NOTE: This is an HTML version of an article that appeared in a recent MWAN article

Introduction

Ever since I picked up a copy of MWAN 82 about a year or so ago, I’ve been a big fan of a little card based skirmish game called The Rules With No Name (subtitled A Fist Full of Dice). One read-through convinced me that I wanted to give it a try—and with the assistance of my daughter’s Duplo blocks to create a town, some old (really old) 25mm Boot Hill figures, and an overly large Fate Deck made that day in Powerpoint, my little gaming group (we call it "Guyz Night ä ) gave The Rules with No Name (TRWNN) a try. We were surprised and delighted with the results. TRWNN is a taught and entertaining little skirmish game, utilizing a card based initiation method called a Fate Deck, relatively simplistic rules that are primarily focused on the simple mechanic of tossing any number of regular six-sided dice to accomplish actions. I won’t discuss the rules in depth because they have already published in this magazine and elsewhere. If you have a hankering for Western gunfights and don’t have a copy of issue 82, write Hal for the back issue, you will be glad you did. As an alternative for all you readers in the Information Age, try the Foundry Web Link and request a copy of the rules from Tim Peterson.

Eventually, our Duplo block towns were replaced with more sophisticated (and increasingly larger) Western towns. After reading about it in a previous issue of MWAN, the investment of a small pittance to get Ertl’s COW TOWN PLAY SET gave my little town three large buildings, a couple of shacks and a large assortment of horses and cows to stampede. Cow Town is 30 dollars well spent—see the Evers Toy Store link at the end of the article for a source for this playset. A couple of scratch built houses, some TCS Hollow Houses, and I had a regular burg on my hands. It was the discovery of figures from the Foundry, Dixon and Pass of the North figures that spelled my downfall. 150 + figures later (each of which having to be painted individually by a man not famous for his artistic talents…).

I devised a simple Fate Deck using Microsoft Powerpoint, displaying the character’s name, rank, skills, "handedness", and what weapon is being held by which hand—as well as having an area to display a little sketch portrait of the gunfighter. I place little red teacher’s "good boy" stickers on cards that have recorded "Kills" to their name, and after a certain number of stars, the character can gain an additional skill to demonstrate his veteran status. The spectacle of grown men squabbling over whether or not somebody deserves a half cent’s worth of tinfoil and glue would make you chuckle. After a while, the cards became more and more sophisticated, too. Now we play with slick little character cards with just the name, rank and skill of the player printed on them (laminated) and each player records changes on a little status sheet I also made in Powerpoint.

Without a doubt, The Rules with No Name has become a hit with my little local gaming group. Any game this easy to play, this easy to teach, is destined to be a candidate for Beer and Pretzel fun with my gaming group. Our regular adventures in the mythical "Cow Town, Texas" have become the stuff of legend The recurring characters, such as the drunken Sherrif One-Eyed Dawson (a tough old coot who has progressed from drunken stumblebum to heroic Legend of the West after being shot, stabbed, blown up and stampeded over several times), Mr. C. Connors the Rifleman, The Low Plains Drifter, Botch Casually & the Sumdunce Kid have all added a recurring, campaign-like flavor to the game. The only flaw that we could detect was the lack of some of the "Reel" West touches that make Wild West Skirmish games so much fun: Stampedes, Ambushes, Explosions, etc… So, in the spirit of fun, we have developed the rules you see here. They are not meant to be "official," nor the last word on the subject, by any means. They have added to the Wild West gaming experience for my group, however, so perhaps you will find them useful. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to contact me via electronic mail.

A character may elect to start the game hidden for ambush purposes. This implies that the character is laying in wait in a location that provides good cover, waiting for his best shot. In a situation like this, the casting of the character is NOT placed on the playing table. The player controlling the character places his character card in the Fate deck just like everyone else does. When his card is turned, he may elect to take any of the actions allowed to him (see page 3, Actions). However, the other players may then elect to DETECT him by each rolling 1d6. Characters who have already performed an action in the turn cannot detect a hidden player. Players detect hidden characters by rolling on this table.

-2 Character attempting detection is 6" or less from hidden figure.

-1 Character attempting detection is 12" or less from hidden figure.

-3 Hidden character blazed away when he fired

+3 No line of sight to hidden figure.

Guidelines: Obviously, some level of honesty is expected from the player controlling the hiding figure. Players should turn their backs while the player who controls the hidden figure checks LOS, distance, etc. Some level of common sense must be applied. If the character is attempting to hide without any applicable cover for ambush (a building, a rock, a gully, a tree…), then his chance of success is next to nothing. The GM’s ruling is law on this issue.

It wouldn’t be the Wild West if dynamite didn’t come into play every once in a while. In the real West, dynamite wasn’t used as much as it is in the movies (if at all), but since it does add to the flavor of the game, rules for the use of dynamite are included here.

Dynamite is deployed by the stick. These are the prerequisites for Dynamite:

You will need a few things to make these dynamite procedures work: 1 or more scatter dice (Games Workshop makes an excellent set that I use) which have arrows on 4 sides and bullseye reticules on the other two, 1 or more distance dice, a special BOOM card for your fate deck (these are required, the rest is optional) maybe a bead or a marker to show the impact point, and some red and white cotton balls in case a building catches fire as a result of the blast. A blast template (2.5" radius circle) makes it easier to determine what figures are affected by the blast. We use a blast template scavenged from another game.

Dynamite is usually lobbed by the person using it. The procedure is as follows:

1. Find a Detonation Point: Eyeball distance from thrower to target. Literally, estimate the range in inches. This estimated range may never exceed 18" for single sticks. Place a red bead on the table where you think that point is. Then, measure the distance you estimated. Move the marker to that point. If your eyeball estimate is more than 18" in reality, then the marker is placed at exactly 18" from the throwing figure. If you are DEAD ACCURATE (defined as having eyeballed it down to within 1 inch), make a note of this to the referee.
   
2. Check for Scatter or Bounce: Roll 1 GW scatter dice and 1d6 distance dice. If you get a target symbol, the explosion will go off at the marker you placed. If you get an arrow, check the 1d6. Move the marker in the direction of the arrow for that many inches. If you get BOTH a 6 on the distance dice AND a target symbol on the scatter dice, your dynamite bounces! What fun! Basically, roll twice from your aiming marker with the scatter and distance dice, and place the marker wherever this procedure lands it. If the forces of probability conspire to give you the same combination of 6 and a target symbol a second time in a row, then the marker stays where it is. If you were DEAD ACCURATE in your range guess, then halve the distance die results for every scatter or bounce result.
   

3. Determine when the Explosion Happens: Take the top three cards off of the fate deck. Add the "BOOM" card into the stack of three. Shuffle them thoroughly and place them on top of the Fate deck. The explosion will go off when the BOOM card is drawn. When the BOOM card is drawn place the Blast template over the bead. Any figure under the template is affected by the blast. Any structures touched by the template are also in the blast.

4. Last Chance Saving Throw: If the stick lands within 2" of a character, that character has the option of throwing the stick back, if the character has not performed an action yet during the turn. Roll a 1d6:

1-3: You get the throw off

4-6: You have a disarming experience (it blows up in your hand, roll 3 times on the damage table and take an automatic serious wound, knocked down result in the arm carrying the stick—the arm is useless for the rest of the game)

For the return lob, simply roll the GW scatter dice and 3d6 and check for bounce.

Other modifiers to the Dynamite Lob: If a figure has suffered a serious wound to his "good arm", the estimated distance is halved. That works out like this: If the Dynamite Kid got winged seriously by a pistol shot, and he is attempting to lob a stick of dynamite, he first eyeballs the distance. It looks like 16 inches to him. He throws the stick. The marker moves NOT to 16 inches, but to 8.

DRUNK or DERANGED characters suffer a 1/2 distance penalty, as above.

If a character is within 2.5" or under the blast template of a stick when it goes off, he takes damage. Roll three times on the damage table per explosion.

Personal damage Modifiers:

• If the character is behind light cover (wooden obstacles such as barrels, fences, or a tree, a rock, etc.), then take 1 roll back.

• If the character is in heavier cover (in a building, wood, adobe or stone) take 2 rolls back.

• A character taking damage from dynamite is dazed and knocked down requiring a turn to recover.

What happens to buildings when dynamite goes off: If a building, wood, stone or adobe, is touched by the Blast template or within 2.5" of an exploding stick of dynamite, roll 1d6. If you roll 1-3 on that roll, that edge of the building collapses. Place white cotton balls around that edge of the building to demonstrate that it has collapsed. On a 4-6, the building stands firm. If the building is made of wood, place a mix of red and white cotton balls, to indicate the building is on fire. The white cotton balls indicate SMOKE. The smoke will last three turns, unless the building is on fire. Smoke is a hindrance to LOS.

Sometimes you want to PLACE dynamite in a certain location to get a certain result (i.e., blowing a safe, breaking your pard out of jail, etc.) Placing Dynamite counts as 1 movement die for lighting the fuse. The sequence works like so: the player rolls three movement dice. The first die is used to move to the place where the dynamite is to be placed. The second movement die is used to actually place the dynamite. The third die is used to run away. The whole sequence counts as one action. NOTE: if the character is using dynamite to bust a pard out of the pokey, the jailbird is assumed to be hiding as far away from the explosion as possible, with as much light cover as possible, when the explosion goes off. This is a common sense freebie.

If you don't wish to purchase a Games Workshopã scatter dice (they are somewhat pricey at approximately 3 dollars for a pack of 5) you can make your own by either purchasing a blank die and writing a series of arrows on it.

Draw an arrow for straight ahead, one that slants right and upward, one that slants left and upward, one that slants left and downward and one that slants right and downward (The position of the arrows is entirely relative since the Chaos factor of rolling the dice plays into the result). Naturally, draw a bullseye reticule on the remaining side. You can even paint over the pips on a standard 1d6 and save even more money, but this looks a bit off.

Alternatively, you can create a simple scatter table for rolling a 1d6 on, like this:

I think this limits your range of possibilities, however, and I don't recommend it. There are a number of random number generator methods you could use to create the scattering effect (percentile dice, spinner tables, etc.), but I think an actual arrow pointing to the direction the dynamite actually goes is the most visually effective.

I sent my Dynamite rules to Brian Ansell, the author of the Rules With No Name. He sent me this very elegant scatter method. Roll a red and a black die, just as if you would for a shotgun. (I hope I get this right!) Subtract (or add) one die from the other to get the actual distance of the scatter. Then look at the actual angle formed from the red die to the black one. THAT is the physical direction of the scatter! Elegant, no? I find the range estimation method, boom card, bounce, etc. listed above all work well incorporating this methodology. So don’t bother getting Games Workshop scatter dice if you don’t have to.

I put NPC townsmen all over my games, based on the principle that that the primary inhabitants of the Wild West were NOT a pack of homicidal gunmen—instead, they were a pack of law-abiding citizens not unlike you or me (albeit maybe a little more heavily armed). Place the figures on the table in logical positions (the undertaker in front of the Funeral Parlor, the floozies in the Saloon, the bartender behind the bar, etc.). Leave them be undisturbed throughout the game unless the following conditions are met:

• The NPC figure was within 3" of gunfire.
• The NPC figure was within 5" of gunfire involving the town’s law enforcement personnel (i.e., the Sheriff).
• The NPC figure touches bases with a figure being controlled by a player NOT on the side of Law and Order.
• The NPC figure witnesses a backshoot or sees a bystander get attacked or other violation of the Code of the West.

If one of these conditions is met, the NPC activates and rolls on the following table adding + 2 if the NPC witnesses a backshoot or bystander attack, +3 if the bystander attacked is female. The NPC then takes the appropriate action. If the NPC remains in sight of the character that triggered them then the NPC's card is added to in the Action Deck (a blank NPC card is added to the Action Deck, the player’s name is hastily scribbled on it and the deck is shuffled immediately). 99% of NPCs are Citizens, so they will move and act accordingly.

NPCs are active for as long as they are within site of the character that triggered them (with the exception of the "2, 11 or 12" result, in which case the character is permanently active for the rest of the game). Once a character manages to hide from "the action" as it were, for an entire round, he or she regains their former bystander status and their card is removed from the Action Deck. Players who initiate combat will stay locked in that combat until it is resolved, but will not seek further glory—once the combat resolves (and in the unlikely event they are alive), they will attempt to deactivate by leaving the premises as fast as possible. Once a NPC deactivates, remove their card from the Action Deck the next time it is drawn.

INTRODUCTION

Sometimes I get the feeling that our Wild West skirmish games are simulating the Reel West as opposed to the "Real" item. However, since our objective for using this game in the first place is to have fun, we occasionally throw in an ahistorical item or two that probably had as much to do with our American Frontier era as a 1957 Chevrolet. Which brings us to our subject at hand, the use of rapid fire weapons in the old West such as the Gatling Gun or the British Gardner Gun. Now, we all know that the spectacle of a gang of cowboys pushing a large military weapon down the streets of a typical Western town was unlikely in the extreme; yet for those wonderful Sam Peckinpah-style gory endings, there is nothing like a gun that can spit lead many times promiscuously. Besides, they did exist in this time period, so why not throw them in?

Gatling-style guns can be added to the Rules with No Name relatively easily. The big difference between regular firing procedures and rapid fire weapons is that there are no Aimed shots possible. Every time you fire a rapid fire weapon you are, in effect, Blazing Away. The second major feature of rapid fire weapons is that they are an "area fire" weapon; therefore they share some characteristics of shotgun fire.

Aiming Points: Choose a left and right aiming point for a firing area, similar to the shotgun aiming points. The aiming points need to be 6 inches apart. At long and extreme ranges, the aiming points are 8 inches apart. All potential targets within that area suffer from the result of the impact of gunfire within the firing area.

Range: Check the range to target "area." Use following range table to determine the number of dice to roll per individual within the firing area:

Modifiers:

• Target in cover -1 Firing after moving –2
• Flesh wound on either arm –1 Citizen -1
• Serious wound, anywhere -2 Shootist or Legend +1
• Target knocked down/out +1

Characters firing a Rapid Fire weapon receive no Blazing Away bonus—that’s what these weapons do all the time.

Cranking the Gun: Roll the number of dice per stand in target area, and check versus the standard Hit Location & Effect table. If the character rolls a 5 OR a 6, that counts as a hit.

Jamming: If a character rolls more 1s than 6s, the gun isn’t out of ammo, it’s jammed. Early weapons of this type were notoriously unreliable. Use the "Fix Gun" action to fix the weapon.

Ammunition: We assume that a plentiful supply of ammo exists for this weapon. They were loaded on their own special caissons that could hold a relatively large amount of ammo. If you choose to limit the ammo to the rapid-fire weapon, and thus incorporate running out of ammunition into the game, it will take 2 actions to reload it as opposed to one.

Other effects of Rapid Fire Weapons: If a large group of cattle are located near the weapon (within 12") when it fires, immediately check to see if the cattle stampede. If Citizens are located anywhere near a firing area (10"), they will immediately Panic as if they have lost their NERVE (as described in the existing HATRED & FEAR rules). All Gunmen, Shootists and Legends must perform a Nerve Check when located in the firing area of the rapid fire weapon; otherwise they perform a Duck Back (or run for cover) during their next action. If they pass the nerve check, they may perform other actions as normal.

One thing we don’t want in our games is a bunch of walking arsenals in our skirmish games… the average cowpolk, even the average hard as nails gunman couldn’t afford to buy a vast plethora of weapons to tote around with him. To this end, I present the Weapons Budget Table for your characters to purchase weapons from at the outset of the game. Recurring characters, of course, would have the same weapons and money left over from the last time you played. To enhance a campaign game, you may want to reward your players from time to time—say, for instance, a character kills or captures a notorious outlaw, you may wish to give him a small portion of the reward money so he can spend it on guns, dynamite or other such notions.

Procedure: At the outset of a game, give each character 50 dollars spending money (if they are new characters) or 10 dollars wages (if they are in a campaign and have played before). They can shop off the following table with the money they have in their budget. Players can pool money to purchase items.

Any suggestions or additions to the Weapons Budget tables are welcome. This is just a rough draft based on the TRWNN rules as they are today.

Scavenging the Dead. You can always procure weapons from the dead. Robbing the stiffening corpses of your enemies as they lay in the dust, leaking grue, is a weapons procurement practice that dates to the Caesars. However, an element of common sense must enter into play here. Referees should set a limit of two rifle-sized weapons, four handgun-sized weapons on any one figure. Naturally, it will take an action to discard a weapon and rearm. Acquiring a weapon from a corpse or wounded figure also takes an action.

Most Western towns had a resident physician of some sort-- usually a general practitioner of some degree of proficiency (the grumpy but lovable archetype of the movie genre). These country GPs weren’t at the cutting edge of medical science but were proficient enough at extracting buckshot, removing bullets, and stitching up knife wounds. Often, the results of their attentions varied dramatically depending on how badly their patients were banged up and also upon the doctor's own level of training. Dentists, as well, possessed some minimal level of medical training and can perform some quick "patching up" if a doctor wasn’t available. The effects of a hurried "patching up" can be of some benefit to the wounded gunfighter, as is shown in the Doctorin’ Table below.

A Doctor or Dentist figure must be on the table. Every four turns, move the figure randomly in a direction away from current gunfire. A doctor or dentist (with the possible exception of Doc Holliday) may be altruistic, but he isn’t going to put himself in the line of fire. Use NPC movement rules or just move the figure every four turns or so.

Wounded Gunfighter Movement: The wounded man must walk, stagger or crawl to within two inches of a doctor or dentist casting. Alternatively, they can be carried there on a horse or wagon. On the next turn, roll on either the Doctorin’ (Doctor) or Doctorin’ (Dentist) table, as appropriate. A variety of things can happen.

REDUCE: Reduce the level of a wound (i.e., a Serious Wound becomes a light wound, a light wound becomes a graze, etc. REDUCE +_#: The number is the number of wound "steps" are reduced by the doctoring attempt. UNCONCIOUS: The doctor uses too much ether. The patient is zonked for the rest of the game (but lives). CONFUSION: The dentist becomes confused; extracts a tooth instead-- roll again! WORSEN: like REDUCE but in the opposite direction... the doctor or dentist fumbled it! DIE: Pretty much what it says. The Doc really fumbled it!

Adding severity to a wound ("worsening it") is exactly like adding another light wound for every level of severity. So, if a character already has a Serious wound, and gets worsened for three, he now has a serious wound and three light ones. Such is the price we pay for frontier medicine.

Cattle, and to a lesser extent horses, were a notoriously skittish bunch. It didn’t take much to set off a general panic. So, in the interests of re-enacting some of the finest dramatic moments in Westerns, these stampeding’ rules are presented here.

A herd is defined as more than four animal figures on the table. Less than that, and you don’t have the destruction that all that lovely beef on the hoof is capable of. Small groups of cattle or horses will just run away. A team of horses pulling a wagon or stagecoach will act as a herd for stampede purposes. Teams will always roll on Table 1.

This is a referee call sort of activity. Measure the distance between a source of gunshots and the nearest animal in a herd (more than four animals). If that distance is 12 inches or greater, don’t bother to check. If that distance is 6 to 12 inches, roll 1d6 on table 1. If that distance is less than 6 inches, roll 1d6 on table 2. Note that if DYNAMITE goes off, an automatic stampede occurs.

Pull out a scatter die (see dynamite) or use a regular six sider with the following table: 1 = North 2 = South 3 = West 4 = East 5 = North and roll again; 6 = South and roll again (e.g., 5,4 is NE, 5,3 is NW. NN is North, SS is South, NS is either N or S (flip a coin)). In any event, determine a direction somehow. Next, determine a "lead animal" to place in the front of the herd. This is the animal that the herd will follow during the stampede. If the animals are in the open, the entire herd rolls 3 movement dice as if they were walking fast. If more shots go off, their movement dice for the next turn goes up to 4 dice. The herd moves in the direction indicated, knocking anything or everything in front of them down. Note: A Stampede Card enters into the FATE DECK whenever a stampede result occurs, the deck is reshuffled, and the herd moves (aligned on the lead animal) when that card is drawn.

1. Roll for escape result if you are within one inch (1") of the edge of the herd. A 1 or 2 on a 1d6 means the figure dodges out of the herd. If you fail this roll, all is not lost, though things will get harder for you. If the user is AGILE, he escapes on a 1 through 3.
2. If you are stuck in the stampede, you can attempt to dodge it while inside the herd. (You must check every turn). If you roll a 1 on a 1d6, (1 or 2 if user is AGILE) you stay on your feet and don’t get trampled. If you lose this roll, well, things are going to go bad for you.
3. When you fail the die roll: You are in bad shape. The figure stays in place, in a KNOCKED DOWN state, while the stampede moves over the figure. Every turn the stampede is over the figure, roll 1d6 to figure damage: 1-2, roll 1 time on the Fighting table, vs. TRAMPLE; 3-4, roll 2 times on the Fighting table, vs. TRAMPLE; 5, roll 3 times on the Fighting table, vs. TRAMPLE; 6, roll 4 times on the Fighting table, vs. TRAMPLE.
4. You MAY survive, you never know.

1. Check for loss of control of your horse.
2. Check to move your horse out of the stampede. 1^st, roll movement dice (only 3 in this instance). 2^nd, roll to move out of the stampeded (1 or a 2 on a 1d6). If you fail, your horse will get caught up in the stampede and move with it. You MUST check for control every turn thereafter.
3. If you lose control, go to #2 above in the "On Foot" rules.

• A stampede WILL get through a wooden fence once it starts moving—though it will take 1 turn to do so.
• A stampede generally will NOT go through a mortared stone fence, though I give them a 2 in 6 chance if the fence is made of piled up stones with no mortar.
• Stampedes ignore (move around) buildings unless caught in a dead end. Check for building damage as if the building was undergoing FIRE damage. This applies to wooden buildings only, not stone or adobe.
• Small loose objects (pumps, troughs, etc.) will be knocked down, shattered, etc.)
• Wagons will overturn on a 1-3 on a 1d6 for every turn the stampede is next to them.
• Stagecoaches will not overturn, as they are too heavy.

1. If on horseback, ride to the front of the stampede (check for loss of control each turn). If you fail, go to "what to do if you are on foot in a stampede" section.
2. Fire pistols/rifles to check for turning. A 1 or a 2 on a 1d6 TURNS the stampede.
3. To try to stop the stampede, you must successfully SHOOT and KNOCK DOWN the lead animal.

Prerequisites    Procedure

• The herd animals must be defined as a "herd" in game terms (see above; a collection of 4 or more herd beasts)
• The drivers (i.e. cowboys) must be on horseback, therefore subject to Horse Riding rules.
• A lead animal must be designated that is the first animal in the herd.
• The herd must not be in a state of stampede.
• There must be at least one driver located within 3" of the lead animal.
• A Cattle Drive Card, a Herd Card, and individual driver cards must be created for the Action Deck.

To REGAIN control of a herd after the Group Movement has been broken, at least two mounted or foot figures must move in front of the herd, and take one action turn firing their pistols off, waving their hats, and doing those assorted tasks that cowboys do. Then they will roll a check on a single 1d6. If they roll a six, they haven’t regained control (and the separate action cards remain in the Action deck). If they roll 1-5, they regain control (and the group movement card goes back into the deck, while the individual cards are taken out). We permit foot figures to gain control of the herd to avoid adding all the mounted rules and to allow foot bound Indians or rustlers and opportunity to capture the herd.

These are some modifications we made to the movement rules that change the facing rules and add prone movement and firing.

Facing Clarification. The rules say you can change face at the end of your turn except when moving or move & fire. We allow facing change at the start of each movement dice.

Prone Actions. One action is the Get Up action. The rules say no other action until a player gets up. We have been allowing prone actions.

Prone Prerequisites: A character often is knocked down or wounded to the point where normal walking movement is impossible. Alternatively the character may wish to be voluntarily prone to present a diminished target to somebody shooting at him. The character’s figure is tipped over to show that it is in a PRONE state.

Prone Movement. A healthy character moves at 1d6 movement. A character with a Serious Wound or more than one Minor Wound moves at 1d6 minus 1 movement (yes, that can equal zero, in which case he wouldn’t move). A character who has received the Serious Wound & Knocked Down (No Movement), may at the referee’s discretion allow a 1d6 minus 2 movement, ONLY if the character has not received any arm wounds of any kind (he needs his arms to drag his bloody carcass down the street).

Prone Firing. All players suffer a minus one dice penalty when firing prone. The player only gets 2 extra bonus dice when Blazing Away with a pistol, no benefits at all for Blazing Away with a rifle. If using the Fumble table, ignore all "dropped gun" results

The section on firing pistols indicates that a fumble table is optional if a player rolls 4 more 1s than 6s on a firing roll. We thought that would be grounds for some Reel West mayhem. So, when a player is Blazing Away and rolls 4 more 1's than 6's then the character fumbles and rolls on the Fumble Table. (If you want to increase the chances of a fumble then change the rule to 3 more 1's than 6's)