The Gals from Harmony Gulch

Way back when (Andy kindly reminds me it was 18 April), Andy posted the start of his frontier posse and mentioned that one of the forces crossing their path on the one-horse town’s only street would be a band of hard-bitten frontierswomen, painted by little ol' me…

Since that time, Andy had painted something like 1603 minis, and I…. have painted... less than that. But like so many important things, this isn’t a race!

I’ve been getting through them slowly but surely so I figured now was as good a time as any for the ladies from Harmony Gulch to make their internet debut.

Like many other gaming genres, female minis are definitely outnumbered in the wild wild West by their male counterparts, so rather than stick with one company’s offerings I’ve picked up minis from the good folks of a few different vendors (reputable or otherwise) to fill out this little group. I've been using a relatively limited colour palette to help tie them all together even when the design aesthetics (or even scale) of the figures wouldn’t lend them to being in the same force.

So starting with the ones I’ve actually finished, and the observant among you will notice that I’ve not finished the bases – I’m planning to do these in a batch with the terrain pieces I have planned, in order to ensure the ground all comes out the same colour.

First up, Dusty from Bombshell Miniatures, sculpted by the wonderful (and all round nice guy) Patrick Keith.

Dusty

I think I picked up a veritable 10-Gallon hat full of minis from Bombshell at Adepticon, so expect to see more from him, here! (eventually)

Dusty was a joy to paint, sculpting and casting absolutely top notch. I ended up sticking quite close to the concept art colours as the scheme works so nicely.

I see Dusty as a crack shot and she was a close contender to be the leader of this posse. I didn’t get her face quite right, she has a slightly bemused expression – maybe she can see some misogyny over yonder!

Dusty herself is quite new to the collection as I only got her at Adepticon back in April this year, but joining her on her debut are these four ladies from the Black Scorpion Miniatures Tombstone range.

Adam at Black Scorpion is another sculptor whose career I’ve enjoyed watching over the last few years, I must have had these girls in the collection for about a decade. They are from packs Tombstone 5 and Tombstone 6 but now they have paint they can have their own names, so I can introduce Maria, Hattie, Lottie and Bill (Wilomena).

Maria

First up, Maria. I painted her first, mainly because I like her swanky hat. I'm pretty pleased with the overall result and the left-most picture has a vintage filter which is nicely in keeping with the genre.  I see her as hailing from South o'the border originally, but she's found her way to Harmony Gulch and settled in with the rest of the posse.

I'd originally planned to paint Hattie and Lottie as sisters, using the same palette for both minis.  Obviously, I changed my mind at some point...

Hattie

Lottie

I'm happiest with Hattie, there's just something about the finished mini that 'clicks' for me.  Lottie looks both puzzled and cross-eyed in this pic.  In person she looks a little miserable but not cross-eyed, so I'm going to call it a trick of the light.

'Bill' (Wilomena)

I see Bill as a real wild lady, I suppose you'd need a fair amount of sass to rock that dress and top hat combo!

Compared to Dusty these figures are showing their age a little now, but to be fair they've not been helped by spending most of the time I've had them in box with the rest of the lead mountain. They were really rewarding to paint as they have so much individual character and, for the most part, the details are clean and crisp. I'm looking forward to picking up some reinforcements from the next Black Scorpion Kickstarter (scheduled for October, iirc). I picked up a preview leaflet (and saw some of the sculpts) at Salute earlier this year and the figures look like they'll be amazing!

So... what's next then? 

I've got California Kate from Knuckleduster Miniatures and the leader of the posse queued up for the next installment.  I also picked up some reinforcements at one of our local wargames shows (The Other Partizan) And what are cowgirls without cows? I have 75 head of cattle to make presentable and then the girls will need to settle down onto some proper real estate so they can be truly home on the range.

Deb