I've chosen a historic battle as the basis of my western scenario at Guns Of August - the Battle of Apache Pass, fought in July 1862 in Arizona. I found the movie poster you see here at http://www.posterpalace.com/.
Wikipedia gives a concise background for the battle at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Apache_Pass
Converting the forces to units for "The Tomahawk & The Flame" and fudging the math a bit to stay within my budget and minimize wasted figures (Old Glory's 25mm figures are sold with 30 infantry or 10 cavalry to a pack), I end up with the following:
US Army: Captain Roberts in command of 3 infantry companies (10 men in each) from the 1st California Infantry, an attached battery of two 12 lb. mountain howitzers, and a cavalry escort from the 2nd Regiment of California Volunteer Cavalry (10 men); 5 total units, suitable for 2 players.
Apache: Two commanders - Mangas Coloradas and Cochise, each in command of 6 warbands (10 men in each); 12 total units, suitable for 4 players.
Note that the conversions above have 1 figure on tabletop for every 4 men in the battle; this is simply a concession to the realities of limited time and budgets :)
To keep the game looking like a western battle, I want to ensure that I give the units plenty of room to maneuver, so I plan to use a 4ft deep and 9ft wide table (this also leaves room around the edges of the 5ft x 10ft convention table for dice, reference sheets, etc).
Unusual for this battle, the Apache used stone breastworks until they were driven from them by the fire of the mountain howitzers. The only other terrain piece mentioned in the battle is an abandoned Butterfield Overland Mail station, which I plan to represent with this Old Glory "Medium Stucco House" http://oldglory25s.com/images/H-2.jpg.
Next steps - laying out the battlefield elevations and placing my orders.
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