One of the highlights of Wargamers` Newsletter in the 1970`s was the annual report on the Skirmish Wargames Championships held in Southampton. I lapped it up year after year, and consequently the Western Gunfight has always been one of my favourite forms of entertainment on the tabletop. It used to be fun. The Sherrif and his two deputies had to protect the offices of the county newspaper threatened by some henchmen of Big Boss Hog, or Jim 'Quckdraw' McGraw has come into town to steal an army payroll. Nowadays we see 'armies' of gunfighters marauding around Little Gulch (population 23), picking each other off with a collection of the most exotic weapons known in the world at that time. And why do gamers insist on enough Gatling guns and dynamite to simulate a Stuka raid in downtown Tombstone ! Perhaps not surprisingly then, these new Weird Lands fantasy gunfight figures have managed to strike a cord with me. I laughed at the prospect of Foundry casting Zombie Gunfighters but I really did like the quality of the design of Bob Naismith`s figures I saw for the first time in our local games shop in Aberdeen, PLAN 9. They were little more than a curiosity at first, but when Frontline Wargaming sent me a 25mm Indian burial mound as a sample, something clicked. So, we can get cowboy Zombies and Skeletons, is that it ? Hey, now that Foundry Old West figures come in packs, there`s bound to be one or two in each that you don`t like . . . well, turn them into ghouls (cognizant undead). Just give them dusty clothes and pale faces for the recently dead or green / brown hues for those who have been dead sometime and started to putriefy. For rules, use your favourite Wild West set or even The Good The Bad and The Grubby. It`s up to you whether there should be special rules for the undead. Many fantasy gamers treat them as humans for wounds. Me, I think, skeletons should be fast, and difficult to kill, there being no flesh, muscles or organs to hit with your sixshooter. Shots to the head only please. Zombies are slow (rotting flesh does inhibit one`s quick draw), and can sustain a lot of damage, so are best dealt with by a massive number of hits blowing them apart. Perhaps you could add a rule for limbs falling off in a quick draw situation. What d`ya think ? BADLANDS : SCENARIOS WANTED : DEAD OR ALIVE The McSweeney Gang are breaking out. . . .of the MORGUE ! ! ! Bounty Hunter Dakota Dave, finally collected his reward for Frank McSweeney and his brothers Hank and Phil, by bringing them in dead. The town is all set to dance on their grave, but that doesn`t go down well with the ghosts of the McSweeney boys. In fact there`s gonna be Hell to Pay ! JUDGEMENT DAY The corrupt, incestuous townsfolk of Dry Gulch are so bad, they give the Soddomites a good name. The new fire and brimstone preacher Bell Z. Bub has managed to gather his bored, congregation on Boot Hill. He has just got to the passage "And the dead shall walk the Earth", when the wind picks up and begins to howl, the ground starts to rumble . . . . the preacher continues, pointing a long scaly finger at the assembled townsfolk "Lest ye be judged, yeselves" . . . . and with that great cracks rent the cemetary ground, revealing the coffins of the dead whom the town had made judgement upon. . . . . . MANITOU A group of drunken cowhands has stumbled upon an injun burial ground. In their drunken stupor they descrate the graves. The sky turns red and the sun suddenly begins to set to a cachophany of wolves howling. As the cowboys continue their horseplay, the shadowy forms of Apache braves begin to manifest. COWHANDS OF THE APOCALYPSE It`s been a hard trail and to get the cattle to water sooner, the trail boss has decided to take a little used route through Dead Man`s Gulch. That night the herd is restless, but the dog tired cowhands are settling down for the night nevertheless, around their chuck wagon. In the darkness, something stirs. . . . a party of dead cowhands killed by rustlers in this same spot have come back to take the longhorns and complete the cattle drive they never finished. Back to The Gauntlet No. 17 Table of Contents Back to The Gauntlet List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Craig Martelle Publications This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com