Long time readers of the blog may recall that Thanksgiving is a time where I get to play Dexterity Games with my family! Normally, we play Total CARnage but this year I came prepared for something different. I brought my plastic Cowboys and Indians for some games of High Noon. Perhaps it wasn't the most appropriate game for the season, but we had tons of fun!
This won't be a battle report per se, as we played about 5+ hours of High Noon of the course of a couple days. I wasn't even involved with all the games that were played as once my relatives had the basic rules, they went on about it on their own. I only got involved in a handful of games myself. Do not worry, we all were wearing masks and socially distanced, a 6 foot table makes that much easier.
However, I will add a few phots and some comments that I can. The lighting isn't always the best because we were in a sun room (with cracked windows for air flow), but it is better than nothing! We played a variety of scenarios from the book, including an Indian Raid on the town, a shoot-out, guarding the Jail, Rootin' Tootin' and more! There were multi-player games and one-on-one match-ups through out the day.
Mean Joe Greene and his Outlaw Band roll into town for a bit of a hijinks. However, Sheriff "Cool Hand" Luke and his Posse are there to to rain on their outlaw parade!
Here, the Dakota lay siege to the town of New Ulm in the Minnesota River Valley. The citizens bravely defend the town. Despite having the edge in technology, the Dakota swarm into the town and past the initial line of defenses. The residents are forced to fall back.
Here a Dakota Warrior brought a knife to a gun fight! He evaded a haul of bullets to get up close and personal with this New Ulm resident. The knife worked as his shield protected him up close, and he landed a killing blow!
A Dakota with a Long Rifle manages to snipe a resident of New Ulm from a pretty good distance while they were in cover! Not bad shooting/flicking!
The battle comes to a climax as Dakota warriors get through the initial defenses and head into the lower part of town. The defenders put up a good fight, but ultimately had to pull back. The Dakota laid siege to the town of New Ulm three times during the Dakota War of 1862, but each time eventually had to withdraw. The town was defended mostly by armed residents and a few law men.
These games gave me a chance to teach a bit of local history in the guise of playing games. That is always a bonus!
Here the "Red Hat" Gang tries to break one of their own out of the town jail. Sheriff Luke has stationed his deputies around to protect the building. He knows the gang's leader Erik the Red will stop at nothing to try and free the prisoner and skee-daddle out of town.
It was a brutal fire fight, but Sheriff Luke and his men manage to hold firm and drive off the Red Hat gang once and for all. They won't be coming back to these parts anytime soon!
Half the fun was getting everyone to name a few figures and do some RPG-lite with outrageous cowboy drawls, and terrible slang from old westerns. You know, saying things like, " Sheriff Luke is shooting like a polecat left out in the hot sun too long!" What does that even mean.... no one was really sure! But it was good fun at the time! There was also a lot of shouting "Yee-haw" and "Yee-Howdy". I recall Mean Joe Greene taking out a deputy from range, and the deputy player saying, "That's a fine how-do-you-do!" Good times!
Like I said, the Thanksgiving Dexterity Game is a bit of a tradition. This year was no exception and it was a big hit. The kids always break the ice, and then later in the evening the adults start getting in on the fun too! High Noon even managed to compete well against various video games and VR for play time! Hawt Dawg!
Early the next morning, the kids were playing before I even woke up! The first thing I heard Black Friday morning was, "Stick'em up, Pardner!" That was a fine way to wake up.
Overall, another successful Thanksgiving of gaming. I hope you all had as much fun as we had!
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