Wild West Take 2!

Last week myself and P-Y got in another Western game, we had made a few errors in our starting posses so we decided to restart the campaign. Essentially we misunderstood that it is best to start with a full complement of 6 men. I added "Crazy Eyes" Ramone. P-Y added 2 more characters to his posse, their personalities will be fleshed out as the campaign goes on.

It has been a while since we played, and of course I have forgotten all the details. It was quite a long game (4-5 hours as we are still learning the rules) and we got in 5 turns. The premise of the game is here. Tuco, my legend was driven off the table early on so it was quite a challenge for the Mexican Banditos. The game ended with the sheriff "Big Gun" Barlow engaging in consecutive rounds of Fisticuffs, giving the victory to the Sheriff's Posse. Generally I came out ok as none of my men were killed, Grey Beaver in the Sheriff's Posse was killed so Big Gun will have to hire a new character in our next game. I gained a new 3 extra Bonanza tokens. I believe that 1 of the Posse has earned a new skill and they have added $10 for their victory and an extra desperado card.

The campaign rules are still being fleshed out by the game designer, so we have made a few suggestions. The rules themselves flow well, with our only challenge keeping track of who has spotted whom from turn to turn. With 6 men aside, this is a bit of a challenge to keep track. We are playing a game of Musket's and Tomahawks tomorrow which also has spotting rules, it will be interesting to see how they compare.

Pierre-Yves took a lot of photos, I am sure they tell a story but the details now escape me so I will just let you enjoy the well painted figures and beautiful terrain. As you can see each character has a coloured band which is easily enough identified over the internet. The red crosses that you see next to some characters are pinned markers. P-Y uses 3 fixed cameras with a mobile camera on his end to play the game, it works well.

Banditos

Tuco-Legend-Red

Julio-Gunslinger-Black

Pablo-Shootist-Purple

Rubén-Greenhorn-Light Grey

Jean-Pierre-Shootist-Light Brown

Ramone-Greenhorn-Dark Brown

Sheriff's Posse

Clyde Barlow-Legend-Blue

Jacob Cannon-Gunslinger-Orange

Grey Beaver-Shootist-Green

Jasper Callahan-Shootist-Yellow

Toothless Howard-Greenhorn-Grey

Three Toed Elten-Greenhorn-Pink

A New Campaign (Old West)

Myself and Pierre-Yves started a new campaign last night, using a yet un- released Western Skirmish ruleset. It was a lot of fun and it flows quite well. As the rules are still in playtest, I am limited in what I can say but I think it is OK to describe the premise of the game, some of the characters as well as the action with some photos.

Premise and Characters

A group of Mexican Banditos lead by the western legend "Tuco", have captured the Sheriff's daughter and are holding her hostage. The Sheriff, Clyde "Big Gun" Barlow, is of course quite alarmed by this and sets out to rescue his daughter "Esmeralda". He is accompanied by 3 of his men; Jacob "The Noose" Cannon, Grey Beaver and Jasper "Shootout" Callahan. He hears that Tuco and his men are camped outside town in the desert. 

Big Gun and his men approach the outlaw camp from the Northeast, it is early morning so they dismount and approach on foot. Tuco and his men are scattered and seem to be asleep, Tucu has left Rueben "el musico" in charge, with "three fingered" Julio and "le francés" covering both the north and south approaches with their rifles. Unfortunately it is midday, it is hot.....they are all asleep! 

Some Action Shots from P-Y

The Sheriff's Posse

Laying in wait....sort of

Did I just hear gunshots

Big Gun moves behind the cactus and takes aim, while he sends Grey Beaver and the Noose to advance to the camp, he will provide long range fire.

Esmerelda rebuffs the Frenchman's advances.

"Shootout Callahan" approaches the camp from the east.

The Frenchman while distracted by Esmerelda takes some fire, El Musico advances rapidly and his able to kill Grey Beaver with a single well placed shot. Tuco suddenly becomes crazed and advances forward, he is so crazed that he does not see a wild dog attack and before he knows it, he has emptied 4 shots into the crazed animal (unsure who is more crazed). His gun then jams but he has another Colt in his belt and fires wildly and drives "Shootout Calhoun" off the table.

"The Noose" gets close but he gets caught in the crossfire, "Big Gun" sees that is rescue attempt is futile, time to form up a bigger posse.

It looks like Esmerelda will have to spend another night fighting off "Le Franchés", Tuco calms down and awaits the cool of the desert night!

The game was a lot of fun, although I have to say that Pierre-Yves's unlucky dice throws did somewhat distract from the victory. I was happy that my Banditos all survived, money was earned and new skills were learned. I will look forward to our next game.