Troop Time!: Lawmen

Wednesday, 8 May 2024

Dead Man's Hand Redux The Law v Outlaws

Having tried What a Cowboy and feeling that it was not especially interesting I snapped up a set of the second edition of Dead Man's Hand at Salute.

On reading through it not much seems to have changed other than new rules for mounted figures, stampedes and stagecoaches etc. This is probably good as the original rules didn't seem to have any great flaws in them.

The first run through saw my Lawmen take on Dave's outlaws in a small town somewhere in Arizona.

The Law close in on the Outlaws who are heading for the Bank:

Bullets quickly start flying:

The view from above:

The Law resolutely advancer on the miscreants:

Both sides blast away with little effect!

Disaster strikes for the Law as the Sheriff, Marshall, Deputy and the Preacher are all cut down. It's a bad day for the Law:

Great fun and reminded me of why I used to play DMH a lot. The gangs are different to each other and the scenarios and campaign really bring it alive.

As Dave hadn't played before we kept it fairly simple with limited weapons and a simple scenario, perhaps in the future we will start off a campaign.

Thursday, 9 November 2023

What a Cowboy Lawmen v Mexicans and Navajo's

Back to Mexico for another WaC game, this time with my Lawmen taking on Jerry's Mexicans and Dave's Navajo. The objective was to capture a treasure-laden donkey tied up in the village.

As another experiment I went with only four characters this time, a Legend (Wyatt Earp), two gunslingers (Morgan Earp and Doc Holiday) and a shootist (Virgil Earp with a shotgun).

The village is quiet but probably won't stay that way for long:

The Earp's move in lead by Wyatt and Morgan with Doc and Virgil following behind:

In the distance the Mexicans are closing in on the donkey. Wyatt has been shot at by a Navajo and has had to dodge back into cover:

Numbers of Navajo close in on the village:

Wyatt is targeted by more Mexicans and has to dodge back into cover again:

Doc is wounded:

Mexicans and Navajo close in on the donkey:

One Navajo climbs down from the roof into a building Morgan has occupied:

Morgan knocks the Navajo out. Meanwhile the Mexicans have taken control of the donkey:

The situation is not great for the Lawmen, Virgil has taken a head wound, Doc is also wounded and Wyatt is pinned down. Morgan holds the house but can't stop the Mexicans running off with the donkey:

Doc and a Mexican shoot it out:

Doc loses the encounter and is shot down:

The Mexicans quickly took the donkey to safety giving Jerry the win!

This was my fourth game of WaC and, while it was fun, I think I'm coming to the conclusion I prefer Dead Man's Hand with it's greater depth and characterisation.

Everything in WaC is very generic, there was no difference other than random skill allocation between the Lawmen, the Mexicans and the Native Americans. You could just as easily call it 'What a Pirate' or 'What a Highwayman', which I guess is both good and bad!

I guess you could add that in but in DMH it is a big part of the rules and all the different gangs have appropriate advantages and disadvantages which make them play in a different style.

Perhaps next time I'll dust off DMH and see if Jerry and Dave want to give that a go, I also understand there is a 2nd Edition of DMH coming out soon which might be interesting.