Fistful of Lead, Reloaded Battle Report

Deputy Burt was able to wound Bull Ballard and rescue Miss Belle. Sheriff McClain and Irish Jack exchanged shots to little effect and Burt was able to safely escort Miss Belle into the jail without her being shot. The game ended at that point because even though the outlaws still had two men left, they were so wounded they never would have been able to catch up to Deputy Smith.

While models have 3 wounds each, the number of “instant kills” on the wound charts was  extraordinary.   Also, everyone was afraid to shoot anyone escorting Miss Belle so there was a lot of close combat and it was just as deadly as shooting.

Next time the Pinkertons will get at least one rifle or shotgun and the lawmen will probably get a rifleman too.   I’ll probably tweak some of the traits for the Pinkerton leader too. Otherwise it seemed a roughly even fight.

The game played quickly, the new players picked up the rules fast and much hilarity ensued. So, huzzah!

Deputy Burt Smith held his hand over the wound on his side and leaned heavily against the jailhouse wall. “What do we do now Sheriff?”

Sheriff McClain surveyed the piles of bodies around the jail and the stagecoach extending across the alley to the saloon. He watched as “Bull” Ballard walked backwards using the struggling Miss Belle as a shield while “Irish” Jack kept up a steady fire with his damnably accurate lever gun.

“If we don’t stop them now, Miss Belle is as good as dead. I’ll step out and blaze away at Irish  Jack for all I’m worth. You run as best you’re able and slip that knife into “Bull.”  Hopefully that’ll distract him, he’ll let go of Miss Belle and you drag her if you have to into the side door of the jailhouse and we’ll make a stand there if they decide to press on.”

Burt just stared at him open mouthed. Sheriff McClain shifted one gun into its holster and put on hand on Burt’s shoulder.  “Son, I know it’s asking a lot but I’ve seen you take down bigger by yourself.  Don’t you worry about Irish, I’ll deal with him.”  And with that, Sheriff McClain drew both pistols, stepped around the corner of the jail and let the lead fly.

Miss Belle dashes to the comparative safety of the jail to be intercepted by Mr Red and Mr Black. Elated with their capture, the Pinkertons failed to notice Bull Ballard had occupied the jail and gunned them down in front of the jail door. Meanwhile Jebediah continues to blaze away with his shotgun just off to the right of the jail from a prone position.

Cullen ran up to the stagecoach and yanked open the door.

“Miss Belle, you need to come with me, those men are trying to kidnap you.”  No sooner than the words got out Ben Wade ran up and yelled something unintelligible and slipped a thin dagger into Cullens ribs.

Deputy Smith ran forward, his duster billowing in his wake until he slams into Wade and then proceeds to dash his head against the stagecoach wheel.

Meanwhile Charlie Prince adds to the mayhem firing into the melee but surprisingly missed!  He gets both barrels of Buck McClains shotgun for his trouble. Irish Jack puts down Cullen and Burt Smith but not before Burt wounds Jebediah leaving the outlaw rolling in the dust but still deadly with his own shotgun.

Sheriff McClain gets wounded but staggers back to his feet. Bill Smith runs up and finally puts down Jebediah but in all the mayhem, Miss Belle runs into two Pinkertons at the front door of the jail.

Gang creation is pretty simple. You typically get five characters, one of which is the leader, one who is the sidekick and three regular characters. The leader has the leadership trait plus three more you choose. The sidekick gets two and the regulars get one each.

Most dice rolls are a single D10 but some particularly talented characters roll a D12. Greenhorns and Civilians roll a D8.

Each gang also has a unique trait that applies to everyone.   With this in mind, I tried to create thematic gangs.

If the leader is with range and has line of sight to a friendly model, he buffs recovery rolls. Recovery is basically the morale stat of a model. Most of the lawmen are particularly good at fisticuffs. I chose those traits for them because I decided to make life a little bit harder on them and not allow them to shoot until someone else fired first. But they can fight in close combat at any time.  To balance this, they each had a different melee related skill except Mr.Cullen. Everytime he’s shot at and the shot misses, he gets a free dash.

The Sheriff model has two guns so I gave him the Two Guns trait. Basically he gets a 3 inch template attack but is more likely to run out of ammo. I also gave him a trait that allows him to reload more rapidly than other models to balance that out a bit.

Themed around the movie 3:10 to Yuma, this gang is led by Ben Wade and Charlie Prince. Ben has a hidden weapon he can use once per game if he’s in melee combat.  He also has Sharp Tongued. Basically if you’re fighting him in melee, he can insult you and make you re-roll your dice.

Charlie is a pure gunfighter. He rolls a D12 when shooting but a D8 when fighting hand to hand. Models typically have 3 wounds but I gave one of the outlaws four wounds. Their rifleman was given Eagle Eyes, which extended the ranges of his rifle.

The uniformity of all the Pinkertons in their dusters is what inspired me here. This gang dispenses with a sidekick but all the regulars get two traits. I gave all three the same two traits which basically gave them added range and better shooting but limited everyone to pistols. Inspired by Reservoir Dogs, their names came from the colors of their bandannas. Their leader is Capt Jack. He’ll meet you down by the railroad tracks. His ability is themed around manipulating his gangs activations.

Sean and I had played two quick games to learn the rules when Nathan and Evan wandered up to check out our table. We quickly enticed them into a game. Sean decided to sit the game out and be the shot caller while Nathan and Evan joined me in the Rescue of Blue Belle.

Placed at the center of the board, Miss Belle has arrived via stagecoach. All three gangs are trying to rescue/ransom/return her to their starting deployment zones.

The table is a 3 foot by 3 foot town with the deployment zones being the North West corner for the Pinkertons, the North East corner for the Outlaws and the center of the Southern edge. The miniatures start off board and move on as their first action. They can enter up to 3 inches from the Northern corners or 3 inches either side of the center of the Southern edge.

Once in base contact with the stagecoach, Miss Belle is placed in base with the player’s miniature. When that miniature moves, so does Miss Belle. As a civilian she only has 1 hit point and can be killed accidentally if you miss your target. If at any time she is not recuse to her escort being killed or knocked down, she immediately makes a single action to move to the prisoner housed in the jail. If at the end of a turn, she is not escorted, she will move again.

Once she makes contact with her true love, the scenario immediately ends. If she dies, the scenario also ends. If only one gang is standing, they are the default winner, but only if Miss Belle is alive.

Sean and I had played two quick games to learn the rules when Nathan and Evan wandered up to check out our table. We quickly enticed them into a game. Sean decided to sit the game out and be the shot caller while Nathan and Evan joined me in the Rescue of Blue Belle.

Placed at the center of the board, Miss Belle has arrived via stagecoach. All three gangs are trying to rescue/ransom/return her to their starting deployment zones.

The table is a 3 foot by 3 foot town with the deployment zones being the North West corner for the Pinkertons, the North East corner for the Outlaws and the center of the Southern edge. The miniatures start off board and move on as their first action. They can enter up to 3 inches from the Northern corners or 3 inches either side of the center of the Southern edge.

Once in base contact with the stagecoach, Miss Belle is placed in base with the player’s miniature. When that miniature moves, so does Miss Belle. As a civilian she only has 1 hit point and can be killed accidentally if you miss your target. If at any time she is not recuse to her escort being killed or knocked down, she immediately makes a single action to move to the prisoner housed in the jail. If at the end of a turn, she is not escorted, she will move again.

Once she makes contact with her true love, the scenario immediately ends. If she dies, the scenario also ends. If only one gang is standing, they are the default winner, but only if Miss Belle is alive.