Bad Day at Calton Creek

A return to the wild west last week with a game of Fist Full of Lead. Having played Gunslinger a couple of times recently (see previous posts) this is a very different game. I guess if you want to know the specifics of each pistol and break down the action into seconds Gunslinger gives that really granular feel, but for this week's game we wanted something much more cinematic and fast moving and FFOL definitely suits this style of game.

We went for a simple scenario... In the town of Calton Creek Johnny Fingers and his gang of mean desperadoes have stumbled out of the saloon looking for trouble... at the other end of the street Marshal Knutt and some concerned townsfolk have gathered to put an end to the trouble  (bonus points for the name references!)

Johnny Fingers and his gang hit the streets looking for trouble

...but the Marshal and concerned citizens are determined to stop them

Little Heap and Short hit the dirt under a hail of gunfire but somehow survive.  Short mainly survives by being... erm... short... and harder to hit!

Johnny Fingers climbs onto the saloon roof but eventually is hit and collapses,  His gang scatter now the leader is dead.

A very different cowboy experience and great fun... it felt much more like a scene from a western!

Gunslinger - take 2

So New Year's been and gone and I've managed to fit in one game so far... another outing for the old Avalon Hill game Gunslinger which I played just before Xmas for the first time in ages.

This time we moved out of town to a scenario out in the country with John Wesley Hardin being hunted by some US cavalry troopers.  Unfortunately the 15 year old Hardin has managed to get the drop on them and has a shotgun!  One of the troopers quickly fell to a long range shotgun blast and spent most of the rest of the game slowly bleeding to death on the ground.  In Gunslinger wounds also cause delay points which limit your actions, so this poor trooper was never going to be able to get up again!

The other trooper put up a much more valiant long range fight against Hardin and his companion, trading rifle fire and managing to wounding Hardin in the leg and putting him on the ground... unfortunately he was still able to fire with his pistol from here and the trooper eventually fell to a bullseye result.

The game definitely holds up despite its age but it's a very different experience to, say, Fistful of Lead or Dead Mans Hand which are much more heroic and cinematic.  Each round in Gunslinger lasts 2 seconds and is divided into 5 0.4 second segments so we're talking very detailed!  If you like to know exactly which type of pistol your character is carrying and fine tune a fist fight then it's a great game but it's not fast moving and I think most people would struggle with more than 2 characters per player.

Still good fun but a very granular sort of game

I'm your huckleberry...

 

A change of games this week as Andrew and I managed to squeeze in a couple of boardgames in one evening.

First up was an outing for the old Avalon Hill game 'Gunslinger', one of my favourite games back in the 80s.  My original set was purchased on a family holiday appropriatley in the USA where I remember being amazed at the availability of games in mainstream shops.  My original set vanished at some point (I think when I moved down to England) and I picked up a rather battered set cheaply a few years ago.

Each player manages a number of characters with clichéd Cowboy titles... the Marshall, the Quiet Man, the Sodbuster etc, there's even a floozy for the bar room scenarios!  Each turn is broken into 5 phases and players allocate action cards (move, draw, cock pistol, shoot etc) for each phase (or phases, depending how long the action takes).  A separate card deck determines whether an attack is successful and what the outcome us, so it's a dice free game.

As neither of us had played for a long time we went with the introductory scenario which pitches 2 opponents facing off close to each other in a  empty corral.  The rulebook claimed this was based on a historical encounter between Doc Holliday and Johnny Ringo although checking afterwards it looks like in reality Ringo shot himself in a drunken fit of depression so not quite the encounter of legend.

In our first run through we blazed away at close range, generally failing to hit each other despite taking the time to aim properly until a lucky shot from my character Ringo hit Doc Holliday in the leg and left him bleeding in the dust (like the pesky varmint he was, etc...).  Holliday is limited by having fewer endurance points thanks to his nasty case of TB.

We replayed the scenario and this time I decided to go for a more cinematic approach ignoring aiming and blasted away fanfiring the gun like they do in all the best movies... again Andrew was very unlucky with the result card and Doc went down with a shot to the body

We both had great fun with the game... inevitably we ended up making suitable gun noises and spouting cowboy clichés which is all part of the fun.  Definitely one to try again with a more complex scenario soon.  I've always reckoned it would also be an easy game to play using miniatures instead of counters.  I've always found Gunslinger gives a really good narrative game that feels.like a movie.

We finished off the evening with a quick run through of Undaunted Normandy as Andrew hadn't played it before.  I've played this a few times but never got beyond the introductory scenario!  

It's easy to pick up and, despite me failing to add some important cards to the deck until part way though, we rattled though the game with Andrew's Americans winning comfortably (although we missed this for a turn or so because we hadn't counted the VPs properly!).  A nice combination of a simple game but one that you need to think carefully about tactics in.

Gunfight at Calton Creek

Time for another Wild West shoot out and a game of Fistful of Lead.  In this week's thrilling episode the villains have just robbed the bank and are escaping town laden with gold bars.  The Sheriff and his men have conveniently arrived at the other end of town, blocking their escape. 

Each marker is a gold bar, slowing the bandits down

But look...there's a convenient wagon...

For some unexplained reason Calton Creek is festooned with random wooden crates, providing convenient cover...

The gunfight was particularly bloody.  By the end of the game 4 out of 5 gunfighters on each side were lying wounded or dead with only 2 left standing.  As one was the Sheriff and mine was my least effective Greenhorn I decided to abandon the gold and run for it... sorry... hightail it out of town!

Grab the wagon!

I tried grabbing the wagon and getting a couple of gunfighters on board.  I'd worked out some ad hoc rules for stampeding horses and random movement, all of which proved  unnecessary when Andrew cruelly shot the horse and scuppered my plans.. PETA will be furious...

My Wild West town is now officially renamed Calton Creek in honour of the Glaswegian comic strip created by Bud Neill.  This was very popular in the Daily Record (a Glasgow newspaper) in the 50s and featured Sheriff Lobby Dosser and his arch enemy Rank Bajin.  Although it was set in Arizona all the characters were Glaswegian (Calton is in the East End of Glasgow) and a lot of the dialogue is very Glaswegian.

The strips have been republished and have a bit of a cult following.  It was well before my time but my dad was a big fan and always used to talk about it whenever a Western was on TV.

Lobby and his 2 legged horse El Fideldo

There's a statue of Lobby, Elfie and Rank Bajin in the West End of Glasgow

Gunfight at Stodge City

 

Since I'd assembled a set of buildings for the newly-revived Wild West project, it seemed a shame not to have a game with them (even if they are still unpainted).  So, inspired by the classic of the genre, Carry on Cowboy, let's mosey over to the streets (well... street if we're being picky) of Stodge City.

The forces of Law and Order, led by Marshall P. Knutt, have just emerged from the Jailhouse ready to face down Johnny Finger, aka the Rumpo Kid, whose gang has been drinking at the other end of town, in the Saloon (of course).

Carry on Cowboy is one of the better Carry On films which range from classics to terrible as the series progresses.  As a died in the wool 'woke (as the young people say) lefty I ought to disapprove but I am a fan of some of the series (although as I said, some are terrible and have no redeeming features).  

Both sides quickly sent people onto the roofs to try and pick off some of the opposition.  I came of worse in this exchange, quickly losing 2 out of my 5 starting characters...Kenneth Williams/Judge Burke biting the dust.

Everyone seemed to be running out of ammo or dropping their guns in melee  (by rolling a 1), leading to  

A brutal hand to hand broke out behind the Smithy when Little Heap sneaked round the building before charging out, attacking with his dagger.  Luckily I was able to gang up on him and he fell to a flurry of punches and kicks (mainly because we'd run out of bullets again)

I'd managed to level the scores but then the Marshall was hit by a shotgun blast while he was on the roof of the Jailhouse and I was left with one remaining character, Buck: he had no redeeming skills or traits and was a 'lousy shot' so I didn't fancy his chances.  He managed to wound another opponent before taking shelter in the store.

Proving just how despicable the baddies were, they decided to set fire to the Storehouse...in a panic Buck was forced out into the street to get away from the flames and was gunned down as he tried to recover from the smoke... booo!

We used the excellent Fistful of Lead rules which are ideal for games like this... easy to pick up and they really encourage 'cinematic play.  I'd like to have a look at Dead Man's Hand at some point though as they seem very popular 

Carry on Cowboy

 

I've hit a bit of a painting block recently, not for the first time.  Last year was a really good spell for me with lots of figures painted (mainly Wars of the Roses) and I started this year with 2 or 3 new things in the go.  I find I need more than one project or In get easily bored.

I've assembled and painted my Roman-British/Arthurian infantry, painted (but not based) some models for Gamma Wolves (although I'm now not sure these are the right models for this project) and started on some.of the 54mm Paper Soldiers.  But over the last month or so I've kind of run out of steam.

I know when this happens I need to find something different to distract me and, after a bit of thinking, I remembered the mdf Wild West buildings I'd bought over a lengthy period of time a couple of years ago.  Assembling buildings felt like a bit of a break from painting and would hopefully be understanding, although I'm notoriously impatient and cack-handed when it comes to this sort of thing.

I dug out the Wild West box from the loft and found that I had quite a few more buildings than I remembered.  I'd also painted up a dozen or so cowboys from Artizan... I was shocked to discover I painted these 3 years ago and they still haven't made it onto the table!  

I got to it with PVA and a lack of patience and after a couple of, at times, very frustrating evenings (I need to learn to leave pieces to dry properly and not to fiddle with them!) I have a nice collection of buildings ready for painting.

So, first up is the enormous Warehouse and extension set from TT Combat.  I was given this a few years ago (I think in a giveaway another blogger was doing and embarrassingly I can't remember who!). Although this is listed in their Wild West range it would do for any game set in the 19thC or later.  I'd always been slightly intimidated by this kit so outsourced the assembly to my son who is much better as this sort of thing.

It's a huge model, especially with the extension added.  Unfortunately you need to have it either permanently built on to the side of the main warehouse or not at all, and it seemed a shame not to use it.  It dwarfs the other buildings so would really need to be used in a  different set up... perhaps as part of a mine or in a  more industrial setting. Storage is the biggest issue although it's big enough that I can store other buildings inside it!

The next building is my only 4Ground building.  These are very nice and obviously have the advantage of being pre-painted but are also quite pricey.

The rest of the buildings. The fencing for the corral and the boardwalks are mainly from TT Combat.  The Jailhouse and blacksmith are by Sarissa.  These are definitely nicer than the TT Combat models but again are a bit more expensive.

Of course you have to have a gallows...

The inside of the Jailhouse.

Every town needs a saloon

...and a general store.

 By a stroke of coincidence my pre-order of the new plastic Gunfighters from Great Escape Games turned up as I was building the houses.  And then to provide the final bit of inspiration I needed, Carry on Cowboy was on tv!  Welcome to Stodge City!

So now to do a bit of painting, but already I have the makings of a decent sized town.  Of course I'm now thinking of all the extra bits that I will need to add....

7th Cavalry skirmish and some moral angst

A great game at Eric the Shed's this week with a skirmish between a US cavalry patrol and some rampaging Native Americans.  All the figures and terrain courtesy of Eric.  There's a great write up on his blog here. 

It was a close run thing with the Cavalry just holding off the attacks by the braves.  We used Black Powder v2 with a random activation system for the Native Americans which worked really well.

'A' Troop, pinned down by a creek

Cavalry ride to the rescue

Forming a defensive firing line...

Just in time as the Braves charge in.

If you read Eric's blog post (and you really should!) You'll see he mentions that one of the players had expressed some moral qualms about the setting... that would be me!  Morality in wargames is a tricky thing and can often lead to too much navel-gazing.  I've met players with some very particular ideas about periods or settings that they won't play.  For example, not using SS troops, not playing any 'Colonial' period games, not playing the Confederates, being uncomfortable with anything where there are still living participants etc.  Some of their arguments make sense and others can be a bit random... to be honest though I'd rather play with someone who has thought about it than the kind of player who is very... erm... 'enthusiastic' about certain unsavoury groups (and I've met a few of those too!)

Generally I'm happy to play most things and most sides... I can happily condemn the CSA as a bunch of slave-owning racists while still playing a game with them.  I have a pair of Zulu and British armies (which I really ought to get out more) and have played a lot of Zulu and Dervish games at the Shed without blinking an eye.  But Cavalry vs Native Americans is one period that has always felt uncomfortable to me. Cowboy games are fine, but most Cavalry encounters with Native Americans tended to be pretty squalid massacres (I know there are of course exceptions).  

I realise as I write this, that it makes little sense to have qualms about this but not about for example, the Sudan or South Africa.  Funnily enough playing the game this week didn't cause me any worries once we got going... I guess it's about respecting the bravery of both sides and balancing the game while keeping as much historical accuracy as you can.  I was quite happy to play A Troop, desperately defending the wagons against ferocious Comanches and my concerns disappeared like so much passing tumbleweed.

Up in the loft I have some Darkest Africa figures which I've used with 'Congo' rules and I must admit they do raise some troubling questions and may not make a reappearance.