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.

Hang 'Em High

Andy and I enjoyed a Wild West game this afternoon.  First outing for the cards I made as part of my COVID-coping strategy.  Andy's outlaws were trying to rescue one of their own before he was hanged by the Lawmen at high noon.  This was one of the rulebook's scenarios with special rules for moving bystanders, and cutting/shooting the rope.

The Lawmen started scattered around the town.  Andy split his Outlaws with the 2 stronger characters taking the top route and the other four along the bottom.  The four soon met a couple of Lawmen and took them out straight away.

Across the square, there was a sustained fistfight - one Deputy was lost and the Sheriff took out one of the outlaws.  The Lawmen wobbled over their "Head For The Hills" morale check but put their duty above their own lives and continued the fight.

At noon (turn 10), the guilty man dropped, taking his first wound.

The other Deputy emptied his sawn-off shotgun into the Outlaws attempting to rescue their friend but managed to miss everyone.  Shots continued to be exchanged but the Sheriff singlemindedly continued the fistfight, knocking the Outlaw nearer and nearer the john, and eventually taking him out.

As the game neared the end of the 12th turn with the hanged man about to expire, three of Andy's Outlaws took a bead on the rope and two of them managed to hit it, freeing the fugitive, and winning the game.

Salute 2021

Andy and I went to Salute 2021 yesterday at Excel.  This was the much delayed April 2020 show so the theme was 80 years since the Battle of Britain, with a nicely printed cotton bag featuring a Spitfire, the free model was a 1940s schoolboy playing with a model plane, and there were full-scale replicas of a Hurricane and a Spitfire in the exhibition hall.

The COVID controls weren't made clear on the Salute website and so we were among a number of people caught out by them.  Fortunately, we managed to get the NHS app installed on Andy's phone and were then both able to show our vaccine passports.  So a slight delay in getting in but reassuring that all visitors had to show this or a recent negative test, and a good proportion of folks were wearing masks like us.

Understandably there were fewer people than previous years (partly COVID, perhaps partly because Salute 2022 is only five months away) but pretty much the same number of traders.  The noticeable difference was a reduction in the number of demo and participation games with quite a few empty tables.  But despite that, there was plenty to see and we had a good day out.

Highlights included this pirate battle:

A battle in Mexico:

A futuristic battle, seemingly influenced by the video game Horizon Zero Dawn:

This nice-looking WW2 game:

A very impressive Stalingrad game with a lot of height to it and with the River Volga in the foreground:

A couple of parody games about Brexit...

...and Trump's wall on the Mexico border:

We caught up with Eric C of Anderida fame, and Andy met up with his old squadron leader...

...who unusually was playing a WW2 game when we stopped by:

Expenditure was minimal this year.  I bought a set of reversible road/rivers and a small group of figures from new-ish company Tangent Miniatures.  These are called "Cosmic Travellers" but have more than a passing resemblance to the main characters from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. 

Rummaging in the games cupboard

I've just been looking over the games I acquired shortly before or since the first lockdown, and thinking about future real-life games nights.

I have the following that some of us have played only once, and are worth replaying:

And these are the ones we haven't played at all yet:

Hope some of those pique your interest.  Plenty to keep us busy for a while yet!

Mosque Compound

More MDF scenery from eBay seller banksjohnedward.  This is a mosque compound comprising a large building with veranda and steps, a small building, a domed tower and a surrounding wall.  It was a lot of MDF and excellent value.

I did a dry test fit and it went together well.  I made a slight notch in the staircase to fit better with the veranda and I also filled in the holes where the walls were supposed to connect in the middle, as connecting it completely would make it very difficult to store.

I thought I'd experiment with textured paint on this model and after priming white, sprayed it with Rust-Oleum Stone Spray Paint in Bleached Stone.  The results are pretty good, the textured effect is reasonably consistent and the colour looks right (not quite as bright white as it appears in these photos).

The large building has interior rooms and all the roofs are removable.

It should be suitable for a range of games, especially if the tower isn't used.  Here's some examples, which also show the finish more clearly.

Mars Attacks: the figures

Earlier this year I blogged about my purchase of the Mars Attacks miniatures game.  All the miniatures came as unpainted plastic figures - different colours for the Martians, civilians and soldiers so they could quickly be distinguished on the playing area, but I wanted to paint them before trying the game.

The Martians were great fun to paint - bold colours and dynamic poses.  As you can see on General Tor above, the figures were supplied with separate plastic helmets to glue on.  I was expecting problems with these but they were already cut to shape around the rim and fitted well to the figures.

General Tor is supported by five commanders...

...who are supported by 18 Martian Grunts, two with Freeze Rays, the rest with Disintegration Rifles.

A good variety of poses, mostly duplicates, some triplicates, and they form a pretty impressive looking army.

The humans are represented by soldiers, heroes and civilians.  I painted up the US soldiers in an approximation of the country's Operational Camouflage Pattern which should look good in an urban setting.  10 different figures: a sergeant, two troopers with light machine guns, one with a missile launcher and the rest with carbines.

The heroes are an eclectic mix of characters, including a police officer, mechanic, survivalist and even a medieval knight!

The set I bought included a Civilian Slaughter expansion which included some dead soldiers and Martians (which I'm leaving in the box as I remain not keen on Dead markers) and five civilians to protect in some of the missions.

Lastly, the expansion set also included a herd of flaming cows as featured in the rather dubious opening scene of the Tim Burton movie.

Now to paint all the scenery...