Games Marathon, 7th/8th Nov

 During the latest of Dave’s excursions South, we mounted 3 games;

1. 1.      General d’Armee 2, Battle of Gilly, 1815
2. 2.      Never Mind the Billhooks, Battle of Stoke 1487
3. 3.      What an Operator/Zombie

Very briefly, these games went as follows;

General d’Armee 2, Battle of Gilly, 1815: Napoleon’s attempt to brush Prussian rearguard aside, prior to Wavre & Waterloo. The French mounted a rapid & bold two pronged assault, first against the village around the road river crossing, closely followed by a push to secure the ford on their left flank and so open the path for the cavalry division reserves.

The French mounted two frontal assaults on the village, but both were brushed aside by the Prussian defenders. OK, we got the rules wrong on the assaults on a garrison, but likely balancing out the garrison skirmish fire Unforming the attack column, against the support provided by the flanking French columns.

Over on the river ford flank, the French boldly pushed an infantry regiment across the stream, but a timely use of Prussian Artillery Assault & devastating infantry volley fire, completely wiped out the French Grenadiers.

This left two French divisions Faltering and Napoleon’s hopes in tatters.

Never Mind the Billhooks, Battle of Stoke 1487: The Yorkists shuffled up to the crest of the low hill commanding their side of the field. The Lancastrian forces mounted a cavalry sally on their left, only to be met by a few Irish Kerns chucking sticks! Surprise, surprise one knight unhorsed by a javelin through his open visor! The knights closed their visors and trotted forward to a stand-off with the German Mercenary pike block on the hill, while the kerns withdrew, laughing!

Over on the Lancastrian right, Chris pushed his combined Longbow/Men at Arms company forward, against the extreme Yorkist left. A vicious exchange of arrows left the Yorkist archers flowing to the rear, but most of the Lancastrian archers lying in the field. However, the Lancastrian morale held and the Lancastrian Men at Arms marched over the bodies of their archers and up the hill and into a vicious melee with the Yorkist billmen, seemingly getting the upper hand.

Sensing victory, the Lancastrian centre surged forward. A brief exchange of fire and the Lancastrian Men at Arms pushed up the hill, smashing through a unit of Yorkist Billmen, but suffering significant casualties in return. The Yorkists rapidly moved their Men at Arms across, to cover the gaping hole in their lines. The Lancastrian Commander, realising that he would be unable to shift this fresh unit, challenged the enemy leader to a dual. But, the underhanded Yorkists had not put their Commander in the centre of the line, but some lumbering brute of a man, who despatched the Lancastrian Commander in two sword blows! Game over!

What an Operator/Zombie: A first try-out of Phil’s version of John Savage’s “What an Operator”, but with Zombies! Four Russian Spetsnaz and four British SAS were racing to recover a vital new vaccine package. The vaccine package was located in one of two vehicles, that had been involved in a unfortunate road traffic accident, in a zombie infested suburb!

The Russians rushed forward, seizing forward positions, but also drawing the zombie herds onto them. However, Sergei rapidly chopped the first Zombie herd down with his AK74 and all the racket somehow not drawing any further herds!

The SAS went more slowly, with two men moving down the road, toward the target vehicles, while one flanked right and the fourth sought to take up an overwatch position in some flats.

The Russians had other ideas, with two men proving covering fire, a third rushed the vehicle wrecks (the forth playing around with the 2^nd Zombie herd!). The Russian quickly searched the vehicles, while simultaneously exchanging fire with the SAS (Bonanza tokens all round!). Vaccine case located, the Russians excited ‘stage left’ (4 movement dice does help!). All the SAS could do, was to chase after the Spetsnaz, but failed to get any clear shots.

What a Cowboy – Old Mad Bill’s Mule

Old Mad Bill, a lunny prospector dun got ‘imself knifed in a saloon brawl. However, before he died, he let slip that he had actually found a rich gold seam and the map to this potential fortune was hidden on his mule, left tied-up outside the Sheriff’s Office.

So now, four pairs of desperados (each with a Gunslinger & a Shootist) were trying to grab the mule. Things got off to a poor start for Greg and Phil. Phil’s Gunslinger got his-self gut shot and Greg’s pair got themselves pinned down behind the Sherrif’s Office  & barn, by a cross-fire from Dave & Simon’s men. In a desperate stunt, Greg’s Gunslinger dived through the back window of the Sheriff’s Office (a 4 on two dice Greg, no I meant scoring a 4 on both dice!). Either way, Greg’s man rolled across the floor of the Sheriff’s office, dusted the broken glass off his duds and dashed to the front door.

This gave Greg’s Gunslinger a good view of the main street, covering the mule, but then Simon’s Gunslinger snuck-up to the same back window and shot Greg’s Gunslinger dead, in the back!!

Dave’s shootist took this opportunity to dash across the main street and grab the mule. He almost got away with it, but just as he scuttled down the alleyway, tugging the mule, he decided to pop off a shot at Greg’s pursuing shootist, but missing the man, he nicked the mule, promptly causing  it to stampede away toward Greg’s corner!?

Sadly Greg’s Shootist was unable to catch the mule, as Simon’s men were now raising dust around his feet, with angry shots down the street. So the mule ran off, taking Mad Bill’s secret with it!?

What a Cowboy – High Noon II

 

The cast:

• Marshall Will Coe (Legend) – Simon
• Deputy Marshall Mel Pel (Shootist) – Simon
• Amy Coe (Greenhorn), Rifle – Simon
• Frank Lee Madier (Gunslinger) – Greg
• Win Dee Miller (Shootist) - Greg
• Jack Shitte (Gunslinger) – Dave
• Matt White (Greenhorn) – Dave

As the noon train puffed slowly into Hardlyville, Frank Madier and his three outlaw gang members stepped down from the carriage. Before they left this town, either Marshall Coe would be dead, or Frank would be lying in the dirt! (As it turned out, both would be sprawled in the dirt before the day was out!?).

Before the train had fully stopped, Madier & Miller were sprinting across the street, headed for the Trading Post and Jack & Matt headed right, behind the Bunk House.

Realising trouble had arrived, Marshall Coe & Deputy Marshall Pel tumbled out of the jail, with Will headed right toward the Saloon and Mel out to the left, to head off Shitte & White.

Unknown to almost everyone, Coe’s new wife, Amy, had camped-out behind the barn cradling her husband’s Winchester rifle. As Madier ran into her view, she stepped out but before she could get a shot off, Madier skidded, with unbelievable agility, back around the front of the trading post, out of sight.

Amy stared out in horror, unable to believe how fast Madier had dodged her shot, so she did not see Miller, who first spun her round with one shot, then callously stepped up and finished her off as she lay bleeding in the dirt!! Miller then headed back out down the main street.

Not suspecting what had happened to his wife, Marshall Coe leaned out from the Saloon door, to take a pot-shot at Miller, now advancing down the street, in front of the Trading Post. Drat, missed!

However, while the Marshall was busy trying to get another shot at Miller, Madier had sprinted around the back of the Saloon and burst in through the back door. As Madier’s eyes adjusted to the change of light, he was also momentarily confused by the manic piano playing! Before he could swing his gun back to Marshall Coe, the Marshall had spun round, planting a shot smack in the middle of Madier’s forehead!?

Back on the other side of the street, Shitte & Deputy Marshall Pel were trading long range shots, but achieving little except chipping away bits of wood. Shitte yelled at White go around the front of the Bunk House and get behind Mel, while he sprinted directly toward Pel. Shitte skidded to a stop, just a few yards from Pel and both of them blazed away at each other, achieving little except injuring the wagon between them!

Surprisingly White did manage to get around Pel and loosed off a couple shots. Neither hit Pel and in fact, one nicked Shitte, who simply rolled his eyes! Where did he find this side-kick?! However, this had distracted Pel and Shitte gunned him down!

Back at the Saloon, Miller had also worked his way around the back of the Saloon, but before he could try to follow Madier’s route in through the rear door of the Saloon, Marshall Coe burst out of the back door. The pair blazed away at each other for seconds, before the Marshall was forced to duck back around the corner.

Hah, thought Miller, now we have him! He had the Marshall caught between himself and Shitte & White, now crossing the street, behind the Marshall (and the Marshall was out of Bonanza chips!!).

Miller smiled to himself, as the Marshall dived to the dirt in front of him, but then the Marshall rolled and planted a killing shot in Miller’s chest, wiping off the smile! Shitte, now losing blood from his duel with Pel, stepped forward to finish-off the Marshall, but the Marshall yet again squirmed around and planted a shot in Shitte, dropping him too!

The Marshall was now only facing the Greenhorn, White, but the Marshall was hurting bad. He stumbled away from White, collapsing in through the back door of the saloon and he tried to kick the door shut. But, White followed him too closely and kicked the door open before shooting dead the Marshall, as he lay on the floor.

So ended ‘High Noon II’. The Marshall, his wife and Deputy Marshall lay dead. Most of the Madier gang also lay dead or dying. Only the greenhorn White remained on his feet. He starred down at his smoking gun, barely able to believe what had happened. How could he ever convince anyone that any of this was real and to cap it all, that lunatic piano player was still hammering away on the ivories!?

What a Cowboy – Rescue Drusilla (Scenario 3. The Rescue)

The Cast:

The Daltry Gang:

• Buck Stopshere (Shootist) – Greg
• Grip Tightly (Greenhorn) – Greg
• Will Cody (Shootist), Rifle – Rob
• Dick Limp (Greenhorn), Shotgun – Rob

The Bunyan Gang:

• Slim Pickings (Shootist) – Simon
• Frank Lee (Greenhorn) – Simon
• Gary Cant (Shootist) – Phil
• Rich Seam (Greenhorn) - Phil

Drusilla was the local railroad boss’ favourite hooker and the Bunyan gang had abducted Drusilla and had taken her to their canyon mining camp, for ransom purposes. The Bunyan mining camp was located in a small South facing box canyon, comprising of a log cabin and a small wooden shack, located centrally, with the mine located in the North-East corner of the canyon.

Drusilla was being held in the log cabin, with Slim watching over her, while Rich patrolled around the back of the cabin. Frank & Gary were in the mine.

The Daltry gang arrived at the head of the canyon and eyed up the apparently sleepy camp scene. Buck edged his way forward, covered by Will and his rifle, perched on some rocks. Behind the cabin, Rich thought he saw something headed into the canyon. He walked forward to get a better look, but a rifle round from Will saw him scuttling back behind the cabin. The firing caused Slim to peer out of the front window of the cabin, catching sight of Buck sneaking from the back of a wagon, up to the snake rail fence overlooking the cabin. Slim poked his six-shooter out of the window and squeezed a round off at Buck, causing Buck to throw himself back behind the wagon.

Dick watched Buck duck back and decided to try to flank around the right side of the cabin, but rather slowly!!

Attracted by the firing, Frank & Gary dashed out of the mine, Frank headed for the back of the cabin and Gary headed for the gully that ran up the West side of the canyon. He reached the gully and crept down along it, looking to flank around the left flank of the Bunyan gang. 

Will, crouched down behind the rocks, was still covering the cabin with his trusty rifle, but even he was surprised when 3 Daltry henchmen seemingly appeared from the privy, located just a few yards South-West of the cabin. But, he wasn’t surprised enough to stop him callously gun down these newly appeared henchmen! He then turned his rifle on the cabin, winging Slim and causing Slim to duck back from the window.

Once these threats were neutralised Buck made another dash for the left side of the cabin, relying on Will to cover him with his rifle, but by this time Gary had snuck up the gully into a position overlooking Will in the rocks. Gary’s pistol ran out, causing Will to dive to his right. But just when Will thought things could not get any worse, another group of Daltry henchmen appeared behind him (another 10 random event)!! 

Back at the cabin, Buck shouted for Dick to move-in on the cabin, with his shotgun, but Dick just seemed to freeze in uncertainty. Buck was yelling for him to go to the cabin, but Dick could see another Daltry gang member, Rich, coming along the snake rail fence to the right of the cabin. Dick hesitated just long enough for Rich to fire at him, fortunately for Dick, missing. While this was going on, Grip had seen Rich and moved to intercept him. Grip reached over snake rail fence, fired, sending Rich spawling in the dirt!

Having realised Dick was distracted with this new threat, Buck dashed for the cabin window, skidding to a halt, barely a few feet in front of the cabin window, just as Slim reappeared at the window! Another frantic exchange of shots saw Buck throwing himself back away from the window and headlong into the dirt. Dick glanced down at Buck and then up at Slim and his smoking revolver at the window, stunned! In his head, Dick was also aware of shouting behind the wagon, only few feet behind him. More Daltry henchmen, what was going on, was this a trap! Slim was actually smirking at Dick, which seemed to unfreeze Dick. He swung up the shotgun, blasting Will’s head clean off his shoulders!

This was all too much for the rest of the Bunyan gang and they decided to ride for the hills, leaving behind a whole pack of newly recruited henchmen, who were now wondering why they had come all this way to join-up with this Bunyan gang!?

What a Cowboy - For a Few Poker Chips More

This was a variation of John Savage’s, “For a few poker chips more” ’King of the Hill’ style scenario, published in WSS#125. Set-up was as for John’s scenario, but alongside the central target building, was a wagon. This wagon contained the ‘gold’. At the end of each turn, the character closest to the wagon, with LOS to the wagon, would earn $10. Players would also earn $ for other characters taken out of the game ($10 for a Greenhorn, $20 for a Shootist, $40 for a Gunslinger, doubled if taken out by a lower grade character).

The Stars of our show were,

·        Gripp Tightly, Greenhorn – Chris

·        Cliff Hanger, Gunslinger – Simon

·        Will Cody, Shootist – Greg

·        Kit Bash, Shootist – Tony

·        Ben Wade, Shootist – Phil

The game opened with Will making a dash for the stables, to the North of the village square, where he could take-up a commanding position on the roof, using his trusty Winchester and Marksman skill.

Gripp tried to slide down main street, from the East, only to get shot by Will, from his vantage point on the stable roof. Gripp ducked back into cover, nursing a bullet hole in his arm. Next Ben made a dash from the South East, skidding into the central building, only narrowly being missed by rounds from Will’s rifle. This now left Ben cashing-in $10 a turn, for being closest to the wagon.

While all this was going on, Cliff slipped into the back door of the stable. He toyed with a Trick Shot, into Will, up on the roof above him, but instead shouted up to Will, to make a deal. If they joined forces to get rid of Ben, they would split the loot. This left Ben dodging bullets from both Will’s rifle and Cliff’s Peacemaker. Things were getting hot for Ben!

Meanwhile, Kit had worked his way up from the South West, along the South side of the Church, to overlook the stable. A couple of shots from Kit caused Cliff to duck back into the stable arches. This opening allowed Ben to sprint across to the wagon, partly negating the range advantage of Will’s rifle.

After a furious exchange of fire, Kit sprinted from the church, skidding-in alongside Ben at the wagon. Kit’s ability to dodge bullets was fast becoming legendary!! While dodging bullets, Kit also manged to wing Cliff, causing him to duck back into the stable. This was the only opening Ben needed, he leapt the trail of the wagon and sprinted for the stable, sliding into the stable archway, gunning Cliff down, as he was recovering his wits!

This just left Will on the roof. While Will was still taking pot shots at the crazily dodging Kit, Ben slipped up the stairs of the stable and loosed off a couple of point-blank range shots at Will. Drat, missed, Ben cursed and dropped back down the stairs.

Will was clearly unnerved by this, but peered out again, to locate Kit at the wagon, but was puzzled to see another figure (Bronco Billy, Cliff’s alter ego!), now blazing away at the jinking Kit. Hah, thought Will, at least I can get rid of one of these varmints! However, as Will took careful aim at the jinking Kit, Ben leapt up the stairs again, to blast a couple of close range shots at Will. One winged Will and he jumped back, to avoid the second. Disaster!! The edge of the roof was the only cover. Will jumped over the edge of the roof, but landed badly, putting him out of the fight.

We called it a day there. Ben had earned nearly $150 and held the high ground! Ben was happy to share the loot with Kit and poor Gripp could only look on, nursing his wounded arm.

Excellent set of rules Mr Savage, now where is "What a Cartel"!?!

What a Cowboy – A Tale of Two Games

 Game 1: Scenario 5: “Scorched Earth”

Their names would have gone down in the halls of Wild West immorality, if someone had not rubbed out the Character Dashboards! Anyway, Rob & Simon’s characters were defending their homestead, with a team of one Gunslinger, two Shootists and one Greenhorn. Chris, Tony & Phil controlled a team of one Gunslinger, two Shootists & 3 Greenhorns, intent on burning down the barn of these darned homesteaders.

Tony’s Shootist & Greenhorn, plus Phil’s Gunslinger went right, but quickly ran into Simon’s Shootist & Greenhorn, holding out behind the privy. Initially, all both sides seemed to be able to do, was chip bits out of the woodwork, despite both having brought along a rifle! However, Tony’s Greenhorn did manage to work along the fence, to flank one of Simon’s men, sheltering behind the privy. Shock & wounds started to accumulate here and it wasn’t long before both of Simon’s characters were taken out of the fight.  

This then freed up Tony’s Shootist & Phil’s Gunslinger to pick-on Rob’s Greenhorn, who was trying to protect that side of the barn. Rob’s Greenhorn had been trying to stop Chris’s characters from coming up the trail, to the barn, but was now forced to duck back around behind the barn.

This left Rob’s Gunslinger as sole operational defender of the barn, facing off against 3 Greenhorns. These Greenhorns formed their own little firing line, forcing Rob’s Gunslinger to take shelter behind the right side of the barn. But Phil’s Gunslinger made a dash across the trail, to the barn and started trying to set light to it.

This forced Rob’s Gunslinger to come out and deal with this threat to the barn, despite the bullets now pinging around him, but to no avail, the barn was soon blazing, so Rob’s Gunslinger ducked back into the ruin next door to the smoking barn.

Things looked bleak for Rob’s men! With the Greenhorns now closing in on his own position, Rob’s Gunslinger heard his Greenhorn go down to a flanking shot from Tony’s Greenhorn. ‘Ride or Die’ test!! Rob then rolled his traditional three 6s, but decided that discretion was the better part of valour and quietly slunk off into the shrubbery! This did not stop Tony’s Shootist from attempting & failing, a stunt of jumping from a window, onto some stampeding cattle (that he caused by leaving the gate open!), collecting a crushed rib cage in the process!? A victory celebration gone awry!

A good first game. We got a few little rules wrong, but overall, everyone grasped the concepts quickly and the game provides a nice balance of jeopardy, while still keeping players involved in the game, with plenty decisions to make.

Game 2: Scenario 6: “Vendetta”

Evil Chris’s and Deadpan Dave’s gang’s clash, over some petty feuds. Apparently Deadpan Dave had shot Chris’ dog and Evil Chris’s sidekick, “The Kid” had been having extramarital sex with a female relative of Deadpan Dave’s gang?! All very confusing, but someone was going to pay, in blood!!

Evil Chris wasted no time in dashing off to confront Deadpan Dave, leaving his support, Deadly Phil and Big John trailing behind. Soon a gunfight between Evil Chris & Deadpan Dave was raging around the barn.

Over on the left, “The Kid” was trying to hold off Terrible Tony & his sidekick. The Kid had hoped that his rifle would hold off these two varmints, but Terrible Tony’s feet seemed to carry him at impossibly fast speeds, right up to point blank range of the Kid! However, The Kid proved crazily capable of dodging bullets, rolling back & forth among the scrub! Terrible Tony then drew his knife and tried to ‘cut’ The Kid. Fortunately for The Kid, Terrible Tony proved to be pretty terrible with a knife!

Back on the right, Deadpan Dave looked to be in real trouble. He was facing off the Legend, Evil Chris to his front, while Deadly Phil had snuck around his rear! But then Deadpan Dave’s sidekick popped up out of the scrub and shot down The Legend ‘Evil Chris’, stone dead!!

This left Deadly Phil to try to take shelter in some nearby rocks, but to little avail. Phil had hoped that Big John would come to his assistance, but Big John appeared to be distracted by what was happening to The Kid over on the far side of the table.

By this time, despite some more frantic dodging, The Kid was thoroughly pinned down, sheltering behind a large rock, with Terrible Tony & his sidekick coming around either side of the rock! His dodging luck had finally run out! A .45 slug putting an end this phase of the feud!

{Note: Some of the names involved in this event have been changed, as they are now involved in a witness protection scheme. Nothing to do with the failing memory of the reporter!}