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"Rules recommendations for Northfield Minnesota bank robbery?" Topic


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Personal logo John the OFM Supporting Member of TMP04 Aug 2025 9:37 a.m. PST

Basically the whole town turns out against the James Gang.
So, something a bit more expansive than a simple gunfight game. Even Gunfight at the OK Corral seems a bit puny.

I have cowboys galore, and am starting to get and paint town buildings.

Personal logo KimRYoung Supporting Member of TMP04 Aug 2025 12:38 p.m. PST

John,

I am actually working on doing this game for the next HMGS Cold Wars in February. I have already started on re-creating Northfield as it was in 1876. I have been to the city and they have a museum located in the original bank location in the corner of the Scriver Bldg.

I just acquired a model for the Iron Bridge over the Cannon River a few weeks ago and will be creating a game board that runs from the bridge, to Mill Square, down Division St to the 1st National Bank and beyond 5th St where the gang road south after the botched robbery.

I will be using What-A-Cowboy rules which I used for my Hollywood Shoot Out game last year at 4 different conventions (that won 3 separate awards too) and the rules work great for 8 players which I am planing for (4 James-Young players and 4 players for the Northfield towns people.

I have been researching this game for a couple years now and will be making my own buildings to supplementing what I already have as Northfield was far different then Tombstone or other Wild West towns we think of. It is a much more modern town, with more brick buildings many shops and stores instead of saloons and gambling houses. The Scriver Bldg where the bank is located is a very large two story brick building that houses two separate dry goods stores, a second story dentist office and also the bank as well.

I have used What A Cowboy for several years for convention games and they are far better at representing individual actions then rules designed for a large number of figures.

Feel free to PM me if you want to talk about the project more and my experience with the rules.

Kim

Stosstruppen04 Aug 2025 1:06 p.m. PST

I have played in a game of this using Ruthless, it was quite fun.

Personal logo John the OFM Supporting Member of TMP04 Aug 2025 1:28 p.m. PST

I've never heard of What a Cowboy rules.
So…
Will they cover single player duels?
("He has to ask me to stay.")
("I know, Ike! Let's have a spelling contest!")
How about Latin tag line duels? 😄
Gunfight at OK Corral?
Dozens of Comanche vs Coffee Jack Hayes and Texas Rangers? Bow vs .38 Colt Patterson?
And of course Northfield?

I really don't want to have several levels of play requiring 3 different rules.
And our games will have 6-8 players.

Personal logo KimRYoung Supporting Member of TMP04 Aug 2025 2:34 p.m. PST

Published by Too Fat Lardies:

link

There are several US distributers

A recent review:

link

Facebook link for those interested:

link

Kim

Woolshed Wargamer04 Aug 2025 3:37 p.m. PST

I played a version of this with The Rules with No Name.
Lots of civilians blazing away and hitting not a lot. They still won. Quantity over quality.

Wackmole904 Aug 2025 4:05 p.m. PST

Northfield had alot of Union Veterns, So it was well armed and at least trained.

Grelber04 Aug 2025 4:34 p.m. PST

If this works out well, consider moving along to the Dalton gang's raid on Coffeyville, Kansas. A multi-pronged attack intended to hit several banks simultaneously. Again, the whole town turned out to get the robbers.

Grelber

Personal logo Extra Crispy Sponsoring Member of TMP04 Aug 2025 5:36 p.m. PST

How many figures will a player control?

What A Cowboy has a detailed player dashboard for each figure. Fine with 2 or 3 but if I control a dozen dudes – nope.

I use Legends of the Old West for games with 6+ players routinely. Rules summary is here:

link

A lot of Old West games use a one figure at a time activation, which means a player spends a lot of time watching other people play. Fine in a 2 player game but with 6+….ick.

alan in canberra04 Aug 2025 7:04 p.m. PST

If using What a Cowboy there is an option to field the lesser trained or motivated characters as Henchmen. Basically 3 figures to a group which activate and fight as do the individual characters just a lot less effectively.

smithsco04 Aug 2025 7:19 p.m. PST

Legends of the Old West.

TimePortal04 Aug 2025 9:13 p.m. PST

I thought the north field bank skirmish was the Younger Gang?
There was a James Gang attempted bank heist at Huntsville Alabama which was unusual. Another unusual Reconstruction era skirmish was in Shelby county. A related group of ex-CSA veterans. The CSA faction was in trouble with the law over moon shining and back taxes. They were going to the courthouse but failed to make it. They were pinned in a local hotel and bar.
The fight went on all night and into the next day before surrendering. According to a newspaper account over 500 spent bullets were found in the structure. I ran across the newspaper article in a Clay County archives.
An interesting use of cowboys, Union (pro-sheriff) and confederate.

Fitzovich Supporting Member of TMP05 Aug 2025 10:49 a.m. PST

Song of Drums and Tomahawks or Flying Lead would be my first choice.

One Hour Skirmish Wargame Rules would be my second.

I would skip Fistful of Lead as it simply is too cumbersome. Cards, markers just add to the clutter of the table. The rules are okay, but all the accoutrements ruin the look and feel of the game to me.

Personal logo KimRYoung Supporting Member of TMP05 Aug 2025 2:51 p.m. PST

Northfield had alot of Union Veterns, So it was well armed and at least trained

At Northfield most of the town's combatants are unarmed and had to get firearms from the local hardware stores near the bank that the merchants handed out to citizens to fight the robbers. Some of the towns' people had no firearms and resorted to hurling rocks at the robbers!

How many figures will a player control?

4 players controlling 2 gang members and 4 players control one of the prominent known citizens and a group of townsmen (henchmen group of 3 as Alan pointed out).

Legends of the Old West might work. I like the rules, though they are out of print. At Historicons flea market they were going for $100. USD You can find PDF copies of the rules online if you search hard enough.

As far as one figure at a time activation, we get around that by activating other players that have no conflict with the current player taking their actions, or if not in a position to affect the current player.

With 8 players controlling 2 characters each we would often have two or three characters acting at the same time out of the 16 total and the game moves pretty well. A good referee can overcome that issue with no problem.

I thought the north field bank skirmish was the Younger Gang?

James-Younger Gang: Jesse and Frank James. Cole, Jim, and Bob Younger. Clell Miller, Charlie Pitts and Bill Chadwell (Stiles). Miller and Chadwell were killed on the street outside the bank. Bob Younger suffered a crippling arm wound while Jim and Cole Younger were wounded as was Frank James. Only Charlie Pitts and Jesse James got away unscathed, or possible minor nicks.

In the 2 week manhunt (the largest in US history at the time) the James brothers left the Younger's and Charlie Pitts To fend for themselves and got away. In the final shootout, Pitts was killed and the Younger's all wounded again and received life sentences for the crime,

Kim

OSCS7406 Aug 2025 7:40 a.m. PST

I think it was really ballsy to rob banks during that time period. Image the percentage of men that were ACW vets. I never got to shoot at Gettysburg but at Northfield I got 20 rounds off.

Rev Zoom10 Aug 2025 10:49 a.m. PST

Pulp Alley is great for scenarios like this. While Pulp Alley is designed to be a turn timed game (usually 5 or 6 turns) and played on a 3' x 3' area, it need not be. Works very well on whatever sized area with no set turns. When you play it as goal based rather than set turns, it still works very very well for Old West.

Rev Zoom10 Aug 2025 11:07 a.m. PST

In Pulp Alley, characters can be tailored with the characteristics you think reflects either the real or fictional character you want to portray. In Pulp Alley as written, each "League" (a gang in the Old West) gets a Leader (hard to kill), Sidekick (not as hard to kill), Ally or two (easy to to kill), Follower or two (very easy to kill). This can be very easily changed to reflect the characters – especially in a historical event – you want in the scenario. Pulp Alley's mechanics and characterizations are what set it apart. It is not just an exercise in what gun type is shooting. And, what I really like, no charts and no book keeping. Yes!! As you can tell, I really like Pulp Alley and it has become my goto rules for anything skirmish but really shines with the Old West.

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