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!

Tail End of the Train - C&N adds a Caboose

Bachmann makes a pretty generic caboose, unfortunately its an 8 wheel caboose and I really wanted a 4 wheel "bobber" caboose for the C&N to match the two that they had. At some point on eBay I stumbled on a 4 wheel setup and I bought 2. I have been a little reluctant to work with them as they seem to be a little fragile. I removed the regular trucks and mounted up the 4 wheel truck last night. Popped some wheels on there and I was done. I'm still not sure about the look so I'm going to go ahead and hold often converting my other caboose.

I had already airbrushed my chosen tru-color paint onto a bunch of freight cars including the cabooses. At this point I just added the two C&N logo decals and I was ready to go. I gave it a quick spray with the dullcoat and let it dry. I figured since I already had all my weathering stuff out I may as well work on weathering it up.

Its a little heavy and it looks patchy in the pictures but it looks okay when I hold it in my hand and give it the 2' test.

So the results of this evenings endeavors:

The base coat of paint was already on my intended victim

Added a decal to each side. The C&N didn't number their cabooses.

Applied the soot first, let it streak down the sides

Applied rust both with a prismacolor pencil and a rust effect paint

Applied the dirt, doesn't look this patchy or this heavy in person. I may have to go back over it and lighten the effect.

Little lighter on this side. Definitely need to get a brush in there and even the powder across the surface.

A Reefer for the C&N and Calamity

Believe it or not (and I know you model railroaders do) the refrigerator car did indeed exist in 1880. I managed to acquire one of Bachmann's privately owned Reefers on Ebay for a good price although not quite the one I really wanted but I am on a budget for these things. Its pretty pristine right out of the box so I decided to take an evening and do a little weathering. Not my best work but good enough is sometimes all I need. It at least looks like its been in the great outdoors for a bit.

Pictures always tell the story better than me so here we go:

The John Howard Refrigerator Car

A quick fade using thinned down Liquitex ink

Adding some soot, I think I over did it at this point

The other side

Adding some dirt to the bottom

Added some rust but overall not feeling good about it

Trying to get the soot to streak down between the boards

Happier with this now

The beauty shots

Calamity Gets a New RR Station - Part 10

The RR Station has been sitting off to the side of my work area for just over a month now with now progress, although it has served as a handy spot to set my decals on. If this was just a model for one of my train layouts (yes, plural) that would be one thing, but its a gaming piece and not even just a gaming piece but one of my "Hero" buildings. As such I need to be able to get to access the inside which means being able to get to both the first and second stories. With a regular structure this wouldn't be terribly difficult but the roof on this one is also a little complicated. I sat at my desk contemplating the second story and figured that I could at least start laying out where the interior walls could go.  As I contemplated this I realized that the whole second story could turn out to be rather flimsy so how could I fix that?

I decided that I would at least make some rafters and see if that would help the though process. I made these while watching Zulu (again!). Then I decided I could, at least, cut the interior walls for the two many rooms and see how that might fit together. Once I had the walls cut and kind of stacked everything together ideas finally started coming. I think that to add strength I'm going to only have half the roof come off. So I think I'm going to take the rafters and cut them roughly in half and permanently glue the bottom half to the interior walls and bottom edge of the floor. So far the clearances seem to indicate that it will work. There will probably only be a couple of the complete rafters included as fingers and minis need to be able to fit inside the building. Hopefully, this will get the process jump started again and I can get this building finished and off the workbench.

I have a couple of pictures from last night and since pictures are like bacon I figured I would include them.

The dilemma; There are no side walls, only roofs.

Well I need some rafters, here's one way to make sure the angles are good and add a bit of trim to the gable which helps finish it off.

Let's reinforce it so I can mess around with it a bit

I'm thinking so I think I make some more. They should be useful for something.

Well, I know I need some short interior walls.

And finally at work today, I may have figured it out. All except how to actually make that complex part where the two roofs come together.

Calamity Gets a New RR Station - Part 9

I started to assembly the first floor of Calamity's railroad station over the weekend. Its been a rough assembly to say the least. Between dropping parts and breaking glue joints (learn to let the glue set!) I did finally manage to get the first floor together. I even remembered to put the raised floor in on the baggage/freight side of the building. Its still lacking some of the necessary interior details (like the two interior walls) but I think I'm going to take a break for a few days before getting to that.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the how the things are looking. I did not get the floor get exactly right but a little trimming combined with the exterior platform should hide those mistakes, that's what I'm hoping for anyway.

On to the construction photos!

So I approached this as four sub assemblies. This is the waiting room side.

Trackside Windows

Townside

Baggage room side

Corner clamps and blocks of steel

Trying to glue it to the floor! Those steel blocks weight 1# each or so

Waiting room side. I have had these corner clamps for about 35 years

Inside Trackside

Another view of the trackside window bay

Maybe that joint will hold this time

One of my small 90 degree angle blocks

One for each corner

I think they will hold now

Let's try getting that bay window together again

Something easier, the raised interior floor for the baggage room

And a little paint on the floor

Okay, maybe I'll try putting together the broken pieces directly to the floor

A little scale. I like the height of the modified S Scale door

Finally starting to come together

Just the trackside bay window left to go

Okay, it looks like its going to stay together, just going to anchor that corner to the table for a while

And clamp that corner

Looking good from the ground though

Town side

Yea, still missing the door to the baggage freight room.

Tracksdie

Looks pretty roomy in there without the walls

And a fuzzy shot showing the difference in height. And yes, those windows really are suppose to be there. The interior wall here will have door to the baggage/freight room, I'm guessing I should put a couple of steps up to the door to make things easier on the inhabitants