The town, calm before the afternoon storm!
What a Celebration!
A game played by the Jackson Gamers, January 4, 2003
The harsh western sunlight shows townies, gunfighters and sherrifs all waiting on the sidewalk. The combined 4th of July and Circus parade has passed. The circus is set up behind the cameraman (off the table) and the brassy oompah band is warming up for the afternoon performance.
Jay Stribling was the game master of this 25mm Skirmish game fought out in the streets of the western town of Balyhoo. These photos were taken by Fred Diamond. Jay Stribling took some photos but they have not come back from the fancey-pants eastern Kokak-feller.
Jim Pitts attempted to take photos, but one of the first bullets of the day struck and disabled his camera. No pictures from Jim of the events to follow!
Characters - Good Guys
Player #1 "The Sheriff" Taylor, the Sheriff is fast as a fox. The two deputies, Billy and Barty are ordinary. You hate the Snodgrass gang and they hate you. The Sherriff is +1 to shooting Earns points by:
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Player #2 "The U.S. Marshall" Frederick, the marshal, is in town with his two deputies: Christopher and Howard. Supposedly you are here to help the sheriff keep order - by the way - You do not give a spit in Hades for Indians, Mexicans, Chinamen or Eye-Talions. Frederick is +1 to shooting Earns points by:
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Player #3 "The Cattlemen's Association" Sterling, Davis, and Filmore are out watching the parade and might not mind seeing the circus too. You have your 6-guns, of course! All three are ordinary men. Earns points by:
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Player #10 "The Merchants" There are Three of you: Newberry, Woolworth, and Grant, all trying to keep the Feed store, Hardware store, and the Livery Stable intact.. You won't shoot first till somebody fires within 6" of one of your buildings, or you are fired at.
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Player #11 "The Lieutenant" You have your own figure plus two troopers. You are here to pick up a shipment of ammunition at the hardware store, but you will naturally help the lawmen.
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Player #13 "The Drummers" Remington, is a salesman for the Winchester arms company. A lone figure and a heroic character, he will ignore wounds on black cards inflicted at ranges greater than 6" (except "Kilt"). He adds +1 to all shooting and is quick as a fox. Sears and Roebuck, two dry goods salesmen with six shooters, accompany him. They are average men.
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The other side of the street. Again, the circus is to the back of the photographer. The yellow structure on the right is the bank. Note that dead men are already littering the sidewalk. Our game allowed each player to "run" three figures. Each player had three cards in a mixed deck (the Snodgrass gang had four cards!). For example, when the card labelled "The Sheriff" came up, the Sheriff and his two deputies could each move.
We also had one card in the deck labelled "draw for it". When it was drawn, each player could pulled a playing card from a 52-card deck. High card allowed that player an additional move. Another card was labelled "High Bid". At the start of the game, each player could bid for this card. Winner was Fred Diamond with a $3.00 bid. All the bids, winners or not, remained in the bank, to be awarded to the player controlling the bank at the end of the game. |
Characters - Not such good guys
Player #4 "The Drunks" You are 3 in number, Grizzly, Fondue, and Perceval all drunk as lords. All shoot at -1 to the die. All fight at -1 in hand to hand. All may shrug off the first wound that they take (except "Kilt") because of the alcohol in their system. Earns points by:
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Player #7 "The Burp Family" The brothers: Wyatt, Virgil, & Morgan own the Saloon, and are silent partners in the Hardware store and the Livery Stable. The Sheriff defeated Virgil for office in the last election, You think he would look good measured for his coffin. Each is +1 to shooting Earns points by:
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A long view, down main street. Of course, Ballyhoo only has one street.
Note the dead men at the corner of the first building. Fred Diamond's peace officers were shot in the back by the Snodgrass Gang before Fred even had a chance to get a card. The nice "high bid" card went unused, because all of his men were headed for boot hill by the time that the card was drawn! Jay Stribling has built two new structures from "Buffalo chip" kits, and they will expand this lovely town for the next game. |
Characters - Hard, Bad, Men
Player #5 "The Snodgrass Gang" Kid Snodgrass, Albert and Lamar have all vowed revenge on the sheriff for killing your cousin. Any other lawman of any kind you will shoot just like you step on a spider. You might as well rob the bank while you are in town. Earns points by:
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Player #6 "The Snodgrass Cousins" Wilbur, Edgar and Temple have tagged along with the other Snodgrass boys looking for fun. A little larceny, a little murder, and if you could abduct the schoolmarm or any other woman from the Hotel or Saloon, life would be just fine!
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Player #8 "El Rojo and his brothers (Mexicans #1)" Yourself and your brothers Jaime, and Ensalada are here for money - get it any way you can. You are mounted and may ride into town from whatever edge that you choose.
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Player #9 "Manuel and his cousins" (Mexicans #2) Your two cousins, Roberto and Jesus have come with you to support "El Rojo", but what you all really crave are new guns. You can acquire these at the hardware store. You could pay for them but sadly, you have no money.
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Jay Stribling - game master - (standing at left) gestures wildly, for no particular reason while trying to describe a rules mechanism. Jim Pitts looks up from his duties as Sheriff The bank has just been blown (up) and the building replaced by a heap of rocks. Mark Stevens is ajusting a bit of rubble for a more aesthetic look. |
Out for themselves
Player #15 "The Tourists" A group of Italians, Giovanni, Niccolo, and Benito, are on a tour through the "Wild west". So far it has been BORING. You are all watching the parade when you hear shots. You can run back to the hotel, where you left your guns, or - you have knives of course!
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Player #17 "The Indians" Three braves, Lone Eagle, White Cloud, and Cross eye are in town for the festivities. Each has a rifle, hidden under a blanket. They would love to obtain a few horses, and would not miss any opportunity to get some "fire-water". All are -1 when they shoot.
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Mark Stevens (in gray shirt) watches as the elephant and the horse herd begin their rampage down main street. The players did not know of the existance of the elephant till the game master announced it. Mark seems to regard the beast with suspicion. The bank is already rubble here, and you can see that the roof has been dropped back onto the pile of rocks. |
So - What transpired?
The setup went poorly for the lawmen. Both the Sherriff and his deputies, and the Marshal and his assistant marshalls were victims of a crossfire at the start of the game, with the Snodgrass boys and the cousins killing 5 out of the 6 while losing only one of their own.
The Townsmen and the Drummers shot up the rest of the Snodgrass boys, then the Mexicans came riding into town and dynamited the bank, blowing up one of their own in the process. A hail of lead came from the sidewalks on the other side of the street and when the dust cleared, the sole surviving deputy was crouched in the rubble of the bank, guarding the deposits.
MEANWHILE - The gunfire spooked the circus animals and they stampeded. A rampaging elephant and a herd of riderless circus horses, pounded down main street, pursued by indians afoot, trying to capture the horses (part of their victory conditions).
The elephant moved down the street, trampling several pedestrians, and was unaffected by the gunfire of the group of Italian tourists. The horses mainly eluded the indians, although two of the red men swung up and rode their mounts bare-back out of town.
Since the deputy had safeguarded the deposits, we returned the $5 to the bidders, rather than award it (as usual) to some scoundrel who had cleaned out the bank.
Mark Grins as the elephant stomps some sucker flat! I think that we used a simple die roll. Any pedestrian within 1" of the beast or it's path had to roll a D6 as did the elephant - err, the game master.
If the pedestrian beat the elephants roll, he dodged the animal. If the elephant beat or tied the pedestrian's roll, ROAD KILL! |
Character groups not included in the game
We did not have enough people to use these groups. Just as well, because the game was really too big and too slow as it was. If we do this again, we will have to move in group pairs. Example - The burps and the Cattlemen's association would move on the same card. Or both groups of the Snodgrass family would move on one card, instead of two. That should (roughly) halve the time to play.
Player #12 "The Sergeant" (We did not have a player for this character group). You have your own figure plus two troopers. You are trying to keep the young officer out of trouble. If he is killed, you will leave the game carrying his body.
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Player #14 "The Chinamen" (We did not have a player for this character group)
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Player #14 "The Women" (We did not have a player for this character group)
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Player #16 "The Sudents" (We did not have a player for this character group)
Three young men, Merlin, Eggbert, and Alphonse, are far too old to be in the fourth grade, are pupils of the schoolmarm. They are watching the festivities. Each has a hand gun, but are -1 when they shoot. All are +1 in hand to hand. Earn points by:
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The Elephant and the horses have reached the livery stable. Two indians make a jump for the horses. One will succeed, bringing the stolen horse total up to two. |
The Non Player Characters
NPC Character "The Maid"
Armed with a shotgun, this woman will shoot at any one who forces his way into the hotel. Once anybody fires within 6" of the Hotel, she can fire freely at any man who is near the hotel.
Alas, nobody came close enough for her to shoot! |
NPC Character "The Barkeep"
Armed with a shotgun under the counter, he won't be the first to fire, but once he starts, he can fire at anyone in the saloon! He can fire once anybody fires within 6" of the saloon.
He fired, he missed, he died! |
NPC Character "The livery man"
Armed with a shotgun, he won't be the first to fire, but he will probably shoot any anyone who forces his way into the livery stable, except the sheriffs, or a U.S. Marshal, Once anybody fires within 6" of the stable, he can fire at anyone!
He got his shot, but was killed for his trouble. |
NPC Character "The Bank Teller"
Armed with a 6-shooter, he will fire at anyone attempting to rob the bank. He will not fire at peace officers or townsmen.
He perished in the rubble of the bank building building. |
Late in the game. The Bank is rubble, the Elephant is gone.
Jim Pitts tries his camera again - to no avail. A sticky shutter frustrated him, obviously the result of a stray 25mm bullet! |
Go to the Jackson Gamers' Old West period page
Study up on the Jackson Gamers' variant for "Desperado"
Go to the Jackson Gamers' Victory Conditions for Western Games
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