Showdown at Los Nachos-Game 3

Three weeks ago our club had one of our GamesDays. We decided to put on the 3rd game in our Los Nachos campaign featuring the What a Cowboy ruleset. I really have got behind in posting reports on my blog.

As you know from previous posts, the Los Nachos campaign by Eero Juhula features a generational fight set in the Old West between the Makinens and the Taverniers. The Taverniers were a rich landowning family, while the Makinens were descended from Jake Makinen who had been murdered a generation before. The campaign features the sons of Jake who have returned to seek vengeance for the death of their father and to regain their birthright.

In our campaign the Makinens have done quite well and at turn 5 in Game 3, they have decided to attack the Central Mining Company in the town of Los Nachos. This will be our first game in a populated area and as you can see it features many of PY's beautiful buildings. We used the Highway Robbery scenario from the book. The Makinens (Tuco, Hector and Bubba) had to break in to the mining office, blow the safe and obtain the deeds to the Dusty Hills Mine which was on the former Makinen Farm. Occupying the Mine Office is Director Higgins and 3 Bank Guard Henchmen. It also seems some of the Taverniers have got wind of this and are writing into town to confront the Makinens.

Game Summary

The Taverniers deployed far up the table with half their characters as well as a group of Cowboy Henchmen with Mine Manager Higgins in the Mine Office with the Mine Guards. All the Makinens deployed on their horses but dismounted on their first move. They had one henchmen group and 2 sticks of dynamite. By turn 5, the Makinens had killed 2 of the Taverniers and the Mine Manager as well as taken out a group of henchmen and 1 mine guard. At the end of the turn the Makinens initiated a Ride or Die Test on the Taverniers and they failed it so they rode to the hills. The game ended at that point. All the Makinens survived.

Game Photos

Layout the Makinens attacked from the foreground

The Makinens came from the right

The Mine Office is to the left of the red Saloon

Tuco engaged in quite a few acrobatics

Quite a brief report and hopefully our next game will not be too far in the future.

Showdown at Los Nachos-Game 2

A couple of weeks ago we got together at PY's to play game 2 in the Los Nachos campaign. This was turn 4 in our campaign. If you remember the Makinens won the first game and captured the Tainted Desert. Subsequently the Makinens were able to take the Rusty River without a fight. They took the next turn to lay some Barbed Wire. So on to Turn 4, the Taverniers have finally seized the initiative and have decided to attack the Rusty River. The Rusty River was placed in a verdant valley. We played the Vendetta scenario. I should note with their increased income the Makinens were able to arm up, while PY had to generate a new character to join the Taverniers......Rusty Nutslinger.......I will live that there.

The Players

Makinens

Matt Makinen-Gunslinger

Justin Makinen-Greenhorn

Bubba Carlsberg-Shootist

Hector el Borracho-Greenhorn

Tuco-Shootist

1 Group of Sheep Farmers

Taverniers

George Marrison-Shootist

Justin MaBoots-Shootist

Billy Bob Jackson-Gunslinger

Rusty Nutslinger-Geenhorn

4 Groups of Cowhands

Game Photos

The Rusty River Valley, as you can see there were lots of sheep. The Taverniers were attacking from the far ground with the Makinens in the near ground.

Half of the Makinens headed in this direction to protect their right flank but trying to remain in cover.

The Taverniers attack on our right flank, while their main characters moved to the centre.

You can see the bosses cowering in the rear!

On our left flank they sent in several more cowhands with their characters hanging out in the middle, they did give us a lot of jip on this flank and it too sustained gunfire to hold them off.

Somewhere along the way one of the Makinen Brothers was able to get a lucky shot off and killed Billy-Bob. The Tavernier attack was crumbling.

The Taverniers had terrible dice in this game and we slowly took out all their henchmen and then we were lucky enough to kill Billy Bob Jackson, the second character we have taken out in our 2 games. Justin Makinen was also taken out but was able to recover. The Taverniers decided to pack it in and ride back to their ranch. Another Makinen victory. 

There might be a bit of a hiatus before our next game as I cannot be in Montreal until the middle of November at the earliest. 

What a Cowboy Campaign: Showdown in Los Nachos

Last Wednesday, we saw the start of our much anticipated What a Cowboy campaign written by Eero, my friend in Finland. We are the first group to playtest. Eero's club in Finland is going to start sometime in early October. 

The campaign can be found here, the background story has been very well fleshed out and I cannot do a better job than Eero so download the campaign pamphlet and have a look at the intro. Suffice to say though that the campaign documents a generational  feud between two families, the Makinens and the Taverniers. The Taverniers are rich and the Makinens are poor, their father Jake Makinen has been murdered and all the property has been stolen. The sons were driven into exile in Mexico and now have returned to the New Mexican territory to seek the return of what is theirs and to find out who killed the patriarch of the family.

We advertised on the Montreal Historical Wargaming Club Discord and found 5 players. Most games will be hosted at PY's place, and hopefully we will get to play once or twice a month. To set up each game and to track progress we use the Club's Voice Discord Channel. This seems to be working well.

We got together a couple of weeks ago to generate our characters and also to see who has the initiative. Each posse has a set of player characters as well as non player characters generated by the campaign. The NPC's will vary according to the scenario played. I should note that there are 10 tables to the campaign and after some dice rolling and discussion, the Makinens got the initiative in the first turn. They decided to  try to take over the Tainted Desert, the Taverniers decided to challenge them and won a dice roll to accomplish this.

The Players

Makinens

Matt Makinen-Gunslinger

Justin Makinen-Greenhorn

Bubba Carlsberg-Shootist

Hector el Borracho-Greenhorn

Tuco-Shootist

Taverniers

Max Briggins-Shootist

George Marrison-Shootist

Justin MaBoots-Shootist

Billy Bob Jackson-Gunslinger

Elmo Röid-Shootist

Game Photos

The Tainted Dessert, the Makinen's started in the foreground.

The Players ( I will get a photo of PY aka Elmo Röid in our next game): The Makinen Gang Gabriel aka Hector El Borracho, John aka Tuco; The Tavernier Gang Dan aka Billy Bob Jackson and Graham aka Justin MaBoots.

The Summing Up

Well the first game was awarded to the Makinens who out-gunned and captured two of the Tavernier gang; Max Briggins and Elmo Röid. They have thus taken over the Tainted Desert, increasing the income from their 2 sheep farms as well as their derelict ranch. They questioned their prisoners but it quickly became clear the Taverniers were not involved in the murder of Jake Makinen. The Makinens who were poorly armed will now be able to arm up for their next encounter in this fascinating and really cool campaign.