What is the essence of an old west game?

[FifteensAway]

Sorry if this gets you off the miniatures track but the ultimate goal, for me, in asking the question is to help give direction to my own extensive collection of figures, especially since it is the next collection up for painting once I finish the current project (FIW).

So, and there are no rules in how to reply here, what - for you - is the essence that makes a wild west game either worth playing in or worth running for others to play in?   Or both, for that matter.

Thanks for your answers.

[Conquistador]

For me it was the decision for the setting.  I wanted something pre-MAW era, with less six-shooter type action and something to transition my Zorro figures/game setting to "Old West" with options for adding Gothic Horror and even VSF gaming potential to my terrain/pueblo pieces.

White Hats, Black Hats, Salt of the Earth people (in their flawed/sinful best/worst,)  Indians/Indios, Peons, precious metal mines, hostile natural terrain in some cases, and Heroic adventure. 

Setting drives almost everything that isn't strictly Historical that I game.

Gracias,

Glenn

[Emir of Askaristan]

The essense of an old west game for me is twofold.
On one hand it should capture the feel of a Western film. On the other it should give you a feel of the history of the period.
Now the trouble is that these are sometimes mutually exclusive. That's fine - its a game and games are meant to be fun.

Hope that explains where I'm coming from

[styx]

For me there is two parts..

1) The first is the pop culture of the old west we grew up with....Most of us from our 20's to upper ages grew up on western series and movies...it is America at the high of a romantic era of men being men and when the US was starting to come together as a whole as a country.

2) The second in gaming is the theme, simple but has tons of options and ways you could play due to the vast area that the Old West covered. Cowboys, indians, US Infantry and Calvary, banditos, outlaws, mountain men to name a few...

[abu iskander]

I agree with all of the above that it needs to be evocative of the period/genre.

Also, it needs a good narrative or storyline as many of the Old West conflicts are presented as being intensely personal in nature. (Tombstone or True Grit, for example)  I suggest the Bob Boze Bell articles for scenario/campaign ideas.  They are collected in paperback as Classic Gubfights vol 1-3, IIRC. All originally found in True West magazine.

[Galloping Major]

Accurately and lyrically put, gentlemen 

I would only add the shere breadth of possibilities when it comes to settings and beligerents.


www.gallopingmajorwargames.com

[Marine0846]

I tend to look at Hollywood for my Western gaming.
Lots of great movies out there to get ideas from.
Long ago I decided to set my games in the American Southwest.
Lots of different groups to do.
For example, Indians, Mexicans, lots of civilians, Cav., etc.
The great thing is I can paint small groups of figures.
It seems like if you painted Plains war, I tend to think of hundreds of mounted figures.
My two cents worth.

[Galland]

The setting. Many old west movies, wich I watched when growing up, and in the end got me interested in the period when I got older, are set in a enviroment specifically made for telling a story. They depend heavily on the "old west" iconic buildings and street layout, along with the grand scenery offered by many of the US states that are often associated with the period and genre.
Often, you find, as mentioned before in this thread, some sort of very personal involvement in the story, it revolves (no pun intended heh) around a few characters and perhaps their gangs.
Our own Old West table, and in the future, gaming, will change to a 100% story telling and narrative way of wargaming, since the style and setting of the game lends it self so well to this.
Not to say that I dont enjoy a good old shoot out, with not aim (no pun intended part II heh) to tell any story more than to further the glory of my city gentlemen and their skills with fine weaponry!

[FifteensAway]

Well, thank you for all of the replies.  I suppose I ought to reveal the starting points for my interest in Old West gaming, or as I call it The Slightly Wilder West (I think Wingnut uses something similar!).  Or, as I plan to call my biggest game: The Whole Wild West All At Once.

I can point to two movies as the egg and the sperm (and, no, I don't know which is which) that gave my interest birth: Paint Your Wagon and Hallelujah Trail.  Yup, tongue firmly in cheek in my gaming world.  But also the John Ford/John Wayne trilogy.  And some more modern fair like Open Range and Unforgiven, even Appaloosa.  Not to forget They Died With Their Boots On from wa-ay back.

However, I go Hollywood one better and have a larger "budget."  That means towns with more buildings, bigger boards, etc.  And, of course, I do it in 15 mm.  And did I mention the kitchen sink?  Cavalry, Indians, Banks, Trains, Stage Coaches, Wagon Trains, Cattle Drives, WTU, herds of buffalo (and antelope to roam alongside the deer), sheep herders, gold prospectors, copper mines, Apaches and Comancheros - and lots of civilians (a cast of thousands).

The most common theme here seems to be we all like our games to have a narrative center.

Perhaps mine starts with the local sheriff, a dapper gent by the name of Quiet Burp.