The Wagon .. ♥♠♦♣

Some gaming has been going on .. 😏

Background/narrative:

Following their comically disastrous attempt to free Zeke [clicky], Robbie and Buck have been locked up with their old comrade. 

In the morning, after a breakfast comprising only a cup of cold coffee they are told to get on the horses corralled outside their makeshift jail, they are to be transferred to more permanent quarters - the nearby prisoner of war camp.

The three have had their hands firmly tied in front of them to the pommels of their saddles - what their guards don't know though, is that Zeke has managed to secrete a knife up his sleeve, and on the journey manages to cut his bonds, before then passing the knife to Robbie and Buck who do the same.

At the first rest stop the three overwhelm their unsuspecting guards, tie them up, take their weapons and escape - in the chaos of the fight to overwhelm the guards however, the horses have bolted, so they are on foot.

Confederate lines are a couple of days away, and while Zeke is happy they can last that long on the small stock of food they have managed to take from their erstwhile captors, he is less happy with the lack of water.

A day later though, as they are laid up to avoid the worst of the midday sun, they hear the sound of an approaching wagon - quickly giving the other two orders on what they need to do, Zeke prepares his ambush - if it is a Union supply wagon as he suspects, they'll take what they need by force, anything else they'll have to play it by ear... 

Game mechanics/setup:

• I'm using Ruthless [clicky] again - Ruthless-Fastest-Rules-in-the-West-3.pdf (fireballforward.com) [clicky] ..they're free gratis, but more importantly they drive a fantastic narrative 

• For this game then, some of our old 'friends' are reunited but the Union side are new characters - prepare to meet Shorty and Bill..  😏

• The Union supply wagon has a crew of two (Bill is the driver, and Shorty is riding shotgun) both armed as standard cavalry of the time with a Sharps single shot rifle - interestingly though, and for extra fire power, Shorty also has a revolver.

• To simulate the effects of surprise neither Shorty nor Bill can react until either 

1. Zeke, Robbie or Buck fires, or 
2. Zeke, Robbie or Buck is within 9” of the wagon, but
3. there is a chance that Zeke, Robbie or Buck might be seen anyway, so roll once per turn (D10); on a 1 or 2 the nearest character is seen. 

• Ground is considered generally good with the following exceptions
• bushes block line of sight but don't provide cover; 
• the rock outcrops, the gully and the hills are rough going, block line of sight and also provide hard cover (providing you are the opposite side of it to who's shooting at you!)
• the road/track is marked by scrub.

• If Shorty or Bill manage to get the wagon off the table at either end of the table, they have won
• I have given the wagon a nominal speed of 9" on good ground. 
• It takes an entire turn for the wagon to reverse direction
• Bill is considered fully occupied while driving the wagon
• One action to mount or dismount from wagon
• Horse casualties as per the rules (any three hits and they drop)

Solo amendments and experiments:

As per the last game, and because it worked well, rather than deal a hand of 5 cards per side (or in this case per character, as I am using the rule writers suggestion to allow individual activation, rather than everyone on the same side activating on one card):

• at start of turn just turn over one card from the top of the deck and place it by each character, then action in sequence as normal
• to allow the "jump the gun" action to work (as the characters don't have a deck of five to play cards from) I just used an opposed D10 roll - if the guy being shot at rolls higher, he gets to fire first if his weapon is loaded (NB. Snapshot trait adds to the die roll)
• to allow the "recovery from unconscious" action to work (again, because the characters don't have a deck of five to play cards from) 
• I allow any character on the same side to exchange cards 
• I also give the unconscious character one roll per turn to recover (D10); 1 or 2 and they recover.

The Game:

Initial positions pre-move 1..

Move 1:

Zeke Q♠, Robbie 4♠, Buck A♠ (the Dead Mans Hand again [clicky]😏), Bill 3♥ and Shorty 7♥

Zeke has positioned himself in a cluster of rocks nearest the entry point to the wagon, with Robbie and Buck in the gully - his plan is to disable the wagon by killing at least one of the horses, which should stop the wagon going anywhere. 

Bill and Shorty throw their D10 to see if they spot anyone which comes up a 5, and as the Rebel boys are all over 9"away they remain hidden ready to spring their ambush. 

Unbeknownst, Bill and Shorty carry on their dusty way while the "three amigos" lie doggo....

As the sun continues to beat down Zeke peers out carefully from the rocks where he has taken up position - just across the way he can see Robbie and Buck crouched in the gully rifles ready. Despite the haste, it's a good position, they are all concealed either by the gully, the brush, or the rocks - no way they are going to be seen. The only question is, what's coming down the track? Holding his breath he carefully cranes his neck further to see, and grins - it's a Union supply wagon! No escort and it looks like only the driver and his guard riding shotgun...

Move 2:

 

             Activation order... Bill 9♥, Buck 8♥, Shorty 5♠, Zeke 5♥ and lastly Robbie 3♦.. Shorty and Zeke tie but Shorty wins due to suit of card..

The wagon moves further down the road, which brings them within sight range of both Robbie and Buck.

"Rebs!".. spotting the enemy ambush, Bill shouts a warning to Shorty, yanks the reins, and the wagon jerks forward. Buck takes aim, fires, and hits the nearside horse..

Buck threw a 10 on a D10 😏, plus bonuses for an aimed shot, so no surprises.. 

Shorty jolted by the increase in speed, swears, turns round, and takes a snapshot at Buck over the back of the wagon but misses

I allowed Shorty one action for turning and preparing to fire, so the shot had to be a snapshot as that was all he had actions left for. He then threw a 9 on the firing D10 which normally would be good, but Buck is in hard cover and Shorty is shooting from the back of a swaying wagon.

It looks to be going well as Zeke aims and shoots and also hits the horse - the beast is in a bad way, but Zeke swallows his conscience, they need water or they'll die. Over on the road, the wagon stops, and Robbie shoots and also hits. The horse drops dead in its traces...

Move 3:

Activation order... Shorty Q♥, Bill 10♣, Buck8♠, Zeke 8♦, Robbie 7♠ - again -Buck and Zeke tie but Buck goes first because of suit.. 

Shorty and Bill get the drop - their cards are by far the best so they get to activate first..

A fusillade of shots rings across the defile as first, Shorty drops his rifle into the wagon, pulls his revolver, and fires at Buck - "damn, missed!" Bill then turns and also fires at Buck with his carbine but with the same result. 

Zeke, Buck and Robbie all reload and take fire at Shorty - each of them has enough experience to know that the revolver could be dangerous (as he'll get multiple shots per turn if he doesn't aim). Buck and Robbie miss, but a snapshot from Zeke hits Shorty in the chest.

Move 4:

Luck of the devil -  Zeke, Robbie and Buck all have better activations, but meanwhile with one horse dead in the traces the wagon is going nowhere, and Shorty and Bill are faced with a choice of staying where they are in cover, or getting to the ground to try and get a better shot at the Rebs.

Further shots ring out in the defile as everyone fires at either Buck or Shorty depending on allegiance..  from his vantage point Zeke can see they are causing hits, but given the response not serious (Robbie and Buck both manage to hit but only grazes, so no effect) . In the wagon, Shorty and Bill return fire, and from the gully there's a cry as Buck is hit twice  once in the chest, and once in the arm - Buck curses and drops his rifle, grabbing his arm in agony...

Move 5:

Activation order... Bill(A♦), then Robbie, Zeke, Buck and finally Shorty..

Bill gets the drop, loads, and aims at Robbie as he can see Buck is out of the game... he misses, "damn!". Both Zeke and Robbie reload and return fire. Robbie misses but Zeke plugs Shorty who falls from the wagon, dead... Buck, still groaning, drops to the bottom of the gulch out of sight

Move 6:

The Rebs get the (final) drop - their activations are better..

As the firing drops in intensity, Robbie fires at Bill but misses, but seeing that it may be all over, Zeke shouts to the Yankee..  "our business is done, it's you or the wagon, Yank, but we'd prefer the wagon. You just skedaddle and we'll not fire!".

Bill takes a look at Shorty to confirm he's dead..  "three to one, bugger that", and drops to the ground next to him on the other side of the wagon to the Rebs and makes a run for cover, and out of the defile..  he's got a long walk home, but he'll live to fight another day..

Game over..

Post match analysis and damage done..

• Another fun game but I forgot to do the toughness test after any hits - happily I don't think it would have made much difference to the outcome as Buck was out of the game anyway due to the nature of his wounds, and the weapon he had. Shorty was a different matter, but he was hitting on 10's anyway and a failed toughness test only causes a -1 shooting modifier until you pass the test/recover.

• Zeke and the boys get their water, and having removed the dead horse from the traces, bandaged up Buck, and put him in the back of the wagon - make off to Confederate lines - albeit at a slow pace.. 😏