Wyatt Earp and friends vs. The Sharp Edge Gang vs. Indians in 1850s... The Indian turned like a desert whirlwind. Bathed in the mist of the locomotive's steam, the horse and rider appeared to be dancing in a cloud. Holding aloft a huge spear, he cried out three times in his piercing tongue, "KAYEEEE .......KAYHEA.....KAYEEE (I am Iron Shield and I do not fear you!)". With this taunt declared, he brought the feathered spear down swiftly. Duke watched this frenzy in awe. He watched as the Indian's spear turned in space almost delicately. A thing of shear beauty and terror. Duke knew the spear would reach him. He felt the shock as Iron Shield's spear imbedded in his left leg. The Indian's taunt had barely echoed in his ears as the report from his .44 caliber Colts interrupted the space in between himself and Iron Shield. As Duke fell to the ground, the Indian was knocked clear of the horse. He simply disappeared into the shrill hiss of the locomotive's vapor. Plunged into serious pain, Duke pulled at the spear that tore at his leg. This wasn't supposed to happen. The Skirmish Wargamers (Derbyshire, UK) in their Reports From The Skirmish Line #25, detail a Western Gunfight scenario in the New Mexico Territory 1875. The title of the scenario: "Last Train From Gun Hill". The Lion's Den Wargaming Club played this scenario on June 1, 1995. The previous anecdote involving Duke and the Indian Iron Shield occurred during one of the turns of the scenario. The game was played in 54mm scale miniatures on a 6x8 foot table. The desert terrain included an arroyo, steam train, tracks, water tower, lineman's shack, and lots of desert shrub and cacti. The rules used were: "Bleeding Kansas" Skirmish Wargaming Rules 1850's - 1890's. They are published by Lion's Den Wargames, and the western gunfight scenario was a worthy playtest. The scenario was a three sided affair pitting a gang of bank robbers in a precarious situation with soon-to-be lawmen against the backdrop of an Indian raid. The setting is a train stopped at a water tower. The "Sharp Edge Gang" and the lawmen are passengers. The Indian raiders attack the train for reasons of their own. The Sharp Edge Gang would like nothing better that to get off the train, escape the raiders,, and make it to their waiting horses. In our game of this scenario, the passenger coach became the pill-box and the Indians' assault was easily put off. The gang members made their way to the locomotive engine. Indian raiders avoiding line of fire from the coach, had come out of the arroyo and were fighting around the steam engine. Since the train was at a water stop, the engine was letting off steam. This produced two clouds of vapor on each side of the train. Very interesting and eerie terrain to be involved in skirmish fighting. Mounted Indian raiders would appear as they moved through the steam and into line of sight. Duke and the train's engineer were fighting from the cab and tender car near the water tower. Brandishing .44 cal. pistols and a shotgun. they effectively held off the Indians. The most interesting moment of the skirmish came when Duke and Iron Shield's sequence cards were drawn and they fought each other. Simultaneously, the Indian threw his spear and Duke cut loose at point blank range with his pistols. Each character hit and wounded the other. A very dramatic moment. The Indians moral broke and the band retreated. The Sharp Edge Gang had collected near the engine as the Indian attack failed. Taking personal inventory, three gang members had serious wounds and were bleeding profusely. Trump's leg wound was real bad. Gomez and Jake, carrying the saddlebags, spotted the horses tied up near the trestle in the bottom of the arroyo. They helped Duke to his feet and down to the horses. Gomez, looking back at the passenger coach, could see the conductor and lawmen reloading their weapons and arguing about the possibility of another assault. They were tending to Wyatt's bleeding arm as they reboarded the train for cover. The gang members used this moment to slip into the arroyo and ride away on the awaiting horses. Trump faded into unconsciousness, then spasmed, and went limp. Somewhere in the distance a lonesome whistle blew. Kenneth M. Van Pell is a contributing writer to The Penny Whistle and is the creator of "BLEEDING KANSAS" Skirmish Wargaming Rules 1850's - 1890's", Lion's Den Wargames © 1995. Back to Table of Contents Penny Whistle #19 Back to Penny Whistle List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by Lion's Den 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