Battle of Arrowhead Wells - FFOL: Bigger Battles

Ran a four player game of Fistful of Lead: Bigger Battles with a couple modifications to both speed play and reduce 'bloodiness'.  Caused some consternation amongst the players thinking the 'high die rolls' should have been more bloody and not enough casualties but at the end of the game 25% of the figures in the game (less the very late arriving cavalry that showed up and nothing more) were down.  That is pretty bloody.  Without my mods it probably would have been 75%!

Alas, was having far too much fun running the game to take many photos.  A couple groups of Cheyenne were raiding a stage station in northeastern Nevada with a stage and its passengers having arrived late the night before and the game starts before first light - and hard for figures to be seen even at short range which also frustrated the players (I was rolling dice to determine).   Got easier to see as the sun rose - though was in the eyes of the whites for a turn or two with a negative modifier to shooting as a result.

Across the road from the stage station was a small homestead being used by a group escorting grain wagons to the fort somewhere further south.  And ambling along the road with a trio of pack mules was no than a very young Annie Oakley, a Hero.

There was a herd of pronghorn antelope roaming around (near the trees at the top of the photo below) and even a half dozen buffalo (you can sort of see them at the bottom of the photo on the right but a top down view).

There was a possibility some Shoshone might show up, mortal enemies of the Cheyenne.  There was also that late arriving cavalry patrol.  There were also some additional heroes that might have made an appearance but did not.  

An overall shot looking north.

A closer shot of the burning buildings.  Cheyenne to the right, stagehands and station hands to the left.  Can just see the stagecoach on the far left where the ladies were trying to board and the driver and messenger (shotgun) were also climbing up to move the coach.  The driver and messenger succeeded, not the women.  The driver ended up down and out, the messenger was out of ammo (as a lone figure I allowed a -2 to his shooting rather than no shooting at all) but, eventually got the horses under control and headed out.

The Cheyenne achieved their goal of stealing horses - the extra draft horses for the stage coach.  They also kidnapped a woman passenger from the stage and took two scalps.

The stage station pretty much burned down since the Cheyenne lit fires to cover their activities.  The wagon escort managed to get off the board but didn't do much to help save the stage station so maybe the leader might consider going further afield, like Alaska.  The wagon messenger (shotgun) managed to limp the stagecoach along behind the wagons - those horses didn't get changed and were too tired for any more speed.  A couple of the women at the station, the cook and one of the passengers, ran off into the woods and may be the basis for another game.

And poor Ms. Oakley ended up dying from her wounds with no one left around to care for her - though she did some 'executiion' before she went down.  Also, both groups of white-eyes were each guilty of taking a scalp!  

Seemed like all the players had fun and I got to indulge being creative as the game master.  One of the most fun games to run for me I've ever put on.  The most unique element of the game is that none of the players asked who won which I hope was a factor of having too much fun to care.  

 

150th Anniversary game of the Battle of Rosebud

 Some photos from the game I ran today of the Battle of Rosebud - on the actual 150th anniversary.

No particular order or explanations just now.

Little Bighorn game

 First, not my figures nor my terrain.  And note, it was Very Hard to get any photos without impedimenta and hands and fingers so not as many as I'd have liked and not the ones I would have preferred to get - but I got what I could.

Here are five in no particular order.

Above - a large melee early on.  My troops on the left, Reno's command.

Later on and a lot of Shaken units on both sides in this giant scrum.

The chief in the background is Lame Deer.  I killed him!

Custer's force.  Which did a follow on of my Reno force in attacking the village.

Reno's command, the figures I ran.  Rules were Battles for Empire II.  Nick ran the game.

Remount herd - Horses!

 

Three dozen horses to represent the cavalry remount herd, the 'remuda'.  Basing a bit different so these can be used in varying periods and scenarios.  A dozen bases.  Another step along the way of the great painting 'expedition'.  These worked without the white facial markings and socks and stocking but were just a bit bland - minor improvement but I like them.  May glue on tufts when things calm down.

Rosebud Battlefield practice setup

A practice setup for the sesquicentennial game I am running on June 17th.  On the floor of my garage so a bit hard on my back.  Up on tables on the day, approximately 5' x 12' playing surface.

Kolmar Creek - with a weird confluence since the water flows left to right (west to east) but that is just how this water effect works so I'll live with it.  Crook's Ridge to the right, Royall's Ridge to the left.

Crook's Ridge with the Conical Hill at the top.

The Gap to the east of Crook's Ridge.

A closer up of a few figures on top of Crook's ridge - for perspective.

Looking west to east - in the distance you can see those figures - if you look carefully.  The main watercourse is, of course, Rosebud Creek.  Kolmar Creek, the smaller stream, should be dry but it still works.

Looking south to north along Crook's Ridge, a bit of a lower angle.  Royall's Ridge to the left.

From the east, the Gap and then Crook's Ridge.

Looking east to west.

A shot of Royall's Ridge.

There will be a number of rock formations on the day but forgot to set out for this setup but I was getting tired and it was getting hot, 95 Fahrenheit outside when I decided to put it all away and head inside to cool off.  Swimming pool shortly!

 

The cavalry are painted! And some villagers, too.

Trying to come up for a reason for a mermaid in the Old West.  Well, maybe.  She just got painted.  From Rebel Minis pirate command pack.

Villagers for my Old West/Pony Wars - these will be added to a friends Little Bighorn Battle this coming Saturday, as near to the sesquicentennial as his club schedule allows.  Includes 8 dead, 6 slightly modified with some glue-tissue masking to create dresses instead of men's legs.  Two Peter Pig Vietnam civilian women dead just painted as plains Indians.

Photos taken just prior to seal coating.  This is the high command, 6 men.  Mounted, foot, dead per soldier and one dead and one standing horse for every three cavalrymen.

The two images show an additional 60 soldiers, 45 cavalry and 15 mounted infantry, same proportions as above for the command.

All of the above are game ready (well, the mermaid needs to be seal coated and then new gloss medium applied to the water and her scales).

While 'game ready', eventually I will dry brush a medium volume grass green and a very light yellow ochre so the texture will blend better in various settings.   For now as is for a game on the 17th.

The natives get a moment in the spotlight.

Box one of Lakota in preparation.

And more Lakota.  Though mixed into the two photos are Cheyenne and Arapahoe.

 Crow and Shoshone figures - the yellowish dots were a sampling of speed paints which I hope to use to accelerate getting these natives done, all of them.  We'll see how it goes.

Total 96 native warriors to paint - but mounted, dismounted, dead per warrior plus the one standing and one dead horse for every six warriors.