Misc., Wild West, Legends of the Old West, 28mm

OK, I’ll be the first to ‘fess up. I played a Warhammer game! There. I said it. Its a slippery slope, and before you know it I’ll be playing with Orcs, Tree Goblins and Third Level Wizards. The story goes, wargaming compadre Colin Jack is planning to run a big weekend-long Wild West game in the New Year, and I rashly offered to try it out. I even bought a “Posse” at Claymore – that’s them entering Stodge City – led by Sheriff Jeff Tracy in the centre – the guy pointing his finger.We actually played two games back to back – the first against a rather scabby band of Indians which were seen off in short order, and the second against a far tougher opponent – a band of heavily tooled-up cowboys. Before I knew it half of the “Tracy Boys” were lying in the dust, and the rest were heading for the hills!I learned pretty quickly that cowboys armed with repeating rifles can outshoot lawmen carrying six-shooters! This was demonstrated pretty effectively when three of my “posse” were blown away in one turn. I also found that shotguns are great fun at close range, and it pays to hide in buildings, rather than just walk down the centre of the street like they do in the films!The rules were Legends of the Old West, the cowboy rules produced by those Warhammer Historical people. I suppose they worked OK, although it really boiled down to who could throw the best sequence of dice, although I was beginning to work out a few of the tactical niceties as the game ran its course. There isn’t any kind of snap shooting or opportunity fire, so winning the initiative is all important, and it makes for some pretty ludicrous situations.However, I suppose it sort of evens out, and makes sure that nobody can take it all too seriously. I also rather enjoyed myself, and plan to give the surviving “Tracy Boys” another outing before too long.

Tags: Legends of the Old West