The final Gunfight in "Open Range" - An FoL AAR

[NickNascati]

All,
     After a couple of emails with Jaye, I decided to give this scenario a go, as "Open Range is one of my favorite films.  Now, this time I played solo, so I am sure the game would have played differently with a live opponent.  For those not familiar with the story, "Open Range" concerns two "Free grazer" cowboys, Charlie Waite and "Boss" Spearman, and their struggle with a ruthless Cattle Baron who wants to stop them.  The gunfight in question is basically the end of the film.  We find Boss and Charlie near their supply wagon at one end of town, while the Cattle Baron and his thugs are at the other end.
Here is how I set the game up, sorry, no photos at present, maybe later.
       -  Charlie and Boss were set up behind a small wagon on the left hand side of a long street.  I rated Charlie as a Gunslinger (d12), and Boss as normal (d10).  Moving towards there are 8 gad guys, the Cattle baron with a winchester and pistol, one other thug with a winchester, the rest with rifles.  To give the good guys a chance, I rated all the bad guys but one as green (d8).  They had one Gunslinger, who had one arm in a sling, so I made him normal (d10). I set 5 included the Baron in the street about 12" away from the good guys, and 3 behind the main street buildings on the right.  In the film they are told to skirt the alleys and come up behind the good guys.  I played the game in a fashion similar to Jaye's "Magnificent Seven" scenario, each time a bad guy was killed, a townsfolk would join Charlie and Boss.  I screwed with sequence just a bit to start the fight as in the film, and activated Charlie automatically as if he held a King of Spades. 
       -  Being a Gunslinger, he did in fact drop the opposing Gunslinger dead on the first round, and then the shooting broke out. Unfortunately, Boss went down in the initial exchange.  Charlie was pinned, and moved behind the fence of the livery stable.  From there, despite wounds, he was able to pick off the bad guys.  With the help of the stable master, several of the townsfolk were persuaded to join Charie.  The game ended with Charlie bleeding but alive, and 4 armed townsfolk fighting with him.  The bad guys were reduced to 2 men who threw down their guns.
       -  I was a good scenario, which I will relay with a live opponent.  I did not as you can see, bring the crooked Sheriff and his Deputies into the game, though on another go, I might.  The game lasted I think 7 turns before the conclusion was clear.

                                            Nick

[Elbows]

Great shootout...one of the best Old West shootouts on film in my opinion.  I can see where it would be a rather difficult scenario to play though.  Two against 10+ makes a tough fight, even if you start adding townfolk.

[romelll]

Maybe make Charlie a Legend.
He did have experience in the Civil War and had nerves of steel.

[BaronVonJ]

Making him a Gunslinger gives him a d12 compared to everyone else's d10. Means he drops baddies left and right.
-J

[NickNascati]

I did make Charlie a Gunslinger, and in fact made all but the bays guy's gang "Greenhorns" with D8s.

[thebinmann]

I have been thinking about doing this for some time...

What is FoL?

Two against 10+ makes a tough fight, even if you start adding townfolk.

Don't forget the Old Gezzer who helps out (even if it's just a little)..

[thebinmann]

Fistful of Lead?

[NickNascati]

Yep, Fistful of Lead.  I rated Charlie Waite as a Gunslinger, "Boss" as normal,  the bad guys' Gunslinger as a normal since he had a broken arm, and everyone else as "Greenhorns", d8s, including the Old Geezer.

[romelll]

Maybe break it up into three fights to make up the scenario.
1) 2 vs 5 at the wagon
2)If successful then it would be 3 vs 3 (Livery guy was warning them) and the 3 baddies were not in the intial gun fight. After viewing this scene a dozen of times it looks like they failed to coordinate their end of the attack (maybe looking in a window or tripping over junk in the alley).
Then of course the final action at the jail.

[NickNascati]

Romelli, I like that idea, but maybe two fights?

[romelll]

The final action would be the jail fight.

That is if Boss and Charlie get by the three guys at the shed!

[FifteensAway]

Tough to make work but sounds like a great scene to turn into a fight.  (actually met in person the actor who played the sheriff, seemed pretty down to earth).

Agree that is perhaps the best gunfight on film - though I like most of the one in Chisum (for its time and place in film it was pretty good - and all in all a great movie)

Look forward to some photos of such a game.

[Bugsda]

the actor who played the sheriff

James Russo

[Galloping Major]

Great stuff, I love that film 



www.gallopingmajorwargames.com

[Malamute]

Great stuff, I love that film  



www.gallopingmajorwargames.com

Seconded.

There's two more figures for you to sculpt Lance

Although your Sam Elliot figure could pass for Kevin Costner, but we could do with a Robert Duvall