Quick and semi-gratuitous post. Set Fistful of Lead up on the dining table. Couple of shootouts.
Can’t recommend this rule set enough. Easy to read through, and the Play Aid Sheet covers about 95 percent of what you can run into.
Just turn the little guys loose, and see what kind of mischief ensues. Only level of control I impose is whether or not they can see/are aware of what’s going on around them. For that, I use the trusty “Yes/No” die.
This Spring – if that ever gets here – one project is to assemble some paper buildings.
Somehow became enamored with skirmish games while finishing up my TSATF miniatures.
What ensued can only be described as a “frenzy” of rules purchases. Learned a lot. First off, what the hell is a skirmish game. Here is one thread that, I guess, covers the bases.
Played Fistful of Lead and enjoyed it. But I wanted something different than Wild West gunfights.
I already had one other set of rules, and it is supposedly the first set of skirmish rules published…. OK, maybe the Wild West rules came first. I bought the Featherstone rules a long time ago, but played only a couple of times.
After playing one session – more on that in another post – I decided to explore other options. The next thing I knew, I was falling into the vortex of the Wargame Vault.
Just click, pay, and download……it’s painless. With that, and some research, I accumulated a number of titles in a very short time.
As the BGG thread indicated, there is variety out there. I’ve concluded the rules break down into either individual figure or small unit games, with the accompanying amount of character development varying by scale. The individual figures have capabilities and special skills. These attributes cost points to help create a balanced game. Also, some rules are for the pre or early gunpowder periods, with others following the evolution of firearms.
A listing of early rule sets, but with an emphasis on board games, can be found here.
That being said, I’m to start working through my early period rules, using my Warhammer skirmish figures and “combat town”. I’ll post up the sessions.
While procrastinating about Panzergruppe Guderian,managed to work on additional buildings for Fistful of Lead.
Decided to keep with the Southwest locale.It fits my lack of skill and precision.Adobe buildings require the roughest of construction skills, complemented by healthy applications of spackling paste.
Throw in layers of textured spray paint, random dry-brushing with earth colors, finish with white/gray, and there it is.
The results aren’t pretty, but functional.A topic I’m working myself into a rant about.
Want to take a minute to extoll the virtures of this ruleset. Is it the greatest ever……well, no. But, it is what it is and an excellent value.
The rules are just a part of what you get. There is a whole series of stand-alone scenarios, characters to develop, diagrams of buildings, and another set of scenarios that can be combined in a campaign game.
Everyone has there preferences, but I have no desire to try another of western skirmish rules.
Finally played a game after my earlier in the month misadventures with scale.
Scenario borrowed from the Butch & Sundance final fight. Had four figures each for the “Blue” Gang and “Brown” Posse. Blue Gang hiding in small ranch complex, when Posse approaches and dismounts.
First random actions were to determine if the Blue’s sentry spotted the Posse before the first turn started and at what distance. He did, at a distance of 12 inches. There’s no running in the Rules As Written (RAW), only walk (5″) and crawl (2″). I use a run move of 7 inches.
A card is dealt for each figure. The card values (face etc) are called out in sequence with the highest card going first. For solo play, I just lay them out, and then pick in the appropriate order.
Turn 1: The outlaws are warned and get the first three plays. The sentry runs to the house to give the warning. One gets out of the building, rushing to the gate, and another moves to the corral wall. The posse shoots down the cowboy at the gate, and takes cover behind the ranch wall.
Turn 2: One outlaw runs out of ammunition (firing roll of “1”). The posse’s rifleman shoots down the outlaw at the corral. The remaining outlaws are now in the building.
Turn 3: The outlaws have the first two turns and both miss aimed fire (one action to aim and one action to fire). One of the outlaws is then pinned by gunfire. A posse member moves next to the house, anticipating a rush.
Turn 4: The two posse shooters at the corral run out of ammunition. A bold attempt to rush the building leaves the one posse member wounded.
Turn 5: The outlaws manage to kill two posse members despite partial cover.
At this point, I had to shut the game down.
As advertised, Fistful of Lead is “fast and furious”. You can nitpick the rules, particularly the inability to shoot at a moving target, but you can’t dispute this is a fun skirmish game.
Posse shoots down one of the outlaws at the front gate. Another outlaw is outside the house using the corral wall’s partial cover.Two outlaws down!One member of the posse ready to rush the house.
After my scaling disaster, I tried to cobble together something fast and workable.
Went with the familiar gleaned from an old Miniature Wargames Magazine (No. 39) article on Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid’s final 1909 shoot-out in Bolivia. As a matter of fact, I used the layout of the San Vincente barrio using Scrabble tiles for a quick workup with the Fistful of Lead rules back in early June. Was giggling the whole time I put this together. Perfect reaction for a child-like game.
Here’s the nearly completed successor that will be finished this evening. At least it is in scale, and the psychadelic table cloth is back in The Sunfish Capital Of The World.
Decided to get on the Wild West miniatures game. This decision led to a wargaming mis-adventure.
Painting the plastic figures was fine. Prep was a little time consuming with washing, soaking in vinegar and then brushing with white glue. Overall, nice to get painting again.
But, had a real snafu with the buildings. Yes, I decided to go all in and construct a western town. Bought some foam core and was in business for about $4.00. Worked with the 1/72 scale of the figures, and sketched up a basic building plan.
So far, so good.
Cut up the foam core, added balsa wood door and window frames, along with overhangs.
The plan was to finish up and play last Sunday. But….when figures and buildings were placed on the table…..it was like this.
Here’s a picture……..except it’s a Town For Giants!!!!!!!
Getting the twitch for some new miniature games, but with minimal budget outlay.
First quasi-project is Western Gunfights using the Fistful Of Lead (Reloaded) rules. They’re available over at WargameVault. My real hope was to use them with smaller 10mm figures. No real options there. Tempted to work with 20mm “Punitive Expedition” figures, but that’s a pricey proposition for what could be a “one and done” game. So, found this at the local vintage toy store.
Cheap, can fabricate some buildings, and if it’s fun……go to the more expensive option.
Also purchased an Osprey title on the Technical vehicles.
Now all revved up (no pun intended) on a miniatures treatment using 1/285 GHQ vehicles. Again, pricey, but no real options for low cost tactical minis. Very, very tempted.
