This scenario was played on 07-01-00, in my garage. Everyone seemed to have a good time, so I thought I would send it in to MWAN for your reading enjoyment. The gist of the scenario was to be the first group of characters to find a stolen Army payroll that had been hidden somewhere in the town of Hoghead. The Game Master (me) was the only person who knew where it was. The other players had to search the buildings one by one until it was found (with The result of each search was announced to all). I got the idea for the scenario from Tim Peterson's web page at icenter.net (the page is partially dedicated to scenarios and optional rules for "The Rules With No Name", and if you like skirmish in the Old West then its worth your time to check it out). One of the scenarios I found there was called "Ghost Town Treasure Hunt" by Chris Vivo of Los Angeles, CA (good job Chris!). I just took that scenario and modified it somewhat so there would be more twists and turns along the way. We used a hodgepodge combination of rules from three different sets (the ammunition, movement, and fire effect rules came from "Desperado", the shooting rules came from WarPaint, and the Fate Deck and group movement rules came from "The Rules With No Name"). We also used a modified hand to hand combat rule for Desperado that I found in issue #75 of "The Courier". Each character rolled an averaging dice to determine what class he belonged to. On a "T' they were a Citizen, on a "3" they were a Gunman, on a "4" they were a Shootist, and on a "Y' they were a Legend. The only Quality Dice we worried about was the one for shooting. A Citizen used a d6; a Gunman used a d8; a Shootist used a d 10, and a Legend used a d 12. THE DATA SHEETS There were eight groups of characters in the game. Each group was given its own data sheet before the game started. These data sheets contained background information on the scenario, pertinent information on the group, and an objective for the group to accomplish (the background information and objectives varied for group to group, so there were a bunch of mini-scenarios going on within the big one. Pretty tricky, huh?). The information in each page was kept secret, so no one knew exactly what the others were doing. The information provided in some of the pages was not always 100% accurate (or even 50% accurate), but that just added to the fun. Each Data Sheet is presented in its entirety: GROUP #1: THE SOD GANG (Cousins to the Dirt Brothers from DESPERADO) NUMBER OF CHARACTERS: 4 Background Information: a large U.S. Army payroll was stolen five years ago by a gang of bushwhackers called the Sod Brothers (i.e: Sandy Sod, Poor-us Sod, Furrow Sod, and Pumice Sod). All but Pumice were eventually hunted down and killed, but the missing payroll was never found. Legend has it that Pumice hid the payroll in the town of Hoghead before he fled to Mexico. Hoghead is a ghost town now, but as far as anyone knows the payroll is still there. The Particulars: Pumice is returning from Mexico with a new gang to recover the payroll he left behind. Unfortunately fbi you, Pumice is dumber than dirt (or Sod!), and the only thing he remembers about the payroll is that he hid it in a building on the eastside of town. Their Objective: Pumice and his gang must recover the payroll and exit the playing area with it, or die trying. GROUP #2 UNITED STATES CAVALRY NUMBER OF CHARACTERS: 6 Background Information: a large U.S. Army payroll was stolen five years ago by a gang of bushwhackers called the Sod Brothers (I.E. Sandy Sod, Poor-us Sod, Furrow Sod, and Pumice Sod). All but Pumice were eventually hi ed down and killed, but the missing payroll was never found. Legend has it that Pumice hid the payroll in the town of Hoghead before he fled to Mexico. Hoghead is a ghost town now, but as far as anyone knows the payroll is still there. The Particulars: Even the U.S. Army has heard of the Legend of Hoghead, and in the off chance it might be true a patrol from the 2 d Cavalry has been dispatched to see what's there. The patrol consists of four Troopers, one Sergeant, and one Lieutenant. Two of the Troopers have shady backgrounds, and would recognize Pumice on sight. Their Objective: Recover the payroll and exit the playing area with it. Protect American sovereignty. GROUP #3 COMANCHEROS NUMBER OF CHARACTERS: 4 Background Information: a large U.S. Army payroll was stolen five years ago by a gang of bushwhackers called the Sod Brothers (I.E. Sandy Sod, Poor-us Sod, Furrow Sod, and Pumice Sod). All but Pumice were eventually hunted down and killed, but the missing payroll was never found. Legend has it that Pumice hid the payroll in the town of Hoghead before he fled to Mexico. Hoghead is a ghost town now, but as far as anyone knows the payroll is still there. The Particulars: Your Comancheros have heard of the Legend of Hoghead and they have come to claim the payroll for themselves. All of the Comancheros are ex-Confederates, so they will always take time out of their busy schedule to fight anyone in blue. Their Objective: to find the payroll, rob anyone they see (of weapons, ammo, and cash), and exit the playing area with their loot. GROUP #4 TEXAS RANGERS NUMBER OF CHARACTERS: 2,3, or 4 (Game Master's choice) Background Information: a large U.S. Army payroll was stolen five years ago by a gang of bushwhackers called the Sod Brothers (I.E. Sandy Sod, Poor-us Sod, Furrow Sod, and Pumice Sod). All but Pumice were hunted down and killed, but the missing payroll was never found. Legend has it that Pumice hid the payroll in the town of Hoghead before he fled to Mexico. Hoghead is a ghost town now, but as far as anyone knows the payroll is still there. The Particulars: It seems that when Pumice was on his way to Mexico he stopped and caused some trouble in Texas. This made the Texas Ranger mad, and they have been on the prowl for him ever since. Rumor has it that Pumice has finally returned to he U.S. from Mexico, and he is on his way to Hoghead to get the payroll. Your Texas Rangers are on their way to Hoghead too, with orders to recover the stolen payroll and bring Pumice back dead or alive. All Texas Rangers are Legends, carry double the ammunition load, and are marksman. Their Objective. Capture Pumice, dead or alive. Recover the Stolen payroll. Protect the sovereignty of the United States. GROUP #5 THE GREASY SOMBRERO GANG NUMBER OF CHARACTERS: 4 Background Information: The town of Hoghead is one of those towns that sprung up overnight when gold was discovered, and died just as quickly when the gold played out. All that remains now are cobwebs and few dilapidated buildings (and it will probably stay that way, because Hoghead is so far off the beaten path that very few people even know its there). The Greasy Sombrero Gang is the worst bunch of Desperados in the territory. One day the gang was on their roundabout way to a new job when they came across Hoghead. They figured Hoghead would be the perfect hideout, so they planned on going back there when the job was done. The job got done all right; but instead of being a simple robbery it turned into a robbery/murder (of an esteemed citizen no less), and they are now on the run from just about every lawman and Vigilante around. The Greasy Sombrero Gang made it back to Hoghead as planned, and that is where they are laying low until this thing blows over (like that's going to happen). The gang figures that anyone coming to Hoghead will be looking for them, so they will shoot first and ask questions later. The Particulars: All four members of the Greasy Sombrero Gang set up hidden in town before the game starts. Any other characters you see belong to the posse that has come to hunt you down. The Objective: kill or be killed. GROUP #6 FORTUNE HUNTERS NUMBER OF CHARACTERS: 5 Background Information: a large U.S. Army payroll was stolen five years ago by a gang of bushwhackers called the Sod Brothers (I.E. Sandy Sod, Poor-us Sod, Furrow Sod, and Pumice Sod). All but Pumice were eventually hunted down and killed, but the missing payroll was never found. Legend has it that Pumice hid the payroll in the town of Hoghead before he fled to Mexico. Hoghead is a ghost town now, but as far as anyone knows the payroll was never found. The Particulars: Your fortune hunters have come to Hoghead to see if they can find the legendary payroll. Among them is a man that grew up in Hoghead who thinks he knows where it may be hidden. Therefore, the Game Master has to tell you were it is. The Fortune Hunters are peaceful men by nature, so they will not provoke a fight. But they will fight back with a vengeance if attacked. Their Objective: Find the payroll and get out of town. GROUP #7 MEXICAN SOLDIERS NUMBER OF CHARACTERS: 10 Background Information: a gringo named Pumice Sod committed some heinous crimes in Mexico and then fled back into the United States. One of his victims was the wife of General Muy Gordo, the highest-ranking Officer in the Mexican Army. General Muy Gordo is one of the most impulsive men alive, and in his rage he sent a squad of soldiers into the United States to hunt Pumice down. Gordo's motives may be understandable, but he has, in essence, authorized an invasion (making the squad fair game for any U.S. Troops and/or law enforcement Officers they come across). No one in the squad knows what Pumice looks like, but they have tracked him to a town called Hoghead. They will have to figure out who Pumice is before they can kill him. The Particulars: The squad consists of eight solders, one sergeant, and one Lieutenant. The soldiers are not very well trained, so they will become disorganized if the Sergeant and Lieutenant are both killed. Disorganized soldiers can not use Group Movement or Firing Line Cards (the Game Master will explain those to you), and they drop one class for the rest of the game. Their Objective- kill Pumice, and then go back to Mexico. THE GAME MASTER Hide the payroll. Give the fortune hunters bad scoop on where the payroll is (the man didn't know what he was talking about after all). The Game Master takes control of the two "shady Troopers" when and if the Cavalry gain possession of the payroll (provided they are still alive). The shady Troopers will try desert at that point, and take the payroll with them. Building #2 has two levels, and the floor of the second level is rotten. Anyone going up there has to roll percentage dice. On a roll of 50% or less the character falls through the floor and rolls for damage points. There is a rattlesnake in building #8. Any character entering that building has to roll percentage dice. On a roll of 50% or less the character has to run back out of the building without searching. On a roll of 51% or greater the character has been bitten, and rolls for damage points. The snake will continue to bite anyone who remains in the building. The rattlesnake is killed when hit by gunfire. Shuffle three blank cards into the Fate Deck when the payroll has been found. Shuffle three "U.S. Firing Line" cards into the Fate, Deck when the Cavalry patrol enters the playing area (the cards have "U.S. Firing Line" written on them). Shuffle two "Mexican Firing Line" cards into the Fate Deck when the Mexican soldiers enter the playing area (ditto). The group that recovers the payroll has to exit from a short end of the table (east or west). Regardless of which end it is there will be two Apaches waiting in ambush for them (the Apaches were so good at hiding that they don't have to be placed on the playing area until one of them moves or fires). The Apaches use one of the blank cards to spring their ambush. Once the ambush is sprung the Apache add their cards to the Fate Deck. All of the Apaches are Shootists. The Game Master controls the Apaches. MORE ON THE RULES The Mexicans need to be able to interrogate characters during the game (to find out who Pumice Sod is). Therefore, a character could try to capture his opponent during hand-to-hand combat (instead of killing him). Any character attempting a capture subtracts 20% from his chance to hit. If he wins the hand to hand combat he has captured his opponent. Any character that is captured is automatically disarmed, and can be moved by the capturing player in subsequent turns. A captured character can escape by entering into close combat with his captor (but since he is disarmed it will be at a big disadvantage). If he wins he escapes, if not he gets 15 damage points Interrogating a character is an action, and it requires base to base contact. Any character being interrogated has to answer all questions truthfully. Immobilized characters can also be interrogated. Group Movement can only be used by the military, and the leaders have to be Officers or NCOs (so if the Lieutenant and Sergeant are dead then no group movement is allowed). The military is trained to fight as a unit, so the following modifications were made to the group movement rule: Group movement can be used throughout the game. The cards of all military characters (the live ones anyway) are shuffled into the deck. Each character card (military only remember) can be used for either an individual action or group movement (but not both). The leader of a group can use Class Action Cards for group movement (non-leaders can only use Class Action Cards for individual actions), The number of movement dice was changed to keep the military groups from running hog wild. If the group movement is on foot one die is used. If the group movement is mounted two dice are used. a group using group movement must be either an on line or column. The maximum distance between stands in a column formation is two inches. The maximum distance between stands in an on line formation is four inches. On line formations have to use foot movement at all times. Any character exceeding those distances can not participate in the group movement. All characters using group movement have to be in sight of their leader. For example:. Sergeant Smith, Trooper Jones, and Trooper Black are riding in a single column. Trooper Blacks card is drawn, and he decides to use it for group movement Black rolls two dice and everyone moves that many inches. Military groups are the only ones who can use the "Firing Line" Cards. A Firing Line Card allows all of the eligible characters to take a free shot (the free shot can be used for aiming instead). A characters is eligible if He belongs to the appropriate group(s). He is on line. He is with in sight of his leader. He is within four inches of his leader, or is within four inches of another character who is within four inches of the leader, or is within four inches of another character who is within four inches of another character that is within four inches of the Leader, etc (there is a ripple effect to this). Firing Line Cards can not be used if the Officer and NCO are dead. For example: Sergeant "A", Trooper "B", Trooper "C", and Trooper "D" are in an on line formation when one of the U.S. Firing Line Cards is drawn. Sergeant A is the leader, so all measurements start with him. B is four inches from A, C is four inches from B, and D is five inches from C. A, B, and C can each take a free shot, but D is too far away from C so he can't. Now say B is four inches from A, C is five inches from B, and D is four inches from C. Only A and B cvald take the free shot, because C broke the line and everyone from him on down is out of luck. THE PLAYERS IN THE GAME Mark Needham/The Greasy Sombrero Gang. Randy Miles/ The Comancheros. Kevin Mathers/Tbe Sod Gang. Eric Parks/The Fortune Hunters. Matt Brady/The U.S. Cavalry. Tabor and Trevor Brady/The Mexican Soldiers. Dean Halley/Game Master and Apaches. One other friend I had invited was unable to come, so the Texas Rangers were not used. But if the game had move to quickly or to slowly I would have brought them in under my control. THE SET UP The Greasy Sombrero Gang had to set up in the town hidden (everyone else left the room while that was done). The Sod Gang automatically entered the playing area from the west on turn #1. The rest of the groups had-to roll a 1d6 at the beginning of each turn to see it was time for them to enter. Entry was granted when the roll was less than or equal to the number of times the deck has been shuffled (that is a mouth full isn't it? In other words if the deck has been shuffled four times then a player has to roll a four or less to bring his group on). Character Cards and Firing Line Cards were shuffled into the Fate Deck as needed. And last but not least the Class Action cards were left out of the Fate Deck for the first three turns (this was meant to level the playing field for the groups that were a wee bit slow). Buildings #2 and building #10 have two levels. The stairs for #2 are on the eastside of the building, and the stairs for #10 are inside. I hid the payroll in building #5. I told Eric the payroll was on the second level of building #2 (remember, per GM notes, the 2d floor of building #2 is rotten. You might say I kind of set him up). There were abandoned wagons scattered throughout the town. Their locations are marked with an 'A" on the map. THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE GAME Mark decided to split his gang up, which was not smething I had anticipated when I made out the Data Sheets. He hid them in the in buildings 10 (2 d level), 12, 14, and 15. Turn #1: Kevin brought the Sod Gang in at E 1, walking right down the street. Mark didn't respond. Turn #2: Kevin kept his boys moving slowly past the fronts of buildings #1 and #2. Mark still didn't respond. Turn #3: Eric enters at E2, Randy enters at E3, and Kevin bunches up in front of Building #2. Mark still doesn't respond (I found out later that the guy in building # 15 was armed with a sawed-off shotgun, so that's why he wasn't shooting at anyone). Turn #4: Matt enters in column at E4, Eric sends his characters towards building #2, and Kevin stays where he is (in front of building #2). Randy moves one of his characters towards building #1 and the other three towards building #2 and #3. Mark just sits tight. Turn #5: Eric's lead character runs up to the second level of building #2 and falls through the floor (no payroll there). But lucky for him he suffers only five damage points. Kevin starts blasting away at the guy who just fell. Eric sends the rest of his guys towards buildings #2, #3 and #4. One of Randy's Commanchero enters building #1 (no payroll there), but his other characters loitered about as the Joker came up before they could move. Matt splits his command into two three-man groups. One group heads for building #7 while the other group dismounts on the eastside of building #10. Turn #6: The Mexican soldiers enter in column at E5 (finally). They are split into two five-man groups with Tabor controlling one and Trevor controlling the other. The Rest of the Game: The game really picked up after that, so to save my sanity I'll just give an overview of how things went from that point on. Kevin, Eric, and Randy continued to trade shots around buildings #2, #3, and #4. Kevin really got hurt in this, because when the smoke cleared everyone in the Sod Gang is down except Pumice (sound familiar?). Pumice takes off across the street while Eric and Randy continue to snipe at each other as they search buildings #3 and #4 (no payroll is found). No one dies in the search, but some of the characters are aerated. Meanwhile, Mark finally moved his character out of building #15. The poor sap takes a shot in the head from the Comanchero in building #1, and dies in the street. The rest of the Greasy Sombrero gang engages the Mexicans in an ambush that decimated both sides (the alley leading away from E5 quickly became known as "Blood Alley'). Tabor and Trevor were the two youngest players in the game (12 and 14 respectively), and they were not very aggressive. Instead of moving away from the ambush, or forming up on line, the Mexicans fought as individuals. In the end only four Mexicans made it out of the alley alive. One was the Lieutenant, but he was shot and killed by the Comenchero in building #1. Two others went around building #10 where they engaged one of Matt's Troopers (the other two Troopers were in front of the building doing who knows what). The Mexicans got lucky here, because the Trooper was one of the two that knew Pumice and they were able to immobilize him. Through a quick interrogation they found out who Pumice was. The Trooper then died of his wounds during the next turn. While all of that was going on Pumice Sod actually made it into building #8, which he proceeded to search. He found a snake instead of a payroll, so he ran back out into the street. This allowed the Troopers in front of building #10 to gun him down like the dog he was (so much for the Sod Gang). The two Mexicans who knew what Pumice looked like verified that he was dead, and took off for Mexico. The fourth surviving Mexican, who had been holed up somewhere in the alley, joined them. The Cavalry Troopers behind building 47 slowly advanced on line towards building #4, and #5, taking pot shots at anyone they saw. Meanwhile, Eric found the payroll in building #5 and was trying to get it past Randy, who was still taking pot shots at him from across the street (Eric and Randy were both down to two figures by now) It was tough going for Fric, because the payroll chest was heavy and the character carrying it could only move at 1d6. I allowed Eric to use group movement to carry the chest at walk speed, but the trade off was not allowing the characters to use their weapons while they carried it. Eric was able to move the payroll into the alley between buildings #4 and #5 before Randy shot one of his characters. Randy was moving his two figures in for the kill when Matt's Troopers opened up on them. At that point we called it quits. It was late, and the game was winding down anyway. By consensus it was agreed that Matt's Troopers were in the best shape, and would have probably recover the payroll. If I had to declare a winner it was the Mexicans. They were the only group that actually completed their objective (but even then they suffered 70% casualties in doing it). Conclusion In hindsight the only thing I would change about the scenario is the number of figures we used. The game dragged at times because there were to many of them for them. The easiest way of fixing that is to make some of the groups smaller (I.E. the Mexicans, The Fortune Hunters, and/or the U.S. Cavalry) and/or by reducing the number of groups used. Either way, if you like the Old West you'll have a good time playing this scenario. Good luck and good hunting. Back to MWAN #108 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2000 Hal Thinglum 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