Steve's Random Musings on Wargaming and other stuff...
Being an account of my wargaming activities, a few sailing stories, some beer related anecdotes, what music I'm listening to.... oh, and anything else that knows me!
"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army
to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about
as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain
on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and
takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".
Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"
Time for another update.. just a short one this week, and an apology
for the hiatus over the last few weeks in the provision of drivel the blog is
normally widely admired for .. my regular reader will know that my other
past time is
sailing [clicky]
and at this time of year my focus shifts to antifoul, paint, and epoxy..
😁
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Very much enjoyed the book on Gordievsky by McIntyre, and then, as is the way
of the algorithms, Amazon offered me a deal on this one..
I'll be honest and say that before I read the book, I'd never heard of
Gordievsky but I think most people of my age have heard of Philby..
him and the others known as the Cambridge Four were undoubtedly the high
water mark of Soviet counter intelligence in the war and post war years, up
to the 60's, and were common parlance when I was a kid..
The book is not specifically about Philby's spying activities, as the author
says plenty of others have already written those books, his interest is in
the personal nature of what Philby did.. his relationships, both male and
female, and the cause and effects of those relationships..
Philby was a product of the dusk of British Empire, that period just
before WW2 when the Empire was beginning to come to and end, but where
school (Windsor, Eton or Harrow), University (Oxbridge) and club was more
than an education, it was the passport to gainful and powerful employment.
He went to Westminster, and then Trinity College Cambridge (it was there in
1930 that he developed his life long belief in Communism) so he had all the
right ties and scarves to guarantee his later access to the Security
Services (MI6) in 1940 on just the word of a few ex university and fellow
club members whispering in the right ear - and that despite his earlier
marriage to a known Communist, and membership and activity in a number of
Socialist and Communist organisations at university.
For the next 20 odd years, he sent untold numbers of documents to the KGB,
and betrayed hundreds of American and British operations, causing the direct
death of hundreds of people, and all while schmoozing an enormous number of
friends in both the American and British Secret Services who had no idea
what he was doing while they chatted 'shop' at the almost endless dinners
and parties that seem to have been de rigeur at the time.. it is
unbelievable that his friends and colleagues in MI6 covered for him and
stood by him for years despite the concerns of MI5 and the CIA
Everyone said he was the most charming and likeable man - I reckon that he
had more than an element of sociopath about him, and the huge emotional,
psychological and personal cost to his closest friends when he was finally
found out mattered not a jot to him... excellent book.. 9/10
Was thinking the other day (as you do while endlessly roller'ing on litres of
stinky antifoul 😏) about how to represent twin six guns in "Ruthless".
The rules allow a "shoot" action but the clear implication is that this is
one shot from one weapon, and even a read of the campaign packs and design
features shows that most characters only have the single firearm (at a time)
option, but who hasn't seen those endless westerns where the plucky hero
walks down main street with a gun on each hip..
Initial thoughts...
any character can fire twice in a turn just by using two actions, but
that's just firing the same weapon twice, rather than true twin six guns
firing at the same time
my concern is that allowing a character to effectively fire twice per
action runs the danger of turning the character into a walking machine
gun, effectively, that's four shots per character turn (six if they get a
bonus card allowing three actions)
...can I be there when you tell Clint he can't have two six guns...
😁
So.. I'm thinking that I will allow the two shots per action from twin
six guns, BUT, the character will fire at -1 to hit (plus/minus any
character traits which will also apply), and for game play/balance not too
many characters should be so armed, they should be rare.
I think I will allow multiple targets (as it figures that a character with
this level of gun play must be pretty skilled), but in order to fire the
targets should be within 2" of each other.
Any character opting to shoot twice also can't claim cover while they're
doing it - so any other character trying a "snapshot" that succeed would
have the character in the open (the game allows characters to reserve fire
for later in the turn "Got you covered", and also allows any that haven't
fired to try and beat another character to the draw "snapshot")
Better set up a little test game to see how it works..
"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army
to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about
as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain
on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and
takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".
Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"
Time for another update..
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Saw this on Farcebook the other day... you may remember I bored you rigid with a
whole series of posts on the Portsmouth defences and the gates, and you may even
remember that the old fortifications were all demolished and removed in the
1880's.
At about that time those busy Victorians however, were also building a massive
barracks complex to replace them, comprising the Victoria and Clarence Barracks (the latter
replaced the same named one that was originally inside the fortifications)..
The Victoria Barracks was the smaller of the two, started earlier (1880s) and
designed to house a regiment of infantry... and this is it
following..
“Victoria Barracks, Southsea, c.1920-1940 Source Historic England
Archive (The Penzance Collection) pze_22837_011 flown 1930s
(estimated)”
...and another view of the complex from across the Common..
....Victoria Barracks was demolished in the early-1960's and is long
gone... this is the view now:
The handsome house on the far right in the original postcard is still
there - that's now Rees Hall part of the University of Portsmouth's student
accommodation (middle right above).. Victoria Barracks is now a
housing estate and the handsome bell tower building (which was the officers
quarters among other things) is now where the Holiday Inn (😏) is, but off
in the distance top left you can still see what was part of Clarence
Barracks - it's now the Portsmouth Museum - and my next little exploration I
think..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vichy emblem
I've just finished reading "Charlotte Gray" (by Sebastian Faulks - same guy
who wrote the probably better known "Birdsong") which is set in France
during WW2, and in the very early days of the Resistance, the early coming
to prominence of de Gaulle, but very much more about what it might have been
like (it is a novel after all) to have lived in Vichy.
For those that don't know, after 1940, the Germans occupied half of
France, but left the running of the other half to the puppet government of
Marshall Petain - which was based in Vichy, hence the name. Petain was the
WW1 Marshall, and something of a "hero of Verdun" to the French. His
government was anti communist, conservative authoritarian and followed a
policy of co-operation with the Germans, as they were looking for
concessions (return of POW's etc). What it actually meant was that despite
these efforts the Germans largely ignored them, while still insisting on a
sweep of German legislation, and other more swingeing demands/retributions
in the form of labour, money and food resources ...
What I had not realised was the depth of the concessions conceded, some apparently more than willingly - they unilaterally passed "The Law of 3 October 1940"
which defined the status of Jews in the unoccupied zone and also "the Law
regarding foreign nationals of the Jewish race" which authorized and
organized the internment of foreign Jews. There is documented evidence
that Petain personally made changes to the first law to make it more anti
semitic than it had been. "The General Commissariat for Jewish Affairs" was created by Vichy in March 1941, and was responsible for the seizure of Jewish assets it also organised anti-Jewish propaganda.
Drancy internment camp in August 1941. By the autumn of 1942
approx. 42,000 Jews had passed through mostly sent to
Auschwitz.. Note the Gendarme guard.
There were roughly 340,000 Jews living in France after the surrender -
two thirds were French nationals, and a third were refugees from Germany and
other European countries the Nazi's had invaded. Between '42 and '44, and following round ups and raids leading to multiple arrests, 75,000 Jews were deported (usually to Auschwitz) from internment camps in France - most of those
deported were Jews of foreign citizenship, refugees who had come to France
hoping for safety, but over 90% of those deported died.
By the second half of 1942 some of the roundups of Jews had caused huge
protests within the Catholic Church, a mainstay of the Petain regime, but
also among the general population. The brutal nature of the roundups,
(initial roundups had said adults only, for example, so children were left
behind while their parents were arrested) caused widespread public anger. In the end,
the Vichy governments decision to try and meet German quota demands by
arresting/deporting foreign Jews just meant the Germans increased the
quotas. In November '42, the Germans moved into Vichy as a result of the Allied landings in Tunisia anyway.
The Germans met increasing resistance to quota demands, from both the
administration and the Gendarmerie. The Vichy president Laval, refused to strip French Jews of their citizenship to facilitate
deportation, but thanks to this obstruction the vast majority of Jews with
French citizenship survived the Holocaust. France has possibly the highest
percentage survival rate of Jews of any of the countries.
Laval was executed on charges of collaboration and treason after the war.
Petain was also found guilty, but de Gaulle commuted the execution
to life imprisonment.
So just a reminder of where we are; the bad guys are attempting to rob the
Assay Office and have shot one of the two Assay Office guards, and badly
wounded the other who has holed up in the Barber's. It's not all gone their
way though, as the gangs boss, Clay, is currently lying trussed up on the
ground by the side of the hotel, with an angry Nugget standing over him....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Move 5:
First the bad guys: Emmett 10♣, Bart 3♠ and Joe 2♠. Then the good
guys, Jesse (in the Saloon) 2♣, Nugget (standing next to the tied
up Colt) A♠ and finally Wyatt 3♣
Nugget is indeed angry, and getting angrier by the minute, and when he
sees the bad guy in the fancy duds (Emmett 😏) gun down Waylon it tips
him over the edge and he races across the street with the intention of
battering him senseless. Emmett sees him coming and is just turning to
fire as Nugget smashes into him, staggering back Emmett has been
badly dazed.
While they're tussling however, Bart runs into the Office to join Joe
and the bags of loot - across the way, Wyatt has seen his mate
go down but is badly wounded and has no targets - he opts to stay low
for the time being..
In the Office, Joe looks at the sacks and decides its way over time
they get away. Joe picks up a sack and moves to the door shouting to
Bart as he goes past that it's "time they got the hell out of here,
grab a bag, boy!". Crossing the Office he steps outside next to the
wagon and heaves the sack in to the back of the wagon.
Mechanics behind the narrative (and in order of activation):
Nugget (by the Hotel) A♠: Moves twice, to engage hand to hand
with Emmett. I gave Nugget a +1 because Emmett was lily livered, and
he won, but the wounds rolled for on the to hit table were only
grazes. I also allowed Emmett an opportunity to get the draw on Nugget
before the hand to hand which Emmett also failed.
(Here you
go JBM - had to be done... 😁)
Emmett 10♣: I adjudicated that Emmett just having been bashed, and
failed a get the draw had finished his move.
Bart 3♠: Moves twice
Wyatt 3♣: No action
Joe 2♠: Picks up bag (1 action) moves (1 action)
Jesse 2♣: Fires twice (2 actions), misses with both
Tension Clock: 3 (no action)
Move 6:
First the bad guys:Emmett K♣, Bart (in the Office) A◆ and Joe 7◆. Then the good guys, Jesse (in the Hotel) 6◆ , Nugget 2♥ and finally Wyatt A♣
Bart cottons on quickly, picks up a bag, moves outside, and heaves it
into the wagon next to the other.
Wyatt, in the Barbers, fires twice at Joe who is standing next to Bart,
hitting him in the arm.. "that's one for you, mate"..
On the rise Emmett has recovered, and brings his guns up as Nugget tries
to do the same - Emmett's faster, and guns him down. Nugget collapses..
unconscious..
As Joe moves back in to the Office, Jesse across the way in the Hotel
curses.. "this is going belly up fast!" Limping to the door he moves
to the side of the hitching rail - he needs to get across and help Wyatt
while he still can.
Meanwhile - in the distance, the bell in the church starts ringing
frantically...
Mechanics behind the narrative (and in order of activation):
Bart (in the Office) A◆: Picks up bag (1 action) and moves (1)
Wyatt A♣: Fires twice (2), short range, but -1 for character trait
"nervous" and hits once at rolling 'arm wound' on the to hit table
Emmett K♣: Automatic recovery from Lily livered due to the K. Fires
twice (2) - Nugget tried to beat him to the draw but failed - Emmett hit
twice rolling 'leg wound' and 'severe wound' on the to hit table - a
severe wound knocks the recipient unconscious
Joe 7◆: Moves into the office (I erred again, he had 3 actions to play
with as a result of the 7 - apologies Joe, I can only blame heat of the
game.... and besides your unpleasant.. 😁)
Jesse (in the Hotel) 6◆: Moves outside (1) reloads (1)
Nugget 2♥: Unconscious - he tested to to recover but failed
Tension Clock: 6 - only two moves left - saved by the bell?? 😏
Move 7:
First the bad guys:Emmett 9◆, Joe (in the Office) 5♣ and Bart 6♠ (by the wagon). Then the good guys, Jesse (by the hitch rail in
front of the Saloon) 8♠ , Nugget (unconscious) 6♥ and finally Wyatt 4♣
As the bell in the church continues ringing frenziedly, Emmett runs
across to the wagon and shouts to Bart and Joe "we got no more time
left, I think I saw a cloud of dust away up the main street beyond the
town - lets get out of here - leave the last bag!"
Jesse limps across the street as fast as he can, and takes cover at the
back corner of the wagon, raising his gun he shoots at Bart who is
nearest and is just raising his gun to fire back at him. Bart staggers
back from the wound. Raising his guns again though, Bart fires back at
Jesse. Both men are badly hit..
Joe runs out of the Office and jumps up on to the wagon grabbing the
reins, "come on boys, time to saddle up!"
Across the way two shots ring out from the Barbers, and Joe curses as
his hat is shot off...
Mechanics behind the narrative (and in order of activation):
Emmett (on the rise) 9◆: moves twice (2)
Jesse (by the hitch rail in front of the Saloon) 8♠: moves (1)
shoots (1) - I allowed Bart to get the draw which he failed - Jesse
hits and rolls a "chest wound" - Bart passes his Toughness test
Bart (by the wagon) 6♠: Fires (2) - hits twice, and rolls "graze"
and "leg" on the to hit table - Jesse passes his Toughness test
Nugget (unconscious) 6♥: Unconscious - he tested to to recover but
failed
Joe (in the Office) 5♣: Moves (1) Jumps on to the wagon (1)
Wyatt (in the Barbers) 4♣: fires twice (2) at Joe (short range but I
gave Joe cover from the wagon load) - hits once and rolls "graze" on
the to hit table. Joe passes his Toughness test.
Last turn:
First the bad guys:Emmett 4♣, Joe (on the wagon) 10♥ and Bart 7♥ (back of the wagon). Then the good guys, Jesse (also back of the wagon) 3◆ , Nugget (unconscious) 5♣ and finally Wyatt 7♠
On the wagon Joe is feeling the tension and shouts to Emmett and
Bart, "get the lead out, dammit"!
Wyatt is also feeling the tension he knows their time is running out
to stop the outlaws from getting away - he fires twice but again only
grazes Joe!
Emmett and Bart take on Jesse
Bart snaps off a shot at Jesse and then jumps on the wagon - Jesse
ducks...
"Nugget fails to recover consciousness.."
...until Emmett, who has also jumped into the wagon, snaps off a shot
at him who attempts to get the draw but fails. Emmett's shot hits Jesse
in the leg, and kills him outright.
Joe whips up the horses and the wagon, with outlaws and bags on board,
moves off in a rush, regrettably, they've no time to recue Colt..
Mechanics behind the narrative (and in order of activation):
Joe (on the wagon) 10♥: defers his move
Wyatt 7♠: fires twice (2 Actions) - hits once, getting graze on
the to hit table. Joe fails his toughness test and becomes
Lily Livered (yet again I fluffed here, Joe should have had
another action - I can only blame getting engrossed in the game
too much!)
Bart 7♥ (back of the wagon): fires at Jesse (1) and then moves
(1) - he hits but only scores a graze on the to hit table. Jesse
then fails his toughness test becoming lily livered. Jesse tried
to jump the gun, but failed.
Nugget (unconscious) 5♣: fails again to recover
Emmett 4♣: Moves (1) and fires (1) at Jesse who
attempts to jump the gun, but fails. The shot hits (I gave Jesse cover
bonuses) , and he rolls "leg wound" on the to hit table -
that's Jesse's third leg wound so it kills him outright.
Jesse (also back of the wagon) 3◆: Dead
Post Match Analysis:
First the body count:
The Good Guys lost two dead -
Jesse and Waylon. The Bad Guys lost one captured - Colt.
Then the scores:
The Outlaws inflicted 17 wounds (for 17 pts) and escaped with two of
the bags (for 4 pts) - a total of 21 pts. Their shooting and hand to hand hits were way above average.. Poor Wyatt took 9 hits alone - no wonder he ran for it and hid in the Barbers!
The Good guys inflicted 8 wounds (for 8 pts) and retained one of the
bags (for 2pts), but I'm also giving them a bonus 3 pts for having
captured Clay - a total of 13 pts.
So a clear and incontrovertible win for the bad guys...
I think without a doubt two things played into the Bad Guys hands - first, the game swung with those two bouts of hand to hand that Bart won. In
"Ruthless", Hand to Hand combat is harsh - an automatic two rolls on
the 'to hit' table for the loser. Second though, even when the Good
Guys did eventually win a hand to hand they rolled very poorly on the
to hit table. The Bad Guys were rolling well, the Good Guys, not so..
I need a little handy reference card for the card activation values so that
I stop missing those 7's! 😏
For me, as a solo player, the narrative is always key, but I accept some find the mechanics interesting as well, so each move has both - you can read one or the other (or both), as required..😁
For the dramatis personae I refer you to the previous post [clicky].. the scene opens with four nefarious looking characters creeping up to the back corner of the hotel/saloon...
Move 1:
First the bad guys: Colt J◆ (card partially obscured), Emmett 10◆, Bart 8◆, Joe 4♠. Then the good guys, Jesse (in the General Store) 9♠, Nugget (in the Hotel) J♠, Wyatt (on the wagon) 5♣ and finally Waylon (in the Assay Office) 5♥
The four outlaws crept up stealthily behind the hotel, bandanas up... all looked pretty quiet in Cedar Gulch but across the way they could see the wagon pulled up outside the Assay Office, the horse almost more asleep than the driver..
In the hotel, a dreamy look on his face as a result of the overnight ministrations of the extravagantly coiffured "Hairy Mary", Nugget is contemplating his coffee and the imminent return to his claim up in the mountains when his peace is rudely shattered by the sound of a six gun...
.."four outlaws crept up stealthily behind the hotel"..
Out front of the hotel the gangs boss, Clay, the six gun still smoking in his hand, curses as he sees his shot has only winged the driver. Next to him his second in command, Emmett, also takes a shot but misses completely.
Nugget is not the only one who's surprised by the fusillade of shots. In the General store, Jesse Cassidy - the town deputy - had been chatting amiably with the store owner over a shared pot of coffee while he kept an eye on goings at the Assay Office.
Dropping his coffee he runs out of the door of the store, and heads towards the shots. Running into the alley between the store and the saloon, he throws himself through a side window and into the foyer of the Hotel where he comes face to face with an old prospector, clutching a cup of coffee, and with an alarmed look on his face..
"Holdup at the Assay Office, haul your iron" he shouts before taking up a position at the front window.
Back outside, Colt gestures at Bart, the youngster in the gang, to get down the back of the saloon and General Store and come round from the other side - Bart nods and starts running.
On the wagon, Wyatt has had a rude awakening, spotting the gunsmoke across the street he knows 'it ain't wise staying where he is' and throws himself off the wagon and into the Assay Office for cover. Inside the Office Waylon nods at his partner from his position by the front window and fires across the street at Colt. "Hold up I reckon, mate, but I just got one of them!" he shouts. Across the street Colt grasps at his leg and ducks down.
Joe looks on in horror as he sees his boss hit, but sheer greed drives him to run across the street to the slight rise running along the side of the Assay Office. He takes cover in the scrub where he can get a good view of the front and side of the building.
Mechanics behind the narrative (and in order of activation):
Nugget (in the Hotel) J♠ : with no one in sight, and no issues seen, I played a pass for him this move (but in hindsight I could have allowed him to delay his phase to later in the turn).
Colt J◆ : moves to the front corner of the hotel (1 action) and fires at Wyatt once (1 action) - he hits but only scores a "graze" on the to hit table. Wyatt then passes his Toughness (morale) test.
Emmett 10◆: moves to the front corner of the hotel (1 action) and fires at Wyatt once (1 action) - he misses.
Jess 9♠: moves via the alley by the side of the hotel and jumps through a window to enter the hotel (1 action)
Bart 8◆: moves twice down the back of the hotel and towards the back of the General store - two actions
Wyatt 5♣: jumps from the wagon (1 action) and moves into the Assay Office (1 action)
Waylon 5♥: moves to a window (1 action) and takes a shot at Colt (1 action). He hits, and gets a leg wound on the to hit table. Colt then fails his toughness test and becomes "lily livered" (ie. "shaken")
Joe 4♠: moves twice (2 actions) to the cover provided by the slight rise, and the scrub.
Tension Clock result: 5 (no action)
Move 2:
First the bad guys: Colt 6♣, Emmett Q♠, Bart 5♠, Joe 2◆. Then the good guys, Jesse (in the hotel) 5◆, Nugget (in the hotel) 4◆, Wyatt 3♥ and finally Waylon 8♥
By the side of the Hotel, Colt grunts with the pain in his leg, but he can see the boys are putting up a good show so decides to find out what the crash was that he'd just heard in the saloon - ducking up to the window, he takes a quick glance inside and sees an old prospector, and a guy with a badge - trouble! He fires off a shot and is rewarded with the sight of blood on the deputy's leg! Jesse, spins and returns fire at Colt who's outlined in the window but misses, but Nugget also fires off two shots at him, and is rewarded with a grunt of pain, blood, and Colt disappears from the window.. "no varmint is taking my stash", he grunts..
Emmett, who was that man, decides to get in to cover, and follows his compadre across the street and also takes cover behind the scrub covered rise. Up the street, Bart skids to a halt by the far corner of the General Store. He's got his eye on the Barbers across the street, not for a haircut but to give him cover for an approach to the other side of the Assay Office.
.."Emmett decides to get in to cover"..
Over in the Assay Office Waylon has seen one of the bad guys come running across the street but he can't see him, and buoyed by the success of his last shot he fires twice at the guy who had been standing next to the man he hit - "damn, missed him!" Wyatt reckons it's more than past time he started fighting back, and crosses the Office to the window that faces the rise where Emmett and Joe have taken cover - spotting Emmett he fires off a shot at him but can see he has missed. He ducks down as the wood round the window is splintered by the other outlaw leaving a cut on his cheek..
Mechanics behind the narrative (and in order of activation):
Emmett Q♠: swaps his card with Colt (who is "lily livered"/shaken), so Colt goes first but the face card also allows automatic recovery from being lily livered... he moves (1 action) and then fires once (1 action) - hitting Jesse, and getting a leg wound on the the to hit table. Jesse then fails his toughness test and goes "lily livered".
Waylon 8♥: fires twice (2 actions) but misses both times.
Emmett 6♣: moves twice (2 actions)
Bart 5♠: moves twice down the back and up the side of the General store - two actions
Jesse (in the Saloon) 5◆: test to recover from lily livered failed (1 action) and fires at Colt (1 action) - short range, hard cover, lily livered = 9+ (on 2D6) and misses (by 1!)
Nugget (in the Hotel) 4◆ : fires two shots at Colt (2 actions) - short range, hard cover = 8+. Hitting him once and rolling severe wound and unconscious on the to hit table
Wyatt 3♥: crosses the office (1 action) and fires out the side window at Emmett (1 action) - short range but hard cover = 8+, but misses
Joe 2◆: moves up besides Emmett (1 action) and fires a shot off at Wyatt (1 action) - short range, hard cover = 8+, hits him but only rolling grazed on the to hit table. Wyatt then passes his Toughness test
Tension Clock result: 5 (no action)
Positions in the Assay Office
Move 3:
First the bad guys : Colt Q◆, Emmett 3◆, Bart K♠ and Joe 7♥. Then the good guys, Jesse (in the Saloon) K◆, Nugget (also in the Saloon) 7♠, Wyatt 10♥ and finally Waylon Q♥
Up the street Bart is breathing heavily from his run up behind the Hotel and general Store, but can see the way is clear and runs across the street to the alley between the Barbers and the Assay Office. In the Hotel Jesse pulls himself together and moves to one of the front windows just in time to see Bart run across the street - he fires but misses "damn!"
Waylon, by the front window of the Office has also seen Bart cross the street and can hear him just by the open door - springing up he charges out the door and launches himself at Bart. The ensuring fight is savage, Bart viciously kicks him in the leg and Waylon staggers back badly hurt. Wyatt looking to help his buddy also comes out of the Office and attacks Bart. In the ensuing fight Wyatt is similarly beaten savagely by Bart, and staggers back dazed...
At the hotel Nugget can see Clay just below the side window and taking the opportunity to grab some curtain pulls he climbs out and ties him up.. "you ain't going to do any more harm" he mutters, but as he glances up he sees the outlaws across the way start moving in in on the side of the Office.
"you ain't going to do any more harm"
Emmett's seen what has happened to his boss and is beginning to get angry, "this should have been a push over and it ain't". Crossing the rise he fires off a shot at Wyatt, who's only just recovering from the attack on Bart, hitting him in the leg
Mechanics behind the narrative (and in order of activation):
Bart K♠: moves twice (two actions)
Jesse (in the Saloon) K◆: gets an automatic recovery from lily livered because of the King activation card, moves (1 action) and fires (1 action) but misses
Waylon Q♥: moves twice (2 actions) into contact with Bart - in the hand to hand Bart wins by 1 pt resulting in two wounds to Waylon, and a push back. Waylon passes his toughness test.
Colt Q◆: Clint is out cold and with no A's/4's in the group he tests to recover but fails and remains unconscious.
Wyatt 10♥: moves twice (2 actions) into contact with Bart - in the hand to hand Bart wins causing two arms wounds - Wyatt passes his toughness test.
Nugget (also in the Saloon) 7♠: out of the window (1 action) tying up Colt (1 action) - I made an error on this move - a 7 allows three actions
Joe 7♥: moves twice (2 actions) - like Nugget Joe should have had another action
Emmett 3◆: moves (1 action) fires (1 action) - hits and gets a leg wound on the to hit table - Wyatt passes his toughness test though he is beginning to look like a pin cushion!
Tension Clock result: 5 (that's the third time!) - no action
Move 4:
First the bad guys: Emmett J♣, Bart K♥ and Joe A♥. Then the good guys, Jesse (in the Saloon) 10♠, Nugget (standing next to the now bound Colt) 4♥, Wyatt J♥ and finally Waylon Q♥
"How the pendulum swings, and all down to Bart!" thinks Emmett...
By the side of the Office Joe, ducks through the window and fires off a shot at the heavily wounded Wyatt hitting him in the leg. As Joe laughs Wyatt ducks down, but he's looking hunted, and then Bart also opens fire on him, drawing more blood!
Out in the open in front of the Office, Waylon is not doing much better, he's stuck between a rock and hard place - he's got one bad guy in the Office, one ahead of him and another behind him.. and all of them are either out of sight or in cover apart from the guy in the fancy duds.. he turns, pulling his revolver as he does, and fires, but "fancy duds" beats him to the draw, hitting him twice, and killing him outright.. Waylon slumps to the floor
Wyatt groans at the sight, he's had enough - he stumbles to the Barber Shop window and collapses through it into cover just as more shots ring out from the Hotel.
On the rise Emmett grabs his arm and ducks down.
Mechanics behind the narrative (and in order of activation):
Joe A♥ - move 1 action and fires 1 action - he hits and gets a leg wound on the to hit table. Wyatt fails his toughness test and becomes "lily livered"/shaken
Bart K♠ - Bart fires twice (at -1 for his Greenhorn status) hitting once but only grazing him on the to hit table
Waylon Q♥ - no action as beaten to the draw and killed
Wyatt J♥ - moves (1 action), and through the window (1 action)
Jesse (in the Saloon) 10♠ - fires twice at Emmett (2 actions) but misses
Nugget (standing next to the now bound Colt) 4♥ - fires twice at Emmett (2 actions) hits once, and gets an arm on the to hit table. Emmett fails his Toughness Test
Emmett 3◆ - fires twice at Waylon (2 actions) - hitting in the leg and also a severe wound - the third leg wound is enough to kill him
Tension Clock result: 4 - no action
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....and I think this is getting long enough for now, so I'll bring this episode to a close... stay tuned for next weeks conclusion to this bloody tale, children! 😁
Time for another update.. and a game is in the offing..
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A dusty Cedar Gulch, shortly before noon.
A shipment is being weighed inside the Assay Office, and word has spread
that in addition to the copper, there may be some slightly more precious
metal in there as well - the talk in the town is that some itinerant
prospector got lucky up in the hills and sold his stash before moving on -
"there ain't nothing else there.. trust me.."
Outside the Assay Office, a wagon waits, the horses ears occasionally
flicking the flies off.. the driver quietly smoking..
Players & Factions:
Town Law (A Deputy)
Outlaws (Four of them)
Prospector ("Nugget" Turner) -
an (extremely) interested party
Assay Office Guards (two of them - one is the driver)
Key Terrain:
Assay Office :
There is a wagon drawn up outside the Assay Office
1 entrance - three windows (front and side)
Lockable strong room (currently open)
Inside is The Shipment: Represented by 3 large bags in the middle of the
floor
Next door is the Barber, across the road is the Saloon, and next door to
that the General Stores
Deployment:
Good guys with black identifiers, bad guys red..
The sole representative of the law in town is #4 the deputy (the
Sherriff is out of town on other business), Jesse Cassidy - Jesse knows
that there is a shipment going out that morning and has also heard the
gossip about possible other items being shipped, so has walked up main
street from the gaol to keep an eye on the Assay Office from across the
street inside the Trading Post where he's enjoying a cup of coffee with
the owner.
Nugget (#3)is just about to leave the Saloon, he's
having a last cup of coffee having enjoyed a good breakfast after a night
spent in the arms of the fragrant, lovely and extravagantly coiffured
"Hairy Mary" Malone.
The two Assay Office Guards (hired for this specific job) are positioned
one on the wagon (Wyatt Parker #1), and one in the office
(Waylon Garrett #2)
The Outlaws have left their horses just off table behind the Saloon (so
that is their entry point) and comprise:
Colt Edwards (#1)
Emmett Williams (#2)
Joe Barton (#3)
Bart Johansson (#4)
Scenario Specific Rules:
In the Assay Office each bag is classed as heavy (movement penalty :
requires 1 action to carry, can't run, can't move twice)
The Tension Clock : at the end of each round, roll 1d6: On a 6 the
bell rings noon in the local church, and the game enters its last 2
rounds.
Victory Conditions:
For each bag the Outlaws escape with they get 2 pt.; for each bag they
don't escape with they lose 1 pt.
For each injury (including gut shot and winded) to the Good
Guys the Outlaws get 1pt; for each of the same to the Outlaws the
Good Guys get 1 pt.
At least one of the Outlaws or Good Guys has to be alive at the end of the
game in order to receive victory points - "dead men tell no tails" 😏
Victory goes to the player with the most Victory Points.. so not
necessarily the most bags.
