Dead Man's Hand: A Deadly Shoot Out

Last Sunday I joined the Earlswood Wargamers for an evening of gaming- my planned game- Drums and Shakos, was called off when my opponent was unable to make it, but instead I ended up playing Dead Man's Hand with Dave and his nephew James on Dave's new Dead Man's Hand Board. Regular Readers may recall that I posted some pictures of Dave's last Dead Mans Hand board earlier in the year- here is a link. Well Dave's new board it at least as cool as his last one,and he had out done himself with scatter terrain that help make the board feel 'lived in'.
For the record Dave is using Dead Man's Hand figures and his terrain is mostly from 4Ground- although he has added many of his own embellishments.  

For the game we each took just three men from each gang- I was the desperadoes, James the Mexican Banditoes and Dave was the Law. Basically the plot was that there was some bad blood between the Mexicans and the desperadoes over a deal that had gone sour, and both sides were going to settle the score, while the Law just kept the peace and killed the bad guys- a classic three way battle.  

The encounter kicked off early, when one of my thugs wielding a shotgun decided to take the initiative. Howling a curse at the slimy double crossing Mexican, he leapt up onto the wagon and tried to blast the Bandito who was carrying a shotgun, hoping to take him out of the fight early. Things did not go well, when the Mexican snap fired with both barrels, blowing my desperado away, and only reviving a light wound in return! Even in Dead Man's Hand people do tend to live a bit longer than that!

He ain't all there is he?
Not such a smart move after all!

With one man down I decided to play smarter. My boss clambered onto the roof of the gun shop, where he had good cover and could snap shots off at the Mexicans in the street bellow, while my sneaky injun half-breed skulked in an ally-way beside the gallows, hoping to outflank the banditoes. 

Sneaky lightfoot halfbreed injun!

Alerted from the gun shots the Marshal and his deputies appeared from the jail and saw the Mexicans standing over the body of my desperado, smoking guns in hand, and drew some quick conclusions, before shooting. Reasoning that it might be better to let them get on with it my boss hid on the roof, popping up to let of the odd shot, including shooting the Mexican's boss in the back and wounding a deputy. This last action singled him out for some 'attention' from the marshal, who had my boss in his sights- but to my good fortune, the marshals gun jammed, and my boss made it across the rooftops onto the balcony of the undertakers, out of sight of the vengeful marshal. 

In this town I AM THE LAW!

Meanwhile my half breed got into a close range gun fight with one of the Mexicans- which end up with a tense moment when the both realised their guns were empty. The Mexican  licked his dry tips nervously as they eyed each other up, but the half-breed got the drop on him and dashed drew his hunting knife, gutting and then scalping the Mexican. 

The halfbreed scalps his victim

The last of the Mexicans, with revenge in mind, sprinted into the undertakers, intending to sneak up on my boss and shoot him in the back. He never got a chance, as my boss spotted him: Crashing through the window from the balcony into the first floor of the undertakers, the boss ran to the top of the stairs and shoots the last Mexican dead as he began to climb the stairs!

The desperado boss leaps across the alleyway to avoid the marshal's vengeance!

The Marshal spots my half-breed scalping his victim and opens up with his six shooter, narrowly missing the injun. The half-breed dived for cover in a half-built building and returned fire. The last deputy tries to out flank the half-breed, but comes under fire from my boss, who charges out of the undertakers, guns blazing. 

The Deputy has a chance to end it, but misses the desperado boss. Fatal mistake. 

It was then everything changed- the half breed opens fire, and in a lucky moment hits the marshal, killing him outright. The last deputy opens fire on my boss, but his nerves get the better of him, and he misses. Outnumbered and out guns he makes a dash for the undertakers, but is cornered by my desperadoes. More bullets fly, but in the end the deputy was gunned down.

I shot the sheriff. And I did shoot his deputy too. 

 All in all an excellent game- and a privilege to play with Dave's lovely figures and scenery. I thought I was a goner when my shot gun wielding thug bought the farm on the first round, but by being a sneaky backstabbing lucky scum-bag I pulled the game back- Nine men started- only two left standing- both mine.