Apologies for the lack of activity lately but I have had prac and exams that have taken up a huge amount of time. I have now managed to find some time for a quick game in the continuing story of Paradise and the Diltons (it helps that holidays have now started) using THW Six Gun Sound: Blaze of Glory.
Pursuit.
The Diltons have managed to get away with $13000 from their robbery of the bank in our last adventure. Currently they are on a stage coach and are fleeing the posse that is rapidly catching up to them. The sheriff and deputy were injured in the escape so are unable to pursue themselves but the posse has been formed by men under the employ of Silus Smith, owner of the Pairadice Saloon and power behind the town. He believes that the money stolen was his and so has taken this personally. As a result, he formed a quick posse and gave them orders to get back his money or at least report back as to where the Diltons have holed up.
The quality of the stagecoach is 5 (due to the team leader otherwise the rest of the horses are counted as quality 4, with horsemanship of 3. This 3 may seem low but the Diltons have very little experience handling a stage coach. This would be a HUGE learning experience for them)
The Posse stats : horses quality, horsemanship.
Howard:5, 5, James: 5,4, Frank: 4,4.
Under the rules of a chase, activations are rolled each turn but unless a double 1 is rolled this roll will play not part in the game. I have added a rule that if a double 2-6 is rolled, the Diltons have found a place to hole up and will hopefully either outpace their pursuers or have a good place for a last stand.
Each turn will be made up of four sets of rolls. One for each member of the posse and one for the stagecoach. This game is not played on a table but can be represented by 10 bands drawn up with the lead runner on band 1, while the posse start on band 6. I have used my village boards from WWG and miniatures.
Activation 1 roll 3:5
Stagecoach passes 1D6 on chase table which then means that they have to make a horsemanship roll. It then passes 2d6 on so counts as pass 2D6 on the chase table and so does not lose any ground.
Howard: Pass 2d6 so he keeps up but does not gain on the coach, James: passes 2D6 and he also keeps pace and Frank: passes 1d6 then 2d6 for horsemanship roll so counts 2d6 on chase as well so keeps pace also.
Activation 2 4:6
Stagecoach: pass 2d6 and keeps going at a steady pace.
Howard: passes 2d6 and keeps up with the stagecoach, James: passes 1d6 so rolls on the horsemanship table and passes 0d6 so his horse has stumbled and this means that he falls back one band and Frank passes 2d6 so he keeps up as well.
Activation 3 1:6
Stagecoach passes 1d6 on chase so rolls on horsemanship table and passes 0d6 so falls back 1 band and it careens out of control but then Zach Dilton manages to get control but as a result has allowed the posse to get closer.
Howard: passes 2d6 so is keeping pace and due to the stagecoach slowing has managed to close the gap by 1 band, James passes 1d6 then passes 2d6 on the table so counts as pass 2d6 on chase table and keeps pace while Frank passes 1d6 then passes 2d6 so no change.
Activation 4 6:5
Stagecoach passes 2d6 so no change.
Howard: passes 2d6 so again no change, James passes 1d6 then passes 0d6 on horsemanship so falls back 1 band and Frank passes 2d6 so no change for him as well.
Activation 5 5:6
Stagecoach passes 2d6 so has managed to keep pace but cannot seem to lose the posse.
Howard: passes 1d6 then 2d6 so no change, he cannot gain any more ground but at least is not losing it either, James: passes 2d6 and keeps up, James: also passes 2d6 so no change.
Act 6 2,5
Stagecoach passes 1d6 only and then passes 2d6 on the horsemanship table so counts as passing 2d6 on the chase table so maintains it pace.
Howard: passes 1d6 then 2d6, see above so manages to maintain his pace as well, James: passes 2d6 so maintain his pace while Frank: only passes 1d6 then 1d6 but as his horsemanship is equal to his horse quality so no change as he manages to control his trusty steed.
Activation 7 5:1
Stagecoach passes 0d6 then pass 0d6 as the horses are getting tired as they are not used to such a fast pace for an extended period of time and so it falls back 1 band.
Howard: passes 2d6 so maintains pace, James: passes 2d6 as well so no change also and Frank: passes 1d6 then passes only 1d6 but as his quality equals horsemanship there is no change .
Activation 8 4:4 (Doubles are rolled)
At this point in the chase the brothers decide that they had better start looking out for somewhere to make a stand (hopefully not their last, they hope), as the horses are starting to tire and the last thing they want right now is for the Stagecoach to crash. They manage to spot a cave and after disembarking, all 4 hurry themselves into the cave and quietly say a quick pray to which ever God is listening (they aren’t the religious types but feel that one of the different ones they have heard about may be listening).
The posse cautiously makes its way to a clump of trees and while James goes back to town to get extra men, the other two make sure that no one leaves the cave.
The next mission will be the posse trying to retrieve the money and the Diltons (dead or alive).
Posts
Cool report!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you posted it. SGS:BOG is not popular on most hobby blogs (which is a pity) so it's cool to see it played andr reported here!
I wonder what are your feelings about playing such a 'chase' game. My feeling was that such games were tense and interesting but felt more like a movie than a game. What I mean is that there was not much for me to do except for rolling dice, hardly any decisions to take.
Of course you can say there are few decisions to make while running away or chasing. I found it more interesting for me when I added one additional decision: Do you want to force your horses.
If as horse is forced it can run faster (positive modifier) but if you are unlucky with your dice you can hurt the horse and even eliminate it from the run. This way you can try to reduce or increase the distance if you really need, or let the horse run normally if the situation is not very dire.
More details should be available in THW yahoogroup's archive of older posts, but the idea came back to me after reading the report.
What was your feeling and experience from the game? How enjoyable was it?
cheers,
Mahon
Chest of Colors: All About Miniature Painting
Mahon
ReplyDeleteYes, I must admit that this was a series of dice rolls and could have easily been completed without using minis at all. I think that extra rules are needed for the 'chase' scenario, which is why I included the double means they hole up somewhere, for this. I do like your suggestion. This means that you have to make decisions about your horse, as you would in real life, do I push my horse to get further away or close the distance or do I not risk it but at least have a horse to continue the chase.
I really like SGS:BOG, the only negative (small though it is) is that the solo rules aren't the same as in other THW games. As I found out this was the result of SGS coming out before the solo side (PEF etc) had been established. So I usually have to play both sides, as keeping the attention of an 8 yr old can be quite hard. Not that it matters as I can then barrack for both sides.
As it happens, I think that I actually like this better. By this I mean that now my campaign is more focused on the town of Paradise as opposed to the sheriff, as it was originally. So, for the moment it seems to be concentrating on the Diltons. It seems to have more of a TV show feel to it now.
Oh, I found the original suggestions here: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/twohourwargames/message/32642
ReplyDeleteIt was (more or less) like this:
FORCING THE ANIMALS
rider might choose (and so there would be a decision to make!) to test for forcing the horse:
2d6 vs horsemanship (or horse quality? or maybe the lower one?)
- pass 2d6: managed to push the animal one band forward but the animals quality drops by 1
- pass 1d6: managed to stay, or force the animal one range forward but the quality drops by 2
- pass 0d6: drop one band back and the quality drops by 1, or managed to stay but the quality drops by 2
As for the solo rules - well, I haven't played SGS since the new PEF rules were added, but I am mixing and matching many THW rulesets so it's very likely I will add some kind of PEF rules to SGS too. I think it was the first THW game with so much solo-play additions and rules. Probably the start of a new trend for THW.
You're right - the batreps and your campaign have a TV series feel to them, like "Deadwood", etc. - several central characters and locations but the action can go well beyond that.
Thanks for your comments. I think I will have return to my SGS gaming when I have some time, but on the other hand there are always so many other projects...
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Mahon
Chest of Colors: All About Miniature Painting
Thanks for that Mahon. Apologies for the late reply but I have been out of town for the last week.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the number of projects. I am hoping to playtest my THW super rules and 5150 platoon by the end of this week before I my holidays finish.