Fistful of Lead Reloaded Report {Part 3}

Turn 5

This should have been the decisive turn of the game. A King of Spades gave the law the 'drop' with the wounded deputy moving and shooting, only to miss by a whisker. The outlaws then used an Ace of Diamonds as a Queen, with two shots back at the wounded lawman resulting in a miss and an automatic hit with a natural 10. The deputy was now very much dead and things were looking very sticky for the sheriff.

The lawmen then attempted to unpin two of the deputies in a row but failed both times, leaving the outlaws free to finish off the turn. This was wasted as the rifleman failed to hit anything despite his eagle eyes and long range firepower, whilst the remaining gunman ended up out of ammo, having rolled a measly 1 on the hit dice. As the tumbleweed bounced across the dusty street, both sides realised it was time to get in close and try the hand to hand combat rules!

Turn 6

 

The law moved first with an Ace of Spades used as a Queen of Spades, giving priority and an extra move. This enabled the pinned counter to be removed from the rifle armed deputy, who then used the two remaining actions to shoot another outlaw, rolling a natural 10 to hit and a second 10 to kill him stone dead! The remaining outlaws weren't too chuffed about this, so both reloaded in their phase using Tens, ready to hit back next turn.

 

This left the two remaining lawmen with the advantage. The first attempted a double pistol shot but ran out of ammo (again!) with a roll of 1 on the D10. The second moved in for the kill, choosing the close combat option against the outlaw with the rifle. This was a big mistake, however, as the outlaw rolled an 8 and the deputy a 1, causing eight potential rolls on the wound table and resulting in a inevitable kill (I'm not sure we got this bit right so I need to go back and re-read the rules).

Turn 7

 

This was clearly going to be a Last Man Standing scenario as we moved into the seventh turn. The outlaws had two dead men but the lawmen were also two down and one man was out of ammo. The turn descended into a fusillade of gunfire, with some terrible shooting and a couple of unpins but no decisive result. It was time to have another attempt at hand to hand fighting, although both sides were fully aware that this could easily go either way as it really is 'particularly nasty'!

Turn 8

An Ace of Hearts gave the outlaws the 'drop' and they sent their rifle armed bandit into a fist fight with the rifle armed lawman. The first round of combat ended in a draw, so we moved onto the second round, with both sides hoping to inflict some damage. The outlaw rolled a 5 and the lawman a 3, resulting in two hits on the deputy which were converted into one wound and a pin. This pin stayed on, despite an attempt to get rid of it, putting the lawman in a very dodgy situation for the next turn.

 

Meanwhile, the law played an Ace and reloaded the deputy with the pistol, who moved in and tried to shoot the outlaw rifleman across the street, only to miss on a 5. The outlaws then played their last card, a Jack of Diamonds, using it to close with the lawman and try to knock him out in close combat. This was a bad idea. The law rolled an 8 and the outlaw a 5, giving a difference of three and resulting in a kill on the third roll of the wound die.

Turn 9

As the sun was setting on the dusty border town, the last remaining outlaw faced odds of two to one, so decided to go out in a blaze of gunfire. He played a Queen of Hearts, taking two shots at the deputy with the pistol. The shots hit their mark, the first causing a pin and the second another wound. The lawman attempted to unpin but rolled a natural 1, which meant he ran for the hills. The rifle armed lawman also failed to unpin and, rolling a 1 on the D10, decided to live to fight another day. skedaddling after the first deputy rather than sticking around to fight it out.

The End

In the end we decided to find out what would have happened to our outlaws and lawmen, if we were playing an actual campaign. A table for this is included in the rulebook, which makes it easy to link a series of games together and to reward the gangs with Renown points, which can be traded in for extra traits and reinforcements. The outlaws rolled up only minor flesh wounds for the three figures that had been killed in the game and so survived to fight another day. The lawmen also saved two of their figures but had to add one to their roll for losing the game and one for being 'dead', so ended up with one killed and three in need of the 'sawbones', effectively knocking them out of the next game.

So, what do I think of A Fistful of Lead Reloaded?

This really is a great set of western gunfight rules. On the surface it looks pretty basic but dig a bit deeper and the tactical game play and lack of clutter in the rules system makes for a very enjoyable, skirmish level game. I particularly like the way the use of playing cards, which might be seen as a bit of  gimmick, actually makes the whole system work very well, especially with the Special Cards which add a whole new aspect to the sequence of play. When you also add the campaign rules to the equation, including numerous scenarios and the opportunity to develop your gang from one to the next, you have the potential for some cracking multiplayer club games.

A definite thumbs up!