Wild West Rules - The Compilation

Something I would like to point out is that this is not an attempt to say that one of these rule sets is better than another. What they share is desire to in some way simulate the wild west of Hollywood and our imagination. Each takes its own approach to accomplishing this goal and that's what I want get into here. Do you prefer running one or two characters or a whole posse of characters? Do you like a lot of detail or keep it sketchy and simple? Those are the types of questions I want to answer here. Unfortunately blogger typically doesn't hand excel tables very well so I'll try and make this as reasonable as possible. I'll I'm giving you here is a taste of each rule set for more information you can refer back to the specific post for that set of rules.

1) Let's take a look at which of these games you can still pick up right off the shelf.

In Print                                  Out of Print
Dead Man's Hand                  Boot Hill
Desperado                             Legends of the Old West
Fistful of Lead; Reloaded
Gutshot
Shoot N' Skedaddle (Cards are out of print and being revised)
The Rules with No Name

2) There is certainly a theme with wild west games involving poker cards, not all of these games use playing cards though so let's sort out the ones that do from the ones that don't.

Uses Poker (Playing) Cards          Does Not Use Poker (Playing) Cards
Dead Man's Hand                          Boot Hill
Fistful of Lead; Reloaded               Desperado
Shoot N' Skedaddle                       Gutshot
The Rules with No Name               Legends of the Old West

3) Another common aspect is running a whole posse or gang instead of just 2-3 characters. 

Posse/Gang Oriented                    Character Oriented
Dead Man's Hand                          Boot Hill
Fistful of Lead; Reloaded               Desperado
Legends of the Old West               Gutshot
Shoot N' Skedaddle                       
The Rules with No Name
Something to note though is that really all of these games could be played with just a few characters per player. While several are definitely oriented towards the posse aspect its not necessarily a requirement that you have to play it that way.

4) Movement is an important aspect of the game for me. There is already a fair amount of luck built into any game that uses cards or dice or both in most of the wild west games that I like to have something that I feel I can control. So whether movement distance is random or a set rate is important to me. However, since movement is always part of some action you need to remember that in some of these games some characters are going to get several opportunities to move in a single turn. So temper your like or dislike of random movement and see if it is offset by multiple opportunities to move in a turn.

Random Movement                        Set Movement Rate
Desperado                                      Boot Hill
The Rules with No Name                Dead Man's Hand
                                                        Fistful of Lead; Reloaded
                                                        Gutshot
                                                        Legends of the Old West
                                                        Shoot N' Skedaddle

5) Combat; Shooting - This is a hard one to break down into a couple of simple columns so I'm not going to try. I'll just give the basic shooting concept for each game.

Boot Hill - Percentile dice roll with modifiers
Dead Man's Hand - D20 dice roll with modifiers
Desperado - Percentile dice roll with modifiers
Fistful of Lead; Reloaded - A target number based on the range using a D10 roll with modifiers
Gutshot - Each character has a target number to shoot their target using a 2D6 roll with modifiers
Legends of the Old West - Roll your shooting value or better to hit your target, no modifiers. Target gets a saving throw.
Shoot N' Skedaddle - A target number of 5+ is required to hit your target. Consult marksmanship trait to determine the type of die to roll to hit.
The Rules with No Name - Roll a Six to hit. Character ability and weapon type determine how many dice to roll. Modifiers affect the total number of dice thrown.     

6) Combat; Hand to Hand. Some of these games use the shooting mechanics for hand to hand and some don't. Again this will be broken down by game.

Boot Hill - 2D12 roll with modifiers
Dead Man's Hand - D10 dice roll with modifiers
Desperado - Opposed 1D6 die roll with modifiers
Fistful of Lead; Reloaded - Opposed 1D10 die roll with modifiers
Gutshot - 2D12 die roll to equal or surpass the target number based on the weapon used in HtH.
Legends of the Old West - Roll your fighting value or better to hit your target, no modifiers. Target gets a saving throw.
Shoot N' Skedaddle - A target number of 5+ is required to hit your target. Consult scrap trait to determine the type of die to roll to hit.

The Rules with No Name - Opposed rolls with the number of D6 rolled by each participant based on the weapon they are using.

7) Scenarios and Campaign Rules - Most of these sets have some form of campaign rules as well as scenarios to play.

Boot Hill - Scenarios - Yes, Campaign Rules - Yes, neither is particularly extensive though. later editions of Boot Hill had both available particularly the 3rd Edition.
Dead Man's Hand - Scenarios - Yes, Campaign Rules - No, but campaign rules are in the Legends supplement (which I don't own, guess I should fix that)
Desperado - Scenarios - Yes, Campaign Rules - No
Fistful of Lead; Reloaded - Scenarios - Yes, Campaign Rules - Yes 
Gutshot - Scenarios - Yes, Campaign Rules - Yes
Legends of the Old West - Scenarios - Yes, Campaign Rules - Yes
Shoot N' Skedaddle - Scenarios - Yes, Campaign Rules - Yes


The Rules with No Name - Scenarios - No, Campaign Rules - Yes

And there you have it kind of boiled down to the bare basic game play. I'm not going to sit down and rate any of these rule sets. I will say that while they all share the wild west theme yet the game play is actually quite different. It really comes down to your own preferences. Do you like using poker cards, do you like rolling a lot of different dice, do you want to keep it simple and just roll D6s. I think there is a wild west game to fit all of the different styles of play out there. If you haven't already read the specific blog posts about these different rules I would encourage you to do so. You can find the links to each one below.

Boot Hill

Dead Man's Hand

Desperado

Fistful of Lead; Reloaded

Gutshot

Legends of the Old West

The Rules with No Name

Shoot N' Skedaddle

Wild West Rules - Legends of the Old West - Warhammer Historical

I'm quite nostalgic about this set of rules because they are the ones that got me back into Wild West games after my Boot Hill days. If you are a Warhammer player then this system is going to feel very familiar to you. It uses the typical Warhammer characteristics that you find in Warhammer, Warhammer 40K and Lord of the Rings. In fact if you are a Lord of the Rings player then this system will be very familiar as it serves as the base rules for Legends of the Old West. This is one of the more rules oriented games out there (as should be evidenced by the 135 pages!). Unlike most Wild West games here a player moves all his miniatures and then his opponents take their turn (IgoUgo sequence).

Legends of the Old West
Warhammer Historical 1st Edition
Out of Print
Standard US, softcover, perfect bound, 135 pages 
Original Price $35.95 

Movement: This game uses set movement rates for the type of character or creature; people move 6", mules move 8" and horses move 10". Anything else will have its movement rate defined in its description. The movement section covers all kinds of things from getting over obstacles to horses running wild.

Combat: Your ability to shoot and to fight are based on the characteristics of the model. The characteristics are: Shootin', Fightin', Strength, Grit, Attacks, Wounds, and Pluck. Each character may have some special abilities as well. You need to roll your Shootin' value or better to hit with a gun or other long ranged weapon. There are no modifiers to hit as such but you might have an additional roll to make if you hit the target if they are behind cover. The Fightin' works in a similar manner. Both combatants roll a number of D6 equal to their Attacks value (typically 1) high score wins! If there is a tie then the character with the higher Fightin' wins. If its still a tie then roll 1D6 on a 1-3 one side wins on a 4-6 the other side wins (you have to figure out which is which I suppose).

Wounds:  So you have managed to hit your target either by Shootin' or Fightin'. For Shootin' consult the wound chart and compare the target's Grit to the Weapon's Strength to determine if the character is wounded or not. Cross referencing the results gives a number, roll 1D6 and if the score is equal to or higher then the target is wounded. There are some other possible effects based on the dice score as well. A wound from Fightin' is similar but its the target's Grit vs the attacker's Str to determine the number required to wound. Again there are a lot of situations covered in the rules for both Shootin' and Fightin'.

Weapon List: Legends has a list of weapons that makes me smile. While not huge it is a lot more than other wild west games out there. It does bring out one detail though, the rules state that any revolver can be "fanned" and this is incorrect. You can really only fan a single action revolver, you are going to damage the cylinder if you try an fan a double action revolver. Again there is a difference between the two types and I think its worth the effort to note the difference and what you can and cannot do.

Campaign rules: There are two components to the campaign rules. First you "gather" your posse. You pick a list to work from and a set number of points and build a posse from that list. You might build a posse from the "Cowboy" list which means you would have a Trail Boss supported by Greenhorns, Buckaroos, Cowpokes and Wranglers or you might build a posse from the "Lawman" list lead by a Sheriff supported by Deputies, Upstanding Citizens and Vigilantes. From there you play through scenarios gain experience and deal with injuries. Its pretty straight forward and easy to use.

Rules Bling: Warhammer Historical is a subsidiary or Games Workshop so as you might think this book is filled with a lot of bling. On the other hand they have a lot of experience working with rulebooks and I find it clean and well layed out. Its done in a two column format with lots of pictures, drawings (good ones), diagrams, charts and tables. Sometimes restricted to the column width sometimes spanning the whole page. It has an excellent table of contents which is a must have for a book this size. There is a short section on terrain and painting and all of the charts and templates and counters are at the back of the book. Although they are a little hard to scan because of the perfect binding used to hold everything together.

Unique: The campaign system is what really makes Legends of the Old West standout. While the concept of a list to build from is classic Games Workshop going back to many of their specialist games like Mordheim and Necromunda. What truly makes it standout though is the continued growth of your posse, gaining skills, acquiring "Hired Guns" buying equipment etc. If you really want a campaign this one really lays it out in a lot of detail (please note that there are certainly wild west rules that have campaign systems that I'm not familiar with).

Supplements: Frontier Blood on the Plains - Primarily this volume adds optional rules, expands the weapons available and adds "gangs" for the US Cavalry, Texas Rangers and Indians (there are a number of variant lists for each). Out of Print, Original price $29.95
I don't own either of the two supplements that were written:
The Alamo - Mostly rules, equipment and scenarios for larger actions. It adds three new "gangs"; Mountain Men, Bandidos and Comancheros
Showdown - Adds the Chinese Tong but mostly campaign rules and possible cross overs to other timer periods. I really need to hunt this one down and add it to the collection especially with the emphasis on campaigns.

My Thoughts:  Legends of the Old West is really the LoTR skirmish system transplanted to the Wild West, but it works, works well and its fun. Because of this there are a lot of rules and even when you remove the non rule sections there are still a lot of rules. This isn't bad its the result of not being built from scratch and having the benefit of what amounts to a lot of playtesting. The campaign aspect can make it very exciting and that certainly makes it unique from its LoTR heritage. The issue is that its quite possible for some posses to really outstrip the competition and start stepping all over their opponents, this was also an issue with Mordheim as well. It takes a bit of play balancing if a campaign is going to survive for an extended amount of time.

Wild West Rules - Gutshot - Hawgleg Publishing

I know that this set of rules wasn't on the initial list but I finally got around to ordering it and since it arrived in the mail on Monday I felt like I should include it in the list. So one more post after this one and then its off to the compilation post. I heard about Gutshot on TMP. It seems that every time someone asks which wild west rules are the best Gutshot gets a couple of shout outs. So since the wild west is going to be my focus for a while longer I figured it was about time I picked them up. I have spent a couple of days now pouring through the 175 pages that make up the rulebook but don't let that scare you off, like a lot of these wild west rules its not all rules on those pages. I should mention that Gutshot won the Origins Award in 2006 for Historical Miniatures Game of the Year (interestingly enough I have won an Origins Award as well, way back in the 80's when I did a line of 15mm buildings for Stone Mountain Miniatures). I should also mention that there is a lot of downloadable material on the Hawgleg Publishing website so after you have read this post wander on over to the website and see what kind of support you can get..for free! Gutshot Downloads

Gutshot
Hawgleg Publishing
In Print
8 1/2 x 11, Paperback, Perfect Bound, 175 pages
Original Price: $24.95

Movement: Moved is based on what kind of movement the character is performing and can be found on Table 6.1.1. Basically you can crawl, walk, trot or run during your action (a character will have three actions during the turn, one action each time their name is drawn from the hat, these are referred to as action slips). There is a section for character movement, mounted movement and vehicle movement but the basics can be had in Chapter 2 Quick Start Guide. There are plenty of rules to handle just about anything from jumping through windows, jumping off roofs and picking the lock on a door. All of these are based around the concept of a task. There are free tasks (just do it), fast tasks (combined with movement or an attack) and Full Tasks (these takes the characters full attention) and Multi-Action Tasks (will take more than one action to complete). For a straight up gunfight most actions taken will either be free or fast and the rest are more likely to come into play when called for by a scenario.

Combat: Basically each character and NPC in the game has a target number. If you roll your target number or better on 2D6 you hit your target. Of course there are modifiers to be applied to that based on the actions of the character shooting and his target. Rolling snake eyes (double ones) is a bad thing and you get the pleasure or rolling on Table 10.2 and see what wonderful thing happens to your weapon. If you hit damage is rolled and applied to the target based on the weapon. There are a whole host of other rules that can come into play and are all are described in Chapter 10. But you already have the basics down at this point.
Hand to hand is a bit different. The target number is based on the weapon being used and the defender has a defensive target number as well (but only if they have a free hand to defend with). There is a difference between fisticuffs, melee weapon and improvised weapons so Chapter 11 is a good chapter to read thoroughly. 

Wounds:  So damage is handled a little differently in Gutshot. Each character has 15 hit points. The number of points of damage a character has accumulated (either in one shot or over the course of a game) increase the severity level of the wounds. From 1-5 points of damage is a light wound level, 6-10 is moderate and 11-15 is severe. Different wound levels will have different effects on how well a character can perform actions. A character is dead when more than 15 points have been accumulated. In a campaign setting damage can be healed over time. Even dead characters can come back (referred to as knocking on Heaven's Door in the rules). At the end of the game all "dead" characters are checked to see if they can survive with proper medical attention.

Weapon List: While everything else is handled in extensive detail the weapon list is quite short consisting of; derringers, pistols, rifles shotguns and sawed off shotguns. This is deliberate to get you into the game quickly. It is the game I expected a more extensive list for though. They do recommend "The Knuckleduster Firearms Shop" book by Forrest Harris. Unfortunately that book has been out of print for some time. I have a copy and no I won't sell it to you. [At the time of this writing I do see a number of used and new copies on Amazon all going for at least $40 and 1 copy on the Noble Knight Games site going for $45].

Campaign rules: You can find just about anything in the campaign rules (although the campaign rules from SnS could be incorporated easily and really make an exceptional wild west setting). Like many of the other wild west rules Gutshot suggest tying scenarios together to form the basic outline of a campaign but that a more well thought out campaign will create a better experience for the players and the Game Marshal. I think an excellent resource would be watching episodes of the Wild Wild West and seeing what kind of adventures James West and Artemis Gordon managed to get into. Everything you need to start a campaign like this is present in this section of the rule book, especially on how to handle a mass of NPCs and playing with an unruly mob!

Rules Bling: The is nice rule book with a glossy full color cover made from a heavier cardstock and white pages on the inside. It is bit crowded with text and could use some white space to help make things less dense. It has a some really nice drawings and some odd ones that look like some kind of photoshop work. Its in a two column format and its strictly black and white on the inside. There are some nice call outs in the margins (typically the gutter margin) and charts and tables will span both columns on occasion. You will find all the charts and tables in the back of the book for quick reference as well. It has great table of contents as well as an index. I'm not fond of some of the organization but in the end it works especially with the a good ToC. To make the rules even more rule friendly the right hand margin is used to tell you what section you are in, so you can flip through the book and pretty quickly find what you are looking for in a broad sense like; 10. Combat: Firearms (starts on page 95 and runs to page 118).

Unique: Its hard to pinpoint a single thing that makes Gutshot truly unique because there are a number. The one item that really sticks out to me is the retaliation shot. Whether you hit your target or not, they get to make a retaliation shot against you (unless they are out of ammo). Its quite possible that both characters will go down in a blaze of glory just like it happened in so many western movies.

My Thoughts:  This is big book filled with a lot of information and its hard to distill it down into something as short as a blog post. While it can be a bit intimidating an experienced gamer can read Section 2, Quick Start Guide and be able to play Gutshot without much of a problem. Skimming through some of the other chapters for more detail during the your first game will help lock in the concepts established in Chapter 2. Everything else is nice detail that you may or may not need in every single game. So don't be intimidated by the length rules (the longest yet by page count) and just focus on Chapter 2. This is definitely not a posse style game, running one or two characters will give you plenty of things to do during a game. This one definitely shades the line towards an RPG and it definitely has some cross over. For me it really does a good job of bringing you into the old west as its can be so much more than just a running gun battle. Although you can definitely do the running gun battle and not get bogged down.

I'm going to nitpick on one thing, because references to scale can really set me off First let me say that this in no way affects how the game is played or in reference to a specific rule. During the description of buildings and how to dress up your western town there is a reference to Model Train Buildings. It refers to the "less popular O-Scale, which is about 1:64 (1/64) and is just right for Gutshot." My issue is that O scale is definitely not about 1/64 it is (in the US) 1/48 scale and its usually quite precise that is why model railroaders use actual scale as opposed to the gaming companies need to measure things in millimeters. Of course if you have read my blog or any amount of time you know the 1/64 is actually S Scale and its a bit on the small side for our miniatures although there are model railroad items that work quite well for gaming. O scale is a bit on the large size but is also usable. My preferred scale is 1/56 which seems to be the best compromise to match up with most lines of western miniatures. End of rant! Just buy the rules, I think its one of the good ones!

Wild West Rules - The Rules with No Name - Foundry Publications

This is the first set of rules I purchased when I began the search for a rule set for my town of Calamity. I added it to an order of western miniatures during one of Foundry's periodic sales. Its the only hardcover wild west rulebook that I own at this point. In fact I'm not sure if there are any other rules published in hardback for the wild west (okay Aces and Eights but that's I consider that much more of an RPG for Wild West rather than a set of miniature rules). Probably because most of Wild West rules are pretty short and it would be hard to justify a hardback book for them. However, as you can see from the page count below, and like Legends in the Old West, this is another big book of rules and more! I'll do my best to distill this one down a bit. While the rulebook is big the basic rules to get you going are only about 14 pages long which is pretty close to some of the other rule sets I have taken a look at and should have you diving into your first game right away.

The Rules with No Name or "A Fistful of Dice"
Foundry Publications
In Print
Large Format (A4+?), Hardcover, 133 pages 
Original Price £25

Movement: Like many of the other western rules this one is based on characters taking actions when their turn (when their card is drawn from the fate deck) comes. In TRwNN how fast your character moves when they use a move action is random. A character simply moving gets to roll 3D6 for their movement. A character moving and shooting gets to roll 2D6 for their movement. Pretty straight forward with the possibility of you not quite getting to cover.

Combat: In the basic rules the only combat is shooting. Characters need a six to hit their target and potentially cause a wound. You get to roll multiple dice to get that six, it depends on the type of weapon and the range to the target. For example a character with pistol at close range (between 2" and 6") gets to roll 3D6. Modifiers are applied as well but instead of a + or - to the roll you add or subtract dice. If you are firing at at target in cover you are -1D6. You still need a six to hit you just have fewer dice to use.
Hand to Hand fighting is actually an optional rule. The attacker rolls dice based on his weapon as indicated on the fighting chart (a Fist is 3D6 a pistol is 2D6). The defender also gets to roll a number of D6 based on his weapon (A fist in defense is 4D6 while a pistol is still 2D6). Which ever side rolls the most sixes gets to roll for an "effect" (or wound) based on the weapon they were using. Again modifiers are applied just like for shooting and adjust the number of dice that are thrown.

Wounds:  For shooting the player rolls 1D6 for the location and then another 1D6 for the Effect. Wounds will run from a graze to dead! Fighting has its own chart as mentioned above. This game is not quite a bloody as some of the others but the use of a D6 does keep the range of possible results quite low and deadly. There are modifiers to a character's ability to take actions based on the type of wound they have taken

Weapon List: The weapon list, again is very short, just pistols and rifles in the basic rules and shotguns and hand to hand weapons in the optional rules

Campaign rules: There really isn't a set of campaign rules for TRwNN but there is a section for improving a characters class and adding skills. There is definitely an RPG component here there is even a gamemaster section in the back that allows someone to run a game and really customize the citizens (NPCs) and create a town with personalities that could be the ongoing location for all a gaming group's wild west interests.

Rules Bling: This is a pretty heavy bling book. Its hardback with lots of excellent pictures (featuring Wargames Foundry miniatures of course) and some nice drawings (that I think are basically clip art or old drawings that are no longer under copyright). Its in a two column format with pictures, drawings and charts/tables spreading across the page as needed. The table of contents is extensive and it includes and an index & reference page which is good because I don't find the book particularly well organized. I found the use of basic rules and then everything else being optional a little perplexing. Going with an advanced set of rules to ease players into some of the new stuff would have made more sense to me. There is an extensive section in the back that gives you everything you need to create your own fate deck (I would suggest scanning these cards) along with some extras that would let you skip the dice like; shooting chits, skill chits and even event cards for bystanders (event cards are part of the fate deck normally). And in the very back are the quick reference sheets!

Unique: These rules have a couple of unique aspects to them. As you can tell from the shooting and fighting section the number of dice based on the weapon approach is definitely unusual and I like that. I find it quick and fun to deal with. 
And then their is the fate deck. It has some similarities to a couple of other games (notably Fistful of Lead) as it uses cards to determine when character gets to take an action. The difference here is that there are also "Fate" or action cards in the deck along with a joker. If the card turned over is a character then that character takes its action. If an action card is drawn it will be placed face up next to the deck. It will have a level on it and only a character with a level equal to or higher than the one listed is flipped over the player can pick up and use the action card. When the joker is drawn then all the cards in the discard pile are shuffled back in. Action cards have to be played or discarded to the deck when this happens as well. In other words the joker really resets the entire deck. Makes for some nerve racking terms and really adds tension to the game. 

My Thoughts:  Don't be overwhelmed by the size of the rule book. While its extensive as far as rules go there are a lot of sections that some people may never use. While I have a problem with how the optional rules are presented you aren't in anyway required to use them. I still would have preferred and advanced rule section as some of those rules, like hand to hand, I don't really consider optional. There are rules for challenges and horses and dynamite in there so take some time and read through them and see what tickles your fancy. There is a painting section by Dallimore that I would view as required reading as well as a whole section on building your own buildings along with signage to go along with them. For those with a more military pent you will find sections for both Soldiers and Indians. This book really does cover a lot of material and even if you don't decide to use it for your rules its a wonderful reference for your library.

The Railroad comes to Calamity

Although the game boards for my town of Calamity are still a long way off I have been keeping my eyes open for a suitable train for it. Despite all the internet discussions about scale on various forums I have decided that S scale, or 1/64, is probably the most reasonable compromise. Although not a particular popular scale those that model in it are very dedicated and there are some manufacturers out there that I can raid for parts.

Finding the steam engine I wanted turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. First I wanted a to use a 4-4-0 American locomotive. This and the 2-6-0 Ten Wheeler pretty much defined the Wild West period for many of us. These are typically the two styles of locomotives that you see used in the Western movies and the American is the engine that Walt Disney choose to use for his frontier train in Disneyland. For my wargaming readers that don't have a clue to what I'm talking about here is a quick lesson in how to tell steam locomotives apart (this applies to English and European engines as well although the names are likely to be different). A steam engine has three locations on the frame where you can find wheels, they are known as the lead truck (sometimes called the pony truck and guides the steam engine around curves in the track), the drivers and the trailing truck. A truck refers to the component that actually holds the wheels. Drivers are the set of wheels that are turned by the side rods that are driven by the steam. So when you see 4-4-0 that refers to the total number of wheels in each location. In this case 4 wheels in the leading truck (two on each side), 4 drive wheels (again two on each side) and no trailing truck. Our 2-6-0 has 2 wheels in the lead truck (1 on each side), 6 drive wheels (3 on each side) and no trailing truck. Here is a chart of some different wheel arrangements. There are many more!

Steam locomotives and their drive arrangements became bigger and bigger as time went on as the railroads needed to handle longer and heavier trains and move them faster. The 4-4-0 dominated the scene in the US through the Civil War and up into the 1880's and was slowly replaced by the 2-6-0 through the end of the 19th century which in turn was replaced by even larger locomotives. My personal favorite is the 2-8-0 Consolidation engine.

So the 4-4-0 is appropriate to the Wild West and I thought would be easy to find in S Scale because its so iconic to the western scene. I had forgotten that the vast majority of model railroaders out there tend to model the transition period as steam gave way to diesel in the late 1940s through the 1950s. Pre and even Turn of the Century locomotives are actually quite hard to find and even harder in S Scale. I finally found two versions in S Scale made by American Flyer in 1959 and 1960; The Franklin and the Washington. That's another interesting aspect of the Wild West period as steam engines had actually names as well as numbers. Both of these models definitely fall into the collector market, especially the Washington. At this point I looked more on the wargaming side of the house and discovered that Dixon Miniatures makes their own version of the American 4-4-0 in their Old West line. This is a non-operating pewter and resin model for 75 pounds. Non-operating means that the wheels don't turn! I needed the wheels to turn! Plus it is designed to be in scale with their miniatures so if I wanted freight and passenger cars I would have to buy theirs as well as the track. That was looking pretty expensive pretty quick. So back I went in search of an American Flyer Franklin which was going to come in cheaper after the dollar to pound conversion.

Well I found one for $80 bucks (including shipping) and it arrived yesterday. I took some quick shots last night to show it off and you will find those below. The gauge is right so its certainly going to fit on the S scale track I'll be ordering but it seems quite large, closer to O Scale. There are a couple of pictures with the some American West miniatures from Brigade Games and you can see that the drive wheels are taller than the miniatures. Now this isn't necessarily wrong as drive wheels even on early steam engines like this could get quite tall but that translates to it being a very powerful locomotive. Still I'm quite happy with it and I think its going to work out just fine. Now I just need to dig up some passenger and freight cars for it. Oh and I'm going to gut it too (collectors everywhere are beginning to shudder I'm sure). Since I'm not going to power the rails I need the drive wheels to spin freely and I want to detail the cab. The electric motors in these old engines are huge so all of that needs to come out so I have some room to work with in the cab and so that the engine can be pushed along the tracks.

I promise to take some better pictures when I get her back to my workbench. Oh and if you want to see a truly awesome Civil War era Model railroad then check out Bernard Kempinski's blog: US Military Railroad

Right out of the shipping box. I'm going to strip and re-paint her. She's not quite gaudy enough!

Brigade Games American West Miniatures use to provide a little scale. These are BG-AWE011 American Characters 3. I think the Black Scorpion Miniatures I have will look really good with this engine.

Days of Wonder - Ticket to Ride; France & The Wild West Pt 2

The second half of the new Ticket to Ride Expansion is the Wild West which can be found on the reverse side of the board. This includes a new set of white cars to add a sixth player to the game, new destination tickets and 18 city markers (3 for each player).

Those city markers are the key to the Wild West version which features a map of the US from about the eastern edge of Colorado to the west coast. These city markers are key to this version of the game and it should make for some very interesting strategies. At the beginning of the game each player will select a starter city. The first route you claim must be from your starting city and every subsequent route must connect to your home city or to a city you have built to. Only one player's marker can reside in each city and once placed they cannot be moved. Now comes the real twist. If you build into a city controlled by another player then they score the points for claiming the route not you. Even more intriguing is if for some reason a player claims a route between two cities that are controlled by other players (or even the same player) then both players score the points (or a single player would score double). This board also introduces Ferry like those in Ticket to Ride Europe.

This is possibly one of the most interesting twists I have seen in the Ticket to Ride games and will really affect the strategy you use in both claiming routes to complete your tickets and where to locate your city markers. I'm definitely looking forward to getting a few games of this one in.

Wild West Rules - Dead Man's Hand - Great Escape Games

Boot Hill was published in 1975 and now we move a lot further forward to a more recent addition to my library of wild west rules, Dead Man's Hand. I was first introduced to Dead Man's Hand (DMH) by an announcement on the Lead Adventure Forum and picked it up as soon as it was available.

Dead Man's Hand
Great Escape Games, 2013 1st Edition 
In Print
A4, softcover, 44 pages 
Original Price £20 (includes the DMH card deck)

Movement: Dead Man's Hand uses a set movement rate so all "characters" move at the same rate. When a character takes its turn it can take three actions as part of its move but all three actions being taken must be stated first  before they are executed. There are also some extra actions that can be taken as part of movement like dramatically leaping over a fence.

Combat: Shooting is handled using a D20 and applying the appropriate modifiers for the shooter and his target. Hand to Hand combat is handled using a D10 and applying the appropriate modifiers.

Wounds: In some ways Dead Man's Hand is less "deadly" than other wild west rules. Characters are either missed, under fire, under fire with a nerve (morale) test, or out of action. Odds are that members of your posse are going to run away rather than be put out of action (which requires a 19+ on a D20). Under fire markers are accumulated but can be recovered as part of character's actions and they do have an affect on action's taken.

Weapon List: Very generic and very short. You are either armed with a pistol, a rifle, a repeater, or a shotgun. I'm not sure why there is a difference between a rifle and a repeater. I don't own either of the two available supplements so I don't know if the weapon list has been expanded or not.

Campaign rules: There are no "campaign" rules as such in the DMH rulebook. However, it uses the concept of scenes (like in a movie) to mimic what amounts to a small campaign.

Rules Bling: This is a heavy bling book for me for much in line with the current generation of miniature rule books. It is in the English A4 format with a stapled binding, to be expected with a short book, with a nice glossy cover. Interior pages are a heavy gloss paper and should hold up well to repeated reference. Despite the size it uses a single column format with pictures and artwork inserted. Its pretty straight forward in its presentation so you won't have any problems finding things and there is a table of contents if you are really desperate (no index though, its a little short for that). I find the layout a bit distracting at times and I consider the artwork to be on the poor side and the "thought bubbles" are a bit dark for my tastes. The pictures are excellent and the charts and tables work are easy to understand. There are quick reference "charts" on the inside front and back covers (not removable, I suggest you scan them.  There is also a page of markers that can be scanned or photocopied to use during a game. There is a download section on the Great Escape Games webpage where you can download the charts, markers and a couple of other extras. So a nice rulebook. It appears to be a bit expensive when you consider its size but it does come with a set of DMH cards so you are ready to play at soon as it hits your door.

Unique: There are a number of wild west games that use playing card decks, but DMH adds a few twists to the concept. Cards are used to determine a couple of things:
1) Who goes when as part of the initiative. You get to turn the first card over in your deck and assign that to the character of your choice, then the rest of your characters are dealt a card. So you at least have a chance to make sure your best character (for that turn) gets a chance to take actions. 
2) You also get a hand of cards to use. Each card has a specific action that it can be used for or you can use it to trump a card used by your opponent if the numbers match (i.e. he plays a 5, you can trump it with your 5). Its a neat system and adds a lot of interest and drama to the game.

Supplements:  
The Legend of Dead Man's Hand (includes a card deck)
Dead Man's Hand Down Under (includes a card deck)

My Thoughts: I enjoy this game and it has received a lot of positive press on some of the forums that I frequent. It does carry a big price tag for a small book, but you have to temper that with the fact that it comes with its own custom card deck as well. This is very much a "Hollywood" style game with an emphasis on the "scene" and dramatic action. While there will be plenty of gunfire and fights breaking out its definitely a less bloody game than other sets of western rules. Characters aren't killed out right they are just out of action or have run away and in true Hollywood form will be ready for their next scene on the table. Fast and Fun it has all the elements I want in a set of western rules except for the very, very generic weapon list, I would prefer something at least on par with the list in Boot Hill, there really is a difference between a single action and double action revolver. Now this list may have been expanded in one or both of the supplements which I don't own yet. I also need to figure where I stashed my DMH deck of cards! I'll update the pictures when I find them.

Save me from poor artwork!

28mm Old West Laser Cut Buildings Compared

There is a lot of traffic to this post and I would like to point out that it is a bit on the obsolete side now as it pre-dates the introduction of  the 4Ground line of western buildings. The most current version of this post can be found here: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Laser Cut Buildings

Before I get to far keep in mind that this comparison of five different manufacturers is all based on what I'm looking for in an Old West or Wild West building. You may like things that I don't or haven't thought of when it comes to what is important when creating a western town atmosphere. There are a number of characteristics though that certainly can be compared and graded between manufacturers things like, instructions, materials, quality of components. Where it is applicable I'll grade some items on a 0-5 scale (using asterisks) but a good chunk of this is just going to be factual information with a bias towards what I want either in the kit or as a gaming piece. To try and keep the bias down to a minimum I'll go through the companies in alphabetical order.

I have built kits from five different companies at this point, they are; Aetherworks (AUS), Battle-Flag (UK), Gamecraft Miniatures (USA), Knuckleduster Miniatures (USA) and Sarissa Precision (UK).


Aetherworks

This is an Australian based company that I heard about through the Reaper Miniatures Forum. This is the company that moved me towards working on my Wild West miniatures which probably haven't been touched since I last played Boot Hill back in the early 90s (although I have continued to add miniatures to that collection over the years). The reason I only have one of their buildings though are the shipping charges, I had to hold my breath and not look when I ordered the one building.

Instructions:  * * * *
Ease of Assembly: * * * * *
Material: 3mm MDF
Detailed Floor: Yes
Pitched Roof:  Based on the kit purchased

If it weren't for the amazingly high shipping charges between Australia and the US I would definitely order more of these buildings. The reality though is that I can fill my needs with other manufacturers' kits and use a good chunk of the shipping charges to actually buy buildings. I still Highly Recommend the Aetherworks kits and would encourage anyone that is buying terrain for a Wild West game to get at least one of their kits. Perhaps Aetherworks would consider working out a deal with a US company to produce their kits here in the US.


Battle Flag
This UK company may be better known for their unit flags, but their laser cut buildings hold up to the same high standards their customers already expect. They have a specific line of buildings for the Blackwater Gulch game. Blackwater Gulch


Instructions: * * * *
Ease of Assembly: * * * * *
Material: 3mm MDF
Detailed Floor: Yes
Pitched Roof: Based on the kit purchased

The only real issue I had with the Battle Flag kits was that they used the same instruction booklet to cover multiple kits. This worked, although I did have to pay attention to what was going on that page. Battle Flag contacted me after the first kit I reviewed and said they agreed with me on the instructions and would be going to instructions specific for the kit. This is another line of kits the I would Highly Recommend. I only wish the line was a bit bigger.

Gamecraft Miniatures
This US company is well known for their wide variety of buildings for different scales and eras. Everything is custom cut when its ordered so occasionally it takes additional time to get your order so pay attention to the website and what the current estimated times are. They also make a good range of "extras" that you won't find in other companies' lines. Gamecraft is also an official producer of buildings for Blackwater Gulch

Instructions: 0
Ease of Assembly: * * *
Material: 3mm MDF
Detailed Floor: No, floors are optional purchases (you need 2 floors for a 2 story building)
Pitched Roof: Based on the kit purchased

I like the Gamecraft kits quite a bit, they go together easy but if you want to use the interiors then you have some work ahead of you. The kits do not come with any instructions (hence the 0 rating) and the floors are optional. Not only are the floors optional but buildings with side and rear doors do not take floors into account so when you put in a floor it covers the bottom part of the door. Front doors are okay since those are sitting up on the porch. You are totally on your own if want a second floor. You will need to remember to mark out the location of the second floor and put in braces to hold it before you assembly the walls. You will also have cut out a portion of the floor for a set of stairs or at the very least to be able to pull the floor out. Oh and the floors do not having any engraved detail which I think is a shame. Gamecraft also has a nice line of additional details; furniture, fences, staircases and other misc objects that no town should be without.

Knuckleduster Miniatures
This US company produces its own miniatures and rules for both the Wild West and the War of 1812. The buildings they produce are made by Tri-City Laser Products. They just recently added a three sided room addition to the line which can be added to any kit in the line. The line is billed as having complete interiors, it is important to read the kit description though as not all of the buildings have interior furnishings. Of the three buildings I have the Saloon came with interior furnishings, while the Two Story Building has interior walls and the Barbershop has no interior components.

Instructions: *
Ease of Assembly: * * *
Material: 1/8" Plywood
Detailed Floor: No
Pitched Roof: No
     All buildings come with flat roofs, there is a pitched roof option for the larger buildings. The smaller buildings come with a slanted roof.
I gave these buildings one star, because they do have some "instructions" on the back of the header card, not much help but it does provide a little guidance. The only other piece of instruction I received was actually wrong so pay attention! I thought that I was really go like working with real wood on these buildings and that my model railroad techniques would work nicely. Unfortunately I had to be careful with the build because the plywood has a tendency to warp so make sure you have some weights handy to hold everything down. The warp seems to disappear once the building is finished. Also the plywood grain shows to much so instead of using my aging liquids I ended up have to prime them and now I'll paint the same way as my other buildings. The buildings only come with flat roofs so you have to buy the pitched roof kit for the larger buildings. The small buildings only come with a flat roof but it is slanted so it at least looks right. I disturbs me that the floors have no detail engraved in them, especially since they push the whole detailed interiors aspect. I had an issue with some of the interior walls in the 2 story kit being two long which meant another interior wall did not go where it was suppose to (it overlaps a window). Rather unforgivable for a laser cut kit. These are not my favorite buildings, they have a squat look to them but I think they look good when mixed in with everything else. These are good solid game buildings.

Sarissa Precission
This last company is also out of the UK. They make a wide variety of buildings for 15mm and 28mm miniatures for a large number of eras.

Instructions: * * *
Ease of Assembly: * * * * *
Material: 2mm MDF
Detailed Floor: Yes
Pitched Roof: As an option
     All buildings come with flat roofs. There is a pitched roof option for the small and medium buildings. The large buildings only come with a flat roof.

Sarissa has opted to use a 2mm MDF for their production. For main components this is fine but the smaller details tend to be a bit fragile till you have them glued in place. I do really like the sleeker look these buildings have though because of the smaller width of the MDF. Their line is extensive and includes adobe style buildings as well as the traditional wooden western buildings. Oddly I found that the fit between some pieces is not as tight as I expected it. This was particularly apparent with the Livery Barn, which required a lot of extra work to make sure that the stalls were straight. I would Highly Recommend these kits as well. They mix really well with the kits from Battle Flag and Gamecraft Miniatures.


For a bit of a wrap up. I will and have made additional orders with all of these companies except for Aetherworks. Maybe I'll get braver with the shipping charges for Aetherworks later this year because they do make excellent kits. Mixing up the various manufacturing styles looks good so far and by the time I'm done my town of Calamity will have over 20 buildings.
My personal favorites are Battle Flag and Sarissa Precision  Battle Flag are well thought out and easy to construct and I love the interior floating floor. Add some interiors and these are going to be tough kits to beat. I like Sarissa for many of the same reasons plus they have some buildings that you can't find anywhere else, but they are a bit fragile because of the 2mm MDF. However, you really can't go wrong with any of these manufacturers just be patient and everything will come together. Check twice, Glue once!

Aetherworks Brick Building

Battle Flag Saloon

Gamecraft Miniatures

Knuckleduster Barbershop

Sarissa - Precision Old West Heroic Small Option