Saturday 14 July 2018

Movie Tone News, July 2018



With the hols fading into memory it's time to start cracking the whip & that's what this months news is all about so to speak :) in last months news I finished with a little teaser picture of a new project for N&D Studio's & now it can be reviled :)

Yes the studio's are going west, wild west & I've decided to go with Tombstone from Black Scorpion, why this one ? well there a couple of reasons, 1 it not been used by any of the other studio's, 2 it's a simple enough rule set but has enough depth to be interesting, plus it looks like it will work well enough for solo gaming, 3 I like Black Scorpion as a company & have some of their models already, 4 getting a PDF of the rules for free if you buy the rulebook is something that other companies could do with doing.
This was the teaser from last month, with the big clue been the Tombstone :)
                                       
As someone born in the sixties & having grown up on a diet of westerns both films & TV shows, add to that a Mother who is a big fan of the Duke (John Wayne) the only real surprise is that it has taken me so long to get into westerns.
A long with the rulebook I got some new stars (models) the one above is Billy the Kid, while below are some bad guys to keep young Billy company.
So who will keep the town safe from such vermin I hear you ask ?
Well who better then the Earp's a long with their good friend Doc Holiday, all of the above models are from Black Scorpion.
I've also picked up some guys from Foundry, the two models above & below are from the one set,
I'll go into who they are & my plans for them at a later time, but what I like about these sets is you get a mounted model & a foot model of the character, sadly there is a down side & its this
Northstar also do models this way as you can see in the picture above but I think they do it in a better way,
When you remove the character from the horse with the Northstar ones the saddle is still on the horse, where as with the Foundry one it isn't, I would think when a guy comes galloping into town or where ever been chased & quickly jumps from his horse to hide behind some cover he's not going to stop to unsaddle it, but I guess every cloud has a sliver lining in that the horses with no saddles can be used for pulling wagons.
Now all towns need to have people to live in them & luckily enough I've got some, the ones above &  below are also Black Scorpion.
I've other models that can also fill in as bit part players
Now I know some folk worry about different scale by different companies, I'm not one of them but here's a look at three different models from three companies
Northstar, Black Scorpion & Foundry, there is a slight difference but it's close enough for me, but then I'm not really that fussy as you can see below
The little Mexican I intend to add into Billy's gang, I'll get over his short comings by giving him a suitable name :) he came as a freebie from Foundry for another order awhile back.

Also from Foundry are the two sets above, again I'll go more into who & what they are at another time, but what I like about little sets like these is that when it comes to painting them is they like the Congo models are all different styles, which makes it easier for someone like me who has no love for painting to paint them,
So having some models already painted cuts down on some of the work I'll need to do to start making westerns, but I don't see need been made anytime soon tbh as there will be sets to be built & props to be got ready, but I'll cover all of those things as they get done.

To rap up this months news I've two names for a town I want to build & if you care to you can let me know which one you like best in the comments, it will be either Two Rock or Sliver Rock.

I've noticed that while I had my feet up that some of the other studio's have been bring out new releases & I should be catching up with them over the coming days :)

Well that it for this months news, so its a goodnight from me & a goodnight from him, as always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to leave a comment it would be welcomed :)


14 comments:

  1. Have you been on holiday again? That's at least twice this year, hope you enjoyed it if so.

    You and the Wild West, I would think you are made for each other, should provide a deep well of storylines for your script writers, so I'm looking forward to it.

    You seem set on having Rock as part of the town name what about Big Rock, or Little Rock, which could grow into Big Rock.

    There is a lot of good figures available for the West, have you looked at the larger sized knuckleduster range, they are a bit more expensive but some good figures, also Reaper figures even more expensive but fit nicely with the black scorpion ones.

    It looks like Black Scorpion are adjusting their ranges, the cowgirls appear to be gone but the new cowgirls are just out.

    Lots to be painted, better get cracking ;)

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    1. Thanks John, yes this was my second hols & I enjoy it very much, while I'd like to be blowing more money on bigger epic movies the financial controller of N&D studios likes her hols hence I have to hire cheaper stars :)

      The rock thing is something that is out of my hands as there is a timber strut that I'll have to hide in order to build the set I want to, so you could say I'm stuck between a rock & a hard place lol.

      Yes Black Scorpion are updating their Tombstone range, I've not seen the new cowgirls yet I'll have to take a look.

      On the painting front I don't suppose your makeup department would like to lend a hand would they ?

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    2. It's funny you should ask that, it's a long story but I've just packed my paints and figures to take away with me and they're mainly western, a few more could have jumped in the box and I don't suppose anyone would have noticed;)

      Having just looked at Ivor's post on clear bases, he's just made my mind up about something I've been contemplating for a while and so I may repack the figures and put gangsters in there instead.

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  2. Excellent update Frank! Looking forward to heading out west 🙂 I like Silver Rock myself (I'm going to assume that you meant Silver and not Sliver).
    And if you need anything figure wise please let me know, I'm happy to send some figures over to you as a gift - I'm swimming in old west figures and I have the Knuckeduster kickstarter coming soon as well. Send me an email at ivorevans13@yahoo.com 🙂

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    1. Thanks Ivor, nice spot on the name, I did indeed mean Silver Rock not Sliver lol

      That is a very kind offer & I thank you very much for it :) but for now I'll carry on with get this lot ready mate.

      When do you think we'll be getting a look at the new stars from Knuckleduster ?

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    2. Should be within the next month or so I'd imagine, but then again it's a Kickstarter so I'm not going to hold my breath lol!

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  3. Looks like a great cast of characters, extras and bystanders.

    There is a Little Rock (Arkansas). And Boulder and Tombstone. :)

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    1. Maybe as the town grows it could evolve from Pebble to Stone to Little Rock to Boulder To Big Rock to finally Tombstone.;)

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    2. Thanks Fitz, its a good start but I hope to be adding to it as you can never have to big a cast right ? :)

      I must look up the towns & see if I can find some old photo's of them from the old days to get some ideas.

      John I love the idea of a town grown but as you already did such a great job of doing that I feel it would be wrong of me to use your idea mate :)

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  4. Well, you're certainly back with a bang Frank :-)
    Revealing the new series is to be set in the Old West is great news, and the fact you'll be using "Tombstone" is a bonus feature - I'll be most interested to hear how they turn out solo :-)

    Great looking cast assembled so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing the sets as they develop.
    Best of luck choosing a name - there's so many to choose from it can be difficult, especially if you're going to be keeping it for a long series!

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    1. Thanks Greg, I wanted something a bit different & looking around Tombstone doesn't seem to be getting used so I had a look at the little demo video & decided I run with it.

      I'll cover the progress as I go along on stars & sets but the plans are big for this one & I don't see a movie this side of 2019, yes getting a name for a town is never easy & I'll be using it for a long time so it needs to be right but I can see it all in my minds eye & think either of the names will work :)

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  5. I had a feeling you were going ot west with your new venture and you seem to have a head start.
    I haven't kept up with "Western gunfight" rules over the years (mine are now about 20 years+ old!) and a quick review of the "Tombstone" rules would be appreciated.

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    1. No pressure but I wouldn't mind seeing that as well.

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    2. Thanks Joe,I'll do a little review as I goa long with things.

      John I see from your reply above that your makeup department is to busy (looking for wine I'd guess) to help out :)

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