"Wild Bill" Babbage's rules for solo Western Games

"Wild Bill" Babbage's rules for solo Western Games. 

Fistful of Lead Solo

To program my solo force I need to make some generalisations about the on table fighting I`m representing. The bottom line is that this is more focused on movies than history.   I allow the solo force a deployment marker.  This represents the place the gunfight is expected to occur, locations such as the OK Corral, and is the objective for the "played" force. Place one of my figures in contact with the marker and history will record that the gunfight was won by the played side.  

The deployment marker may not be the place where the fighting takes place however.  The Solo force has the ability to spread its self out around the table, fire from ambush and slink away.  

The entire enemy team will deploy together at the marker, but will then move randomly about the terrain as a result of the played team's movement.  This fighting all over the set is seen in many western movies.  Even the classic High Noon, a showdown on main street ends up as a battle around town.  The classic OK Corral where Burt Lancaster, as Wyatt Earp chases Ringo around Tombstone after the main shoot out is also an example.  Unhistorical, but then again it uses the terrain to the maximum.

There are exceptions to this.  Costner's Wyatt Earp OK Corral is much more swift and brutal and limited in location.  Alan Ladd's Shane fights his three on one against Jack Palance and his brothers inside the saloon. There must be a possibility that the bad guys will be waiting for your force around the deployment marker.

Use of cover is another tactic that seems not to reflect the classic "western" but is amply demonstrated in Rio Bravo where Marshal John Wayne and his misfit collection of deputies take on the bad guys in a mass shoot out among the adobe walls of a wagon compound.  When the Wild Bunch make their final stand they rampage around the Federales compound.  I don`t know if I approve of that Gatling gun however.   

The (historical) fight that concludes Young Guns is a siege in Lincoln where Billy and (some of) his regulators escape.  The shooting is from barricades and windows.  A movie that makes this point really plain is "Big Jake," where the Duke and his boys scatter around the adobe ruins to take on the renegade kidnappers.  Ambushes, snipers and desperate pistol fights are the order of the day.   

The mechanics are that every time one of my played figures moves (takes a movement action) I roll to see the enemy programmed reaction.  This will result in either a bystander appearing or one of the solo figures vanishing from the deployment point, unless they are "fixed" by being in rifle range of one of my played figures.  They will redeploy according to the solo mechanisms, but if at all possible by stepping out from cover.

3 types of figure are determined as depicted.

Pistols and shotguns

Riflemen

Horsemen

3 levels of figure character

6.   Leaders

5.   Deputy leaders

1-4 Extras

Actions for Solo Forces

Pistoleros will close into pistol range before blazing away.  They will seek cover to reload. 

Shotgunmen will attempt to close into range, fire both barrels into one target, and then withdraw to cover to reload, but with the option to drop the shotgun and draw a pistol.

Riflemen will find cover or go prone before opening fire.  They will duck out of sight to reload.

Horsemen will charge, firing from the saddle, using speed and making themselves a difficult target by riding around terrain. Yee-har.

1.      No enemy figures appear on table this turn.

2.      A random bystander moves

3.      An enemy figure appears at long rifle range.

         Roll for type.  1-3  Pistolero 4-6 Rifleman 

4.      An enemy figure appears at close range.

         Roll for type.  1-3  Pistolero 4-6 Rifleman.  

5.      Two figures appear at long range.

          Roll for type.  1-2  Pistolero 4-5 Rifleman 6 Horseman.

6.      An enemy figure charges at you from short range

         Roll for type.  1-2  Pistolero 4-5 Rifleman 6 Horseman.

Where

1-3    to the front of your leader

4        to the right of your leader

5        to the left of your leader

6        to the rear of your leader  

Enemy Actions

1        Slink away.  May appear again. 

2        Act with caution.  Take cover, fire at opportunity targets

3        Edge closer using cover.  Fire and duck back. 

4        Blaze away.  Take cover to reload.  Move into range.

5        Move closer.  Give him maximum fire.

6        Fill your hand you sonofabitch. Charge and shoot.     

Enemy recycling

1-2     Git goin' partner.  Headin' for Boot Hill.

3-4     There's more of them?  Recycled.

5        Circles around and appears next turn in a random location.

6.       Immediately appears at long range to the front.  He ain't dead yet?

        

Bystanders

1  run away from noise

2  run away from nearest enemy 

3  run away from your nearest figure

4  move towards random building

5  panic and freeze

6  draw and fire at nearest figure.

Some justifications

Pistols

Blondie Clint, that well known gun fanner, closes the range down before a few words of plot exposition and lots of gunfire in just about all of the Fistful shootouts.  In the Magnificent Seven the Cowboys use cover, and Steve Mcqueen demonstrates, emptying his gun and then diving into cover over a wall to reload.  

Shotguns

In most versions of the OK Corral Doc fires the Shotgun and then draws a pistol.  In the Sacketts Ben Johnson waits on a porch whilst "the Kid" sneaks up on him, gives him both barrels at once and then looks for cover to reload.  John Wayne as "Big Jake" uses his Greener shotguns in the same way, both barrels and then draws his pistol. 

Riflemen

In Stagecoach 1936, John Wayne, as Ringo, falls prone before opening up with his rifle to take on the enemy gunmen in the final shootout.  In Winchester 73 Jimmy Stewart finds cover in the rocks to fight a cat and mouse final shoot out.  Riflemen finding cover to shoot seems logical.

Horsemen

In the Outlaw Josey Wales our hero Clint uses the speed of his horse to fight Missouri Raider style.   Rooster, another of Quantrill's men incidentally, does the same.  In the Shadow Riders Sam Elliot stands his ground and shoots a (ex-Confederate) charging horseman out of the saddle. 

So using this how do I get different enemy forces to behave differently?  Simply, forces with different weapons mixes behave in different ways.

Actually my theory is that all forces are created equal, although in Westerns the guys in white hats are the played force and always tend to stand a better chance. (Unless Lee van Cleef is in this movie) 

The exception are the Apache, who are treated in movies (Shalako, Chatos Land, Hondo) as very dangerous opponents.  But most Apache teams will focus on riflemen, and will thus behave very differently to the Pistoleros of the Magnificent Seven, the mixed weaponry of Mexican Bandidos or the six-gun wielding charging riders of the Texas Rangers.  

I do however propose some variations for different programmed forces.

White Hats.  Ignore "act with caution," instead "move into range."

Black hats .  Slink away on 1-3

Comanche   Warriors, charge on 4-6 with melee weapons

'Pache          Never move closer unless 2:1, always shoot from cover at long range.  If they slink away they will be back.  You have to kill them, and there are always more of them than you think.

Bandidos      Require a leader/deputy within 12" or will auto slink.  See also outlaws.

Outlaws        Focus on their own objective.  They ignore the played force in favour of getting closer to that objective, ie a bank or the bridge out of town.. As long as their charismatic leader is still standing they will keep going.