Fistful of Lead: Reloaded

 

For our first club meeting of the year I put on a couple of games of Fistful of Lead: Reloaded. 

The scenario was an adaptation of one from the core rulebook with some changes to suit my figures and terrain.  The brief went something like this:

The last stage deposited the railroad construction payroll with the Sheriff for the US Cavalry to escort it the rest of the way. There’s one problem, the cavalry hasn't arrived. This leaves it to the Sheriff and his Deputies to guard it until they do arrive. Unfortunately news of the payroll’s arrival seems to have become widely known. So to make things difficult for anyone with nefarious intent the Sheriff has hidden the gold and its single cavalry trooper guard in one of the buildings in the town.

I then gave each of the factions victory conditions which conflicted with at least two of the others and let the mayhem commence.  Unfortunately, there was so much going on I forgot to take many pictures.  Here are the couple I did remember to take showing a Town called Malice:

First Play: Dead Man's Hand

For our first game of Dead Man's Hand we decided to try one of the scenarios from the rule book - in this case The Good, The Lead And The Ugly.  Lenin was The Law and I took Outlaws.

For the opening scene The Stranger, we set up a town called Malice using my mixed collection of 4Ground and other buildings.  Lenin played the part of the newly arrived Marshal (the Stranger of the title) and I had three dudes from my gang who had just rolled out of the saloon after a hard afternoon's drinking.

The stage was set for a showdown...

Three members of the Weller gang stumble out of the Saloon and run into the new Marshal.  He tells them to go about their business but they're spoiling for a fight.  Guns are being waved around and so the Marshal draws, he wings one of the gang but the others gun him down and he crawls, bleeding to the Sheriff's office.

So we moved onto the second scene - This Town Ain't Big Enough.

With the Marshal out of the picture the Weller gang decided to stamp their authority on Malice but underestimated the anger of the townsfolk.  With gang members swaggering around town in little groups the Sheriff and some upright citizens decided to put the Weller gang in their place.

Small fights broke out all over the town.  Brave townsfolk we cut down but some gave a s good as they got and the notorious Wild Bill and his sidekick Catastrophe Jean were cornered, hit and had to run with their tails between their legs.

And so onto the final scene - We Will Be Waitin'...

Wanting a final showdown the Wellers walked up the main street of Malice towards the Sheriff's office.  The Sheriff and the Marshal, who had recovered from his wounds, moseyed on out to meet them.

Hot words were exchanged followed by hot lead!  The Sheriff and the Marshal had to take cover behind some barrels as the Weller's numbers started to tell.

But a Deputy had snuck up behind the gang and opened fire.  One of the gang fell but another turned and engaged the Deputy.  Men fell until only four remained, the two lawmen and two of the gang, including their Boss.  The gunfight raged on but it was the gang who managed to concentrate their fire and the lawmen fell.  But given the casualties to the gang it was something of a pyrrhic victory...

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The game was a lot of fun to play and moved along at a good pace.  The cards provided some interesting decisions and game effects but d20 based system meant that despite the modifiers luck was the major factor in the combat.  As a result I think playing a campaign would require some serious thinking or people might not see it as worthwhile investing too much time into individual characters.

4Ground Main Street Building 2

My final 4Ground Dead Man's Hand building (for the moment!) is also my first two storey one - Building No. 2 in their Main Street set:

With a Foundry figure for comparison

Incidentally the darker weathering on the upper floor isn't quite so pronounced in normal lighting.

4Ground Side Street Building 3

The latest addition to my growing 4Ground Dead Man's Hand building collection:

With a Foundry figure for comparison

Another 4Ground Wagon

Having already put together one of the 4Ground general purpose wagons, I picked up another to finish in the alternative configuration.  Here are a couple of pictures of the finished item (incidentally this kit does not come pre-painted):

and a couple with the previous one for comparison:

With a Wargames Foundry figure for scale

4Ground Horse Hitches & Signposts

The next addition to my ever growing 4Ground collection is some western street furniture:

With a Wargames Foundry figure for scale

These come pre-painted; however, I decided to texture and paint the bases myself.

4Ground Regular Wooden Outhouse

I have added one of the 4Ground Regular Wooden Outhouses to my collection.  The construction is very similar to the Wooden WC I built previously only somewhat larger.  Again the construction was quite simple and the building can be made in either a complete or damaged state.

With a Wargames Foundry figure for scale

Hang 'Em High Gallows

I bought a gallows from Battle Flag to add to my collection (not long before 4Ground produced theirs - although this one can only handle a single hanging at a time!).  Here are some photos of the almost finished item (I need to sort out the noose - the "rope" is included:

The kit was easy to assemble - I only needed to texture and paint the base (as this comes in plain MDF) - it's a little more fiddly than some of the 4Ground kits but not significantly so.  The kit is not pre-painted but I think the natural MDF works fine.

Dead Man's Hand Side Street Building 2

I followed up my last little 4Ground assembly with a slightly bigger one.  This time it was the second single storey side street building:

Assembly was a fraction more complicated than the previous one as this one has a working roof hatch.

Here are a few pictures of the finished building:

And here it is with the first building, the wagon and the outhouse: