Wargame Design: High Noon- Cowboys vs. Aliens

I came across some plastic toys from the old Star Patrol line of plastic army men.  There were various manufacturers and from various countries of origin for this line.  The most common and well-known maker was probably Tim Mee Toys. 

They were popular in the late seventies and early 80's as they had a Star Wars "rip-off" vibe to the models.  There was a low rent Buck Rogers/Luke Skywalker model, a knock-off Darth Vader, wanna-be Wookie, a female "Princess" or crewmember at a control panel, and a squared off droid looking suspiciously like a low-rent R2-D2.  Plus, there was F-16/X-wing lovechild.  To top off the line, there were also a couple of random, normal looking astronaut figures.  I am sure many of you had these as a kid or have at least seen them someplace.  

Of course, I naturally wanted to turn them into a Dexterity Game, but ultimately there were not enough "useful" models in the range for me to really make a good, stand-alone Dexterity Game like Total CARnage, Green Army Men, or High Noon.  The models in the packaging just did not lend themselves to this idea.  Plus, I only had one package to work with, and did not really want to order more as the trash to useful ratio was pretty low.  

Over Thanksgiving I shared this problem with my younger relatives.  They had spent a lot of time playing High Noon over the Holiday.  They had plenty of ideas on how to add these Space Patrol figures into a Cowboys vs. Aliens scenario for High Noon.   I have to hand it to the kids, they had ingenious ideas!  

For those of you that have High Noon all ready, I guess you could call this a "supplement" to the game!  If you don't have the rules, you should head over to my Wargame Vault page to get them, and then add these new add-ons for your own Cowboys vs. Aliens battles.  

Our first model is the Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon/Luke Skywalker wanna-be.  I guess he is supposed to look like a 1950's ray gun wielding space cadet.  That ill-fitting helmet makes him look SO heroic! We decided that he would have the following weapons: 

• Ray Pistol - Direct, Hand-to-Hand, Rapid Fire                Coin: 2 Nickels

He couldn't shoot as fast as a Cowboy fanning his revolver, BUT he had bigger coins when he did shoot so it would be easier to hit his target!  

If you so desired, you could also choose to give them the "shield/armor" trait to represent a Force Field or power of mystical, cosmic energy, or just advanced armor compared to Cowboy weapons too. 

Next up is our Female Controller and Robots.  I guess this could be a crew member type figure or something similar.  However, it is clear that she is using a computer to do "something" and here is where the kids got pretty creative.  They gave her two different potential ways to use her "computer"

Option #1

• Orbital Strike- Indirect, Blast                                        Coin: 1 Quarter

In this option, she is calling down fire from an off-board resource like a space ship or flying drone.  This would give her the ability to use "indirect" fire.  The only way to stop the rain of destruction was to take her out!  

Option #2

• Bomb-Bots- Blast                                                        Coin: Robot Model

In this scenario, the Female Officer was using her console to move about and detonate the square little Bomb-Bots.  They could move like ordinary figure in their turn.  However, in the Female Officer's turn, should could use her action to "detonate" them as a normal Blast weapon.  If she was taken out-of-action, the Robots would also become inactive.  

We also discussed various ways to use the Robots on their own, without the Female Controller.  After all, R2-D2 and Battle-Droids do not need a controller!  Here are some options to make them fun! 

Square Bots Option #1

• Square Bot- Hand-to-Hand                                        Coin: None

In this case, they are considered to have small shockers/tazers like R2 uses in Return of the Jedi.  They can use these like a Knife or hand-to-Hand weapon in normal High Noon.   

Square Bots Option #2

• Square-Bot- Protective, Blast OR Area                    Coin: None 

In this Option, the robots are not offensive, but Defensive.  They can choose to project a force field to act as the shield/armor as either a Blast radius around themselves OR as a Shotgun spread in front of themselves.  This gives any model under the effect the "Shield/Armor" keyword for the rest of the turn.                                      

Our next figure is the dreaded Space Knight who totally isn't a Darth Vadar wanna be!  Honest!  This guy could either be a "Big Bad" individual, or a bunch of faceless thugs to an evil warlord!  Depends on how many you have!  Either way, here is what we came up with for these guys: 

Evil Space Knight #1

• Evil Space Knight: Hand-to-hand                                            Coin: None

Like the Space Cadet, you could also give him the "Shield/armor" ability to represent his magic, space powers, better armor, or just carrying around a force shield.  

You could also say that his "Beat Saber" could send out an electrical pulse similar to many video games.  This would give him the following profile:  

Evil Space Knight #2

• Evil Space Knight: Hand-to-hand, Area                                      Coin: None

Now that makes them a bit tougher and scarier.  As the Big Bad, you could also give them multiple "hit" that they could get up from where ever they ended up.  Therefore, he might have 5 hits before being taken out!  So, a penny hits him and he flies back two inches.  In his turn, he gets up where he fell and has 4 hits left!  Scary for those Cowboys to face off against him then! 

Our next set of models is the Nottawookie Alien with Rifle.  These guys seem pretty straight forward to us.  They are dudes with rifles!  Not much else to say, and if you have multiples would probably make up the bulk of your "alien" force.  Here was some quick thoughts on them! 

Nottawookie #1

• Nottawookie: Direct, Rapid Fire                            Coin: 3 Quarters

With Rapid-Fire, if they move they can fire 1 Quarter.  However, if they stay still they can fire three Quarters!  That is some big firepower compared to Nickel and Penny throwing Cowboys! 

To make them extra tough, you could add Hand-to-hand, Shield/Armor, and replace Rapid Fire with Area to make their guns more like Shotguns.  To make them extra tough you could also give them more than 1 Hit too.  You can flavor them to taste depending on the difficulty of the scenario or how many Cowboys and Indians you bring to the table.    

The next batch of models from the Star Patrol set is a weird looking clawed alien with an inverted shell.  I have no idea what to make of these guys.  They are some odd looking creatures, and I am unsure if they are suppose to be sentient aliens, or more like alien animals.  Either way, here is a shot at how to play them.

Clawed Alien #1

• Clawed Alien: Hand-to-hand, Shield/Armor                        Coin: None

In this scenario, they are more like simple shock troopers that run towards the enemy and attack them up close.  Not much of a threat on their own, but they could be used to mask more dangerous enemies or charge an objective.  

Alternatively, look at those crazy alien eyes!  Clearly, they can shoot death rays!  

Clawed Alien #2

• Clawed Alien: hand-to-Hand, Shield/Armor, Direct            Coin: Penny

Again, if you want them to seem extra tough against Cowboy weapons, you could give them 1-3 hits for that alien durability.  They will seem almost immune to primitive Indian/Cowboy weapons then!    

Finally, we have the astronauts from an Apollo mission.  I honestly have no idea what to do with these guys.  They look very unthreatening.  Perhaps their suits give them protection and strength?  At a stretch the guy with the portable oxygen tank could be wielding some sort of Area weapon?  Maybe..... The other guy just looks like he should be planting a US Flag into the moon.  We didn't have much for these guys.  We thought maybe they could be objectives for the aliens to try to capture while the Cowboys/Indians tried to protect them.   

So, here is some half-hearted attempts to do something with them.

Astronaut #1    

• Astronaut: hand-to-Hand, Shield/Armor                                Coin: None

Astronaut #2

• Astronaut with Tube: Hand-to-hand, Shield/Armor, Area        Coin: None

If you have something better for these guys, feel free to post it below in comments or on the Messageboards.

Final Thoughts

I didn't think these Star Patrol models would be enough for a new Dexterity game, but it sure could be fun to add them to a game of High Noon in some Cowboys vs. Aliens type scenarios.  Give these rules a go and let me know what worked for you! 

You can follow Blood and Spectacles Facebook page for more fun: https://m.facebook.com/pg/BloodandSpectacles/posts/?ref=bookmarks&mt_nav=0

Or our website:

http://www.bloodandspectacles.com/

Or our Messageboard:

http://bloodandspectacles.proboards.com/

Or our Wargames Vault Page:

https://www.wargamevault.com/browse.php?keywords=blood+and+spectacles&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=   

Battle Report: High Noon- Turkey Shoot-out

 

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!       

You can follow Blood and Spectacles Facebook page for more fun: https://m.facebook.com/pg/BloodandSpectacles/posts/?ref=bookmarks&mt_nav=0

Or our website:

http://www.bloodandspectacles.com/

Or our Messageboard:

http://bloodandspectacles.proboards.com/

Or our Wargames Vault Page:

https://www.wargamevault.com/browse.php?keywords=blood+and+spectacles&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=

Wargame Design: How Do You Become a Wargame Designer?

The most common question I get asked about wargame design has nothing to do with mechanics, morale, resolution, or probability.  The most common question is much more basic. 

“How do you become a wargame designer?”

The answer is even more basic.  In our modern world, life is so much simpler.  If you want to be a wargame designer, than anyone can do it.  I have written about how I got started here.  In that blog post, you find the seeds of the answer to the question. 

If you want me to be more explicit, here are the two things you MUST do to be a game designer:

1.       You must create a game

2.       You must make it available for people to play

Today, we have access to a variety of tools to help us both create our games.  I myself have helped by creating a series of Wargame Design related blog posts that walk you through the basic process. Books, articles, and blogs exist across the internet to help guide the way.  In addition, self-publishing tools have progressed to a point that even basic computers have Publisher, PowerPoint, or even Word. 

There are a variety of distribution methods to get the games to the people.  The internet has made it   much easier.  You can distribute via message boards, your own website, other websites like the Wargames Vault, and Social Media.  You can easily reach the world-wide marketplace of ideas from the comfort of your home.    

That’s it.  Pretty simple stuff.  If it is so simple to do, how come more people do not do it?  Becoming a wargame designer is simple, but it is not easy.

I suspect there are a few different reasons why more people do not make the jump to being a designer:

1.       They are afraid

2.       They do not create a process for Creation

3.       They let the Perfect be the enemy of the Good

Fear is the Mind-Killer

I have read plenty of internet comments that are not very helpful and just mean about games and the people who designed them.  I can totally understand why a person would shy away from opening their creative labor of love to the world only to be attack, shredded and left for dead on the proverbial floor of the internet.  No matter what you try to do in life there is a line around the block of people who want to psychologically kick you in the junk, laugh about it, and then wander off to kick someone else in the psychological junk.  It is not fun to get kicked in the junk, physically or psychologically.

As a designer, there are two things that get me over this fear hurdle:

1.       I MUST create games.  I can not help myself.  It is a compulsion.

2.       I design games for a very niche target audience.  I design them for myself and no one else.

True designers or creators MUST create.  They can not help it.  I can not help it.  I watched the Matrix and immediately started writing out ideas for making it into a board game.  I couldn’t stop myself!  I had no intention of ever making a Matrix board game, but I wrote out the ideas anyway and put them in my concept folder.

If I did not create games, I would simply stop being who I am.  I would be dead. 

Secondly, I design for an audience of one.  I make games I want to play because I want to play them.  I do not try to make games for other people.  I am 100% convinced I have no idea what other people want to play.  I watch game reviews, play various games, and talk to lots of gamers.  Even with all of that research, what some people enjoy and others do not is still a mystery to me.  I don’t create for them, I create for me.      

Now, just because I create games I want to play doesn’t mean that other people won’t want to play too.  I leave that up to them.  I will still pitch ideas to publishers, self-publish games, and market them like crazy.  However, if someone else doesn’t like the way a game plays, I don’t mind.  It wasn’t for them anyway.  I can guarantee my games will always have at least 1 local player…. Me!  Any players above 1 is a great success.  Sometimes, other people even like my games!

These two factors help me get beyond the “Fear Factor” of becoming a wargame designer in the public eye. 

Creation is a Process

No game is like Athena and just springs from the mind of the creator.  To create is a process.  It can be a harsh mistress, but I have always believed in planning your work, and working your plan.  Then be flexible enough to change your plan....

To create a game requires time.  Time does not come easy.  The time you design games is always being taken by things like family, work, friends, and other choices.  You are always confronted with choices.  You have to prioritize the choices you make in a day.  I try to set about 1-2 hours a week to write.  Some weeks I do more, but I almost never do less.  Writing is a routine and you MUST get into the routine. 

However, creating a game is more than just writing.  It is re-writing, editing, testing, playing, etc.  All of which requires time and effort.  You must budget your time the same way you budget your money.  It is even more important than money.

Once you have a routine, the Creation process is much easier as well.  The more you do it the easier it becomes.  If nothing gets written down, then you won’t have a game.  Without a game, you are not a game designer.    

The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good

This impacts a number of wargame designers that I work with, collaborate with, and partner with.  I have fallen into the trap myself.  Sometimes, we get really hung up on making a perfect mechanic orsituation.  We will scrap something that works, because a one-off or edge case gets in the way.  Then, we go back to the drawing board, find nothing better and then get frustrated and walk away.  The game never gets done. 

To be a game designer, you need to actually produce games.  If you let the pursuit of perfection stop a workable game from hitting the table or playtesting phase, then you are getting in your own way.

This will be an unpopular opinion.  Of course you want to make the best game you can right out of the gate.  However, that is not typically how it works.  The more you play test, massage an idea, etc. the closer to perfection your mechanics and processes will get.  However, there is no such thing as perfection.  Instead, you want to get your current processes and mechanics as smooth, clean, and clear as you can.  Therefore, using this theory there is always one more step or modification to get your even better.  This is a trap!  If the mechanic and process works, then it is ready for playtesting. 

Conclusion

Being a game designer is very easy.  All you need to do is make a game.  Then play the game you made.  Bam!  You are now a game designer.  There is no special secret or magic to it.  It is simply a matter of sitting down and doing it.  Take those ideas, put them on paper (real or electronic) and keep adding on until you have a full game.  Then, play the game and see what happens.  The more you do it, the easier it becomes. 

The longest journey begins with a single step…. but more importantly it also ends with a single step.  Now, just go out and put the steps together in between and you are done. 

If you want to be a game designer, then make a game and make it available for people to play!            

Battle Report: High Noon- Attack at Fort Ridgely

With the launch of High Noon it seemed appropriate to share a large game we played loosely based on the battle of Fort Ridgely in the Dakota War of 1862. I have long wanted to build and play a wargame campaign for this conflict, and have even loosely based my All Quiet on the MartianFront games on the campaign. However, I have not really had a chance to put it high enough on my Hobby to do list to actually get it on the table. I have a few sketched out drafts for core rules, and a basic idea of the campaign flow, but that is about it. If I can't play a full fledged campaign, I can at least play a game loosely based on the events.

In the history, after a flare up of hostilities between the Dakota and white settlers in Minnesota; a local war broke out. There were the typical massacres, some battles between local militia and Indian tribes, that eventually culminated in the Dakota attacking Fort Ridgely. Fort Ridgely was a wall-less fort similar to many forts on the prairie frontier and during the Indian wars in America. It was composed of only a few buildings, and had a relatively small garrison. The Dakota were attempting to drive the white settlers out, and by attacking the fort they hoped to force better terms from the Europeans.

High Noon is part of my series on Dexterity Combat along with Green Army Men: Plastic Men, Steel Resolve and Total CARnage. Therefore, there are no dice rolls, rulers, templates, etc. Everything is resolved as WYSIWYG, coin flips, coin flicks, or hand based templates. This is a very family and non-wargamer friendly game.

Forces

Forces were selected by taking every Indian figure I had and giving it to the Dakota. I then took all the Cowboys with Rifles standing up that I had and put them on the opposite side. I added a couple of pistol packing dudes as Officers.

Fort Ridgely Defenders:

2 Dual Pistols

3 Pistols

10 Lever-Action Rifles

Dakota Tribe:

5 Long Rifles

2 Shotguns

2 Knives and Shields

10 with Spears

The actual defense of Fort Ridgely feature the use of some artillery pieces, but I don't have any of those so I skipped them for this.

Set Up

The table is a 6 x4 table covered with a brown desert mat. I placed four boxes in a rough square in the center which corresponds roughly with the lay-out of the fort. I then placed some rocky outcroppings near the edges for some cover. Fort Ridgely is actually in a clearing of woods and has a small gully beside it and tall grass in the “dead zones”. Not too much like what I set-up here, but that's why it is “based” on that battle and not that battle.

Mission

We discussed playing a specific mission, but my players really wanted to just do a Last Man Standing type of scenario. The Indians had the advantage in numbers, but the defenders had the advantage in firepower and move OR shoot weapons. Therefore, the battle was roughly balanced.

The Dakota were scattered around the edges of the board in groups of 3-5 figures. Each group had at least 1 rifleman for cover, and a spearmen or two. The defenders were mostly concerned about the template firing shotgunners, but they started in cover to help protect them from long range fire.

The Defenders were placed along the insides of the boxes, facing the center of the board. This was to represent them leaving the shelter of the buildings at the surprise Dakota attack.

The Game

I did not take detailed notes during game play on a figure by figure basis. Therefore, the below is a high level overview of the battle. The defenders won the Coin Flip to activate a figure first. All actions are alternate activations.

The Defenders got to go first, and opted to try and stay within the fort, and move to the edges and try to use long range shooting on their foes. The Dakota pressed towards the edges, moving and shooting whenever possible. The Dakota rifleman tried to clear the way with a barrage of fire, before the Dakota spearmen moved up to mop up exposed defenders. The initial Dakota sally towards the North side of the building was repulsed by the defenders with firepower. The Dakota attacking from the open took particularly heavy casualties on the North East corner.

Never bring a knife to a gunfight....

Despite the success in the North, the Southwest corner was left vulnerable, and the Dakota moved in. Their numbers advantage allowed them to move forward with relatively light resistance. Only a pair of officers tried to hold them back with pistol fire.

The Dakota advantage in numbers became clear once the spearmen were able to get in cover behind the forts buildings. The close range firefight that broke out forced the defenders to move to get firing positions, which limited their firepower. 

.... the Knife worked! 

In addition, one of the Indian shotgunners was able to move up and blast the officers defending the Southwestern edge of the fort. This left a large breach for the defenders to try to plug.

This is my boomstick!

Ultimately, once the Dakota managed to get to the perimeter of the fort, their numbers were able to turn the tide and the last of the defenders were killed by spears. It was a costly victory as the Dakota were reduced to only a handful of warriors.

Oh the humanity!

Conclusion

That did not go anything like the battle of Fort Ridgely. However, it was a close fought and exciting game with some cinematic moments and amazing flicks, both good and bad. One defender as killed by a misfire, as I flicked it so poorly that he took himself out! One of the Shotgun Dakota was killed by his own allies due to a bad flick. An Officer with a pistol took out two Dakota warriors with a single shot. All good times.

The game took about 1 hour to play, including set-up, and brief rundown of the rules. This was a rather large engagement. Most have fewer figures to start with. Plus, we had 4 players instead of 2. However, none of these factors bogged the game down and it went at a brisk pace. There were no rules disputes and after the initial rules brief very few follow up questions. We were focused on playing the game, hootin' and hollerin', and having a good ol' time.

Wargame Design: High Noon: Plastic Men, Steel Resolve

At my local grocery store, they have a small section to sell toys to the little sprogs.  It is 4 lonely feet mixed in with the sugary cereals.  A perfect place to ambush an unsuspecting parent!  In this forsaken section of toys, they had a bag of plastic cowboys and Indians.  It had been a long time since I had seen a bag of these toys.  I managed to resist buying them for several visits, but eventually my willpower cracked and in a moment of weakness I bought them.

As many of my long time readers will know, I love using toys for my wargames.  Of course, my first though was to use them for some Wild West themed game like Legends of the Old West, Dead Man's Hand, Fistful of Lead, or Dracula's America.  I had been toying with the idea of a Weird Wild West game myself for a long time.  I never actually got it down on paper, and eventually that game morphed into Turf War instead.  However, here I was with a nice set of multi-colored cowboys and Indians with no game to call home.

When I showed my family what madness I had wrought, my daughter was quick to solve the problem.  She asked if I was going to make another dexterity game with them!  Genius!  

I had first been introduced to the ideas and mechanics with the Z-man game Flick'em UP!  At first I had been skeptical.  However, after playing several games with players of all skill level and ages I was won over by the concept.  I had successfully used dexterity combat mechanics to make games before.  You can see the successful results in Total CARnage and Green Army Men: Plastic Men, Steel Resolve .  At that point, I decided that this rule set was going to join the Plastic Men, Steel Resolve family of games.  

So, the big question was how to make it a unique experience.  It was clear it would still use the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) mechanics of my other dexterity games.  I still wanted the flick and flip mechanics too.  Finally, I also had dice "coin shifting" for different weapons lethality.  These were all features of Green Army Men: Plastic Men, Steel Resolve as well.  

Most of the flavor came from a few sources:  

1. Unique weaponry- The Wild West was well known for a few key weapon systems; the revolver and the lever action rifle.  Of course, those were not the only weapons.  The question was how to make them unique.  This was done by adding special rules not present in Green Army Men: Plastic Men, Steel Resolve   

         

2. Scenario Design- The flavor of the Wild West needs custom scenarios like stage coach robberies, jail breaks, showdowns at high noon, etc.  

3. Horses and Wagons- Riding horses and wagons was a key part of the Wild West.  Without horses, you loose the flavor of the period.  Therefore, there are rules for mounted models too! 

From Chick's Discount Saddlery

With those key elements identified, it was time to put the new rules together.  Thankfully, I was able to build off of an existing framework.  However, a revolver in the this Wild West game ended up working very differently than a pistol in Green Army Men: Plastic Men, Steel Resolve .  In addition, this new game had twice as many scenarios to play than its predecessors.  High Noon: Plastic Men, Steel Resolve was born.  

You can find this game (along with my other works) at my Wargames Vault page here: https://www.wargamevault.com/browse/pub/11064/Blood-and-Spectacles-Publishing

Here is a quick start of a Battle Report to get a feel for game play: 

Black and Blue Bart and his gang of outlaws were trying to scout out a watering hole.  They came across a band of Native Americans.  The Indian war party recognized the outlaw, and decided to try and hunt him and his posse of outlaws down for the bounty.  

Forces

Black and Blue Bart and his Boys

1 Two Pistols

1 Pistol

2 Lever action rifles

Indian War Party

Knife and Shield

Spear

Spear and Shield

Shotgun

Long Rifle

Forces were selected by dividing the toys up by color.  Then reaching into the bag and pulling out random figures and using what they were armed with.  Simple.  

Set-up

The board was set-up on a 4x3 table with a desert mat.  We then placed four pieces of random stuff I had within arms reach.  Terrain is 1 for 1 in this game so What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG).  If you have Wild West themed terrain that is great, but it is not needed.  

Mission

We looked at the three pages of scenarios and we decided to do a basic Rootin' Tootin' shoot-out.

Turn 1

The coin flip let's the Cowboys go first.  Bart moves up with his two pistols and shoots ineffectively.  He is countered by the knife wielding indian going up the center as a distraction.  An outlaw rifleman runs forward and fires at a spear men, but misses.    

A second spear men moves up and a well aimed throw puts the Outlaw out of the game.  First blood to the War Party.  

However, the second rifle armed Outlaw stands still and fires across the board.  Since he stood still, he can take two shots with a lever action rifle.  His second shot finds its mark despite the distance!  The Indian spear man goes down and is out of the game.  

  

The Long rifle and Shotgun Native Americans move up the flank, while a pistol armed outlaw tries to cover the center of the board.  

That ends Turn 1 with both sides using alternating activation to move and shoot, shoot and move, or to simply shoot.  Not moving let's some weapons fire more often.  

So, that should give you a general feel for the game play.  Now you can decide if it is a game for you.  You can find this game (along with my other works) at my Wargames Vault page here: 

https://www.wargamevault.com/browse/pub/11064/Blood-and-Spectacles-Publishing