Category: warhammer historical

Steampunk Old West

I have been painting up some Foundry Old West figures for use with the Legends of the Old West Warhammer Historical rules.

My original plan (and still is) is to play some games using these rules in a traditional old west style environment. The sort of place that you see in old cowboy films. I do need to get some buildings and there are quite a few suppliers out there that do these.

However the recent trailer for Cowboys and Aliens got me thinking about “different” old west backgrounds. Obviously adding aliens into the mix is pretty simple, though I might wait until I have seen the film before venturing down that road (and yes I know I need to paint the figures too….).

I also remembered Wild Wild West, the steampunk action comedy. Now to be honest I loved the idea behind the film, steampunk in a cowboy setting, however the film itself was a bit of a disappointment. Forgetting the film it still is a really fun background. One day I wouldn’t mind seeing the original television series, however it looks like it is only available on DVD in the USA.

Whilst looking for scenery for Flames of War I did come across some really nice looking Victorian SF tanks from Ironclad Miniatures.

Okay so we can’t really use the name “tank” as that was merely a cover name used by the British in World War One to describe their new armoured fighting vehicles. However we now know what a tank is, and these look like tanks, just in the old west they wouldn’t have called them tanks. I am going to call them tanks even if the inhabitants of the old west wouldn’t have!
Two of the range strike me as ideal models for a Steampunk Old West setting.

The first model is the Medium Tank is tracked steam tank with a single large turret.

The second is the Armoured Steam Carriage, it can be built with either a Nordenfelt or Gatling machine gun.

Both of these look very steampunk and painted in desert colours would fit nicely into an old west setting.

There are other models in the range that would probably also work just as well, but these two are the ones I like.

So what about rules?

Well The Old West rules are from Warhammer Historical and are based around Warhammer, to me it would probably work to use the tank rules from Warhammer Historical’s World War One rules, The Great War.

The weapons though in The Old West wouldn’t hurt these tanks (well except the nitro) so if these tanks were to be used then we would need some extra weapons added. Again the rules from The Great War allow for the use of artillery and gatling guns.

The Old West is circa 1882 and the Gatling Gun was patented in 1862. Of course in a steampunk setting you can allow for the rapid advance of weapons as well as the introduction of tanks. For example the French 75mm field gun was in our world adopted in 1898, well we could bring that forward, couldn’t we? Anyhow a variety of artillery was used in the American Civil War and that could be used for a steampunk old west game for fighting against steam tanks.

So before going down this road, I think I need to paint up some more of my Old West miniatures, however I do have a couple of the Dixon’s cowboys that are painted up that I could use.

Lots to think about…

Panzerkrieg Normandy – Warhammer World War Two

There has been some interesting commentary in Wargames Illustrated recently on a new release forthcoming from Warhammer Historical of a set of World War Two rules, Panzerkrieg Normandy.

At Old Glory 2010, the report says…

The table with the most buzz this year was Operation Goodwood 1944 – a demo game being run by the local Derby Wargames Society. The table was impressive in itself, but the fact that it was being used to playtest the forthcoming Warhammer Historical 20mm WWII ruless (Panzerkrieg Normandy – working title) made it really interesting. Author Warwick Kinrade was on hand with a first draft of the rules, and of course, the main question leveled at him from show-goers was – “when will it be available?” a vague “not before Christmas” was given in reply.

Another quote attributed to Wargames Illustrated, but I couldn’t find it myself says:

The Historical Wargamers Group, in association with Wargames Illustrated, held another successful event at Warhammer World on 24 – 25 October, WAB players from around Europe did battle across several campaign settings and attendees were treated to a bonus surprise appearance when Warwick Kinrade of Forgeworld demonstrated the forthcoming Games Workshop World War II game.
Warwick ran through a game in which a British Battlegroup stormed a German held position in Normandy circa 1944 – the British sector in Normandy being the focus for the rulebook. The game is designed for 20mm figures although it will work equally well with 15mm (adjustments will be necessary for 28mm). Interestingly the game seemed to owe little to the well-known Warhammer game system.

The game is still work in progress with a release date of “next year – hopefullyearly on” planned. The core rulebook will be supported by further supplements, which will include more army lists and (further down the line) more threatres of the war).

To be honest this doesn’t surprise me as in recent years we have seen a huge growth in 28mm World War Two figure ranges. However the fact that they are aiming the rules at 20mm (well probably 15mm) to me shows how successful Flames of War have been and that they want to get into that particular market! Well possibly.