WildWest skirmish Rules

[gameleaper]

WildWest skirmish rules by Mark Ainsworth, Inspired by SAGA rules,

the Gangs can be good guys like sherriff & deputys or bandits or indians etc...

first off this is a framework to play a wildwest skirmish game.

I wanted to create a fun simple western gang game, I wanted dice to be kept to a few, I wanted the rules to be practcally easy to remember so play focused on the board rather than sheet reading. I wanted the player to have to watch its formation ,each gang member could be targeted individualy because I had not seen this before in a miniatures game and it made the wargame slightly RPG. A hit on a gang member is likely a low number , so hits are one member, but combined attack can score 3 hits.

0) here is a system for fireing example you must spend advantages & disadvantages before the roll, first add cover up in quarters , cover is explained later in the rules, now add distance from fireing distance in quarters, add these together , use disavantages aginst the target too to increase die roll, the defender can add his advatages to reduce die roll, , Im suggesting 2 D6s for an attack minius the cover and distance totals (plus defender disavantages attacker spends & advantages attacker spends on this attack), if final score is above 9 its suppressed(a suppressed gang member cant move or fire) , if using special weapons increase the die roll by each special weapon fired. you may also use advantages specified in the orders boxes you chose to play/spend, 8 then its a Kill(remove a gang member member) , 7 is a PIM (pin just means gang member cant move), the best type of result may be suppression - because if the side cant rally you can keep firing on a suppressed gang member(look at charge for PIN and suppressed ) if you score a PIN on a unit already Pinned the unit just remains pinned, same with suppressed

NOTE ) you can use colored Dice to represent how many advantage & disavantage markers a gang member has

1) All gang members are part of a gang, and start as a gang. casualties can reduce a gangs to 1 or eliminate it.

2) A gang can have any type of gang members in it, but must not exceed 6 gang members. EG: rifleman, GunSlinger, SharpShooter, Leader, miner.

3) each gang member type GunSlinger, SharpShooter, Leader, miner - has differrent abilities, each gang can have uoto five advantage markers, and dissadvantage markers(uoto five) but you cant have both as they cancel each other out, eg: if a gang member has 3 disadvantages and it gain 2 advantages then the result would be 1 disadvantage.

4) the orders boards contain benefits to your gang members, you roll 2 D6 dice for every gang you have to a maximum of 12 dice minimum 5 dice, you get 3 dice for a full 6 man gang maximum of 12 dice, then place the dice on the box of choice, each D6 will be from 1 to 6, the box will have a requirement to use it eg:only 4,5,and 6s can be used, and you may need more than one dice to forfill its requirements. once required dice are placed you proceed with play and spend each boxes benifits as you move or attack etc...

5) if you spend boxes to move a gang etc... you take the dice off the box and do the movement of a gang member etc...

6) you gain advantage markers for occupying a buiding or have cover or in an building, but when you exit then you get a disavantage marker that in this case will reduce the advantage markers. you gain advantage markers by resting, but the orders boxes at the begining of the turn have to be spent to set a gang member to rest. you have an advantage marker for having a full gang(but lose one for every gang member lost, you get a disadvange markers) . you get an advantage marker for having a GunSlinger with the gang and one for a Miner. you can gain advantage markers for recovering ammo crates or occupying a strategic location on the game board.

7) effect of markers, advantage markers you can choose how they are used eg: more firepower etc.. disavantage markers are used by the enemy. the enemy can reduce your cover or reduce your movement, or ambush you etc...

8) movement is calculated from board size and gang member height, so you have to look at the board and decide the scale your board looks, then write the distances you think best for the following man on foot, Man on Horse, firing distance. now write the distances in quarters, so tou will have 4 distances for each measurement, these distances are increased or reduced a quarter for each advantage or disadvantage marker spent, you cant go above one and a half, or lower than a quarter.

9) cover has 4 levels,these cover levels are increased or reduced a quarter for each advantage or disadvantage marker spent, max 2 min 0. cover should be low normaly unless your in a very big cover building or something.

10) each wall or buiding or any kind of cover has to be pre thought out prior to play.

11) each gang member has eqiupment that differrent gang types use, like A SharpShooter Rifle(SharpShooter), Dynamite(miner), Map(for fast movement,  Leader uses the Map) . you must have an order box with dice before you can use the equipment, but an advantage marker may be spent to use equipment

12) you can only hit a Rider on a Horse if you have a SharpShooter gang member in the gang attacking and you have used an orders box to fire a Rifle. if you get a hit the The Horse Runs off the rider is killed.

13) there are battlefield assets like Cannon guns that can be used by the gang members with the correct gang member , you dont need to assign an orders box to use these assets. but the assets cant be moved.

14) the gang members can have a quality FARMER TOUGH HARDENED, if a FARMER gang member fires reduce the die roll by 1, if an elite gang member fires increase its die roll by one. this quality rating may have other effects in the game such as  FARMER cant use battlefield assets maybe. if you want to avoid quality just use TOUGH quality.

15) Charge, is where 3 gangs of at least 3 men in each attack a single gang that may have dugin and have a lot of advantag markers, . this is to simulate flanking. the worst attack odds of the 3 gangs is used(eg 1 gang is futher away than other, then you use the furthest away attack stats) ---->(IMPORTANT markers from wach gangs are reduced by one prior to attack  THAT MEANS GIVING EACH gang A DISADVANGE) this counts as 3 hits, and all gang members use this turns fireing attack. if you only have 2 gangs on the battlefield then you can still do a Charge. roll for each gang member,

16) HIDE , if you spend dice in the orders phase to use  HIDE, the gang can evade any one attack of its choosing this turn. BUT not a combined charge. you are asumed to be hideing so an attack would fail - then you can attack.

17) play starts with orders phase, both players rolls twice as many dice as they have gangs to a maximum of 12 dice*minimum 5 dice), then they assign them to the boxes they choose(you must forfill the correct dice requirements for each box assigned) . the the turns begin each player takes it in turn to activate a gang (BUT only if they have spend dice in the orders phase to assign a box to activate, you can place as many dice as you want on the activate box, so you can activate as many as you have correct dice for, but you will have less dice to spend elswhere). you can spend your assigned boxes to benefit an activated gang member at any time, and you can spend advatages at anytime during an activation, BUT the enemy can hinder you if you have disadvantage markers(the enemy can spend any number of disadvantage markers to limit your movement or attacks etc...) when ever you use a box the dice must be removed, so you in effect have spent that box. the turns to activate each gang goes back and forth, but only get to activate if the turn passes to you and you have a box with activate dice , you remove a dice from the activate box as you activate, when all dice are gone from both sides the orders phase begins again. you can activate any gang multple times if you spent the multi activate box

   MULTI ACTIVATE, if you spend the dice to use this box you can activate any gang any number of activations you spend in the activate box

   when a gang is activated it can move and attack, then control passes to the enemy, the enemy may use your disadvantages ainst you or may use an air attack.

   after both sides have had a chance for each gang, then the orders phase begins again, count your gang and assign dice to the boxes.

18) the GunSlinger is the base gang member, if you dont have one in your gang member then that gang cant use any benefits from the orders boxes

19) the oders dice is normal max of 12, but you can reroll an xtra dice if you use box that allows it, YOU CAN DO THIS OVER AND OVER IG YOU HAVE 6 AND 1s BIT TO A MAXIMUM OF 12 DICE

20) Horse are plenty, You can find them nearby any men in the game.

21) if a gang is in cover, they wont want to leave because they got an advantage marker when the got to cover BUT will get a disadvantage when they leave. this promotes cover to be used in a gunfight.

22) boats cost both move and attack to board & move , so you cant board a boat move then exit & attack. BUT you fire at it with a Rifle & have a SharpShooter Gang Member(you need to spend dice on the box that allows tou fire a Rifle, the its a staraight 2D6 roll - 7 and over destroys it.

23) charge, if two enemy units ocupy the same close area, then you can choose to do a Charge phase, first roll D6s for each defender, on every 6 remove an attacker, the defender goes first, then do the same for attacker, and continue untill one gang member is eliminated. the defender can a d6 for every advantage it has to spend. if the defender is suppressed the attacker goes first and attacker can spend advatages on D6s, if the defender is pinned the attacker goes first but cannot spend advantages.

24) you can target any figure in range in the enemy gang and in line of sight when firing, I found this to be exciting - you need to keep good formations to avoid risk, its not as in real life where you would not know who your firing at - but it is real sim by forcing the defender to keep good formations - I think it improves real simulation, its not how you would think to write a rule but it works Im constantly keeping my Leader and miner safe.

25) RALLY, Roll a D6 if you have spen dice on RALLY you can rally a pinned gang on a 5 or a 6, tou can rally a suppressed gang on a 6, but you need to have a Leader in the Gang

26) AMBUSH you get to attack first, and if you get any result the enemy gang cannot return fire

27) below are examples of order boxes , try to desighn your own, these boxes are a universal set, add differrent country spesific boxes

  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------
  | 6,and a 1 thrown               |  | 6,and a 6 and a third 6 thrown |  | 1,or 2s thrown                 |
  | roll 1 xtra dice + the 6 and 1 |  | you can set a gang to AMBUSH   |  | you can activate a gang        |
  | to spend on orders             |  |                                |  |                                |
  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------

  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------
  | A 4, thrown                    |  | 5, thrown                      |  | 6, thrown                      |
  | Dynamite throw within 1\4 dist |  | you can use MG if you have one |  | you can Ride a Horse           |
  | if you have miner              |  |                                |  | Double Move Dist               |
  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------

  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------
  | 6, thrown                      |  | 1, thrown                      |  | 6, thrown                      |
  | you can use SharpShooter       |  | you can rest and gain an       |  | you can enter a boat           |
  |                                |  | advantage marker               |  |                                |
  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------

  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------
  | 1, thrown                      |  | 2 dice 1 & 2  thrown           |  | 6 and 6 and 6 and 6 thrown     |
  | you can run doubletime a gang  |  | you can cross water at a ford  |  | Set Fire To A Building,Anybody |
  | get *1.5 movement Need Leader  |  |                                |  | Inside Has To Come out         |
  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------

  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------
  | 2 dice 3,4s & 4,5s  thrown     |  | 2 dice 4 & 5  thrown           |  |  1 2 or 3 thrown               |
  | Put Fire Out at your location  |  | Stop Wagon or Stagecoach       |  |  Rally a pined or Supresed     |
  | Such as a building             |  | or Rider or Set Train Obsticle |  |  gang member Roll a D6         |
  |                                |  ----------------------------------  |  5 or 6 - PIN,6 For Suppressed |
  ----------------------------------                                      ----------------------------------

  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------
  |  1 or 2  thrown                |  |  6 and 6 and 6  thrown         |  |  6 , throun                    |
  |  Remove Train Obsticle, or Whip|  |  A gang member can HIDE from an|  |  MULTI ACTIVARE              |
  |  Horses to avoid Stopping.     |  |  ATTACK                        |  |                                |
  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------  ----------------------------------


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A solitaire Rule for thise wishing to play Solo ) decide what order to do for the unit, then roll a six sided die

1 = absolute opposite of the order
2 = half hearted interpretation of order
3,4 do the order exactly
5 vigourously over do order
6 do order to extream

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I think I like this solatair rule

first put 6 D6s around the table of a color, but make sure there all differrent number eg 1,2,3,4,5,6

now roll a D10 dice and put enemy at the corresponding location

do this procedure for every enemy unit that can move.

use a D10 and let everying over 6 remain where it is.

its simple but had to be said, because it kinda works well
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