PLAYTEST EDITION 25/4/96: Also suited to ACW and Mexican Border Struggles

These are intended primarily as a straight-forward simple set of Western gunfight rules, suitable for a quick cheerful game, possibly involving a large number of participants. However, we wanted to include a degree of tactical skill, involvement with the rule system and an element of tension and surprise. We hope that we have succeeded in doing so without making the game at all puzzling or complicated Consumption of alcoholic beverage and high-carbohydrate snacks and the playing of these rules are not necessarily mutually exclusive. We have tried not to introduce a lot of fussy rules to cover every eventuality, so ifyou are playing with large groups of strangers, you might like to use a gamesmaster; a godlike figure whose word is law. Fortunately, even the most competitive garners don't come to a Western gunfight looking for an argument, so the way should be clear for a good time to be had by all.

However, for those of you who prefer a more sophisticated game, especially ifyou intend to run a campaign, with the extra level of detail and involvement that familiarity permits, there is a selection of optional rules for you to mix and match according to your tastes.

We eventually intend to polish these rules up and publish them, with a cover, proper illustrations and everything. Meanwhile, they need extensive playtesting, if you'd like to participate, let us know. If you would like to purchase another copy of the rules, then I'm selling them for $2 if you are ordering miniatures as well, and you don't mind me folding the rules up to fit in the box, or$6 if I provide an envelope and stamp and post them separately. I know that they only consist of a few sheets of paper and a staple, but it's not very economical producing them on my laser printer and post them air mail! You can also have it on an IBM Word 6 disc at the same cost ifyou prefer. Until we get the proper version out (when you are just going to have to go out and buy one), feel free to pass copies of this version out amongst your friends.

We're very keen to have your opinion, so get in touch!

You could try using these rules for other periods, they would work well for most nineteenth century theatres, let us know how you get on! If any of you intend running Old West gunfight games at conventions, let us know so that we can sponsor you with a prize of some of our Old West miniatures. We also have grand-tactical Seven Years War and tactical American Civil War rules in need of playtesting, but these are too lengthy for me to run off hard copies of so you need to be able to print from IBM Word 6. Especially with the Seven Years War rules, there are a good number of charts and over five hundred cards which seem to always scramble if you try to translate to another word processing programme. By the time you read this, I should have got round to typing up (or should that be talking up? 1 used a voice-activated dictation programme) my Seven Years War skirmish rules, which are fairly similar to the gunfight rules presented here, though I hope with their own particular character.

Each player needs one or more models, each representing a single person or character. Someone has to organise a Fate Deck: this consists of one character card for each character plus one each Citizen, Gunman, Shootist and Legend Action Cards and a Joker. We use the smallest size of file record cards, but you could just as well use card chits or small squares of paper thrown in a box and drawn out randomly. You will need plenty of ordinary six sided dice!

There are four classes of character:

Citizen: ordinary citizens who have never been in a gunfight.
Gunman: tough individuals who wear a gun with the expectation of having to use it.
Shootist: violent characters who have killed their man.
Legend: stone cold killers; the legendary heroes and villains of the West.

In addition, you might like to feature bystanders; non-participants whose actions are controlled by the gamesmaster.

The Fate Deck is used to determine which character takes a turn. A card (or chit or whatever) is turned, then: If it is a character card, that character takes a turn, and the card is placed on the discard pile.

If it is an action card then it is display face up on the table: The next player to draw a character card of a class at least as high as that of the displayed action card takes it into his hand. He can use the action card to give a free turn to any of his characters of a class at least as high as that on the card at any time; even part way through someone else's turn.

For example:

The Gunman action card is drawn, it is left face up on the table.

The next card drawn is Enoch Weatherdrew, the town milliner, currently acting as a sheriffs deputy. Enoch is a Citizen, which is a lower class than a Gunman, so his player cannot pick up the Gunman action card Enoch takes his turn..

The next card is Big John, the infamous murderous outlaw. Big John is a Legend, a higher class than a Gunman, so his player picks up the action card. Big John takes his turn, advancing menacingly down the street. If his player wished, Big John could use the action card to take another turn immediately, but he decides to wait and see what happens.

Next, the Chico Kid's card is drawn. The Kid comes round the corner and draws a bead on Big John, but before he can throw his firing dice, Big John's player announces that he is using the card to make action. The action card is played and discarded, Big John fires and the Kid falls wounded to the ground. If it is the Joker, all discards and any action cards held by players are shuffled back into the Fate Deck. 

ACTIONS

During a characters turn he can make one of the following actions: Pass: do nothing (except turn to face any direction)

Move: throw three dice, this is the maximum distance in inches that he can move, he may move off in any direction at the beginning of his move, but must then move in a straight line, making no further turns. He must end his turn facing the direction he has moved.

Gunman and better class characters can move as far as they like up to that distance, but must move at least three inches.

Citizens must move the maximum distance.

Move & Fire: works just as above, except only two movement dice are thrown, and the character fires at the end of his movement.

Fire: turn to face any direction then fire.

Aim: the character aims at an opponent. He states who his target is, and turns to face him. If the aiming character is able to take another turn before the target makes a move or ducks back out of sight, he makes an aimed shot. If the target does Move or duck, or the aiming character is forced to duck back, he gains no advantage from his aim.

Reload: the character reloads one of his guns, after suffering an out of ammo result.

Recover: characters who are wounded or duck back must use a turn recovering before they can make any other action.

Get up: characters who are knocked down by a bullet or in a fight must get up before they can make any other action other than recovering.

Duck back: a character may voluntarily duck back, so that he can no longer see or be seen. He must recover before he can then make any other action.

Fix gun: attempts to unjam his weapon: throw a dice

1, 2 - Knackered, gun is no longer any use whatsoever. (There must be a Western equivalent of "knackered )
3, 4 - Can't figure the danged thing out, try again another turn.
5, 6 - Jam cleared!

Challenge: call one or more of his enemies out to a duel in the open.

Fast draw: go for his gun, often in a duel or backshooting situation.

Unless Moving or Moving & Firing, the character can end his turn facing any direction.

ANGLE OF FIRE

Characters can fire within an arc of 90 degrees; 45 degrees each side of straight ahead. The best way to calculate this is by making a simple template from a folded square of paper

SHOOTING

Characters can either fire deliberately, or they can blaze away. The character rolls the number of dice shown on the firing chart, subject to the modifiers listed.

Deliberate fire: If any dice comes up with a 6, he has hit his target, but he can only score one hit. Citizens may not fire deliberately.

Blazing away: Each 6 rolled gives him a hit on his target, except that breach loaders may only hit once, repeating rifles up to twice, and six shooters up to three times. If more 1's than 6's are rolled, he is out of ammo, he misses and must spend a turn reloading before he can fire again. If three or more 1's are rolled the gun is jammed.

Characters firing deliberately are assumed to sensibly take whatever opportunity they need to reload and it is only when they blaze away recklessly that they will find themselves caught short with an empty chamber by an enemy with the drop on them.

If playing with a gamesmaster, you might like to introduce a rule where if four or more 1's are rolled the character 'fumbles" and something terrible happens. He could drop his gun (which might go of,), shoot himself or someone standing nearby, fall on his face, mistake a friend for an enemy or vice-versa, bump into someone, bang his head on a sign or post, a little old lady might launch a frenzied attack with her umbrella the gunpowder flash might temporarily blind him, the sidewalk might collapse, a mule might bite him, his gun explode, shin catch fire etc. Further suggestions are invited, if we get enough we could do a big list or a deck of event cards. 

HIT LOCATION & EFFECT

Rather throw two dice, the first for location, and the second for effect, or draw a shooting chit:

Movement is reduced by one dice for each serious wound and each flesh wound on a leg. No movement or turning is permitted with a serious leg or belly wound.

Knocked down characters must Get up before making any other action other than recovering.

Knocked out characters must attempt to throw a 6 each time they have a turn, until they succeed they may make no actions.

Characters with a serious arm wound cannot fire a pistol in that hand, or fire a rifle at all.

You know enough now to stage your first gunfight! Take out eight miniature gunfighters: one each Citizen, Gunman, Shootist and Legend for each side, give them all appropriate names. Make up a Fate Deck, cut out the hit location chits overleaf if you want to use them, then set the two sides up about twelve inches apart. Turn your first card and let the gunfight commence!

USING CARDS TO DETERMINE HIT LOCATION & EFFECT

Instead of rolling two dice to determine the location and effect of a hit, you can make up a pack of 36 cards instead, and have the victim pull out a card, or simply cut out the shooting chits below and draw one out of a box for each hit.

This is a quicker method, and less fuss than using the chart. It's also more fun; there's something about using cards that makes everything seem more lively. It seems to be that when you're rolling dice you're just testing your luck, but when you turn a card you're dealing directly with fate. 

COVER

A character behind cover is protected from some of the shots that would otherwise hit him. A gamesmaster can be useful to adjudicate which parts of a targets body are protected, but as a rule of thumb:

Characters firing round the comer of a building always expose their head and chest. Pistol shooters also expose their right arm, and rifle shooters always expose both their arms. When firing over a wall or other obstacle, the chest is not exposed.

If a character has taken cover behind something reasonably substantial, like an adobe wall or a pile of crates, then shots that would have hit protected parts of his body cause him to duck back, but cannot injure him. If he is only behind something like a wooden building wall or fence, then throw for each shot that hits cover:

1, 2 - shot penetrates, target hit, subtract one from the damage dice.
3-6 - shot is stopped.

Some cover, like brush or stands of wheat, is too insubstantial to stop a bullet, but hiding behind it still reduces your opponents chance of hitting by subtracting one of his dice.

Unless a character ducks back, his head is always visible when he is behind cover.

Other characters provide cover too: if the firing line is obstructed by another character, determine which parts of the targets body are protected by him. Hits on these parts are rolled for again on the unfortunate interloper.

DUCK BACKS

Duck backs are an important feature of these rules; you can use the duck back rule to pin and neutralise your opponents and provide realistic covering fire for your friends.

When a target is hit (including grazes) or his cover stops a shot for him, he is forced to immediately duck back; getting his entire body behind cover.

He must then spend an entire turn recovering before he can make any other action.

While he is recovering, or even while any character is known to be lurking, completely behind cover, opposing character can still fire at him. All the successful shots will hit the cover, but the hidden target will still be subject to the duck back rule, and will have to spend a further turn recovering. This is a good way of protecting your friends while they dash across open ground.

OPTIONAL RULES

You may have no need of these optional rules at all!) If all you plan to do is fight big cheerful, beery shoot outs at the club or at conventions, then there is no reason to add further complication; in fact you might want to do away with some of the existing rules. You could get rid of the rule that forces all movement to be in a straight line, get rid of knock downs or reduce the number offering modifiers for instance, anything that you find speeds the game up can be useful ifyou are trying to entertain as many groups of players as possible at a convention. Remember, these are your rules now and you can do what you like to them! However, ifyou settle down to regularly gaming in the Old West amongst a group offriends, you'll probably get the most out of it ifyou develop the rules to suit your own tastes. You'll soon find out the depth of detail that you prefer. You can start by seeing ifyou think that any of the optional rules we offer here will provide you with sufficient extra interest and excitement tojustify the effort and time they consume. Let us know where your own version of our rules ends up!

I'm eventually going to cover: LocoweedlDrunks/Imbeciles, Stray Shots, Buildings, Dynamite, Scenarios, Randomly generated groups, gangs & units, Muzzle-loaders & Possibly Horses & Indians. But as you can see, I either haven't got to everything yet, or Hal didn't have space to print them all, call Guernsey Foundry ifyou'd like an update.

EXPERIENCE

Games become more interesting if each little lead killer is allowed to take on a life and personality of his own. We can do this with no effort at all by allowing them to improve in class between games, and with a little more effort we can allow them to acquire skills which really individualise them.

Characters do not receive promotion to the next class during a game, they have to wait for their next gunfight.

A Citizen becomes a Gunman providing he at least gets to fire a shot at an opponent, most Citizens should manage this during their first gunfight!

A Gunman becomes a Shootist once he has killed an armed man.

Becoming a Legend is harder; a Shootist must kill or seriously wound three armed men in one gunfight, or kill a Legend, to become a Legend himself.

Even ifyou are running a series of games for different groups of players at a convention, you can add extra interest (not least for yourself by allowing surviving characters to be promoted between games, even though they will then be run by different players. You could start with two sides consisting entirely of Citizens, perhaps each led by a more dangerous individual, and see how many of them make it to Shootists and Legends over the day or weekend It's amazing how much individual personality your miniature gunslingers can gain just by naming them an introducing a small element of continuity. No arduous record keeping is involved; you can just make notes on their character cards in the Fate Deck

SKILLS

The next stage is to allow characters to gain individual skills. This is a little more complicated, but all the record keeping can still be done on the character cards. You can either dice for skills randomly, draw chits, or allocate them according to your knowledge of the personality of the character based on his performance in previous games.

Shootists gain a skill for each armed man they kill (including the first), and have a 50% chance of gaining an additional skill after any gunfight in which they seriously wound at least one armed man.

Legends also gain a skill for each armed man they kill, but they also automatically gain a further skill after every gunfight. Legends rapidly become super-human, unless some intrepid hero takes the trouble to back-shoot them and take on their mantle.

"Double" skills: those skills marked with an asterisk can be gained twice, the second time doubles the effect (Very Strong, Very Terrifying etc). Some skills are mutually contradictory, possibly cancelling each other out, some are complimentary, or combine in interesting ways. You are going to have to sort the precise detail out for yourselves! It's up to you whether you allow "treble" skills. If, for whatever reason, a character can't take (or the gamesmaster thinks it would be inappropriate for him to take) a particular skill, roll or draw again.

Backshooting, shooting unarmed, unconscious and surrendered characters and all women does not count towards experience or skills, and anyone who does so, or surrenders or refuses a challenge does not gain any experience or skills for the whole gunfight. 

Agile: no firing penalty when moving, may make one change of direction during move*, ends move facing any direction. Adds one dice* in a fight.

Ambidextrous: no penalty for firing two pistols.

Boss: all the characters on his side add one dice* when testing nerve, except that those within six inches of his beloved person add three dice (including the Great Man himself). If his own nerve fails, then all his friends test with minus three dice.

Charmed: once* per gunfight he may re-roll a whole batch of dice, or make an opponent do the same.

Crack shot: add one' firing dice.

Cursed: each opposing player may cause him to re-roll one dice once* per gunfight.

Deadeye: hits on a 5 or 6 when firing single shot.

Drunk (or Deranged): subject to drunkenness rules.

Evil: gains normal experience from backshooting, shooting KO'd and unarmed victims, also friends and allies.

Fast draw: adds three' dice in a fast draw situation.

Hard as nails: ignores the effect of the first* wound he receives (still knocked down, knocked out or dead though!)

Knifeman/Swordsman: adds four' dice in a fight, and one* to the throw for effect, but only if armed with a knife/sword. A knifeman may throw his knife as if making a deliberate pistol shot at point blank and close range only, but with plus one dice to hit

Legend of the West: when his character card is drawn, his player takes it into his hand as if it was an action card which can be used only for this character. May fire at a group of characters within four' inches of each other and distribute any hits between them as he chooses. If Ambidextrous may fire each gun at a different target. Fears noone Roll randomly for one' additional skill now. If this character gains any further skills he may choose whichever ones he wants.

Lucky: may re-roll one* of each batch of dice he throws.

Marksman: may add or subtract one* when rolling for hit location.

Nerves of steel: not subject to duck back, add one* dice to testing nerve. Fears no-one

Nervous: only has a 50%* chance of recovering, subtract three* dice in a fast draw situation, always blazes away, subtract two* dice when testing nerve.

Quick shot: adds three* dice in a fast draw situation, when blazing away he can hit with one* extra shot.

Runt: subtracts three* dice in a fight.

Skilled Fighter: adds four dice when attempting to hit in a fight.

Slow: subtract one* dice for movement and fast draw. May not use an action card.

Stalker: if motionless behind cover, cannot be seen at all beyond 12* inches, subtract one* firing dice if shot at behind cover.

Stoopid: throw each turn: 1,2 - do nothing. 3 - continue doing whatever he did last turn. 4, 5, 6 - take normal turn.

Strong: adds three* dice in a fight.

Swift: opponents subtract one* dice when firing at him if he moved on his last turn, may choose to roll one* extra movement dice. Adds one' dice in a fight and in a fast draw.

Terrifying: causes fear* in everyone, opponents subtract one* dice when testing nerve.

Tough: when hit by shooting or in a fight, subtract one* from the effect dice, never knocked down or knocked out.

True Grit: adds three* dice when testing nerve. Fears no-one.

Vengeful: hates anyone who shoots at him or attacks him.

White knight: may not back-shoot, shoot knocked down targets or anyone unable to shoot back, gains one* firing dice against all Evil characters and hated opponents, he is also Charmed* and Tough*, he never loses his nerve. Fears no-one.

Wildman: in a gunfight he must move and fire every turn if he can, he suffers no firing penalty for moving and firing a pistol, opponents he is moving towards suffer fear. He is also Tough*, an Expert Fighter* and has True Grit*.

Yellow: subtracts three* dice when testing nerve. Fears anyone who grazes or wounds him.

INTRODUCING EXPERIENCED CHARACTERS

When you invent an experienced character from scratch for a game, rather than using one who has been "built" over a series of gunfights by one of the players, you might like to give him a few skills. If a gamesmaster has a particular sort of personality in mind, he can simply select the skills that he thinks are appropriate. Alternatively, you can throw randomly. All Shootists and Legends should really have that least one skill, you could throw a dice to determine how many more skills a Legend has, and throw a dice and subtract three to see if a Shootist has more than one.

Especially if using a gamesmaster, players should make an effort to award appropriate skills to any character whose model catches their eye, irrespective of his experience. So, a model ofa big, brawny blacksmith should entitle the character to be Very Strong and Tough, even if he is only a Citizen. A model of a dashing Mexican officer posturing with his sword obviously represents an Agile Swordsman, and so on. Also, if a character performs particularly well in a game, in terms of properly f lfilling the role allotted to him, behaving in character, and generally doing the manly thing, then he can be awarded an extra skill: ideally a skill chosen because it relates specifically to some successful action performed during the game.

Now would be a good moment to cut out the skill chits, or roll some dice, and go ahead and draw or roll up skills for the two Shootists and Legends that you were using to try out the shooting rules back on page 5. Then go ahead and run the gunfight again, and award appropriate experience to the survivors. It really is amazing how much more personality your characters have now isn't it? Their progress in the gunfight, and their range of skills really give them an individual identity; now you can probably think of an appropriate "handle" or nickname for each of the survivors, and you're all fired up to test their mettle in another heroic confrontation!

As you will see, this is an enjoyable process, but the resulting characters are also quite complicated, and their players would have a fair few things to remember during a gunfight. This works fine if players build their characters up gradually, and are able to assimilate each skill as it is acquired, but you don't want too many multi-skilled characters in a game unless your players are experienced and enthusiastic. So, don't give inexperienced players characters with loads of skills to worry about, at the most give them one character with a single skill until they earn more for themselves. You can have an interesting gunfight with the gamesmaster running a number of particularly tough characters himself this gives players a chance to meet up with heavy duty Legends complete with interesting selections of skills without having to worry too much about the rules themselves. Of course, if you expect your players to take on highly skilled Legends, you'd better provide them with an appropriately sized force. 

FIGHTING

You don't need your characters to be able to thump each other to have a good game; they manage perfectly well with their fire arms. However. it does add additional colour and interest ifyou can cope with the additional complication.

If a character chooses to move into contact with an opponent, he makes an attack, while the victim defends, providing he has not been knocked down or knocked out.

The attacker rolls the number of dice indicated on the fighting chart below, each 6 rolled is a potential hit.

The defender then also rolls the number of dice indicated on the fighting chart, each 6 rolled cancels one of the attackers hits.

Roll for the effect of each of the attackers remaining hits. If the defender rolls more 6's than the attacker, then the attacker is knocked down, and cannot make any other action or defend himself properly until he has spent a turn recovering.

If the victim has been knocked down, he does not roll dice in defence, and each 6 that the attacker rolls scores a hit. If he has been knocked out, the attacker automatically scores a hit with each dice he throws, alternatively the attacker might just as well shoot his unfortunate victim at point blank range. Neither course of action is regarded as gentlemanly, and both disqualify the character from earning experience or skills. 

Graze or flesh wound becomes a serious wound.

And a serious wound either also causes the severing of a limb or the head, or runs through the body, killing the victim and having a 50% chance of causing the weapon to become stuck.

Victims who are shot! or knifed! are treated exactly as if they had been shot in normal firing except that a character who is out of ammo cannot shoot an opponent, and counts a shot! result as no effect.

Attackers and defenders must announce that they are clubbing their weapon before the attacker rolls his movement dice, neither can fire on their next turn, irrespective of whether a fight takes place.

Challenges, Duels and Fast Draws The Code Of The West!

There are three situations where you use the fast draw rules:

1. When a character has an opponent within his arc of fire and sees him attempt to draw his weapon, the character may immediately announce a fast draw, even though it is not his turn.

2. When a character challenges one or more of his enemies to a duel during a gunfight.

3. When a character coming up behind an enemy challenges him in a gentlemanly manner, rather than just shooting him in the back.

Making a challenge is an action. The character challenges one or more of his opponents within eighteen inches to a duel. The challenged parties must respond immediately. If they accept, then providing they also have a six gun (they may be passed a six gun by friends close by), the duellists discard any rifles, then rise to their feet if necessary, and the duel commences.

The duellists take a turn as normal when their character card is dealt or their player uses an action card. However, they may only Pass, Move directly towards an opponent or Fast Draw.

Once one of the duellists declares a Fast Draw against one of his opponents (if facing more than one enemy, he must Draw against the fastest), they both throw Fast Draw dice to determine who fires first.

The character immediately rolls a number of Fast Draw dice: (Conveniently, this is the same number as when you test Nerve)

Citizen 3 Gunman 4 Shootist 5 Legend 6

Modifiers: add or subtract the following NUMBER OF DICE rolled by the character:

Head Wound - 1
Each Serious Wound - l
Wounded Firing Ann -1
Sideways To Opponent-1
Back To Opponent -3

The character who rolls the most 6's fires first, if both duellists roll the same number of 6's, they fire simultaneously.

If neither rolls any 6's, then see who rolled the most 5's, and so on!

Once the winner of the Fast Draw has fired, then if his opponent is still standing, he may fire back.

If, once they have both fired, both of them arc still on their feet, they thrown Fast Draw dice again, and continue to repeat the process until one of them falls to the ground.

Firing can be either deliberate or blazing away.

Once one of the duellists is killed, knocked out or knocked down, the duel is over. The winner now immediately makes two actions, and the game proceeds normally.

While the duel is unfolding, no character is allowed to interfere with the duellists in any way.

ALTERNATIVELY, the duellists may agree to.fire on a signal, in which case they Move until they are an agreed distance apart, and then Fast Draw as above.

If a character refuses a challenge, all his enemies hate him for the rest of the gunfight, any characters present who fear him no longer do so, he gains no experience or skills for this gunfight, and he may well earn himself an uncomplimentary sobriquet.

The rules for Fast Draw have deliberately been set up so that one lone hero can take on a number of opponent simultaneously with some hope of success (just like in the movies). If our lone hero can outdraw his fastest opponent (and proceed to shoot him down like the dog he is), then he gets two extra actions to deal with the rest of the bad guys. Legends of the West are good at this.

If there are no other duellists, the two actions will give him a chance to get off the street before his enemies in the crowd open up.

When complex situations evolve; like when Bloody Bart draws on Dirtface Sam, who in turn is drawing on Smiley White, you're just going to have to let common sense and the gamesmaster determine events!

BACKSHOOTING

Backshooting is a despicable and umanly act. Any character who sees another attempt to backshoot will hate him from then on.

The gentlemanly approach to coming up behind an unsuspecting opponent is to announce one's presence with a well chosen phrase or two. The situation then is resolved exactly like a normal Fast Draw, except of course that the previously unsuspecting target suffers the loss of three dice because of the "back to opponent" modifier.

If a character is challenged from behind, he has the option of throwing down his weapon and surrendering.

Of course, the little lead protagonists on the table top shouldn't really be able to turn to face an enemy sneaking up on them just because their player has an aerial view of proceedings. Ifyou have a gamesmaster, then he will be able to sort out who can react to what. Otherwise an element of common sense is required, combined with judicious dice throwing. We suggest that a character should have a one in three chance of reacting to an enemy within twelve inches of their rear, and a SO'' chance once the scheming rat gets within six inches. Once he actually draws a bead on his proposed victim, there should be a further 50% chance of reacting to the sound of the gun cocking, and an immediate Fast Draw resulting, just as if he had been challenged

NERVE

There are three circumstances when a character must throw to see if his courage fails him and he loses his nerve:

1. When he is HURT REAL BAD: this happens when:
A Citizen suffers any wound.
A Gunman suffers any two wounds. A Shootist suffers any three wounds.
A Legend suffers any three wounds, at least one of which is serious.

2. When half of his friends go down; either killed, seriously wounded, knocked out, surrendered, lost their nerve, refused a challenge or left the table.

3. Whenever the gamesmaster thinks it appropriate.

The character immediately rolls a number of Nerve dice:
Citizen 3 Gunman 4 Shootist 5 Legend 6

Subtract one dice for each flesh wound, and two dice for each serious wound.

Add one dice if he and his friends have caused more of the enemy to go down than they have lost themselves.

He must throw at least one 6, otherwise he has lost his nerve, and starting on his next turn, must hide, run or surrender, as appropriate. 

HATRED & FEAR

Characters can hate or fear each other in a number of circumstances:

The gamesmaster can create a scenario where relationships of hate and fear exist, or rule that events during a gunfight cause one character to hate or fear another.

Some skills cause hatred and fear.

Backshooters and yellow dogs who refuse a challenge become hated.

Additionally, if you want emotions to run high in your gunfights, you can introduce the following extra rule: Whenever a character is grazed or wounded by an opponent, throw a dice: a one means he now fears his tormentor, a six means he now hates him.

When a character HATES an opponent:
He adds one dice when fighting or shooting at him.
He must always accept his challenge to a duel.
He must fire at a hated enemy within his arc of fire if he can. If a hated character who is neutral, or on his own side, comes within his arc of fire, he must throw a dice, on a 1 for 2 he must fire at him! Normal backshooting rules apply.

When a character FEARS an opponent:
He subtracts one dice when fighting or shooting at him.
If he is challenged by him to a duel, he tests to see if he has lost his nerve. If he has, he runs away, hides or whatever. But, if his nerve is good, he accepts the challenge, and if he survives, then in the best Western tradition he becomes Fearless, and never fears anyone ever again.

It is possible for situations to arise where a character both hates and fears the same opponent. In which case, he does not resolve this turmoil of conflicting emotions until he has either fired at or is fired upon or comes within twelve inches of his nemesis. Throw a dice to see if he hates or fears him for the rest of the gunfight, except this is extreme hatred or fear, and involves adding or subtracting two dice when fighting or shooting.

SHOTGUNS

Shotguns work slightly differently to rifles. The spread of their shot is such that it is sometimes possible to hit more than one opponent with the same blast, the two-trigger arrangement allows both barrels to be fired more or less simultaneously, and they are rather unwieldy to reload.

Shotguns fire twice in the same turn, once for each barrel. Both barrels must be fired at the same target spot. First, mark out your target spot, this should be at a point about 12 inches from the character firing the shotgun, six inches for a sawn off; it indicates the approximate direction he is pointing his weapon. You should mark this spot with a small marker; a blob of plasticine or Blu-tak works well.

Now throw accuracy dice. You throw one red dice for right, and one black dice for left. The difference is the distance you should move your marker.

So, if the right dice comes up three, and the left dice comes up five, you should move the marker two inches to the left.

Throw accuracy dice for each barrel. You will probably have two marker spots now.

All characters with any part of their person or base within one inch of an imaginary line drawn from the head of the character firing the shotgun to either of the marker spots is hit.

The normal rules for cover apply, except that a shotgun will not penetrate wooden walls or fences unless they are exceptionally flimsy.

Throw for the location and effect of the hit as usual, except that as six inch range or less shotguns cause two separate wounds per hit, and sawn-off shotguns cause three. Throw for the location and effect of each hit separately.

The effect of a shotgun blast reduces markedly with range. So deduct two from the effect dice if the target is over nine or eighteen inches away for sawn-off and conventional shotguns respectively, deduct one at over six inches, and add one within three inches.

Having fired, the shotgun is automatically out of ammo.

Sawn-off shotguns can have their stocks modified so that they can be fired one-handed, in which case place the target spot just three inches away.

Le Mat Revolvers

As well as being a conventional revolver, this "grapeshot pistol" had a short shotgun barrel fixed underneath. The shotgun barrel can only be fired once per gunfight. It works like a ordinary sawn-off shotgun, except that it only has one marker spot, placed three inches away, just like any other one-handed sawn-off.

You will notice that the shotgun rules make them markedly more accurate on the near side of the target spot than beyond it, becoming dramatically more accurate as the range gets closer, until it is not possible to miss once you get within one inch of your target. Shotguns are particularly deadly ifyou can open up on a bunched group of victims a few inches away.