I have been spending a lot of my spare time playing Red Dead Redemption on the Xbox, and it is having a peculiar effect on me. For the uninitiated, Red Dead Redemption is a cowboy game. It is without doubt one of the best drawn games I have ever seen, with every screen shot feeling like it was taken right out of a Spaghetti Western. Needless to say, this has inspired me to push forward with my cowboy project, and so today I have spent almost the entire day making more scenery for my Western table. Leon and I have had one game of Legends of the Old West, by Warhammer Historical, and really enjoyed it, but I realised we needed lots more scenery. As well shops, a saloon, sheriffs office etc to represent the frontier town of Deadhorse, we need some hills, scrub and rocks to represent the desert too. Some of the buildings, like the shops, will be 'classic' western-style, but a few, like the barns, stables and fences, will be generic enough for me to press them into service for the Very British Civil War too, so I will be killing two birds with one stone.

There are a number of good manufactures who make western scenery, but it is sadly rather expensive, and due to the budgetary constraints I find myself saddled with I began ferreting in the garage and found enough balsa and card to make a start myself. Here's a couple of WIP pictures of what I have been up to today.

The first is a bank. The front was made by Snapdragon studios. Sadly they no longer offer this range, but Total System Scenic (TSS) offer a very similar product (Link). The back is scratch built. The flat roof is useful to add different dimensions to the game. The stable block and the shack are both by Warbases. I picked them up at Salute this year. They are very reasonably prices and well made. I just need to finish them off by adding a tiled roof. The picket fence is something Leon picked up. It was 1/32 scale, but works really well for the cowboys as a slightly larger fence. I based it on a strip of plasticard, and sanded it. I think they look great.

The second picture is of some cacti I have assembled from a Pegasus kit Leon gave me. He bought them with a project in mind, but decided he was probably never going to finish it, so generously gave them to me. I based them on 1p and 2p coins. I just need to sand them and paint them.

Well on the way to having the table ready now. I think I deserve a well earned rest. Time to boot up the Xbox and get back to Red Dead Redemption.