Alkali Wells and Mescalarilla 3/17

Alkali Wells is the town in the desert southwest and on the edges of Apacheria.  This is where the Apache can be found as well as Spanish heritage in such places as the hacienda of El Pollo Grande, a grandee from the days when Mexico was independent and who claims pure Spanish descent - even though some may question that claim.

March 15, 2024

The painted civilians so far (again, not by me - yet).  In the back are two units of peons with farm implements.  To their front is the El Mexicans - firearms, they work for the honcho to their front: El Pollo Grande (The Big Chicken).  Note that each group of 12 figures gets 2 dead.

El Pollo Grande and his dead figure.

His dismounted version - note the chickens!

And another Mexican horse holder.

A little closer of the El Mexicans.

And the peons.

I did a wash on the rear group to make them different than the group in front of them, so I did do some work on those I guess.

March 21, 2022

Just a few shots of some figures - finally primed yesterday - for Alkali Wells and environs.  Twenty-one 'units' of civilians, many unarmed, some well armed. Figures range from those for a saloon - card players, dance hall girls, a piano player and banjo player along with a drunk slumped on the floor next to the piano - to folks from the hinterlands like sheep herders and the 'inmates' of a reservation, etc.  While all the figures are labelled on their bases for Alkali Wells and 'who' they are as a group (four bases to a group), some of them may find their way to being regulars in Mescalarilla.

For the benefit of others, I made the photos Extra Large - and maybe they'll get larger when the image is clicked on.  The main goal is just to show progress is being made.

This just shows all the figures after they got primed and had dried out a bit after an errand.

The lower tray has several armed groups on the right and a mix of more on the left - what I call an armed militia, some militant veterans of various wars, and others to include some decent shot women.

Above shows the same figures in two trays, the bottom one is mostly - but not exclusively  - unarmed and those of various ethnicities beyond the white folk, hispanic and asian represented in there and the natives from the reservation, the 'hang around the fort' sorts.  Above them in the same tray are the saloon focused figures mentioned above.

You would think that with 21 groups of 12 there would be 252 figures.  But a close look at the saloon grouping will show that there are 8 card players and 6 dance hall girls - four stands to the right top of the lower tray.  A lot harder to see are the babies in their cradle boards on some of the women's backs.  There are a number of boys and girls in the mix, too, not just all adults.  And the observant will have noticed there are two dead figures for every one of the 21 groups.  So, that makes at least 296 figures primed and ready for paint.  I haven't counted up the babies but a few or so.

The real kicker?  There are that many more figures for Lodgepole Creek and double that again for Anachronism - including the casualty ratio.  A bit nuts?  Sure, but who is really counting and, besides, I am having loads of fun so it works for me!  Also a few more characterful figures for some quasi-cinematic effect.  

Watch out for the spines on the cacti.

April 23, 2022

The photos below are of a first layout for the town of Mescalarilla and the Hacienda of El Pollo Grande, the grandee.

All of the buildings for this town are sourced from Peter Pig's Mexican Revolution range - except the two Anglo style wooden buildings which are from the Western scenery range.  This shows the whole of the town above.

This is the main square, the church is the only building I bought one of the rest are either two or four.  There are three of the big houses, one with the posh front, to form the main square.

A view down the main road from the main square end of town.  Will be experimenting over time on how the layout will end up.

From the other end of the street.

The two false fronts represent the Anglo influence penetrating into the town.  I will likely build some sort of wall around the town, or at least parts of it.

This is the hacienda with the big house and posh front for the main buildings - imagine a Zoro like figure and his fine looking lady strolling the upper porch.  Have yet to find a proper Zoro figure but I'd love to.

The smaller building is a supply house from Peter Pig that I think is actually in there WWII range.  Guess where the dynamite will be stored?  The closer building is the bakery.  Plenty of cattle and sheep already painted, horses primed to add to the ranch, fences still needed to be prepped for painting.

And just a closer shot of the big house.  

Received the last of these buildings earlier this week.  This town will be a fun place for those inevitable shoot outs.  And plenty of civilian Mexicans as well as armed Mexicans to populate the town - and the hacienda.  

"Arriba, arriba, andalay, andalay!" or so says one Speedy Gonzalez.  I think Mescalarilla might be home to his cousin Slowpoke Gonzalez, who just might be a sneakily fast shootist! 😁