Since I'm putting such a large number of figures on the table – or will – I am writing my own rules and using three figures to a base for the most part but thinking I might keep a fairly small number of figures individually based. However, that complicates the rules writing. What I want are simple rules that permit a fast paced game with a lot of stuff going on all over the place.
What I don't want is what so many old west games seem to be – a multi-player game where every one is on their own hook and the game ends up being a pell-mell free for all shoot 'em up. That is not at all historical – or even very Hollywood unless there is a western farce I'm unfamiliar with.
Rather than that silly free for all, various players will have various actions assigned – rob a bank, rob a train, rob a stagecoach, raid a stage station, protect a town, arrest a gang, rescue the homesteaders, etc. But each action isolated from the others so there are only two 'sides' in opposition for each action. Well, maybe three in a rescue scenario with say the stage station folks, the raiding indians, and the rescuing cavalry – but the station and the cavalry would combine into one once together.
The ultimate game title: "The Whole Wilder West, All At Once"
Just not the "Silly West" that a lot of games seem to be.
Plus, I don't want to build all of this stuff just to have a fifteen minute skirmish shoot out. Those can be part of the wider game – but not the whole game. Of course, using 15 mm makes this much more workable than in the larger scales where this would be cost and space prohibitive.
And when I want a smaller game, I still want fast and simple rules. I'm one of those people who think rules interfere with the fun more than they create the fun. Thus simple as possible because every "rule" slows the action. And for me, I prefer the action rather than the minutiae of rules.
Well, actually, I like the building most – and the sheer spectacle of large games. When I let my imagination go wild, I can see a 5' x 40' table – or at least 32' long. Yeah, a bit crazy but imagine seeing such a game – or playing in it! That's why so many trains, so many wagons.
To give a sense of what I'm about, I will have 384 mounted indians – and another 288 on foot, plus a large village, a pony herd of 72 horses, a herd of buffalo 120 strong. And that's just the natives! Why, I'll even have a herd of pronghorn antelope.
Yeah, crazy. But loads of fun. And shouldn't that be the real goal – fun?
weighs the pros and cons of using a power drill on the minis workbench.
