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Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Legends Of The Old West Review

19th Century,  Games Workshop,  GWs LoTR,  Warhammer 40K

Over on the Lord of the Rings Yahoo group, Terry Maltman has posted a review of Warhammer Historicals' new "Legends of the Old West" game. Apparently it is not, as I feared, a 40K variant, but rather a Lord of the Rings variant, with some Mordheim/Necromunda stuff thrown in. You can read the review below.

At the weekend I bought myself a copy of Legends of the Old West from 
Warhammer Historical. This is an entirely new game and has nothing to 
do with the Warhammer derived WH Ancients variant. What intrigued me is 
that it  is a blend of the good parts of both GWs LoTR and Mordheim games. This 
is based on first reading the rulebook as I have not yet played the game. 
However I think it reasonable to extrapolate from the other game 
systems with which I am familiar.

The setting is skirmishes based in the American west around 1880. This 
is the period of the classic westerns – Dodge City and Gunfight at the OK 
Corral. As a result the atmosphere has not a little Hollywood about it 
but  to a Fantasy gamer like me that is no bad thing. Technology is up to 
6-shooting revolvers, explosives and shotguns. A lot of the rules are 
scattered with ‘wild west’ phraseology which either adds to the 
atmosphere or irritates according to your taste. The equivalent of a LoTR ‘With 
Me’ call is ‘Yee Ha’ and a warband is called a Posse.

The book itself is very nicely produced in full colour throughout (like 
the LoTR books). It is divided into the usual section on core rules, 
weapons, warbands, scenarios, campaigns (experience & income), hired guns & 
Legends (named characters for hire). At the back is a hobby section, rosters & 
templates to copy and the usual reference tables.

The Core Rules
Now it gets interesting. The game mechanics are based on LoTR. The turn 
sequence is familiar to any LoTR player starting with ‘Getting the 
Drop’ (priority). Shooting is slightly different as they have added the 
concept of ‘pinning’ (from Necromunda). If a model is hit but not wounded he drops 
to the ground or dives for cover. Not unreasonable reaction but when I 
played Necromunda it was very frustrating to have half of your gang cowering 
in cover and out of play. I reserve judgement on that. A last wound will 
take a model Out of Action. There are no Mordheim style injury rolls. I was a 
bit surprised by that. *It works for LoTR which is more of a battle game 
but in a small skirmish downed fighters recovering can make a difference.

Heroes
Like LoTR heroes get heroic attributes. In this case Fame & Fortune. 
Fame works like Might and can be used to call heroic actions or to adjust 
dice rolls. Fortune is the same as Fate and provides a lucky ward save 
against wounds. There is no equivalent to Will as there is (not surprisingly) 
no magic. In general the levels of the heroic attributes are lower than in 
LoTR as we are dealing with real people rather than legendary heroes. The 
campaign system though allows for increases.

Weapons
The emphasis is very much on shooting rather than close combat. 
Fighters can take a range of guns including the 6-shooter (revolver) a heavy 
revolver, rifle, buffalo gun, shotgun (normal & sawn off), musket and the strange 
LeMat pistol (revolver/shotgun combi). There is also an option for 
thrown weapons. All of them have their own special rules like fanning the 
revolver (multi shot) or the scattergun effect. Compared to what we are used to 
in Mordheim the close combat weapons are very limited. There is a generic 
hand weapon which is usually a fighting knife. However for the same cost you 
can designate it as a sabre which becomes useful with one of the skills. 
There is a generic 2-handed weapon which gets the same penalty & bonus as 
LoTR. Bare fist fighting is featured more heavily as is an improvised weapon. 
All four basic c-c weapon types have different permutations of +/-1 to win 
the fight and to wound. There is nothing like the amount of special rules 
and detail as we have in Mordheim but a little more than LoTR.

Warbands
The book calls these a ‘Posse’ but warband, gang, mob or whatever. 
Recruitment is much like Mordheim. You have $200 to spend on a minimum 
of 3 and a maximum of 12 or 15 fighters. You have a number of heroes one of 
whom must be the leader. Heroes gain experience and advance like Mordheim. 
Henchmen are bought individually rather than in groups (despite mention 
of ‘group’ on the roster). They gain experience more slowly than heroes 
but in many cases they gain +1 Ex for kills. The scenarios specify when. They 
only gain stat advances not skills but can be promoted. Equipment is bought 
from a starting list. There are only three posse lists in the starting book 
but there are supplements promised with more. At present the choices are 
Lawmen, Cowboys and Outlaws.

Scenarios
There are 8 scenarios covering the sort of situations you might expect. 
Robbing a stage coach, shootout at the corral, bar brawl etc. All look 
very characterful and are fought on a variety of table sizes from 2’ to 4’ 
square. The style is more LoTR than Mordheim with lots of scenario 
specific rules. Experience is specified for taking part, winning leader, kills 
and achieving objectives.

Campaigns
As in Mordheim campaigns cover advancement, injuries and income. I have 
already mentioned experience. This will be familiar to Mordheim 
players. There are a range of skill tables which apply to different fighters. 
There are lists for Shootin’, Brawlin’, Savvy and so on. Heroes take serious 
injuries like the Mordheim table whilst henchmen die on a D6 roll of 1 
or 2. My concern is that without the Mordheim injury table (KD/Stunned/OOA) 
the fighters will be dropping like flies so the death rate will be 
correspondingly high. Income is simpler than Mordheim with a single 
step. The warband gets 1D6 + 2D6 $ per hero who did not go OOA. The example 
in the rulebook however does not work. There is also a bonus in each scenario 
for the winning posse typically an additional 4D6 dollars. Additional 
recruits and equipment can then be purchased from tables of common and rare 
equipment. Rarity works the same as Mordheim.

Hired Guns & Legends
Hired guns are self explanatory. They have an initial hire fee then a 
retainer for subsequent games. The 13 provided are more diverse than 
the fantasy warriors we are used to. They include some of the characters 
you may find around a Wild West town like bar keepers, gamblers and whores. 
Some provide special abilities rather than just muscle. The legends are no 
less than 17 real historical characters like Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid. 
Where possible they have been equipped with historically accurate equipment. 
Like Dramatis Personae in Mordheim you must hunt these guys out before 
employing  them.

My overall impression is that they have taken the best bits from both 
game systems and made an interesting new combination. It should appeal to 
both Mordheim and LoTR players. I can’t wait to get a few games under my 
belt. It  will be very quick to learn and like most skirmishes you can use very 
few models. I think that you could quickly mug up a posse or two using 
Mordheim  plastic mercenaries. Having the sort of perverse mind I have my thought 
immediately turned to adapting the rules to other settings. They could 
be used pretty well as they are for either LoTR parties of adventurers or 
for  Mordheim (with some extra weapons). Any sort of medium-low tech gang 
warfare  would work. Prohibition era America or Gangs of New York would work as 
would a WW2 or modern urban conflict.

Sorry to have rambled for so long but as I said way up top this rule 
set crosses the boundaries of two of my favourite games.

Terry

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