I ran an Old West game at our local club meeting at a nearby hobby shop this past Sunday, using Fistful of Lead Reloaded as our rules. Game in 15 mm - and one of the benefits of the smaller scale is that all of the active characters had a mounted, on foot, and dead version - and then each group had a standing horse to mark points of dismount and a dead horse to mark if horses are killed. There was call to use all variants of the figures during the course of the game but not for every figure, except no need for the dead horses this go round.
The scenario had a locally raised posse after the notorious Plague of Locust gang said to be near the farm of one Josiah Dirtturner. The gang is suspected of murdering well known and respected rancher Henry "Cowman" Puncher.
To spice things up a bit there were some Random Events that would be rolled for whenever a Joker appears - and we had four jokers in our deck. Once played, though, the joker did not go back into the deck so once the fourth joker was encountered there would be no more random events. As it played out four of the six events occurred: the antelope arrived, the herd of buffalo arrived both benign, the cavalry arrived but on foot and by appearing nearer the posse, and the posse passing an easy Task Role, the cavalry briefly engaged the gang but without success; they then requisitioned that portion of the posse's horses leaving them on foot. A wolf pack also appeared but it ended up quickly leaving the table without encountering any player figures, but closer to the gang. Neither the angry bear nor the renegade Apaches showed up. Had the game gone a bit longer the gang could have used the buffalo herd to help cover their retreat.
I ran the gang, four figures with two possible reinforcements - and these figures were maxed out on traits since they were going up against a posse of eight figures with four possible reinforcements.
Game started great for the gang, first half dozen firing and wounding rolls were all 10s when needed for hits and 9s or 10s for wounds which meant kills. Managed to kill three of the posse from our hides in the rocks which were treated as heavy cover. The posse got heavy cover for the rows of sacks and barrels and spent a good portion of the game hunkered down - but still managed to kill two of them with those lucky rolls. The other half held back for a long time as well. And in that hanging back the posse only inflicted one minor wound and one pin marker, both on the same gang member, until the last couple of turns.
Posse players started complaining the odds against them after taking some kills even though they still had 2:1 odds because the killed got replaced. Then the complaints were about the gang being too hard to hit because of the heavy cover - despite they having heavy cover as well - and I stepped into my 'game master' role and pointed and out that was because they kept hanging back rather than advancing. Finally, once they started advancing and getting to close range, they started doing more damage to the gang and by the next to last turn I realized it was time to mount up and get out of there. Alas, one gang character, Clark Twilight, didn't make it out.
My four got cut down to three (and decided not to take the reinforcement at that point in the game, too close to being over) but we cut down their eight to seven by the end because I killed one more posse member, in a melee if memory serves, so that Keith ended with only three left - Mike only got one replacement. So my four ultimately faced eleven posse members and got away with only the one loss.
Neither the rancher nor his wife - nor any of their considerable livestock - were harmed in the making of this tale. But it started with some possible threats by the posse that they backed off on when advised doing something so unprovoked might lead to bad things - though, to be fair, the write up did suggest he might be in cahoots with the gang. The write up is below the photos which are a bit random, didn't take enough photos, especially early in the game.
And I can't leave off without noting that Mike, see below, placed The Badlands in Arizona. Apparently he is unfamiliar with them being in South Dakota!
So far, there have been the following exchanges on the club's I/O site, this from Mike:
"rustling wives and marrying cattle"Just to be clear, we were rustling the wives to marry to the cattle - not much better to do with such a homely lot (both the wives and the cattle)! The Plague of Locust standards are considerably higher, in both female companions and cattle, than the local yokels. A fine woman and a fine beef steak are two of the elements of a celebratory meal which means we know the proper usage of a lady as well as a steer - clearly the locals are confused on both points.
An overall view of the table, the farm at the center right - this is actually from later in the game.
A closer shot of the farm. Keith's portion of the posse - the survivors and the reinforcements are mostly cowering behind the heavy cover of the barrels and bags. If you look closely you will see a couple of dead men, one just above a blue 'activated' marker. The red disc indicates a wound. There were horses, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, geese, ducks, chickens, and dogs roaming around inside the corral. Looks like the posse is going to have to pay for knocking over one of the gates (on the right).
Part of the gang is saddling up to 'get out of town' as the posse starts to get the upper hand. Any gang reinforcements and one of the random events, an angry bear, would have appeared at the watering hole. The bigger rocks I bought from a late gamer - the smaller rock piles are 3D prints I purchased and painted to use for this game.
One of the random events was a herd of buffalo that arrived and roamed around the table - had the game gone a bit longer the gang might have used it to cover their escape.
This shows where the gang was - the badass sidekick of 'the boss' can just be seen at the left edge about center. Beyond the buffalo are the gang's 'versions', mounted or dead - and possible reinforcements that never made it to the game. One member is behind the rock behind the three orange-rust trees. Another where you see all those status indicators to the right. And on the rock above was The Boss of the gang. All of these 'gentlemen' were amped to the max within the rules and even with some 'creative' additions to give them a chance to survive since 2:1 odds in these rules would be very bad for the outnumbered player without such machinations.
Three of Mike's portion of the posse, one who crawled up on to the rocks to shoot at the gang's Boss up on the rock top center, off to his left is the one member of the gang that went down and out at the end turn, Clark Twilight. Those locals shouldn't oughta done that - he has a lot of ornery brothers who will be out for vengeance now.
Another general view of the table.
The main man, not the boss, the serious bad ass Jake 'Spawn' McGregor - five wounds to take him out! - for the gang and below him a dismounted horse model to mark where the horses are at; gang got two or one for two, posse got one for four characters.
The gang member down low closest to the farm was the first game member to take a wound - but he recovered from the first one, succumbed in a melee at the end, posse got a 10 virus my 1 - 9 chances to wound, we just called him 'dead'. Rules do allow possible resurrection of characters in campaigns but this was a one off game. The brown marker indicates he has fired and needs to reload.
Three posse members have all activated and the one on top of the rocks is wounded and out of ammo as well (rolled a 1 when firing).
The first member of the posse to get killed - hazards of crossing open ground in range of highly experienced gunmen.
A closer shot of two of the posses deadmen - and two men still fighting.
One of the random events, a herd of pronghorn antelope that showed up in the first turn right behind part of the posse - and no doubt caused some anxiety when the player rolled for the event to occur there and probably a big sigh of relief that it was a benign event. Again, these photos are a bit random given I was both playing and game mastering.
The Pre-game briefing for the posse players:
You are part of a legally deputized posse and after the local bad hombres generally referred to as the Plague of Locust Gang. They’ve been reported to be in the vicinity of that eccentric farmer’s homestead on the edge of the badlands, Josiah Dirtturner. The good news is the bad guys are in the area. The bad news is that the farm is within range of plenty of ambush points and sniper hide possibilities in the rocks.
They’re suspected of killing a well respected local rancher, Henry ‘Cowman’ Puncher. Apparently they also shot down some of his best horses and his prize bull.
These are some seriously bad men and you only joined the posse because it seemed enough men to catch them or, even better, kill them - and you didn’t want to be seen as not willing to help out, not good for one’s reputation hereabouts. But if anyone asked, you’d not hesitate to admit to being both scared and harboring a great desire to get back home before any shooting starts. You are no coward, you just have a wife and children to look after and their lives would be hard if you were to get killed.
One worry is what side is Josiah on, is he an innocent victim of the gang or perhaps the rumors are true that he is friendly to them and that is why they are near, to have access to food, etc?
If dismounting, it might be wise to leave someone to tend to the horses. The gang has been known to steal horses, too.
All are hoping that none of the untoward events predicted by the local drunk will come true - despite his uncanny ability to predict future events when he is drunk enough. And he was so drunk last night that he passed out. {Random Events}
You arrive either right at the farm or to either side of it, either all together or split into three different groups. Up to the player whether arriving mounted or on foot but if on foot, horses are with you.
Random Events (roll a d6):
Four jokers in the deck at start, if any player draws a joker it is to be played immediately and the player gets a replacement card. Maximum two jokers in a given turn, if three or more are played in same turn, the extras are returned to the deck for next turn.
As each joker is played it is removed from the deck for the rest of the game - maximum of four possible random events out of list.
Random Events Arrival roles 1 2 3 / 4 5 6/ 7 8 9/ 10 11 12. Bold = corners
Roll a d6 to determine which event occurs.
Each event can only happen once so if rolled a second time move up or down to the next unused item. Consider the event list a wheel - so cannot fail to reach an unused event. ACTUAL LIST IS FOR GAME MASTER EYES ONLY
