The Gunfight at Big Jims Coral – A Question about Quick Draw Gunfights

[Vagabond]

The Gunfight at Big Jims Coral – A Question about Quick Draw Gunfights


It’s just another day in Little Whiskey, Little Martha is trying to sell fruit and veg on her street stall. For her favourite customers the small keg contains Sour Mash Whiskey. After the customer has a knocked back a tot of the liquid fire they are usually a little confused and generally pay over the odds for the fruit and veg but always seem happy with the transaction.


Sarah O’Rioidan the proprietoress of the Westmoorland Grocery Store puts up with Little Martha stealing some of her trade. It’s unusual that she’s on the front boardwalk, normally she’s in the back and Katie MacBride minds the store. Katie seems to have a sawn-off shotgun in her hands as she and Doc gaze out into the street.


Big Slim Tilney appears to be looking intently at the same thing as Little Slim tries to hold up the barrel of the rather large Sharpe’s rifle.


At one end of Main Street there’s some activity as a wagon driven by some itinerant sodbuster comes into town, at the same time young Billy arrives with his pack train.


Throwing up dust at the other end of Main Street is Chester driving the stage with his usual disregard for anyone in his way.


Whiskey Jack drives a hard bargain with Ebenezer. Ebenezer might be selling Snake Oil but when Jack decants it into his empty whiskey bottles it becomes the finest sipping whiskey west of the Pecos. Well certainly better than Little Martha’s Sour Mash across the street.

Jack is the sole owner of the Tail Feathers Saloon and the founding father of Little Whiskey.


Temperance Johnson discusses with Miss Virginia the pro’s and con’s of keeping your boots on when taking a bath at Jacks establishment. Off to their right Big Jim Smith is having a quiet word with Donna the town drunk. Donna has been making eyes at Jim for a long time now, she’s been making eyes at anyone who might buy her a drink, and strangely she got short shrift from Temperance Johnson although Miss Virginia looked a little wistful for a while.


I should probably point out Big Jims Coral, as that’s the name of the game.


Flannel Mouth Henry is sweeping the boardwalk outside the Sheriffs office and keeping a wary eye on Marshal MacAlister and two other men in black, he’s just about to go and wake the Sheriff and give him the news.


Well I did say it was another day in Little Whiskey and it looks like Lucky Joe Turner is facing off with Lady Jane Grey. They both seem to have some support, there’s Bad Boy Williamson and Bertram Barmy Snapcase amongst the men backing Jane’s play and I can make out Texas Red and Johnny Vagabond behind Lucky Joe. Knowing them, that’s where they’ll stay as well.
Up on the balcony are the girls from Madame De Ville’s House of Enchantment, they’re probably giving long odds on the Sheriff leaving his office until the shooting has stopped.


After that load of gibberish to set the scene I wondered if anyone had any ideas to provide the opening to a gunfight.

Each of my characters has a stats card and I’m using 2 hour wargame rules - mainly. In these - to succeed with an action you roll equal to or below your stat, except for Shoot and Brawl. So to do a smart thing they both need to roll 3 or less against Brains, to charm someone they roll 4 or less against Charisma etc.

Ordinarily, to react first they roll against their Rep but what I’d like to do is to be a little bit more creative. My thinking is that the whole town is watching and whoever draws first will be arrested and tried for murder, assuming they kill someone. Their opponent will be firing in self defence, of course if they fire 2nd they might be dead before they can claim self defence.

So sensibly they will use their brains to taunt the opposition into drawing first, but if they are cowardly then their fear will probably overrule their brains. I’d like to try and create some build up to the draw so that if you draw first – you lose, if you draw 2nd you might be dead but you won, (in theory) and I’d like it to be longer than a single roll of the dice. Maybe taunting creates some points total and cowardice removes them, once you achieve a certain score you draw.

I just wondered if anyone had gone down this road before and can point me in the direction they went, any thoughts gratefully received.
Cheers

[ithoriel]

May I suggest, a pack of cards.

Hearts are Guts, Diamonds are Brains, black cards are discarded.

Each gunfighter reveals a card each turn.

If a players has as many Hearts as their character's Guts value they fire, unless they can discard a Diamond Brains card.

A gunfighter can only keep as many Diamonds as they have as their Brains value. Any excess is discarded.

For every Guts card over their character's Guts value they must discard an extra brains card.

If the pack runs out before either side fires, they fire simultaneously.

For a faster game, remove the black cards before play.

Optional rule: A character drawing the Ace of Hearts bottles it and runs. A character drawing the Ace of Diamonds has an aneurism and dies :-)

Would that do?

A game within a game
 

[FifteensAway]

Don't know if I have any better advice than the card idea, which I like (or Fistful of Lead - but not sure it gets you where you want to go).

But it seems to me - hard to tell from the photos - that Little Whiskey might have grown some since last we visited.  And I counted five wagons and carts which is good to see.  Plus the pack train and horses at the hitching rails and various clutter.  Do we count Little Martha as clutter or just her trade stand?   

Looking good and looking forward to a detailed After Action Report when you get that far - and hopefully a wide shot of the whole town.

And, yeah, the quickdraw game can sure be a short game. 

Hmm, maybe some sort of adaptation of Five Minutes with E.D.N.A., a set of rules for blowing a gate but might have some ideas adaptable (old Wargames Illustrated article, either in the 80's or maybe very early 90's).  The letters stood for 'ever diminishing numerical allocation'.  Think in terms of the 'ticking clock' mechanism used in so many movies, especially westerns, like High Noon, 3:10 to Yuma, and over and over again in The Quick and the Dead.

Again, hmm - more just coming to me as I'm typing - maybe have a count down to the moment when the draw 'must' occur or one or the other gets labelled a coward, definitely incorporates some of that card idea in the response above.  Can definitely add to the tension and extend the game.  And another idea floating into my brain, people will be gathering to watch the duel and some of them will impact just by their presence, especially a love interest or a beloved brother or loyal sidekick.  And maybe a particular someone for each participant will trigger a draw, voluntary or not.  It's all in the reflexes anyway, if you think, you're dead (what movie was that anyway?).

Given your creativity, this is going to be fun to see what you finally come up with.

[Vagabond]

Ithotiel thanks for your ideas, that's exactly the sort of thing I had in mind without the brains to think of it. Cheers

It's early here and I'm still sleepy but theres a couple of things I don't follow in your description.

I'm assuming you shuffle a full deck of cards and each player draws 1 card each and lays it face up. Only the suit counts, not the number on the card.

A diamond offsets a heart, eg when I have drawn a total of 2 hearts and 1 diamond it equals 1 heart.

Once I have drawn a total of 2 hearts and 3 diamonds it equals minus 1 heart.. if I had 4 diamonds I would have discarded 1 already because Brains is 3 so can only have max 3 diamonds.

Once I have 3 hearts that can't be offset I  go for my gun.

It's this bit I'm not clear on.

"For every Guts card over their character's Guts value they must discard an extra brains card."

Earlier you said once they reach their Guts number they shoot so I'm not sure what you're refering to here, how would they discard an extra brains card - unless I've not understood the previous bit.

Either way I like this concept a lot, it will gradually build the tension until someone goes for their gun.
At that piont I'll revert to my normal method of activation but giving the one who went for their gun first a bonus in the activation. So that as in all the best westerns the bad guy draws first but the good guy draws faster and the bad guy gets shot and it's self defence, or Justified as they refer to it in my favourite tv programme.

Well at least the good guy might draw faster
Cheers

[Vagabond]

15Away thanks for your thought, I'll have a look at Ffol to see if there's something in them that might fit the bill.

I'm afraid Little Whiskey is still a one street seven horse town, there's been no extra buildings completed although a rival saloon to the Tail Feathers was under construction but Whiskey Jack burned it down. He doesn't subscribe to the modern notion of competition.

I'm thinking the gunfight will take place in the 1850/60 time frame so they will only have cap and ball pistols. Loaded with 5 shots or 6 if they're foolhardy.
Maybe roll a dice for each gunfighter to see how many shots they blaze away with before coming to the realisation it's going to take forever to reload.. Thats when knives and fists will come into play.

I'd like to try and get that moment from the Dirty Harry film. Did he fire 5 shots or 6, well do you feel lucky punk. Well do you.

[ithoriel]

Diamonds/ Brains don't cancel a card in my version, they cancel the need to fire. Your gut is telling you "shoot or you're dead" but your head can overrule it.

But ... Hearts keep piling up, Brains are expended.

The more urgently your gut tells you to fire (more Guts card than your Guts value) the more self control you need (more Diamonds/ Brains discarded).

Sooner or later you have more Guts cards than there are Brains cards left to play.

With two boys and birthday party games to arrange I became a dab hand (IMNSHO  ) at quick, simple games the kids could play with my "toys." Parties at our place might not have been lavish but they were popular!

In my system, first to fire fired a "Hasty" shot, second fired an "Aimed" shot. Going first wasn't necessarily an advantage.

[Vagabond]

Ithoriel I'm obviously a bit slow, I'll have a sit down with a deck of cards and see if I can't figure it out.

Not to worry my opponent has a brain the size of a small planet, he'll have no trouble with this.

Thanks for the suggestion.
Cheers

[FifteensAway]

Remembered where the quote was from, Top Gun, the original.  Yet to see the new one!  On the list.

As to the card idea, I, too, am a bit confused.  Does the player start with a hand of cards or does it build up one card at a time, discarding as indicated?  I suspect the latter.  And I would, absolutely, discard the two black suites of cards before a game.  Helps with the flow and makes the game faster which actually builds the tension better which seems to be part of Vagabond's goal for the game.

[warlord frod]

Interesting discussion.

[Elk101]

The town looks great.

[mikos khan]

Great looking setup and the town is awesome. 

[Vagabond]

Ithoriel, I've had a further look at this with Mrs V and still don't quite get it. I wonder if I could persuade you to redo your description of the game play because it does sound exactly what I'm looking for, but make it understandable to a 7 year old. Ie me.

As an alternative I wondered about insults, as wargamers we're good at them. The 2 protagonists create an insult designed to provoke their opponent into drawing their pistol. A 3rd party adjudicates the quality of the insult 1, 2 or 3 grade and we use that to reduce the guts level to zero, offsetting brains against guts to allow for the "I want to kill him versus I shouldn't draw first". It does occour to me that the insults if interesting/funny would be good in the AAR.
The only problem with this is that I'm pretty sure my opponent is going to be far more inventive than I will be. 

Thanks for the thumbs up on the town, much appreciate your appreciation. 
Cheers

[ithoriel]

Sorry for the delayed response. I've been in London, meeting up with my younger son ,who was visiting the UK from the US, where he works.

Saw lots of things, ate way too much and walked further (and faster!) than I have in ages. Brilliant few days!

On the card game.

The more I think about it the more I think just use the red cards. The game will go faster.

Separate the red cards and the black cards. Shuffle each pile separately.

Each player draws a card from the deck - this is considered simultaneous. The player who drew the highest card (Aces High) last turn draws top card this turn. Decide  first turn order by drawing a black card each from the shuffled deck. If there are ties in this or subsequent turns draw black cards until the tie is broken.

Cards are played in front of the player for all to see. No hiding cards - they can see the sweat on your brow and your knees knocking, you varmint! 

If a player has a number of Heart cards (values are irrelevant) equal to their Guts Value they must fire UNLESS they can discard a Diamond (Brains) card.  They must discard the card and do not fire.
If a player has a number of Heart cards (values are irrelevant) in excess of their Guts Value they must fire unless they can discard a Diamond (Brains) card and one extra for each point over.  They must discard the cards and do not fire.
If they have a number of Diamond cards in excess of their Brains value after assessing the need to fire they must discard the excess (Last action of the turn)
Hearts cards are NEVER discarded. The pressure on the gunfighter grows and grows.
If the red deck runs out both gunfighters fire.

Being forced into firing (even when simultaneous) should have a significant, but not crippling, penalty.
After that, blaze away!
This version should go pretty quickly.

[Vagabond]

Ithoriel thanks a lot for the detailed explaination, I  greatly appreciate you taking the time and effort.

I'm pretty sure I understand now and will give this a whirl and see how it pans out. Having said that I quite like my insult idea as well. Sometimes having choices is not as good as it might seem. 
Cheers