Rebel gold - Game ♥◆♣♠

Time for another update and some gaming has been going on.. 😏

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As promised in the previous post, Corp*, Zeke and Robbie have made their attempt to rescue the Confederate gold.. 😁

As a reminder - the table at start was as follows:

Jones Gang (bottom left) - l to r - Dave then Frank then Eddie;  Jolly Boys (top) l to r - Zeke, Corp then Robbie - Zeb is next to the horse outside the shack

Corp and Robbie, fully aware on the story of the the abandoned gold, meet at Zeke's place as agreed - it's time to go and get the goods. First though they drag out their old uniforms, "we're not thieves or outlaws, this is government business so it's right we wear the uniform" grunts Corp..

Mounting their horses they make off for their destination..

Move 1:

All pictures following are at start of move unless otherwise stated..  the cards are for initiation - high goes first, Aces low, and then standard Bridge rules to sort out ties..

Both sides advance to recce the shack - they spot each other, and also Zeb out front, as he does them. 

Spotting the old uniforms the Jones gang immediately realise these guys are there to deprive them of the gold.. it doesn't take much for Zeb, Robbie and Corp to also realise the same.

Move 2:

...and then the bullets start to fly... 😁

Zeke (J♥) pulls his revolver and takes a shot at Dave (2◆) but only grazes him, Corp (10♥) reaches round for his Sharps and also takes a shot at him but misses anything vital. 

Robbie (6♣) is confused at the sight of Zeb (5♠) outside the shack, and shouts to him that they "mean no harm but he needs to get under cover", before then sprinting to the front corner of the shack - looking indeed confused, Zeb none the less stumbles into the shack looking for his shotgun. 

Frank (5◆), can just see Zeke out in the open, pulls his revolver, and shoots but misses. 

The sudden fusillade of shots has clearly taken Dave by surprise - he finally reaches for his revolver and returns fire at Zeke but misses - Eddie (A◆) meanwhile runs to the side window of the shack, pulling both his revolvers as he goes.

Move 3:

No picture..  apologies.. but

Corp reloads the Sharps and fires again hitting Dave in the leg (who passes his toughness test). Robbie runs across the front of the shack, stops, and beats Eddie to the draw hitting him twice (he also passes his toughness test)! 

Eddie aims, fires back, but perhaps not surprisingly still misses before dodging backwards round the edge of the shack. 

Zeke covers ground and runs up to the corner of the shack closest to him for some cover and snaps off another shot off at Dave but misses. Dave returns fire and also misses.

Frank fires twice hitting once but for little effect. 

In the shack Zeb fumbles to load his shotgun.

Move 4:

Zeke (10♠) gets the draw and fires twice at Dave (10◆) hitting him in the leg (again) and in the chest - Dave is looking a bit shell shocked, but he's one tough hombre and passes his toughness test to return fire. He snaps off a shot, but misses, and then turns and runs for cover on the hill - enough's enough... 

On the hill, Frank (9♥) fires twice at Robbie(8♣), as he's the better target, but misses - he's almost out of ammo! Eddie (9♣) meanwhile is between a rock and a hard place, or rather a Robbie and a Zeke - with no windows or door on the back of the shack to escape through, whichever way he runs he's going to be a target - he steps out and takes aim at Robbie who gets the drop on him (Robbie wins the dice off), shoots, hits, and sees Eddie drop to the floor unconscious! 

Between a rock and a hard place...

Across the way Corp (8♥) reloads the trusty Sharps and takes another shot at Dave, hits him, and kills him outright..

In the cabin Zeb decides these guys must be after his still (😁) and decides that he needs to defend it - he runs across to the door steps on to the walkway outside, and literally comes face to face with Robbie -  who's just fired, so can't get the drop - and hits him under the jaw with the butt of the shotgun  knocking Robbie off his feet unconscious...!

[Fantastic passage of play - all Zeb's actions were diced for - I gave him only a 30% chance of attacking as I figured with all that lead floating round he'd be more inclined to keep his head down, but he passed that and went rogue, then I gave him three options to move to/fire from (either side windows or the front) and he diced for the front - after that with one action left and a decision he was already going to attack, the target was almost immaterial in his sozzled state! I further assumed Robbie was too close to get the barrel of the gun up, so it was easier for him just to swing the butt up under Robbie's chin..  bang..]

Move 5:

None of the Jolly Boys have an option to help Robbie (no cards were dealt which would allow recovery from unconsciousness and he failed his die roll recovery attempt) so he remains lying in the dirt - out to the world.. 

Zeb (Q♣) meanwhile looks on in shocked horror at what he's done, comes to his senses [this time he failed the 30% throw] and runs back into the shack. 

With his boss dead, and his comrade out for the count, or dead for all he can tell, Frank (J♣) decides valour is the better part etc., fires off a shot at Zeke (7◆), misses, and then runs for his horse..

Corp (3♠) and Zeke move to the cabin and persuade Zeb they really don't mean him any harm - and besides if they did, there's two of them and then he'd be a dead man already... 

Zeb may be drunk but he isn't stupid and drops his weapon and comes out with his hands up. 

Pausing only to tie Eddie up, and to throw a bucket over Robbie who has now recovered but with a very sore jaw, Corp and Zeke search the shack and right at the back, behind a huge pile of rubbish that Zeb has never bothered to clear in the years he's lived there, they find a bag that clinks when it's lifted... 💰

Post match analysis:

• First the butcher's bill..

• Robbie was very lucky.. if there'd been a bit more distance then it would have been a short range shotgun blast..  nasty..
• The Jones Boys were very unlucky in their dice throws - Dave particularly - and even when they did get hits they seemed to get more grazes/no effects on their targets than the Jolly Boys..
• Love the mental narrative these rules give - that passage of play when a slightly drunk Zeb came out of the door face to face with Robbie had me sniggering like a school boy..  😁
• * The more eagle eyed of you (that's you Jim) may have noticed that Corp has changed sides from those long gone days of Bute Farm - yeah, I know he was/is the leader of the Union trio but I like the name better! 😁 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at Zeke's place, the three of them collapse into chairs round his table, exhausted..  Zeke reaches behind him and pulls out a bottle of whisky and some glasses from the cupboard and without a word pours them all a slug..

Each of them downs it in one, and after a pause Corp reaches down for the bag..

"'spose we'd better be looking and see what the hell we risked our lives for"

He picks up the bag and pours the contents on the table.. a glittering stream.. turns out most of it is captured Union $2.50 coins, there's a few $1's, but a good number of them..  in fact when they count it there's over $2000 worth...

The three of them sit their stunned..  that's more money than any of them have seen in a lifetime.. Zeke fills the glasses again...

Corp clears his throat.. "Gawd...", and after a pause.. "boys I think we need to be doing something proper with this money, it's government money, and I still ain't no outlaw"

Both Zeke and Robbie grunt agreement, but continue to look stunned...

"The war left a lot of widders and fatherless children..  going to suggest we may want to start distributing some of this coinage where it can do some good - there ain't much, God knows, but it may help a few better than it will us in our pockets.."

Zeke pours another round, and the three raise their glasses to each other in agreement..  they got a plan.. 

..."errr... just one last thing.... what're we going to do with Eddie??" (😁)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the shack, Zeb is sat in his old rocking chair out on to the verandah...  the sun is going down, and the crickets are making a racket... his favourite time of the day... he's usually tired from feeding fuel and ingredients into the still all day, but this time he's feeling tired and old for a totally different reason...  them Reb soldiers had turned out to be alright..  though the one he cracked on the jaw had eyed him a bit ugly...  they'd even bought some of his moonshine...  reaching down he picks up his jar and takes a big slug...  yeah..  definitely the best time of the day...  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...the Jolly Boys will ride again..