Discussion Warhammer Wild West as an alternative setting? Brainstorming

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Goldmann’s Bull Squad (aka the Imperial Inquisition): Vardad Ironhed the lowly labor dwarf immigrated out west and took work for a railroad. Through hard work, savvy economic sense, and a number of surprise accidents that befell his former superiors and rivals, Vardad became very rich and gave himself the new name Lorddroid Goldman. Goldmann felt crowded in the more populous coastal region of the UCA (where he was one of many such Robber Barons). He sold his holdings and invested in the west’s burgeoning railroad and mining industries.

His goal is to own the West and he will bribe, bully, or cheat any who stand in his way to crush all who stand against them, be they independent minded homesteader, government officials, greenskin bandits, Rango natives, or Chaos worshippers.

Melee Specialist: Either human bruisers or Dwarfs with big pickaxes or hammers.
Shooting Specialist: Mercenary sharpshooter
Stealth Specialist: Mercenary Halfling sneak
Magic User: Mercenary wizard
Generalist: Pit boss, could be dwarf or human Likely group leader
Oddball: Steam punk engineers or demolition experts

The next company I’ve been thinking about is for these lads:

Figure: Dwarf Pit Boss
Pluck: 3+
FV: +3
SV: +2
Speed: +0
Cost: 56
Talents/Powers: Leadership +3, Inspirational, Impervious, Tough
Equipment: Chain Shirt, Dwarf Pickaxe (Great Axe), Pistol

Figure: Dwarf Enforcer
Pluck: 4+
FV: +2
SV: +1
Speed: +0
Cost: 26
Talents/Powers: Impervious, Tough
Equipment: Chain Shirt, Dwarf Pickaxe (Great Axe)

Figure: Dwarf Sentinel
Pluck: 4+
FV: +1
SV: +2
Speed: +0
Cost: 27
Talents/Powers: Impervious, Tough
Equipment: Chain Shirt, Crossbow

Figure: Dwarf Engineer
Pluck: 4+
FV: +2
SV: +2
Speed: +0
Cost: 32
Talents/Powers: Engineer, Impervious, Tough
Equipment: Dwarf Boiler Suit (Brigandine), Engineer’s Hammer (Axe), Pistol

Figure: Human Sniper
Pluck: 5+
FV: +1
SV: +4
Speed: +1
Cost: 40
Talents/Powers: Marksman, Hunter
Equipment: Hunting Rifle, Jack

Figure: Human Thug
Pluck: 6+
FV: +1
SV: +1
Speed: +1
Cost: 9
Talents/Powers: None
Equipment: Club, Pistol

Upgrades:
The Pit Boss may take the Duellist (Pistol) talent (+5 points)
The Dwarf Engineer may take any number of Grenades (+6 points per Grenade)
Any Dwarf may replace his Chain Shirt with Gromril (Plate Armour) (+21 points)
Any Dwarf Sentinel may replace his Crossbow with a Military Rifle (+3 points)
Any Human Thug may replace his Club with a Fighting Knife (+1 point), a Sword (+2 points) or a second Pistol (+1 point)
Any Thug may ride a Horse (+5 points). If he does so, he may take the Cavalryman talent (+3 points)

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

See my latest post on this thread? I was editing that post while you are replying. In the last fifteen a located a tutorial on how to include co-authors and I entered your World Anvil user name in the co-author link.

Just to make sure it works, try writing a simple article.

Success! I have been able to create a new category for Wargames Rules and a basic article covering which ruleset we are using. I will add additional articles over the coming weeks for all of the companies I will create.

 

[Scalenex]

Only just saw this and have a question - why spend time reinventing Vaul, when we already have a Warhammer Fantasy god that represents the dark side of industrialisation, in the form of Hashut? The fact that he is often depicted as a bull makes him doubly appropriate for a Western setting.

Reasonable point. Though I did put a footnote in my campfire stories that the Chaos Dwarves were wiped out though I suppose that doesn't mean Hashut was destroyed or banished.

As for the Witch Hunter example, wouldn’t the Order of the Silver Hammer only employ agents that are definitely faithful to Sigmar to avoid any internal conflict?

Maybe, but I am a big fan of Firefly and Shepherd Book really didn't logically belong on the crew of Serenity. Beyond that thrilling exception, I think witch hunters at least would be pragmatic and work with almost anyone if it means destroying their target. I don't see a problem of them working with railroad bulls or orc mercenaries but I do see a problem with them working with Chaos cults (or whatever we end up calling Chaos 2.0).

Success! I have been able to create a new category for Wargames Rules and a basic article covering which ruleset we are using. I will add additional articles over the coming weeks for all of the companies I will create.

Though I will point out the article on your Generic Rango Company is hard to read because the yellow background and white subheadings.

I was hoping I'd get an alert when you added an article, but I did not, so I guess I need to check Westhammer often


Since the Westhammer world is still pretty small we could wait before we do a marketing push, but I noticed my odds of getting noticed and attracting new followers increase when I follow the writing prompts on this page. Especially if I was one of the first people to write a new prompt, but even old prompts get more attention than random articles.

No one has written for this prompt yet.
What is the most significant/innovative technology in your world?

The obvious answer is railroads, but I'm not sure that is a sizzling article though I suppose it can be a jumping off point to the rail road bulls and their organizations. If you can finish the Railroad bull faction entry I can write some railroad based fluff and/or a snippet of narration.

 

[Just A Skink]

No one has written for this prompt yet.
What is the most significant/innovative technology in your world?

The obvious answer is railroads, but I'm not sure that is a sizzling article though I suppose it can be a jumping off point to the rail road bulls and their organizations. If you can finish the Railroad bull faction entry I can write some railroad based fluff and/or a snippet of narration.

I haven't gone back to read the OP, so I don't know how advanced your wild west word is, but I could argue that the telegraph is probably as significant (if not more). But telegraph lines popped up as the railroads did, so they go hand in hand.

As the slann know, communication is key.

 

[Scalenex]

The next company I’ve been thinking about is for these lads:

Figure: Dwarf Pit Boss
Pluck: 3+
FV: +3
SV: +2
Speed: +0
Cost: 56
Talents/Powers: Leadership +3, Inspirational, Impervious, Tough
Equipment: Chain Shirt, Dwarf Pickaxe (Great Axe), Pistol

I like it.

I think there should be an option for a human pit boss too. Lordroid Goldmann is the most powerful Railroad Baron in the West, but he is not the only one, and he is not against hiring humans underbosses.

Covering special characters is probably putting the cart before the horse, but I figure Lordroid Goldmann should probably be the first special character introduced.

I haven't gone back to read the OP,

Well you should get caught up on this thread then.

I did add a line about telegraphs to this railroad article.

@Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl, there is no shortage of 19th century railroad photographs in the public domain but I tried three times to upload a different picture and nothing sticks. Do you have any better luck? Perhaps you can insert a picture. EDIT: The railroad picture I used showed up on the prompts page but not the main page. I am confused.

My next project is to create an article about Westhammer idioms.

 

[Scalenex]

I plan to keep adding slang to the list. Red represents real historical western slang but I included it on the list because 1) I really like it and 2) am deriving Warhammer slang based on it.

Bangtail: A wild mustang

Belvidere: A handsome man.

Breeder: Term non-humans use to refer to Humans because there are a lot of them, and also a jab at their promiscuity.

Dusted: (1) To be thrown from a horse. (2) To be defeated or humiliated in any way.

Deringer: (1) A small easily concealed firearm (2) An unusually tough and scrappy halfling

Iron: (1) Any kind of firearm, especially revolvers (2) a branding iron


Ulthani: Polite term for Elves



Ears: Casual term for Elves

Elfy Dear: Based on Belvidere. A prissy pretty boy
Elf.

Soggy Bottom: Especially insulting term applied to elves. Refers to the fact that Ulthuan Sank into the sea.

Beard or Beardy: Casual term applied to dwarves

Pony Rider: Dwarf or Halfling

Mountain Goat: Mildly insulting term applied to dwarves

Stunty: Especially insulting term applied to dwarves.

The First: Long form, First Children of the Old Ones. What Lizardmen call themselves.

Saurians/El Saurios: Relatively polite way outsiders to refer to Lizardmen.

Rango: Casual term for Lizardmen

Bangtail Rango/Liz'un/Saurio: A primitive Lizardmen that cannot or will not deal with civilized folk.

Liz'un: Mildly insulting term for Lizardmen.

Chicken Riders: Refers to Lizardmen riding Culchans.

Milk Sucker: Term Lizardmen use to refer to all non-Lizardmen.


Cactus: An orc because it's green and prickly and tough to kill.

Bangtail Cactus: A primitive orc that cannot or will not deal with civilized folk.


Sparkles: Benign magic.

Sparkly Iron: Potentially lethal offensive magic.

Conjure a Jackalope: Magic that is ultimately useless.

Sparkly Coffee: Augmentation or buff spells

I noticed coffee seemed to be held in high regard in Western slang.

Sparkly Dust: A miscast.

Black Airs: Dark Magic.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

I like it.

I think there should be an option for a human pit boss too. Lordroid Goldmann is the most powerful Railroad Baron in the West, but he is not the only one, and he is not against hiring humans underbosses.

I wanted to encapsulate the fact that given he’s a Dwarf and one of the most successful in the West, he’d largely attract fellow Dwarfs to his company, and that he’d rather get a Dwarf to do a job than an Umgi if he wants it to be well done, as to Dwarfs humans are renowned for shoddy work.

Besides, I thought the Outlaw Company was for human-led gangs?

Covering special characters is probably putting the cart before the horse, but I figure Lordroid Goldmann should probably be the first special character introduced.

That’s a good point, I missed him out:

Figure: Lorddroid Goldmann
Pluck: 2+
FV: +4
SV: +2
Speed: +0
Cost: 95
Talents/Powers: Leadership +3, Inspirational, Impervious, Strongman, Tough
Equipment: Dwarf Boiler Suit (Brigandine), Ol’ Punisher (Short Shotgun), The Bunch O’ Fives (Steam Fist), Steam Dynamo, Monocular Targeting Array, Breath Preserver

(I imagined him as a fully kitted-up Kharadron with the steam version of a power fist and a more powerful pistol than normal).

Powerful, yes, but he wouldn’t be a proper boss if he wasn’t powerful. What’s more a Company that hires him has to pay a lot for him, meaning this will reduce the number of other fighters they can have in a fixed-point game, and if he dies, that’s a lot of points down the drain.

 

[Scalenex]

Powerful, yes, but he wouldn’t be a proper boss if he wasn’t powerful. What’s more a Company that hires him has to pay a lot for him, meaning this will reduce the number of other fighters they can have in a fixed-point game, and if he dies, that’s a lot of points down the drain.

Excellent! Though no company hires Goldmann. Goldmann hires the rest of the company.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Probably as a result of my recent purchase of a Beastmen Start Collecting Box, another Company I’ve been designing is one for Great Plains Beastmen:

Figure: Minotaur Chief
Pluck: 3+
FV: +5
SV: +0
Speed: +1
Cost: 57
Talents/Powers: Leadership +2, Inspirational, Berserker, Terrifying, Tough
Equipment: Minotaur Hide (Jack), Minotaur Cleaver (Axe)

Figure: Bestigor
Pluck: 4+
FV: +3
SV: +0
Speed: +1
Cost: 23
Talents/Powers: Berserker
Equipment: Chain Shirt, Great Axe

Figure: Gor
Pluck: 5+
FV: +2
SV: +0
Speed: +1
Cost: 14
Talents/Powers: Berserker
Equipment: Axe

Figure: Ungor
Pluck: 6+
FV: +1
SV: +1
Speed: +1
Cost: 6
Talents/Powers: None
Equipment: Club

Figure: Razorgor
Pluck: 4+
FV: +4
SV: +0
Speed: +2
Cost: 40
Talents/Powers: Berserker, Terrifying, Tough
Equipment: Razorgor Jaws (Great Axe)

Upgrades:
The Minotaur Chief may take a Shield (+1 point) or replace his Cleaver with a Great Axe (+1 point)
Any Gor may take a Shield (+1 point)
Any Ungor may replace his Club with either a Fighting Knife (+1 point), Spear (+3 points) or a Bow (+2 points). If he is not armed with a Bow he may also take a Shield (+1 point)
Any Gor or Ungor may take the Stealthy talent (+5 points)

 

[Scalenex]

Probably as a result of my recent purchase of a Beastmen Start Collecting Box, another Company I’ve been designing is one for Great Plains Beastmen:

Figure: Minotaur Chief
Pluck: 3+
FV: +5
SV: +0
Speed: +1
Cost: 57
Talents/Powers: Leadership +2, Inspirational, Berserker, Terrifying, Tough
Equipment: Minotaur Hide (Jack), Minotaur Cleaver (Axe)

Figure: Bestigor
Pluck: 4+
FV: +3
SV: +0
Speed: +1
Cost: 23
Talents/Powers: Berserker
Equipment: Chain Shirt, Great Axe

Figure: Gor
Pluck: 5+
FV: +2
SV: +0
Speed: +1
Cost: 14
Talents/Powers: Berserker
Equipment: Axe

Figure: Ungor
Pluck: 6+
FV: +1
SV: +1
Speed: +1
Cost: 6
Talents/Powers: None
Equipment: Club

Figure: Razorgor
Pluck: 4+
FV: +4
SV: +0
Speed: +2
Cost: 40
Talents/Powers: Berserker, Terrifying, Tough
Equipment: Razorgor Jaws (Great Axe)

Upgrades:
The Minotaur Chief may take a Shield (+1 point) or replace his Cleaver with a Great Axe (+1 point)
Any Gor may take a Shield (+1 point)
Any Ungor may replace his Club with either a Fighting Knife (+1 point), Spear (+3 points) or a Bow (+2 points). If he is not armed with a Bow he may also take a Shield (+1 point)
Any Gor or Ungor may take the Stealthy talent (+5 points)

Those would be Old World Beastmen wouldn't they?

New World Beastmen would be based off of Buffalo or Coyotes or Bears or Moose.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Those would be Old World Beastmen wouldn't they?

New World Beastmen would be based off of Buffalo or Coyotes or Bears or Moose.

They are based on the original Beastmen, but I thought given that human society has moved to the West, some goat and bull Beastmen would appear in the West as a result of Chaos mutating some humans to resemble the domestic goats and bulls they’ve brought with them. I do like the idea of having some Beastmen based on Wild West animals too - perhaps New World Beastmen would comprise of some of each?

 

[Scalenex]

I don't know if you recall the brief but eventful fluff writing career of Tlac'natai the Observer who lurked for a very long time then wrote a couple really awesome fluff pieces about desert Lizardmen versus Coyote Beastmen than disappeared.

Tlac'Natai the Observer: Tlac'Natai the Observer broke his vow of observing only to compliment a fluff piece than surprised us all by revealing himself as the winner of the July-August 2015 Contest. Now he is expanding on his award winning desert Lizardmen with A Change of Pace.

 

[Scalenex]

There is a new contest on World Anvil, it's not as big as WorldEmber. Profiling a heroic character. Link is here.

I'm probably going to try to enter a Scarterran character for this, and there is a limit of one entry per author, not per world, but hypothetical @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl could create a heroic Weshammer character and enter that as your article but I could provide advise while you write it. Or you can write an Escalania character or sit the contest out, no biggie. Just thought I'd bring it up.

I'm not 100% sure I want to want to do a Scarterran character profile. This is not quite as enticing as Worldember.

I also have room for up to two more co-authors in Westhammer if anyone reading this post wants in on the fun.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Completed another Westhammer company, this time for Skaven Underground Sects

 

[Scalenex]

Because I upgraded my account, The Westhammer World Anvil page is now ad-free to all visitors.

The problem is for both me and @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl, we like Westhammer but Westhammer is a secondary project, so we only create new material for Westhammer periodically.

This thread was originally created as a collaborative project and I still would like to keep this going.

Lord Agragax is my co-author and co-editor. I could add eight more co-authors if anyone is interested. All you need is a world anvil account which is free though paid accounts come with special features. The most important special feature in my opinion is that the free version has ads and the paid versions do not.

Since I am a World Anvil Grand Master, my co-authors get most of my paid features for free when they are acting as my co-authors. Most importantly, you would not see ads while writing Westhammer articles and stories via World Anvil.

Imagine how fast Westhammer would grow if we had five or six L-O members submitting one article or story every month or two. The thought makes me smile.

Once we get maybe 20+ articles we can start shilling the page on other Warhammer sites in which case we might build up some fans outside of L-O.

While more writers would be a blessing, so would more artists. A co-author could make his or her mark solely through art and that would be delightful, or you don't have to be a co-author and can just submit art to me or Lord Agarax and we can credit your name on the artwork with a link to your artist's web page.

Westhammer could certainly use more art. @Infinity Turtle, @Warden, @Paul1748. I'm looking at you all.

Note, I am allowed to have up to 100 worlds on World Anvil. Right now I have three worlds. I doubt I will ever need more than ten worlds. Hypothetically, if someone on Lustria-Online wanted to created their own fantasy world, I could use one of my spare 97 worlds make them a co-editor and then leave them to manage their world without interference.

Not related to my main request for more Westhammer author, just saying I have about 90 blank worlds more than I know.

 

[Paul1748]

Westhammer could certainly use more art. @Infinity Turtle, @Warden, @Paul1748. I'm looking at you all.

I will consider it after my current animation project is done.
What kind of art you're looking for ?

 

[Scalenex]

I will consider it after my current animation project is done.
What kind of art you're looking for ?

You are one of the most self motivated artists I know. You usually come up with better stuff than I would dare to ask for.

Generally you seem at your best when you write about something you like. So whatever you like most is what you should draw.

I will say that what we could use more than anything else is a cover page picture that is generic enough to Westhammer that it could be a stand-in for anything. Because I learned that a general picture is better than no picture at all.

On my world of Scarterra. The most important thing in Scarterra fluff wise is my nine deities, collectively called the Nine.

@pendrake gave me this as a potential symbol for the Nine and Pendrake gave me permission to use it and even gave me a revised cleaned up picture.

I use this as my cover page art. Also, if I write a specific article about something and I cannot find a good picture for it, I use this. I programmed my Scarterra account to automatically put the symbol of the Nine on all picture-less articles.

In other words, I would like a picture or icon that goes with almost anything.

On Westhammer I use this which is the generic "Steam Punk" cover World Anvil provides for free. I'd like something better.

So hypothetically if you drew a picture of Skink gun slinger that would be fantastic for cover art for anything Rango related but that would be a poor fit for the cover art for the Skaven articles or the biography of Lordroid Goldmann.

While ideally I'd like a picture of a rango gunslinger, a Skaven sneak thief, a goblin rustler, a fancy portrait of Lordroid Goldmann and a bunch of other stuff, it be nice to have an iconic picture to use a generic placeholder on all articles that can hold the line until and unless we get a slew of specific pictures.

I honestly don't know what that would be. Maybe a mesa or canyon that is loosely hammer shaped. Maybe two Warhammer fantasy creatures in Western garb fighting either with fists or with guns. Maybe a Western town with a motley assortment of fantasy characters in it. Maybe something as simple as a closeup of a sheriff's tin star with a little hammer engraved on it.

The best thing we could use is a generic picture that communicates "This is Warhammer in a wild west setting" but it is not so specific that it only would fits for one faction.

EDIT: I use this picture for the heading of the section I call "Campfire stories." It's free a free to use photograph that is very western but it's not especially old timey or fantasy-ish, but I like it. Campfire stories is my subsection for the history and backstory of Westhammer.

A quick browse through the site will reveal the Western style font style we got from World Anvil uses a lot of browns, tans, blacks, with an occasional splash of red. I don't know if that matters. I don't know much about advanced color theory.

 

[pendrake]

How about a pair of revolvers, seen from the side, set together barrel to barrel, with the handles facing opposite directions?

The whole thing resembling the hammer shape of Warhammer.

Make the round shape behind the hammer-shape a Spur-Rowel.

Wait?
I thought the hammer was double headed. So maybe one revolver would work better.

Or... Or..! Do a spur rowel with a double-barrel Derringer pistol laid over it (positioned like the hammer). The Derringer is much more iconic to the Western-era than revolvers are. With a revolver one has to get the details just right for it to be an Old-West model colt. Also, a spur-rowel and a derringer are closer in size—so less scaling issues.

(This 2¢ worth of Art Direction brought to you by the mighty Griffin Pendrake... )

 

[Scalenex]

How about a pair of revolvers, seen from the side, set together barrel to barrel, with the handles facing opposite directions?

The whole thing resembling the hammer shape of Warhammer.

Make the round shape behind the hammer-shape a Spur-Rowel.
View attachment 93679
Wait?
I thought the hammer was double headed. So maybe one revolver would work better.

Or... Or..! Do a spur rowel with a double-barrel Derringer pistol laid over it (positioned like the hammer). The Derringer is much more iconic to the Western-era than revolvers are. With a revolver one has to get the details just right for it to be an Old-West model colt. Also, a spur-rowel and a derringer are closer in size—so less scaling issues.

(This 2¢ worth of Art Direction brought to you by the mighty Griffin Pendrake... )

You deserve more than two imaginary cents for your wisdom. I offer you thousands of imaginary cents.

 

[Just A Skink]

How about a pair of revolvers, seen from the side, set together barrel to barrel, with the handles facing opposite directions?

The whole thing resembling the hammer shape of Warhammer.

Make the round shape behind the hammer-shape a Spur-Rowel.
View attachment 93679
Wait?
I thought the hammer was double headed. So maybe one revolver would work better.

Or... Or..! Do a spur rowel with a double-barrel Derringer pistol laid over it (positioned like the hammer). The Derringer is much more iconic to the Western-era than revolvers are. With a revolver one has to get the details just right for it to be an Old-West model colt. Also, a spur-rowel and a derringer are closer in size—so less scaling issues.

(This 2¢ worth of Art Direction brought to you by the mighty Griffin Pendrake... )

What about taking the Oldhammer logo (the round shield and hammer) and adding some classic western objects to theme it? Maybe turn the shield into a marshal's badge, or a wagon wheel, or a train wheel? The cow skull could be made to look more like a Beastman skull, Skaven skull, or Chaos skull?