Well knock me down with a feather. Just before I closed for lunch my main PC arrived back from repair, I had just been thinking of giving Scan a ring to find out what was happening and boom, there it was, and just in time for me to grab a quick sarnie and set it up, I retreated upstairs with a spring in my step and whistling to myself.
So far everything seems to be working fine and I still had thirty minutes to spare, I gave my latest figures a quick flesh wash and still had fifteen to burn. I popped TMP on and as usual checked the Dark Age section to see if there was anything which was not Saga that might pique my interest, an advert for the latest Miniature Wargames had a Dark Age cover and as I read the contents I nearly fell off the chair. There was an article on scenarios for Dux Britanniarum by one George Anderson!
I cannot even remember what they are about, despite having written for the magazine on and off over a period of 25 years I stopped when Andrew Hubbock left, at the same time I found my niche drawing military maps so my writing came to a stop, well almost, I started this blog to scratch that particular itch.
Around the same time I also sent in a piece about the Dalton gangs infamous bank raid on the town of Coffeyville, Kansas, perhaps the dust will be blown off that as well.
We started the afternoon off with the Open Range scenario, see an earlier post for the background, I took the cowboys and Simon the corrupt Sheriff and local bully Denton Baxter. As both sides faced off on Main Street Charlie duly stepped forward and put a bullet through gunslinger Butler's forehead, both he and Boss then ran for cover behind a nearby wagon.
Both sides face off.
Baxter and his henchmen tried to close with our heroes and continually came close to killing them but Boss and Charlie seemed to live a charmed life. Their friend from the Livery Stable joined them and took out a couple of Baxter's thugs with his rifle, Boss broke cover to try and sneak around their flank and bring his shotgun into close range but he found himself in the open and unable to dodge and was gunned down. This brought the cowardly Sheriff Poole and his gang from the jail into play along with several citizens who had had enough of Baxter's rule. Baxter found himself isolated, hiding in the Livery while the citizens with their new found courage cornered him and shot him down like a dog.
Charlie and his Livery friend hold off Baxter's men.
This left us enough time to play the Dalton's raid on Coffeyville, this time I took the bank robbers and Simon the citizenry. Once the Dalton's were recognised the locals ran to arm themselves and move on the banks. I brought Grat Dalton, Bill Power and Dick Broadwell out of the Condon Bank and across the street with the intention of making a run for the horses tied up in a nearby alley, Bob and Emmett meanwhile decided to stay put in the 1st National and shoot it out with citizens who had made it to the front of the bank and were shooting through the windows. I now made a fatal mistake and thought Grat and his sidekicks could finish off some of the locals who were heading in their direction.
Grat makes the mistake of entering a gunfight.
This halt enabled the locals and the Marshall to seal off the alley and ensure the bank robbers would run a gauntlet of fire trying to make their horses. Over in the 1st National the gunfight did not go the way the robbers planned and Bob was left wounded as his brother bled out behind the counter. A fusillade of shots felled Grat and Bill Power leaving Broadwell to throw his weapons to the ground and surrender, shortly after this Bob also gave up.
The elusive horses in 'Death Alley'.
For those who know nothing about the Coffeyville robbery the Dalton gang of three brothers and two friends tried to rob two banks on the same day, unfortunately even with wigs and false beards they were recognised as they had been Coffeyville residents in the past. The citizens rallied and gunned down four of the gang, only Emmett survived with 23 wounds to his body, he became an author and actor after fourteen years in prison.
Tim Evans was actually Bill Power, check this site for more info http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/daltons.htm
We were supposed to be away this weekend enjoying ourselves with a picnic somewhere in Northumbria with the grandchildren, however one has been stricken with a mystery illness and as we have a large family gathering next weekend we have decided not to take a chance. Tentatively I broached the subject that if we now had no plans for tomorrow then I could possibly have a game, or not, not that bothered really, what do you think? I got the green light which has depleted my store of brownie points somewhat but hey, three weekends on the trot, now that is worth unloading a few.
I am going to try out that 'Open Range' gunfight scenario I thought up on the hoof a week or so back, if it works I am hoping to also fit in the Dalton gang bank robberies at Coffeyville, Kansas.
As well as drawing maps I also do the odd bit of indexing for Helion if they are stuck, I was too busy so my wife did it. The book however was very intriguing, it looked at attitudes to WWI, the interwar years and WWII and even with a quick look over the missus' shoulder it immediately caught my interest. I am an admirer of modern historians like Gary Sheffield, Gordon Corrigan and John Terraine who look at WWI with their heads and not their hearts. Brian Bond seems to have slipped my net, the book in question is due out on 15th September and is called "Liddell Hart to Joan Littlewood" take a note and look out for it.
I also had to do some research for some 1948 "Jewish War of Independence" maps, a period about which I have not a clue, it was not good reading, one thing led to another and I spent a couple of hours reading up on the subject, admittedly in a general manner, but enough to never feel the need to wargame it. Do you have something you wouldn't wargame? I remember years ago at Claymore seeing a naval game based on the Falklands which had ended the previous year and feeling a bit queasy over it, especially being ex-Navy and having a brother-in-law lose his ship from under him. About the same time I appeared on a BBC Radio Scotland show as they wanted to do a piece on wargaming, not the best thing to showcase on radio where you can't see anything, and a researcher asked me if we wargamed Northern Ireland, needless to say she was put in the picture rather sharpish and the question did not arise. Which is just as well as I 'froze' in front of the mic and can only remember babbling incoherently, but I got a tenner for it. On the other hand I am quite willing to pile up the bodies of my Romano-British, Saxons, Yanks and Rebs without a second thought, it's a funny old world.
I am painting again, albeit at a slow pace, but I am sure things will pick up once I get the horses finished.
What a fantastic put down from 'Open Range' I did indeed watch it last night and polished off the best part of a bottle of Sangiovese while doing so. I had forgotten how good a film it was, apart from the mush during the last five minutes which did nothing for the story. What a wonderful fantasy where the good guys clearly win over the bad guys while merely doing the right thing, and being men into the bargain, if only real life were like that.
I was wondering how the gunfight would play out as a game of Dead Man's Hand and came up with this idea. I suggest that the action takes place around the Livery Stable, the Jail House should be at the opposite end of the street with buildings in between. Although I counted nine riders coming into town the showdown has five baddies near the Livery and three making their way around the backs of the houses, meanwhile the sheriff and three others are hiding in the jail. Having only two heroes up against twelve would not make for much of a game so I suggest one citizen in the Livery with a rifle who will join Charlie and Boss on turn two. Thereafter each other building will have a brave citizen inside, up to five, who will join the fray when two of the baddies are down or either Boss or Charlie becomes a casualty, when they join roll a die to see what they are armed with, 1 a shotgun, 2/3 a repeating rifle, 4/5/6 a pistol. Once the citizens are activated so too are the sheriff and his buddies in the jail. To start the game Charlie has two pistols and a repeating rifle, Boss a shotgun and a pistol, Charlie is the only one who fires on turn one, to repeat his revenge on the gunman Butler he will have one shot with a D20 and he will kill on a 10+, thereafter things will be as normal.
If you play DMH then there are two 'gangs' the citizens and the baddies, Charlie and Boss do not need to take a Big Nerve Test the others do, as for the characters I recommend these :
Boss Spearman- Range Boss
Charlie Waite - 'Man with no name'
Citizens - Citizens, with three being Dudes
Denton Baxter - Boss
Sheriff Poole - Deputy
Butler - Gunslinger (with only two actions due to his broken arm)
Baddies - Dudes, with three being Varmints
To win the baddies have to kill Boss and Charlie, they in turn have to kill Baxter.
I hope to have a chance at playing this in the near future and it may need some refinements but only a play test will tell, meanwhile you can see where I am coming from below -
