This Friday afternoon at Nashcon (in Cool Springs just south of Nashville) we will play the Little Big Horn as it might have been: Colonel Custer didn't leave those Gatling guns at the fort. And for those who have read about the game earlier here are the four-page RULES link :
For those not familiar with the earlier posts. The game will employ a novel alignment of forces to recreate the command confusion. Three teams will each play both an Indian command (Chief Gaul, Sitting Bull, or Crazy Horse) AND a Custer cavalry command (Captain Frederick Benteen, Major Marcus Reno, and Colonel Custer). Points are also awarded for killing (or saving) Captain Frederick Benteen, Major Marcus Reno, and Custer as well as Chief Gaul, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse. Points can be garnered for destroying an Indian band or raiding the village.
We have "face cards" glued to blocks to denote the leaders and personalities in the game. When one is killed or captured the other player takes the block. These form the victory points. These include cards for the Indians' village and for Custer capturing the non-combatants.
The board is 24 feet. At one end we have three separate cavalry commands which are labeled, Spade, Heart and Diamond. Each cavalry command has 40 men divided into two or three companies of mounted troopers. And naturally there is a Custer figure along with Benteen, Reno, and Custer.
All the 28mm figures are mounted and, should they desire to dismount a householder stand is placed near the now dismounted unit. There is a cost to mount or dismount.
The cavalry units are as they appear on the board. The Indians (as you might expect) are hidden and are represented by individual Indian or buffalo figures. The figure can be imagined Indians or a host of hostiles.
All dice are six-siders. We count the pips for a "normal" event such as firing at short range. We count only the even numbers for medium range and odd numbers for long range. This convention does away with a host of charts. Movement is dictated by die roll. We use the full, even, odd dice convention for movement: more difficult terrain uses only odd dice numbers and certain units only move on even dice.
The non-cooperating Indians (and Cavalry) represent the confusion and tactical conflict among the Indians and the cavalry. The teams may cooperate with each other but at the end of the day the teams are out for themselves to achieve victory conditions.
See you at Nashcon.
ponders nirvana.
