'Ruthless' Wild West Skirmish

 With the weekly Call of Cthulhu game cancelled due to busy times, remaining players gathered for a game of the 'Ruthless' rules. (free online)

Have toyed with these a few times, but not with the experienced (older?) chaps.

A great two page system, with activation and interruption handled via a poker hand, and two actions allowed per turn from the usual move, shoot, aim, recover, overwatch etc.

 Cards can be used to 'snapshot', but uniquely, only if you can beat the player's initiative activation card, hence playing aces is always good, if you simply NEED to go first.

Miniatures used were purchased some time between 1979 and 1981, and painted shortly thereafter (though may have been a few years after, since i remember using early 'citadel acrylics', before they became the norm...the 'purple worm' colour is still with me).

"I bet my D10 misses even at this durn range!"

 Character cards record ammo, any special talents (which really make the game once you know how to use them since -1 to your opponents roll can have dramatic effects). Hits are 6+ on a d10 at short range and 8+ at long, and hitting and wounding are not easy, but, the game-play is excellent. 

 

Great two page system

'Fat Pedro' - from 1979 TTG, who was likened to 'something you get in a Christmas Cracker'. He was actually called fat Pedro in the 1979 TTG catalogue. Now of course, the Blog HR team tell me that he is 'carbohydrate challenged' rather than fat, is on treatment for his anger issues and proclivity to rob small town Wild West banks, his new name is Peter, and he is on multiple benefits. 

 

Three players, each with a team of four cowpokes...and hell followed with them

Gonna shoot you at close range and miss boah!

It's hard to argue with the Ace of Spade on initiative (Spade, Heart, Diamond, Club - sequence - settles any ties)

These two shot at each other for most of the game. The chap on the right would have been scared, though he had the 'drunk' trait, and can scarcely remember the fight.

A brawl in the wood ( you roll two dice damage for fist fights, which seems odd, but is incredibly funny).

Wyatt Burp and Sneaky Pete

Clint Westwood on overwatch

Great little set of rules, with simply cohesive rules for activation, lots of choice (and potential for bad choices) and great tension.

'Ruthless' - Wild West Game

 Hot on the heels of the previous post - we played a game of the free 'Ruthless' rules this morning.

This was truly 'cheap-ass' since:

• Most of the buildings were paper prints - from an old 'Miniature Wargames' magazine package. My daughter kindly cut and made these from paper prints for me...for a monetary sum, which, under UK legal laws, shall remain largely undisclosed.
• The 12 miniatures we used are old (reallllly old) TableTop Games vintage from 1980 (they may have been painted in 1982 - that's my excuse for the crap paintjob).
• The ' Ruthless' rules and the character templates are free here at Mark's Game Room: http://www.fireballforward.com/ruthless.html
• A superb set of free rules pretty much 99% there on 2 pages - and can be hacked for Star Wars et al, and I would suggest modern or even Napoleonic skirmish.

The rules use a poker hand to delineate initiative and special effects, and there are character traits. These can be explained in some of the pics re. the four groups of characters at play. D10s are in use to gauge shooting/ reaction etc, with special effects from the hand of cards, and rules for snapshots and overwatch.

With four players, we had four groups - Ranchers, Bounty Hunters, LawDogs and The Gamblers. The game took 4 hours - and the Gamblers were the only side with all three guys still alive at the end.

Wyatt Burp keeps an eye out

The main street of town - the fight would devolve into shootouts at either end, with special emphasis on the church belltower - just out of shot

Col. Mortimer starts to move

As Whiskey Walt staggers past the stables

Now sneaky ol' Stinky Pete is the first to move to the ole' church...cuz he can get to the belltower and use his shootin' bonus to act like a sniper

Clint Westwood moves in to stop him

Doc Springbreak (geddit?) advances onto the street with his shotgun

Only to be shot by Roscoe P. Coltrane

Stinky Pete reaches the belltower and starts shootin' at Sherrif Dan down the street

Col Mortimer and Wyatt Burp start shooting wildly - at one stage Burp fanfires all the chambers, and still misses

Sneakin' Flush Fred

'can't hit a goldurn elephant with this here shootin' iron'

The belltower will change hands 4 times!!! Blackhat kills Stinky Pete in a fistfight and throws him off the tower.

...then BlackHat loses a brawl to ...

...none other than Fat Pedro himself 'ehhhh Gringohhh'

...though the gambelrs are on the move, sniping at the outskirts

Col Mortimer shoots Wyatt Burp dead...

...as the belltower changes hands yet again - the Gamblers and the Bounty Hunters deciding that this was the single most important objective in play - nothing personal

Mortimer is on a roll, killing Sherriff Dan, and wounding Roscoe, before being shot at and missed by Whiskey Walt

But in the end, it was the gamblers who managed to survive with all three of their characters (relatively) intact - Col Mortimer's group rolling poorly and 'gittin' outta Dodge'

The LawDogs

The Ranchers - led by the infamous Col Mortimer

The Gamblers - the ultimate real winners

The Bounty Hunters 

A great game - yeeeehaawww.

Never in my wildest dreams, did I ever think I would find a post that this song would fit!