We used the Warhammer Historical Legends of the Old West rules. It’s a set that I’ve previously used for Plains Wars and French and Indian War rules, but strangely had not yet used for a basic gunfight. For those who haven’t played, the rules are typical Games Workshop. For shooting, you first roll a six sided die to hit, then your roll to see if you hit the cover, then you finally roll to wound. The game plays quickly, and new players can pick up the basics in a couple of minutes.

In our scenario, the sides each consisted of two gangs, each with a Desperado, two Kids and five Rowdies. I’ll call them North and South for the board edges they started on.

The players spent the first couple of turns maneuvering their gangs into position through the back alleys, taking the occasional (ineffective) long range shots as the opportunity presented itself. Both sides initially holed up in the buildings facing each other on opposite sides of the main street and began trying to pick off their opposite numbers.

Lots of shots were fired to no effect. Another tactic was needed. Then, on opposite ends of the street, each side began a flanking maneuver. On the western edge of the board, the North gang dashed across the street to an alley, losing one member in the move. At the same time, the South gang began trying to move across the eastern side.  They managed to make it without taking any losses.

Now the casualties began piling up on both side, especially as the shotguns got within short range. The South Gang began having some luck with the dice, but the North Gang still was rolling blanks. They just couldn’t get a hit. Finally, in an act of desperation, the North Gang charged into hand-to-hand combat; that somehow seemed to work for them.

But it was really too late. They reached fifty percent casualties, failed a Guts check and fled the table.

The figures in the game are mostly Gurnsey and Wargames Foundry, with a smattering of other manufacturers mixed in, especially among the civilians. The buildings are all scratch built by yours truly, from foam core and cardboard.

All in all, a great game. I’m looking into using the Lord of the Rings/Legends system for even more skirmish games. You can see more photos of the game here.

You can leave comments and questions below:

With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy, our troops in Afghanistan prove they’ve retained their sense of humor with the following,

‘“YOU MAY BE A TALIBAN IF...”

1. You refine heroin for a living, but you have a moral objection to beer.

2. You own a $3,000 machine gun and $5,000 rocket launcher, but you can’t afford shoes.

3. You have more wives than teeth.

4. You wipe your butt with your bare left hand, but consider bacon “unclean.”

5. You think vests come in two styles: bullet-proof and suicide.

6. You can’t think of anyone you HAVEN’T declared Jihad against.

7. You consider television dangerous, but routinely carry explosives in your clothing.

8. You were amazed to discover that cell phones have uses other than setting off roadside bombs.

9. You’ve ever uttered the phrase, “I love what you’ve done with your cave.”

10. You have nothing against women and think every man should own at least Two.

11. You bathe at least monthly whether necessary or not.

12. You’ve ever had a crush on your neighbor’s goat.

Fans of the miniatures/board game Battle Lore and the older computer game Fantasy General will appreciate Fantasy Wars, a new turn-based strategy game from Atari. I really enjoyed it and have spent way too many hours playing.

In the game, you assume command of one of three armies—Human, Orc, or Elf—and battle your way through a series of interconnected scenarios. The action is strictly turn based. You click on a unit and then tell it where to move and fight. When one unit has finished moving, you go on to the next. When all have completed their actions, the turn ends and the computer plays.

That leaves plenty of time to think about what you’re doing—a welcome break from the frenetic clicking real time games that seem to be in vogue.

Like BattleLore and Fantasy General, movement is done on a hex grid, with one unit occupying each hex. From a distance, the units appear as single figures on the screen, but as you zoom in, you can see the individual soldiers. That makes it appealing to the miniatures gamer in me. Each unit of course has different abilities, and as is standard for these games, you can upgrade units and abilites as you earn money by accomplishing tasks

During the game, units performed realistically (can you even use that term with a fantasy game?). Defensive positions matter; terrain affects both combat and movement. One nice touch is that when a missile unit is placed behind a melee unit, it can provide defensive support. That encourages the realistic positioning of archers.

A tactic that works for me: Move archers into range of the enemy and pound them. Them advance the cheap foot troops to wear it down. Finally, when it’s about to break, send in the cavalry or heroes to mop up.

I found the game play to be very satisfying (and addicting). It’s one of those games where I always wanted to play “just one more turn.”

The graphics are a major upgrade from Fantasy General, and were more than adequate for my tastes. They aren’t what you’d call hyper realistic, but I am more concerned with game play anyway.

Fantasy Wars is played point and click interface. After watching the tutorial, I was able to play without thinking at all about the actual mechanics.  If there’s one complaint I have about the game, however, it’s that it was slow to respond to mouse clicks. I often had to click several times before getting a unit to do something.

Overall, this is a good game that I’d recommend.

The Hemmings Auto Blogs have a post on a wonderful Wierd World War II vehicle: the Minenraumer, which apparently is kept in a Russian museum.