Blood spilled in Drake's Branch.

[Elbows]

Haven't played an Old West game in several months...too many if I may say so.

Went to a friend's place and played a three-way scenario.  Federal lawmen vs. local (crazy) Lawmen, vs. Outlaws (who in turn were fleeing an encroaching U.S. Cavalry unit - or so I decided...)



As usual, I forgot to take pics until well into the game...



Two Hired Guns get into a "shotgun off" in the street.

A curious looking Lawman makes sure to deny the Outlaws the use of horses as the Sheriff's office is set on fire behind him (I really need to do up some smoke effects)



The bloodshed begins to mount...



...and mount.



I'm not entirely sure I can explain this picture.  The fella in the back is a green-jacketed Lawman who has just grabbed the Outlaw 'Bad Man', and is now within a single activation of dragging him into the Train Station and winning the game.  The fella on horseback is a stand in for a disguised prostitute from the other Lawmen posse..she's ridden over and pulled her bazooms out to shock the normally stoic Lawman (wasting his activation).  As this is happening a citizen nearby decides to join the Lawman and kicks open the door, primarily to ogle the prostitute's goodies...moments later the Outlaw player (me) draws a card allowing me to sacrifice one of my characters, so my 'Bad Man' slips a derringer out of his pocket and blows his own head off rather than be taken back to prison...do you follow?

The shocked Lawman in back is a 'White Hat' character and he became nearly legendary this game.  Initially shot and wounded...then struck by a dynamite blast but not killed, then drew a card to allow him to ignore the fact that he was wounded - subsequently chased down the other Lawmen (who were crazy and trying to blow up the telegraph office with dynamite), got into a shootout...was shot dead...then drew the only revival card in the deck...stood back up and shot his killer dead...

All in all a crazy game, violent and...bizarre.  One of the most back-and-forth games I've ever played of SnS.

[Malamute]

Great stuff

[Dr DeAth]

Nice looking setup you've got there.

[FifteensAway]

I sincerely hope no trains are due through town.  There is a disaster pending if one comes through.

[tobruk]

Great.
Where is it possible possible to buy tokens ? they look good.

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

The fella in the back is a green-jacketed Lawman who has just grabbed the Outlaw 'Bad Man', and is now within a single activation of dragging him into the Train Station and winning the game.  The fella on horseback is a stand in for a disguised prostitute from the other Lawmen posse..she's ridden over and pulled her bazooms out to shock the normally stoic Lawman (wasting his activation).  As this is happening a citizen nearby decides to join the Lawman and kicks open the door, primarily to ogle the prostitute's goodies...moments later the Outlaw player (me) draws a card allowing me to sacrifice one of my characters, so my 'Bad Man' slips a derringer out of his pocket and blows his own head off rather than be taken back to prison...do you follow?

The shocked Lawman in back is a 'White Hat' character and he became nearly legendary this game.  Initially shot and wounded...then struck by a dynamite blast but not killed, then drew a card to allow him to ignore the fact that he was wounded - subsequently chased down the other Lawmen (who were crazy and trying to blow up the telegraph office with dynamite), got into a shootout...was shot dead...then drew the only revival card in the deck...stood back up and shot his killer dead...

That's what I love about SnS, the way things you would never think of, start to happen! Great game!

[Elbows]

Thanks, Mad.

One goal of the game was to simply be unpredictable every single turn.  I found for a game in a setting like the Old West in a non-competitive setting, I just didn't love games where you could see five turns out that you wouldn't accomplish something.  The key offender was LOTOW where, even on a 4x4 board you had very little movement, meaning you could do the math and realize you weren't going to accomplish objectives and that you'd never catch someone if they ran from you, etc.

It's all about fighting off your opponent...but the players must also survive the game!

Nearing the end, my buddy drew a "Ride for Help" card and couldn't decide whether it was worth it to ride off the board, sacrifice a turn and come back with help, or just try to chase down the Feds.  The Feds player (his wife) realized that the normal Lawmen were trying to blow up the Telegraph office...and the only available dynamite was stashed on two poor donkeys.  Well she started shooting at the pack mules in the hopes of blowing them up (I allowed the dynamite to detonate on a D6 roll if the donkey was wounded)...poor asses.

[Elbows]

I played a few games recently, introducing my 40K crowd to Old West gaming (short version: they love it).

We did a simple gunfight one week, which ended...hilariously.




After the initial blood bath...the silliness kicked in.



The game came down to four Outlaws against one remaining Lawman, the Sheriff pictured above.  Then the following happened...

1) Sheriff guns down one Outlaw (3:1)
2) Lawman special card forces one Outlaw to flee (2:1)
3) Sheriff flees down the railway track as an Outlaw card sets the railway station on fire (preventing him from hiding)...two Outlaws give chase.
4) The 'Bad Man', leader of the Outlaws chases the Sheriff into a corner when he plays a card allowing him to gun the 'Bad Man' down (shown above)
5) The 'Yellow Belly" chasing the Sheriff now starts down the street on horseback (the 'Yellow Belly' was previously in disguise...then drank liquor to become brave...then choked on some snake oil...then visited an opium den to help him ignore wounds...then revealed he was wearing boiler plate under his shirt...) while the Sheriff guns at him with his repeating rifle.
6) The 'Bad Man' draws a revival card and staggers to his feet, cowardly shooting the Sheriff in the back to end the game.

It was a really damn good time.



We then played two games a week later, running a scenario twice - where Outlaws are trying to flee the table as Lawmen seek to stop them. 

The first game went well for the Outlaws - lots of horses and disguises were used...the second game?  Not so much.