Quick Draw Western Campaign: Chapter 1
Quick Draw Western Campaign: Chapter 2 and 3
Quick Draw Western Campaign: Chapter 4

The campaign to date has been building up to the big Train Shoot Out that takes place on the way to Omaha. As we have learned, the cowboys need to get some papers to Omaha for the miners in Deadwood. In Chapter 4, two of the main cowboys fight a brawl using Pkowboys to see how the basic combat system worked. In this chapter you we see how Pkowboys can be used to fight a large battle on a moving train at night, which is filled with lots of passengers. Because of the size of this battle it will be more of a summary report than a battle replay, but the next shoot out in chapter 6 will again use a battle replay style, so that you can get more insight into how the Pkowboys system works. Okay, here it is: A Wild West shoot out using the "Pkowboys" rules from Piquet, Inc., by Jeff Grossman.

Chapter 5 -- On the way to Omaha

[I gave the following passage to the gamers to set up the shoot out on board the train to Omaha.] After a two-day ride to Fort Laramie, Wy., to catch the train to Omaha, the Cowboys Clayton, Don, Fritz, Harlan, James, Juliet, Pete, James, Richey, Ruby, Zeke, and Mr. Milo are ready to rest and sleep. The cowboys board the train and are positioned as follows: Milo, Don and Clayton are in the mail car; Fritz is in the baggage car; Harlan, Richey, Ruby, Pete, Zeke and Juliet are in the private sleeper car that Milo has rented for the trip. As the train pulls out for the run to Omaha Harlan says, "Whale, let's dee-cide who's watchin the front an' re-ah fo' the fust hou-ah. Oh, an' Ah gawt a cribbage board if'n anybody's intahested."

Zeke replies, "Aye, lad, cribbage it'll be then, after we get settled in. I'm up for a penny a point, dime a game, and skunks count double -- if you're the betting kind." [I wanted the sleeper car to be a fancy Pullman and a reminder of what you expect to find in 1877 train travel. Not having a 3D model -- nor did I think I would be able to bring one with me to Denver -- I decided to draw a 2D 28mm train. I used MS VISO to create the floor plan of the cars, including the roofs. The drawing are nowhere as nice as Great Lakes member Eric Hotz's White Wash City 3D buildings, but they would do just fine for this battle. I plan to use a number of Eric's buildings in an up coming shootout.]

Suddenly everyone hears it -- was it rain? There's something pattering on the roof of the Pullman Sleeper car. No...rain does not go from back to front, there's somebody up there! Rube grabs his trusty old musket and fidgets with a Bowie knife. That's when the real, more urgent noise begins. Muffled gunfire -- lots of it -- coming from behind [For the historical gamers out there it sounds like a fusillade of muskets going off]. The popping continues somewhere behind the private sleeper car. It's not that loud, but there's no mistaking what it is. [This was a surprise attack. All but two of the cowboys in the sleeper car had bedded down for the night. As to the baggage and mail cars, we'll catch up with them soon enough.] Harlan draws his gun and faces the front of the car, trusting Rube to cover his back. "Don't go a firin' till we git the others up!" Harlan hisses at Rube. "We kin surprise 'em only once!" [While waking the cowboys up and getting a plan together, a number of actions take place in other parts of the train, unknown to them.]

It was decided that Harlan would make his way frontward along the roof of the train, while Richey and Pete moved forward inside the train. Rube, Zeke, James and Juliet would head towards the rear, where all the noise was coming from. As they move, Harlan says, "They cain't git off less'n they stop the train, an' to do that, they has to take control of the engine." [The players at this point have started moving their figures in an around the train cars, some going toward the front, others toward the rear. As the players move to the roof and take a look, they see four figures running toward the front of the train.] Richey and Pete move from the private sleeper car, passing thru the stable car, two sleeper cars, and into a passenger car. [The train's configuration, starting from the front: Engine; Coal Car; Dining Car; Passenger Car; Passenger Car; Sleeper Car; Sleeper Car; Stable Car; Private Sleeper Car; Mail Car; Baggage Car; Caboose.] Harlan advances as quickly as he can along the roof, keeping an eye forward to see if the men in front of him turn around. He holds onto the shotgun in his left hand.

Rube, Zeke, James and Juliet move from the private sleeper car into the mail car where they find Milo, Don and Clayton and three other men sprawled out on the floor. Blood is all over the place [Okay, there was a quick but deadly shoot out when the robbers attacked the mail car. It left Milo wounded and out of the game, Don and Clayton dead along with three other men]. Toward the back of the mail car, they glimpse a figure preparing to exit, but first he swings a pistol toward the good guys. [Okay in Pkowboy terms, the guys in white "busted," giving the turn to the guys in black. The shooting starts again] Everyone's heart stops as they hear a loud "Click-Snap." [The guys in Black run into a little trouble as they turn a "Jam" card.] Rube yells "Holy Frig!" and goes for his gun.

Back on the rooftop, Harlan sees two men moving on toward the coal car as two others descend into the first passenger car. Harlan has not been seen yet. As he reaches the rear of the car, Harlan lays flat and shoulders the shotgun. He pulls the trigger and the barrel jumps up with a loud FLASH-BOOM! One of the men descending grabs his shoulder, then fumbles and falls over, going down between the two cars.

Richey and Pete have been moving slowly forward as they must push their way thru scared passengers, but after awhile they get to the first passenger car. As they get half way thru the car they hear Harlan's shotgun blast followed by a loud thud on the other side of the front passenger car door. Richey in the lead opens the door between the first passenger car and the dining car. In front of him on the gangway is a man lying on his side holding his shoulder. The man has a mask over his face and a pistol in his hand.

Meanwhile, above, Harlen watches as the other man that was climbing down between the cars turns and aims a pistol at him. Just then he hears Richey yell, "Hold it right there -- don't move!" It is followed by "You! On the ladder! Drop your weapon and start climbing down." The man on the ladder, also wearing a mask, snaps his head around and sees Richey. As he starts to swing his pistol toward him, Richey fires, thinking how stupid or desperate these guys must be. KA-POW! Richey hits the man in the guts. He mutters "Ugh!," flinches, with his his gun hand swinging wildly back in the direction of Harlan. Seeing it coming back in his direction, Harlan lets go with the other barrel. The man is hit and falls from the train.

While at the same time, Richey glimpses some movement below him as the wounded man on the gangway swings his pistol around and fires. Both Richey and the man fire seemingly at the same time, and at point blank range. Double blasts light up the outside of the train, while smoke billows. Richey's shot strikes the masked man in the chest, killing him, but Richey has been hit in the left leg. Richey falls back into the passenger car, as Pete moves up to assist. Richey thinks as he falls, "Damn, not my left leg again! Same place I was shot during the Battle of Trevilian Station back in '64! Richey, still holding his weapon, tries to stand back up. "Dad burn it!" he shouts, pain shooting through his leg, "Ya'll get out of my way right now!" With no target in sight, Harlan stands and starts moving forward toward the dinning car and the front of the train.

Back in the baggage car, the man whose gun has jam moves from the shadows and can be seen clearly -- he's wearing the same clothes as Fritz wore, only he has a white bag over his head with two holes for eyes. [Okay I put a Special Event card in the deck, and when the card came up I rolled. One of the party had turn against them, or was he behind the whole train robbery.] With speed that surprises the cowboys, Fritz un-jams his pistol and fires, missing Zeke and holing the Baggage car wall. Zeke returns fire and watches with satisfaction as his bullet hits true. Fritz drops from view behind a series of crates. Rube and Zeke move forward thru the baggage car leaving Juliet to guard the mail car. James moves back toward the passenger cars.

Fritz has been hit, so he makes a beeline to the baggage car door leading to the Caboose. Once on the gangway he climbs to the roof and makes his way forward to the private sleeper car descending and then heading toward the front of the train. [At least that is what the players think they saw happen on the gaming table.] Zeke on hearing footsteps on the roof assumes that Fritz is heading toward the front of the train. Looking at Rube, he starts running back toward the mail car and on to the private sleeper car. At this point, everyone begins to feel a heavy jerking motion throughout the train, as it starts to slow.

Hearing someone shouting from behind, James turns and moves back toward the second passenger car. Zeke and Rube are shouting, running after the man they think is Fritz. James sees another masked man come into the second passenger car. He fires three shots, killing the man dead before he was able to return fire.

Back at the front of the train, Harlan, Richey and Pete have moved thru the Dining car and are now climbing over the coal car. Richey is doing this very slowly as his leg is screaming out with pain. After clearing the top of the coal car, they are met by a fusillade of shots. They flinch, dodge and stumble back. Suddenly, with bullets smashing around him, Pete jumps forward blasting away with the pistol, shooting wildly, emptying the entire cylinder. The others hear the villains yelling, "What the Hell? Get down!" The masked villains drop to the floor. With nowhere to hide, they begin to roll off the now stopped train, hitting the dirt. One calls out, "Mel, get that idiot!" Almost as an afterthought, one pops his head up and calmly and cooly shoots Pete through the forehead.

At this point, Zeke and Rube have jumped from the train. Seeing the two men as they rolled off the engine, Rube fires his musket, killing that man who seconds before shot Pete. Zeke then fires three shots from his pistol, killing the last of the villains.

[So as we leave the remaining Cowboys Rube, Zeke, James, Richey and Juliet -- and the wounded Milo -- we must wonder: Is Fritz dead or alive?]

Quick Draw Western Campaign

Chapter 1
Chapters 2 and 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6