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! 

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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!       

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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.