New Mexico, 187-Dust swirls and tumbleweed rolled over the sun-scorched land. Where the towering bluffs of Hairy’s Butte give way to rolling cactus-covered desert, the Forlorn Hope gold mine is carved into a hillside, and around the workings are detritus of a desperate industry: mine carts, sheds, half worked ore, tailings piles, crates and barrels.
The abandoned Forlorn Hope gold mine lies in the dry and dessicated New Mexico desert. Visible is the famous Outhouse, which gave its name to the battlefield.
The mine’s owner vanished some weeks back, and two motley gangs have converged on the side, hoping to find among the crumbling paperwork the lease documents which would allow them to take possession.
From the north came one gang: La Bandida, Chester Kinkaid and a mysterious Gunslinger known only as 'The Teacher'; from the south Señor Shotgun, the Pinkerton 'Polish' Wyzowski and their half-native guide Two Dogs.
Two Dogs advanced into the mine site area, keeping the wooden outbuilding between himself and the enemy who were pacing their way through the torn, flapping canvas of an abandoned campsite. Wyzowski moved forward, and levelling his trusty Winchester 1873, cracked off a shot at Kinkaid.
Soon the bullets were flying, as both forces advance under a hail of bullets. Two Dogs went down, as did La Bandida. Most of the fighting was concentrated around a wooden outhouse near the centre of the battlefield, its grey timbers splintered and holed within minutes. Kinkaid went down, slipping in some 'horse' dung, soon followed by The Teacher to the same stinking effluent flow from the outhouse.
Chester Kinkaid came looking for trouble. It found him.
'The Teacher' educates Two Dogs on the ways of the West.
Taking shelter in the steep dry curving riverbank of Dead Horse Gulch, Wyzowski picked his way forward, Señor shotgun on his left. Soon bullets found their mark, and Wyzokwski was limping. La Bandida stepped forward and puncture him with both pistols, the old guy gasping out his last in the desiccated dust of the riverbed. Señor Shotgun followed him to the grave dying surrounded by shell casings as La Bandida herself fell.
Soon the only surviving gunslinger was The Teacher, who scuttled across the battlefield as a new of Shootists appeared from both sides: the Daughter of La Bandida, Lincoln Abraham, the Son of Two Dogs, the Riviera Kid and Isaac Lovejoy, another Pinkerton, armed this time with a shotgun and some dandy clothes from California.
Moments before his demise, 'Polish' Wyzowski and the Riviera Kid take out La Bandida.
Another round of combat followed, bullets pinging off rusted iron and thunking into the outhouse, by this time so shredded by bullets that not even the termites would have something to chew on.
The gunfight was severe. Both sides had casualties crawling wounded in the dust. Lovejoy ran up and leaped off the riverbank to try to take down The Teacher, but both could not land a blow. The Riviera Kid, badly shocked, picked himself and his pistol up and charged back into he fight. Eventually, the Teacher fell, and as the Last of the Gunslingers bled out, both gangs retreated to lick their wounds.
The Teacher goes down in a hail of lead from the Pinkerton Isaac Lovejoy.
*******
Great fun into to What a Cowboy at
Perth Miniatures Gamers Group the other night. We had six players - Anthony, Pete, Matej, Joshua, Geoff and myself and played a simple shootout on a 4'x4' minesite/desert table.
As we were all coming to grips with the newly released rules, this being a learning game, each player had a single character, starting with a Gunslinger and permitted to re-spawn on their characters' demise with another single character of the next Skill Level down. This kept them in the fight long enough to learn the ropes. We called it when the last of the original Gunslingers met his doom, during which time some 14 different characters had made their appearance (and many left to meet their maker). Our characters took only the basic weapons from the General Store shopping list.
Some great cinematic moments in a couple of amusing hours of Old West skirmishing - this is a group of gamers who enjoy the TooFatLardies rulesets and the narratives they seem to yield - pleasingly, What a Cowboy is no different. There is enough detail to differentiate each character - more will emerge when we have characters who delve into skills, and the Desperado card available to each character got us out of some tricky situations.
The Action dice system yields useful friction and decision points, and the tracking of ammunition leads to some brief but realistic tension in the firefight. The tabletop action itself ebbs and flows smoothly, punctuated by the odd random event, the occasional muttered curse, and many laughs.
Spent cases, Bonanza tokens and wound dice tell of a fierce firefight. The desperado card has been used to pull a gunslinger back from the brink.
We have previously played What A Tanker, and this game builds on the rules engine. The detail available suits the setting and development of a small posse of characters. Some of us are planning a campaign in the near future, using the detailed six-game campaign system in the rulebook. Long enough to build an epic of the Old West, and hopefully create a Legend or two. This we hope is where the gold dust unearthed at the Forlorn Hope gold mine will really glitter.
agentbalzac
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June 11, 2008, 08:24:16 AM
