Adios Muchacho...

Well, pardners, we mosied up and did a western skirmish at the club!

We did a game set in a green and wooded part of East Texas, rather than the usual 'Dust Bowl'!

The scenario was devised by Phil....

Players will control a group of Law Officers and Bounty hunters who have gathered in the logged-out lumber town of Galilee creek, in the 'Big Thicket' country of East Texas.

The bandit Diablo Enchilada and his gang have blazed a trail of moustachioed mayhem from the border to the Nueces river, yet Galilee Creek has been spared their depredations... although their trail has seemed to lead there on several occasions.

The forces of Law and Order have deduced that the bandits have an accomplice in Galilee Creek, and are using the town as a waystation. They have assembled a group of 'Killing Gentlemen' to rendezvous at the town and intercept Enchilada on his way back to the border.

Of course,  because he has at least  one accomplice in town, Enchilada is certain to hear of the law-men's presence. His gang currently number about fifteen desperadoes, and they will arrive expecting a fight.

 The Mexicans would arrive at random places on the table edge, so we had a certain number of 'hours' to rearrange the town to prepare it for defence.

Our 5 brave men (starting from the left-- Phil, a mountain man touting a Buffalo gun, next to him-- Me, a gambler touting a navy revolver, then -- Ian, with a mean lookin' pistoleer, then -- Lawrence, with a rifleman on a long coat, and on the right, Gareth, with a buckskin clad rifleman.

The town of Galilee Creek (the villagers are hiding!)

The church (did they have fluorescent crosses back then?)  

 The crossroad, which makes the town so important.

Gareth bug a firing pit next to the crossroad. 

Ian 'Loopholed' the barn, the rest set up barricades, and placed gunpowder barrels in strategic places to act as mines. Some pits were dug to trip the Mexicans.

As the bandits approached, the lawmen assembled to discuss their tactics. 

Phil went up the church belltower with his buffalo gun.

Gareth, me and Ian held the centre. Lawrence went on the left wing. 

 A group of Bandidos arrived opposite the church.

 Enchilada and his amigos came...overconfidently.. down the road.

 Gareth's rifle was in range so he let fly.

 One of the bandits fell with a shot in the head, the rest hugged the dirt. 

 Gareth continued shooting.... 

..apart from a graze on one man, all this did was keep their heads down. 

 A third band of desperadoes arrived and crossed the stream opposite Lawrence.

 Lawrence, lying on the roof, watched, but held his fire.

 Gareth, realising he was only wasting ammo, ceased shooting, upon which Enchilada ran to cover by the bend in the stream.

The bandits opposite Lawrence finished crossing the stream and entered a small wood. 

In the centre, Gareth came forward to shoot at Enchilada, I, behind the barricade, could see nothing! 

Enchilada filtered up the reeds to escape Gareth's fire. 

On the far side of the stream, opposite the church, Phil got his first shots. 

As they ran for better cover, a man fell -- another head shot.

Aware of Phil, the survivors  shot back ineffectively.

Enchilada sat quietly, he was not the only snake in the grass! 

 Lawrence could not see any targets, so he considered shifting position.

 Back in the centre, Enchilada moved to the river edge, and fired. Ian, in his shed, fired back and killed  Enchilada with a chest hit!

the other band, now out of sight of Phil in the bell tower joined in shooting back at Ian. 

A lucky shot hit Ian's man in the shoulder, and he collapsed. 

 The bandits then turned their attention towards the bell tower.

 They filtered forwards, trying to outflank the church.

The bandits on Lawrences side rushed behind the house, one of them losing a hat as Lawrence shot from the house behind.

 I moved behind a road barricade just in time as the bandits tried to rush Lawrence.

My navy colt hit the first man to appear in the head and killed him.. 

Lawrence shot another in the guts and he fell.  

 The survivors retreated to the wood, but I managed to wound another in the arm as they went.

Enchilada's men entered the farm opposite the church. 

 Seeing the danger, I moved back to support Phil. Lawrence recrossed the street to check the bandits we had chased off were no threat.

Phil was still shooting, and the bandits dodgin' 

 Thing were looking bad for Phil if the Mexicans got too close.

I talked with Gareth, and Gareth elected to wait till they broke cover.

 Lawrence hunckered behind his ridge tiles again.

 I took my life in my hands and ran across the open ground towards the bandits attacking Phil.

 Too late, Enchilada's men got a lot of fire at the belltower...

Phil fell, shot between the eyes! 

 I was lucky, only 2 bandits were visible in the farm when I got there, I shot one in the hip and he fell mortally wounded, the other high-tailed out of the farm to cover. 

Lawrence was right, the three bandits moved towards town again, he stayed hidden as before till they got closer. 

A party of Enchilada men crossed to the church an saw Phil's corpse. 

Having seen off one group. I shot at long range at the men by the church 

 I grazed one and he fled, the other two ran off after him towards the border.

 Lawrence shot the man I had wounded earlier.

The rest of the bandits fled. 

 So we won! - we had killed half the bandits including Enchilada, and his two Secundos, though at the cost of two of our number...and rather a lot of ammunition!

The rules have been slightly amended after this game to allow players to do a few fancy things.

Either way, they are free to download at: TWC downloads page