 |
| Murder on the Streets of De Lancy |
Two slain in shoot out many wounded not all expected to live.
The streets of our fair town ran red with blood today as desperados attempted a rescue of one of their own from incarceration within the town lock up. The infamous bandit Little Ned Tice is amongst those slain in a violent exchange of pistol, rifle and shotgun blasts on Main Street and it's surrounds. The fight commenced just after sunrise with Tice's company of desperate brigands riding into town intent upon forcing the release of Roscoe 'Peg leg' Penny. Witnesses state that the bandits dismounted outside of Read's Corral and attempted to approach the jail. It was fortunate that an eagle eyed Deputy Henry Hall posted on the roof of the jail spotted the group of armed men approaching and was able to open fire. His first shot hit Tice in the leg throwing him to the ground as well as alerting Sheriff Fred T Jeffries and members of the town Vigilance Committee who were within the lock up.
A veritable fusillade of shots then rang out forcing the few bystanders abroad at the time to seek cover and seriously wounding a second desperado. Matters were not entirely one sided with the deputy who fired the first shot being wounded but continuing in the fight. Sheriff Jeffries and our brave citizens advanced down Main Street firing as they came. It was at this point that the first fatality occurred when an outlaw, named locally as Ezra Bradshaw, fell to a well aimed pistol shot from one of the Vigilance committee. Sherriff Jeffries was hit multiple times in the exchange which followed as was local man James Ewell who was unfortunate to jump over a fence directly into the sights of a Desperado skulking at the rear of the newly erected town bath house.
Matters now took a more serious turn with Tice's death. He was felled by a shotgun blast to the chest but managed to wound his assailant with a final shot. His partner 'Mexican Bob' was severely wounded at this juncture and is not expected to live. This was more than sufficient for the surviving outlaw band who fled the town. Our gallant defenders were unable to effect a pursuit as all were carrying significant wounds of their own."
 |
| My two willing participants |
This was a short demonstration game using the Old West Skirmish Rules fought at the first weekend meeting of our modelling club. I apologise for the lack of a detailed AAR explaining game play and looking things up meant I didn't get many pictures.
I umpired and two club members took five characters each. Their respective parties started out at opposite ends of the table and moved towards each other. Both sides sent men around the back of the buildings on Main Street, but the critical advantage was the guard on the roof of the jail. He had a clear line of sight along the length of Main Street and a Sharp’s Carbine to make best use of that advantage. I was using one inch to the yard as a ground scale and with hindsight that would have been better reduced to two yards to the inch. I’d also reduce the skill levels as most shots hit their target even those from shotguns. That said the important thing was the two players really enjoyed the game. For almost 60 year old rules they stood up remarkably well and played reasonably quickly. All in all well worth the effort of making the buildings.
 |
| Looking down Main Street |
I just need to break up the mat with some small splodges of green and darker brown and a street grid. Plus there is no where near enough street furniture or clutter either, so it's back to the crafting table for me.
I haven't played those rules for a long time. We loved them (and the Colonial Skirmish Rules). I think we used 1cm to the yard in our games, and reduced most skills to 5 or less - except for our personal characters, of course.
ReplyDelete