Paid work has been petty bloody the last few weeks and my car brewed-up, so one's mind has been concentrated elsewhere... Am progressing on things generally but Displacement Activity has been strong with me lately.....
Some board gaming.. My old copy of SPI's Chariot got an outing... Probably the best of the PRESTAGS stable in my book - once one had realised the errors re. the scenarios and chariot use for Shock not being carried over from the previous version... Great fun....
Down in the ol' Texas town of El Taco.....Also, a quick game on the "Oh, Little Town Board" before it was dismantled - a Western Gunfight, using solo-ised rules based on "The Shootist" rules. THAT was FUN...
The narrative was that sheriff has heard that the "Calamity Gang" have been in the cantina overnight while their steeds get liveried-up in the stables on the other side of town... Some of the townsfolk are willing to be sworn in to help with an arrest....
The Bad Guys (and Gals) split up - which made my life a tad more difficult: I was playing the Sheriff.....
Unfortunately, on reach the square with the main body of the gang, Calamity Kate smelt a rat, and they hustled back to the cantina....
Meanwhile, the Kellerman brothers, separated from the rest of the gang (sent to get the horses) enter the square. The sheriff attempts to arrest them. Billy Kellerman gives up, but brother Bo skedaddles - putting the sheriff on the ground with a lucky snapshot as he runs...
Hang on.. I'M the bloody Sheriff..... What THIS means is that I lose all Command and Control - all movement decisions re. the townsfolk and deputies become randomised; all I'm allowed to do is "call the targets" IF they decide to shoot/get involved...As the shooting continues in the streets and square, and Bo goes down, the gang hold up in the cantina.. As some of the townsfolk converge There is a firefight..
One of the gang, "Reb" Butler nobly agrees to hold off the (now somewhat disorganised) townsfolk while the rest of the gang skip out the back door, Reb following after two moves, but not before he has been wounded twice...
Discretion takes over from valour, and the rest of the gang high-tail it for the countryside, but with no horses their long-term future looks bleak....
Simple, quick action. Basically I used "probability" dice for decisions, activation and spotting - very simple but a lot of jolliness - and a surprising ending, which to me is what makes solo so good..
"Not the Judean Revolt"; Part Two..
After two days of hair-pulling (and we pull hair pretty durned hard in these parts, partn'r) I finally got my Second Phase "Not the Jewish revolt" underway; with a schematic map, based on the concepts of the "Peasants Are Revolting" article mentioned last post, finished to a "just about acceptable" level....
Life made more difficult by:
Conflicting secondary sources...
Historians' opinion masquerading as fact....
NAME CHANGES !!!!!!!! (How many names does a city/town need over time..!!.
Joesphus-haters (sorry, but any OTHER contemporary sources worth the candle?).
Disagreement over locations.
Modern politically-laden interpretation v archaeology etc. etc.
But I have a workable map (thanks to the Web...... Old school library work would have taken weeks...!). Typing out the rules is 80% done - then we can get playing... Onward and upward...
The Roman Buildings work really well for a western et up...good idea. I hope your pay and car get sorted soon
ReplyDeleteCheers.. The work thing comes with the territory, but hey, ho.. I've had worse/done worse; so the option of moving-on isn't that scary - if I decide to bite THAT particular bullet.... And the car, well, she had nearly 100,000 miles on the clock and was getting on a bit, so it was only a matter of time.. My measure of a car's utility is based on: "Is it small?"(tiny car needed for town driving/parking) "Is it high" (i.e can my ol' bones get in and out without issue) and (most important) "Given the previous two factors, can it get an eight and a half foot spear inside it?". The last car (a Suzuki WagonR) was perfect. Her replacement has a LOT to live up to... :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I thought they looked pretty good for that.. One of the nice things about flat roofed buildings; their adaptability..