Overrun!

This was the first multiplayer game of Legends of the Old West since the train robbery back in 2015!  We played the Overrun! scenario from the Alamo expansion volume, although we played it as a big skirmish game rather than a battle with armies and companies that the expansion introduces.

The US Cavalry (Stuart) and Texas Rangers (Adrian) with 15 figures in total were being pushed back by the Mexican Army (Andy) and the Mexican Rural Police "Rurales" (David and James) with 19 figures.  The outer fence was about to be breached and the first turn saw the defenders drop back and take up defensive position ahead of the fort, as the Mexican attackers pressed up against the fence.  Subsequent turns were ordered by random player order (drawing our usual colours from a set of cubes in a bag) rather than by side which worked well and introduced more uncertainty.  Fame points were also used effectively to get the shooting advantage when desired.

There was no "Head for the Hills" morale check in this scenario.  The attackers had to kill all the heroes to win and the defenders needed to only have heroes of their own side in the fort at any time after the twelfth turn, but it was essentially a fight to the death.

There was one gate to the compound but each Mexican posse was equipped with a ladder to enable them to scale the walls.  Andy moved his Mexican Army up in smart formation to fire their rifles but left their ladder behind.  David had First Blood with some mighty fine die rolling on the right flank as he battled with Adrian's Rangers.  In the centre, James' Rurales tried to find what cover they could.

Shamed by the Rurales bold break from cover, the Mexican Army paused their long-range but limited impact shooting to press on the left flank.  A lot of bullets fly in this game but not many find their target, so a rush across open ground to assault defenders can be worth the risk.

Stuart and Adrian defended from behind cover dropping back as their opponents neared assault range, and the Mexicans started to take up terrain previously held by the US, piling on the remaining Ranger in the area.

On the other flank, Adrian had a poor run of luck (his six-gun fanning being more of a fandango) and his large group of Rangers were starting to fall to David's Rurales, and the shoot-outs were replaced by a series of fist fights.

Adrian had posted a couple of Rangers with rifles on to the firing step within the compound to cover the middle ground - "she's got good range but sadly nobody is in it".  Eventually James' Rurales were in range as they engaged the Cavalry captain and Hired Gun US Marshall in the centre of the table.

About to throw his stick of dynamite, James learned that a fumble (a roll of 1) would result in it exploding in his character's hand.  This is definitely not worth the risk when several allies are within the blast radius.  As the figure stepped away from his colleagues, he was shot by one of Adrian's Rangers.  Another Mexican picked up the dynamite and was also promptly killed.

James' General escorted the soldier with the ladder right up to the wall on the left flank, with David doing similar on the other flank the following turn.  Both managed to climb over the walls whilst Andy's ladderless soldiers swarmed around the remaining US Cavalry outside the compound, taking them out.

We played the last turn, the 11th, at 11 o'clock. With half the Rangers lost and all but one of the cavalrymen, but still a fair few Mexicans in and around the compound, we judged it was a win for the Mexicans even though the specific objective hadn't yet been achieved.

It was great to have a big game again and get figures and mostly new scenery out on the table, along with the bespoke character cards.  Although each time I use the cards, I notice more mistakes which is frustrating.  I think I need to print out some errata stickers for now but in due course, may get some more printing done.  Scaling up a two side scenario for multiple players worked well and I think will enable us to play these sorts of games more often, rather than my trying to formulate different objectives for every posse.