Dollar Tree Conestoga Wagons and a Bag O' Dogs

When you wargame in 54mm you have to know when to mass purchase.  You never know what era will present itself in the toy stores and dollar ships.

Buck a Bag.

Conestoga Wagon, with driver!  Fire pit and tripod of beans in a pot. Some 60mm possibly useful cowboys and Indians.

Bag O' Cats.  Well actually small pets in 54mm and 90mm.

More on this one later.

The bags have mixes of figures.  The wagon, fire pit and tripod are consistent and of useful quality in setting up a scene of a wagon train.

What made me buy the lot was the fact that the wagons had drivers.  I have found wagons in bags of cowboys before but this was the first instance of a useable driver figure on the bench.  Now the action can be wagon train "under way" or we can circle the wagons and defend a lager.

Cowboy.

Mixed figures in each bag.

Two bags opened for display.

These cats are essentially useless.  However I also game in 90mm medieval and these could be used as scenic devices but that is a stretch.  Anyone know of a good cat based RPG?

The dogs are what made me purchase three of these bags.

I am not a breed specialist but this is a good bird dog?

This brute will be added to my untouchables police set.

As well as these two tracking dogs.  I now have a K9 unit for my police.  These ought to paint up wonderfully and I don't know of any 54mm dogs I have ever seen before.  Anyone?

Time to track some criminals.

Great dogs for a dollar.

You never know what will pop up in a dollar tree.

Thanks for looking in.  Leave a comment for encouragement.

We Don't Rent Pigs

Jake Spoon: A man that will talk to a pig ain't no better than a farmer.
Gus McCrae: I expected you to own a bank or at least a whorehouse by now Jake. It seems life has been a disappointment to both of us.
Jake Spoon: That might be so, but by God, I ain't never said a word to a pig.

Gus McCrae: Well we don't rent pigs and I figure it's better to say it right out front because a man that does like to rent pigs is... he's hard to stop

GANGBUSTERS in the Lion's Den

The long black touring car entered the farm lot from state highway F with a long smooth left hand turn.  The bump onto the gravel and dirt punctuated the long trip from Chicago and the dust began to play in the swell of the cars wash as it trundled down the quiet country lane.  The rest of the organization was waiting at the first farm house on the left ahead.  Splitting the money from the heist was to be an easy but punctilious affair.

Waiting on the side road was the State Police.  Illinois' finest were out in ambush.  Now the "cat had hit the fan."

An aggressive chase leads the gang into nervous rancorous shouting inside the black gangster car.  "What do I do?!"  "Cut through the damn yard!"

And with a shudder and the loud cracking of white farm fence the giant black car crashes to a halt half way through the fence and partially into the yard of the gang's "safe house."  The squeal of police rubber on gravel shrieks behind as the state boys slam physically into the gangsters car!

Federal agents arrive on the scene as well. They too take the impetuous crash route to the scene.

Shots echo out as the cops unload a shotgun into the cab of the Chi town cruiser.  Return fire from a Thompson Sub machine gun rattles the front end of the police cruiser and blow out it's front windshield. Blood, glass, and anger fly about in a melee of gunfire.

The Feds take the house under cover and fire their revolvers at the structure.  The gang in the house fire back with a Thompson and shotgun - ratifying the gangs heavy firepower advantage.

What the gang lacks is an easy way out and numbers.  The cops just keep arriving.  This had to be a tip off of some sort.

The melee continues as the gang tries to consolidate and get the hell off the table!

And another squad of state police cover the back entrance.

Mistakes would be made and a lot of lives needlessly lost as inexperience of the state police and impetuous nature of the gang had each side run pell mell into a hail of gunfire in the open farm yard.

After the guns have quit firing we see a front yard littered with both sides casualties.  The gang was subdued but alive.  The cops were bloodied but they too would recover.  You just aren't supposed to run into the open when a Thompson sub machine gun is playing across the yard.

The very bottom of this scene shows an unaccounted for gang member push a brief case under the farm fence and then crawl under after it himself.  The valise is smeared with his blood and he rolls over into the high grass and stairs at the sky.  Will he survive and make it to the road and freedom....Tune in next time for Gangbusters!!

The game was played on a 6x8 table using 54mm MARX Untouchables and knock-off police figures.  The  rules system was Bleeding Kansas by Ken Van Pelt.  A skirmish set of game rules using 1D10.  Move, shoot, saving throw, and after action wound results that play into long campaign style gaming.  Light rpg qualities also abound.