Fistful of Lead Reloaded Report {Part 1}

 

I had a cracking game of Fistful of Lead: Reloaded yesterday at the club, so here's a brief description, turn by turn, of how the action played out.

 

We started by creating two gangs, one of four outlaws and one of four lawmen armed with the same weapons of a rifle and four pistols. The campaign rules allow 15 points to be spent on each gang at this stage including weapons and positive or negative traits, so we decided to follow this approach and spent our points accordingly. This allowed us to try out some of the positive traits during the game including Quick, Gunslinger, Tough as Nails and Deadeye, all picked by a random draw of the cards.

 

The rules also include a series of non-campaign scenarios so, to keep things simple, we decided to try out the first of these 'Gunfight at the Just All-Right Corral'. This was a simple lawmen versus bad guys set up with the objective of killing or forcing off the opposition, with a major victory for one side if its leader shot down his immediate opposite number. We did change the figure ratio to an even four aside, however, which may be one reason why the game went a full ten turns in duration ending in true last man standing style!

 

 

The rules are based around the use of playing cards to structure the turn sequence in a random way, with some suits having priority and some cards also having special characteristics. For example, a Six of any suit can be used to instantly reload if a figure has run out of bullets, while a Queen of Hearts can be played to cure one wound then move as normal. This is a really neat and efficient idea, while also encouraging some tactical game play. We were intrigued to see how this system worked in practice, so set up the first turn of the scenario and dealt the cards, one card per figure.

 

 

Turn 1

 

My outlaws set up in the corral at the end of the main street and the lawmen set up outside the sheriff's office at the opposite end. I moved first as I had a King of Spades, moving my drunk gang member (which was an option in the scenario set up) over the corral fence and back again, following the random movement procedure from p2 of the rules (its says p3 but we found it anyway). This ended with him standing in a corner facing the wrong way round...things could only get better!

 

 

The lawmen then played two lower suit Kings, moving the rifle armed deputy up the street and taking an out of range pot shot at the outlaw leader (no pre-measuring allowed). With the second King the sheriff followed up in support. I then played an Ace, which can be any card, using it as a Queen to move my rifle armed bandit out of the corral. We then used the rest of our lower number cards to move our remaining two gang members into the street on either side as back up.

 

Turn 2

 

In turn two I was lucky enough to get two Kings, so used one straight away to move up my rifle armed outlaw into long range (19'') and  take a shot at the nearest lawman. I missed as I needed a D10 score of 7+ including my Deadeye trait but only got a 3. The second King was used to rush another of my outlaws on the opposite side of the street into the cover provided by the local undertaker's front porch, with the added advantage of a very swift service if things went downhill fast.

 

 

The lawmen then used a Queen of Spades to move a marshall up to meet this outlaw and attempt a pistol shot but, once again, he misjudged the range and wasted a bullet. He then used a Ten of Diamonds to bring forward a lawman as back up for the frustrated shootist. I then deployed a special card, the Queen of Hearts, to cure my drunk of his hangover, allowing him to turn around, climb over the fence and move to back up his leader, who used a Five of Spades to advance into gunshot range of the goodies.

 

 

This didn't help much as the lawmen then played a Four of Clubs to bring up his sheriff and a Two of Diamonds to activate his rifle armed sidekick, allowing him to fire a double shot despite having moved (a 'deuce' being a very handy special card). This was aimed at my outlaw leader 9'' away, so counting as short range. One shot hit home and I rolled to see the result which ended up as a 9. The leader was now lying stone dead in the street!

 

Turn 3

 

I could not now win a major victory but neither could the side of law and order, as the sheriff was supposed to gun down his opposite number rather then leaving it to one of his deputies! However, I was now one man down so needed to put some pressure on the opposition and get some revenge. I kicked off with the Queen of Spades, using my priority to take two rifle shots at the rifle armed lawman just down the street. I needed a 4+, as I had the Deadeye trait and fired at short range, so the odds were good. I rolled an unmodified 10, which is an instant hit, to pin the lawmen on the floor. He crawled off down an alley way and out of sight, leaving my outlaw free to switch his second shot across the street at another lawman, which missed as I rolled a 2.

 

 

The lawmen then played a Queen of Hearts, moving a pistol armed deputy into short range of my rifleman and giving him a close shave with a single bullet. This pinned the riflemen down and forced him back into the nearest cover. This was followed up with a Nine of Diamonds and an Eight of Spades gun duel between one of my outlaws and one of the lawmen on the opposite side of the street, which resulted in two misses and both figures running out of ammo (this happens if you roll an unmodified 1). The lawmen then used a Five of Clubs to attempt to un-pin his rifle armed deputy but failed as he only rolled a 4 but required a 6+ to get up off the dirt.

 

 

In the final action of the turn I played my last card, a Three of Spades, to blast away at one of the lawmen with my pistol armed ex-drunk. I rolled a 10, so got an automatic hit, leading to a wound when the lawman rolled a 7 on the D10. This was a good but not quite good enough to even up the odds. I really needed to keep the lawmen pinned down to stop them shooting back, while inflicting some more wounds and, if I played the cards right and rolled high, perhaps even a kill to avenge my outlaw leader's inconvenient demise. The next turn looked like being a real knife edge gunfight, with the outcome of the game definitely up for grabs.

 

Turn Four

 

.....to follow.