Best freebie OW Introductory Rules?

[Onebigriver]

Want to introduce my future father in law to wargaming, and he loves westerns, so a bit of old west skirmish is called for. There's plenty of freebie rules out there, can anyone suggest a set that simple but exciting as an introductory set, possibly some scenarios as well that don't involve too much investment (not too much building and figures)?

[Michi]

Blood & Swash by Buck Surdu is ideal for the job. It´s not free, but worth every dime.
It´s much like a role playing game, what will make it easy for him when he is used to watch western movies. You decide what actions your characters (only a handful, say 1 to 6) perform. A drawn card from a poker deck decides whose turn it is. The player names the figure to act and rolls the appropriate D20 for a skill check. Depending on how good he has rolled out the character class and skills prior to the game, the easier it is to succeed. Luck plays an important roll in that game, this makes it a bit unpredictable and you are as much a spectator as a gamer. Perfect, I´d say. A game takes only an hour or two and the rules are quick and easy to learn.

Play a bit of banjo music and put up a nice table with the poker cards and all to get him in the mood. I bet he will be caught within minutes...

The best is that you can use it for any period!

[Onebigriver]

Cheers, but limiting investment to the figures

[Admiral Benbow]

Why not try "The Rules With No Name" from Foundry? No, not the newer commercial product, but the free pdf. You should get it here:

http://www.thewarstore.com/oldwestrulessets.html

Pretty easy to start with, although I think Michi's suggestion is very interesting, too.

[Onebigriver]

Why not try "The Rules With No Name" from Foundry? No, not the newer commercial product, but the free pdf. You should get it here:

http://www.thewarstore.com/oldwestrulessets.html

Pretty easy to start with, although I think Michi's suggestion is very interesting, too.

Have you played it Admiral?

[itchy]

I play it all the time really fun and loads of action , use scenarios for all the old movies magnificent seven etc ,and my young kids picked it up and got the hang of it so great for people new to wargaming ,bought lots of other rules LOTOW etc and always go back to these.

[Overlord]

I play it all the time really fun and loads of action , use scenarios for all the old movies magnificent seven etc ,and my young kids picked it up and got the hang of it so great for people new to wargaming ,bought lots of other rules LOTOW etc and always go back to these.

I would echo that. Although I havent played much recently I've had some great games with TRWNN.  Not really suited to a larger "posse", as in LOTOW, but ideal for a few miniatures per player.  I've used the rules as a basis for several other games, in particular  a Lost World participation game. Definately recommended. 

[Gluteus Maximus]

I got a set called "Fill Yore Hands", from the Jackson Gamers' website:

http://www.angelfire.com/games3/jacksongamer/fill_yr_hands.htm

Which is a lot of fun and a simple set to learn.

"High Noon Cowboy Skirmish Rules" is another simple, fast-moving game:

http://www.wargames.watkins-family.co.uk/cowboys/cowboyrules.htm

There's also "Wild West" which I haven't tried yet, but look ok:

http://web.archive.org/web/20040301091620/http://www.blackgoat.freeserve.co.uk/WildWestRules.html

[Admiral Benbow]

Have you played it Admiral?

Of course, when it was first released by Guernsey Foundry many years ago. It's easy and fun to play, and we only switched over to LOTOW because of that glossy nice looking book with lots of pics ... 

[Onebigriver]

Cheers for the info guys. I've downloaded RWNN (it's on Boardgame Geek if anyone wants to avoid the hassle of registering somewhere.

Out of interest, I'm going to use Shadowolf's card buildings, and they look a little small for 28mm. Has anyone found the percentage to increase them on the printer so they look right?

[itchy]

This thread inspired me o get the RWNN out again and have a few games, played the film inspired scenarios by Ian Barstow which were printed a few years ago and always great fun ,but can never do the wild bunch  scenario due to never being able to find correct figures does anyone know of 28mm figs that are suitable for pike and the boys.

[Mike D. Mc Brice]

The best introductory rules for Wild West are "Wanted - Dead or Alive" from Overthewire. They are unbelievably simple and also unbelievably good, for new gamers as well as for experts.

They work especially well with multiplayer games, 4-6 people.

No free but cheap and worth the investment.

[johnl5555]

I've been gaming Old West since the 70's. For a free set, fun and also one of the most popular you can't beat TRWNN. The sequence of play simply can't be beat. It does a GREAT job of replicating the Old West from the movies we have all watched. Having run dozens of games I love the fact that you can make the Man with No Name (or any other character) every bit as deadly as he was in his spaghetti westerns. There are other sets that are pretty good. But they sure aren't available for free. I have run games with 2 players and up to 20+ players. If you enjoy Old West movies do yourself a favor and give The Rules with No Name a shot!

Thanks,

John

[Michi]

I can not talk about the rules with no name, but my fellow gamers dropped them in favour of Blood & Swash. They already used it when I got into wild west too, thus I suspect they liked it better.

[Gluteus Maximus]

I can not talk about the rules with no name, but my fellow gamers dropped them in favour of Blood & Swash. They already used it when I got into wild west too, thus I suspect they liked it better.

They certainly provide very enjoyable pirate games. I never thought to use them for western games, but no reason why they shouldn't work well for these and other skirmish periods.

Buck Surdu always seems to come up with great rules