intend to be the setting for our games of Dracula's America.

First up, the General Store - a pretty useful addition to ease the lives of the good folk of Bethany I think!

Like the other Wild West TTCombat buildings I've shared here before this is an older kit so instructions weren't available - but that's no problem as it's straight forward to assemble. Again the MDF sheets included some interior detailing which I left out (I want to keep these simple with people either being inside taking cover and shooting out or outside shooting at people inside - didn't want to worry about shelves and counters and the like!).

Finally for now is the Bank - sure to become a site of interest to the more criminally minded gangs!

This one is slightly different to the other three - it has an interior wall separating where the tellers (and all the money!) would be.  Again, it included some other detailing (a safe in this case).

Now that the whole Town Buildings and Gallows set is assembled I can confirm that this covers the essentials of a Wild West scenery set in a single, great value, pack.  I'm really happy with the purchase and plan to pick up a couple more kits from the range as funds allow - a double-floored building or two and the Blacksmith certainly leap out, as does the pack of smaller shacks.

TTCombat - Saloon and Sheriff Office

I've been keeping on with the scenery for Dracula's America - recently completing a couple of buildings I would go as far as to say are absolutely vital for any self-respecting stereotypical Wild West town - the Saloon and the Sheriff Office!

All of the four town buildings I got in the bundle share a similar basic box-like design - but with different detailing and signage to keep things interesting.  First up the Saloon:

One thing I particularly like about this building range is the boardwalk with rails that each features.  Of course, a highlight of the Saloon are the famous type of door! The MDF sheets included some detail elements (table, bottles, counter etc) - which I chose not to do (you are probably noting a pattern here with my scenery...).

Next up the Sheriff Office:

This also features some interior detailing on the sheets that I opted not to build.  This kit is a little different from its cousins however in that it features a small jail cell extension at the back - here's a bird's eye view so you can see what I mean:

Both these kits are great value for money - if you are after some classic Wild West scenery you can't go wrong with these.

TTCombat - Hangman's Gallows

As part of a special offer bundle of Wild West shops from TTCombat there is a set of Gallows.  These could come in handy for special scenarios of Dracula's America - I don't see them as a staple item for my boom town plans, but a useful special piece to have nevertheless (and seeing as it was basically free in the pack, even better!).  If you are interested in them as a separate piece check out the Hangman's Gallows at TTCombat - they are a good value piece even on their own.

Like the rest of the pieces I have from the Wild West TTCombat range, this is an older design so didn't have instructions available, but it didn't take long to fit it all together.  I like that it even includes a little lever!

TTCombat - Small House D

I've been struggling with painting a little recently - work has gone a little hectic these past couple of weeks and it has been mentally tiring.  So I changed tack a little and assembled the TTCombat Small House D (another catchy name eh?)

Like it's B cousin that I posted previously, this is one of TTCombat's older kits so doesn't have any instructions - but it was easy enough to assemble, despite the common TTCombat MDF kit issue of being a little too tight in some places.  Still, nothing that determination couldn't overcome!

I like the raised detailing on this design (and the front steps) which makes it look very different to Small House B.  It'll primarily find use in games of Dracula's America I think as part of Bethany, Nevada, but maybe it'll crop up in games of Rebels and Patriots too when I want more than one building on the table.

Again I chose not to add the decorative window frames as I like the basic look.  This particular kit includes some interior detailing too for those who (unlike me) don't glue the roof on - table, chairs, bed and a wardrobe.  It's a good value kit already but that's a nice bonus for those that want some interior bits and bobs.

TTCombat - Small House B

These past few days have been quite hard - first it would have been my Dad's birthday, then the 6 month anniversary of his death the day after.  I still tried to do some hobby - and although I wasn't in the mood to face painting, I thought that assembling TT Combat's Small House B (catchy huh?) would be a suitable activity - whilst primarily for Dracula's America it will definitely see use in games of Rebels and Patriots.

The kit is part of TTCombat's Wild West range - it's one of their older kits so instructions are not available but it's a straight-forward build. I opted not to add the decorative elements (fancy window frames) as I wanted a fairly basic look for this house:

It occupies a nice bit of tabletop, creating a good obstacle/line of sight blocker.  Like a lot of TTCombat MDF stuff it has a less refined feeling than competitors, but it is great value and ideal for my intended uses. It did come with some optional furniture detailing for inside - a bed, table and some chairs.  I didn't use these as I've glued the roof on this model, but for those who like to detail their buildings it's a nice little bonus included on the MDF sheets.

Bethany, Nevada - start of a boom town

I'd had my eye on some of TTCombat's Wild West scenic line for a while to use for games of Dracula's America.  Well, I was able to place an order recently so took the opportunity to pick up enough to form the basis of the boom town of Bethany, Nevada where I intend to set our games.

The starting point is the Town Buildings and Gallows set:-

This great value collection includes a Saloon, Sheriff's Office, Bank and General Store - as well as the Gallows.  It's basically all the essentials for any self-respecting Wild West town!

I wanted a few more buildings to add to the core - for this order I decided to go for a couple of houses.  Small House B and D:

Small House B is likely to find use in games of Rebels and Patriots too.

I know I want a few more bits and pieces - a couple of the two-floored buildings to add some variety, and no doubt another house or two, as well as some Sarissa-Precision stuff too - but I'm really happy with this little lot as a start to Bethany!

Roll out the Barrel!

A while ago I picked up the TTCombat Wooden Barrels pack of resin scatter terrain.  I figured these would be useful for Carnevale but also lots of others like Dragon Rampant, Frostgrave, Mordheim, Dracula's America and Burrows & Badgers (and no doubt many many others!).

The pack from TTCombat includes 12 barrels - but I had 15... I think the extras came from the Halfling Kickstarter resin scatter pack, but were dropped from the retail release.  Either way it's a useful mix of barrel sizes.

First, the big 'uns - 29mm tall:

The middle ones - measuring in at 20mm:

The multi-banded middle ones (these are the ones I suspect came from the Halfling KS) - 21mm, but a bit less wide across:

The small ones are 19mm tall:

And the tiddliest ones - one at about 14mm and two at 12mm:

A very versatile pack that will find use in many games as cover, dressing or even as an objective.

Halfling Produce

Ages ago I mentioned I'd ordered some resin scatter as part of the TTCombat Halfling Kickstarter.  Well, I finally got round to working on them!

Now, the retail release - Halfling Produce - has a bit more stuff, and a little more variety, so this is based on what was part of the Kickstarter.

First, and arguably the main piece, is the cart:

This is nicely details with a couple of barrells and some sacks of produce.  It's a single piece casting so quick and easy to prep.

Next, and possibly my favourites, a couple of barrells of cabbages!

Keeping with the produce, some crates - one with cabbages, one with apples and one closed:

The pack also included a trough, complete with feed:

There were also three hay bales - whilst painting them I decided that I'll stick them together to make a little pile so they are less fiddly on the tabletop.

Finally, there was this cute beehive:

Whilst I got these to use for my Halfling Dragon Rampant project, most (if not all) will find use in other games too - I'm thinking Burrows & Badgers, Dracula's America and even Carnevale.

A really fun pack of scatter/detailing pieces - and even better value in its current guise from TTCombat's retail pack!

Dracula's America - Good Boy and a Hungry Spirit

I backed a Kickstarter by Bears Head Miniatures a while ago and it arrived recently - I picked up a random selection of things, two of which found a home in Dracula's America!

First up the Bulldog - which will be a perfect Guard Dog:

It's a lovely sculpt packed full of character - really glad I picked one up!

I also took the opportunity to grab a Wendigo:

I quite like the crazed savage nature of this sculpt - really suggests a spirit tortured by its endless hunger.