Steampunk Old West: Steam Tanks

Steam Tank

This is a series of blog articles, updating and based on my original article on Steampunk Old West. I will be posting a few blog articles over the next week or so on my experiences and thoughts on taking the old west and adding a dash of victorian science fiction. I have painted and have been painting up some Foundry Old West figures for use with the Legends of the Old West Warhammer Historical rules. I liked the concept of a traditional Old West game, however the film Cowboys and Aliens got me thinking about “different” old west backgrounds. I did first start thinking about adding Victorian Science Fiction or Steampunk elements to the games. Taking aspects such as steam tanks, electric rifles, and aether flyers and adding them to the old west.

In this post I will be discussing steam tanks, these are powerful armoured vehicles driven by steam engines. In our world, tanks came about because of the need to break trench warfare, and these tanks were driven by petrol engines. In a steampunk world, or in the world of victorian science fiction, the tank arrives much earlier, however no petrol engines here, they are driven by steam.

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 I think work best.

I bought the Medium tank. This is a really nice model, that goes together very easily. I was pleased with the paintjob and how it turned out. I do feel I have managed to capture very much an Old West Steam Tank, one that would look right at home trundling down Main Street or for supporting an attack on a gold mine.

Medium Tank

You can see the workbench feature on this model here.

So what about rules for the steam tanks.

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. Sadly these rules are no longer available with the demise of Warhammer Historical. An alternative could be The Rules with no Name.

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.

As this is steampunk, you could add some anti-tank weapon systems, like the bazooka, these could be steampunk rockets. Powerful explosive devices, powered by steam. Another steampunk weapons could be electric rifles

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.

Adding steam tanks to an Old West game, certainly makes for a different game, and even if you don’t want to use tanks, you could use one as an objective.

Steampunk Old West

Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank

This will be a series of updated blog articles, based on my original article on Steampunk Old West.

I have painted and have been painting up some Foundry Old West figures for use with the Legends of the Old West Warhammer Historical rules. These are classic 25mm figures, most of which are still available to get. My original plan was 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 have now had a few games using my figures. I also managed to get some buildings and you can see them here.

Old West Buildings

These were fun games, quick and I liked the campaign style, which means you don’t just play with a one game mentality, you think much more of the long term impact. This means that you don’t go in with all guns blazing, you take your time, make sure every shot counts and don’t get shot!

I liked the concept of a traditional Old West game, however the film Cowboys and Aliens got me thinking about “different” old west backgrounds. I did first start thinking about adding Victorian Science Fiction or Steampunk elements to the games. Taking aspects such as steam tanks, electric rifles, and aether flyers and adding them to the old west.

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.

I will be posting a few blog articles over the next week or so on my experiences and thoughts on taking the old west and adding a dash of victorian science fiction.

Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank

Here is my Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank from Ironclad  Miniatures from a recent game.

Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank

Alongside them are some Foundry Darkest Africa miniatures from Simon’s collection.

We didn’t use the steam tank as a model in the game, merely as scenery.

Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank

I am thinking about how I can create rules for the steam tank for the Legends of the Old West rules. I have been looking at the tank rules in The Great War rules and I think that they could work with a little work. My main concern is that the weapons usually found in the old west probably weren’t able to do much damage to a VSF steam tank and therefore as well as rules for the steam tank, I also need to think about some steampunk weapons for those fighting against the steam tank.

Though I am sure an Elephant Gun might be able to do some damage…

See how the Steam Tank was painted. More photographs of the Steam Tank. See the Old West Miniatures Gallery.

Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank

Here are some more photographs of my Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank from Ironclad  Miniatures, with helping support from two Old West figures.

Old West Steam Tank

Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank

Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank

See how the Steam Tank was painted. More photographs of the Steam Tank. See the Old West Miniatures Gallery.

Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank and Cowboys

Here is my Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank from Ironclad  Miniatures helping support two Dixon Miniatures cowboys.

Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank and Cowboys

See how the Steam Tank was painted.

More photographs of the Steam Tank.

See the Old West Miniatures Gallery.

Drybrushing the Steam Tank

After “washing” the Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank from Ironclad Miniatures I gave it a relatively light drybrush.

I used a combination of Vallejo Middlestone and a mix of Middlestone (882) and Ivory (918), and a large brush.

Now a side view.

Here is the Steam Tank alongside a Foundry Gunfighter.

See the full workbench feature on the Ironclad Miniatures Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank.

Washing the Steam Tank

The main part of the Ironclad Miniatures Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank model was then given a wash of Citadel Shade: Agrax Earthshade.

There are some quite large flat blank areas on the model, as a result the wash hasn’t worked as well as I would have liked. However these areas will be slightly covered with the tracks and the turret.

See the full workbench feature on the Ironclad Miniatures Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank.

Drybrushing the Tracks

Having given my Steam Tank model a basecoat, I drybrushed the tracks with Boltgun Metal.

Once I have finished painting the model I will add some weathering to the tracks. Simon did point out that he felt the tracks on the tank were a little “flat” and I have to agree with him. You really need proper linked tracks with this kind of model, and especially one at this scale. The tracks on the Tunneller are much better for example. Maybe a potential conversion project for later (or on another model of the Steam Tank).

Basecoat for the Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank

Having finished off the tracks on the Ironclad Miniatures Victorian Science Fiction Steam Tank with Citadel Chaos Black, I gave the hull and turret a basecoat of Vallejo Middlestone.

As this is going to be a steam tank used in an Old West setting I decided to go with a desert theme, rather than the standard grey you often see with Victorian Science Fiction steam vehicles. Dry assembling the model it is starting to look the part.

Still, as you compare it with a 25mm Old West figure from Foundry it is quite big.

I want to ensure that there is a gap between the tracks and the hull, this I did think initially I would use some plasticard, but I couldn’t find anything suitable so I think I am going to have to use four five pence pieces