PLAYTEST: “The Posse”

[Whiterook]

Another playtest scenario for Bite the Bullet, by All Alone Games. This one is called, “The Posse” and an outlaw Gang of four (a Boss and three thugs) are on the lamb from the law! The Boss needs to head for and make it across a river, ultimately escaping off the north edge of the map; it doesn’t matter if the thugs make it off the map — the game ends in an outlaw victory once the Boss escapes the map — but hey, that’s the life of an outlaw thug, now isn’t it!?? Alternatively, the outlaws could win if they kill all the lawmen, but that’s a tall order, as there are up to eight lawmen on the trail. If the Boss is killed, game over — the thugs will just scatter into the wind, which is what thugs generally do, right!??

The outlaws start with the Boss and his three thugs on the map, in randomly rolled placement. There will only be four outlaws in the map the whole game, and the thugs protecting their Boss is job #1.

The law starts with the Sheriff and three deputies hidden among the 12 Concealed unit markers (the ones with the western figure and a question mark on the tile). As these Concealed units are “detected”, by moving into Line of Sight (LOS) of a lawman, the hidden character that is revealed may be a dummy (no character activated), or the Sheriff or one of his three deputies, in which case they activate in that square detected in. But, a neat mechanic in this one is, there are four additional lawmen that have the chance to be activated, and on Turn 3 or later, they begin the game as Pursuers that enter the southern edge of the map at a randomly rolled square! They can then speed off, also heading after the outlaws, which makes it a potentially 8 lawmen on 4 outlaw bloodletting

This is a cool scenario where the point of the playtest is to see if the law is too overpowering. If so, perhaps only the four pursuers will be onboard on/or after Turn 3.



In the picture above, Sheriff Alex McGee and three of his Deputies, Fred, Susan, and Todd (middle character sheet) are the four main lawmen that may activate on-map when detected; and four other lawmen (right character sheet), Deputy Belle, jack, Carmen, and Henry, may also have the chance to activate as pursuers from the southern map edge later on. The Outlaw Boss, Ron, along with his three thugs, Billy, Miguel, and Cathy, all start the game on-map.

This is going to be a fun one!!!

[Whiterook]

GAME 1

TURN 1

Concealed Counters Movement: Deputies Fred, Susan, and Todd were detected! …two dummy counters discarded. 
Character Activation:

• Deputy Fred moves to cover behind rocks;
• Outlaw Ron opens fire on Deputy Todd, 3 APs, and hits with a Lucky 12 Shot with his shotgun and kills Todd straight away!!!
• Outlaw Billy opens fire at Deputy Susan, 3 APs, Wounds Susan with the first shell, misses the second shell, and switched to his Revolver;
• Deputy Susan opens fire on Outlaw Billy, 3 APs, moves one to cover and fires two shots with her Winchester for one hit on Billy;
• Outlaw Miguel gets 3 APs, moves into the river, switches to his Revolver;
• Outlaw Cathy moves up to the opposite side of the boulder that Deputy Fred is behind, and can perhaps suppress Deputy Susan from any plans of moving up.

The outlaws are proving pretty mean right off the bat! Killed one lawman, wounded another, while only taking one wound for one of their thugs. They are going to have to get moving fast though, as they see dust on the horizon below them, and that can mean only one things… the law has support riding in fast in the distance, so they must be on horses being ridden hard!

[Whiterook]

TURN 2

Concealed Counters Movement: Deputies Belle and Jack were detected! They will activate in Turn 3.
Character Activation:

• Deputy Fred, 3 APs, Moves into the open and unloads his shotgun on Outlaw Billy….aaaaaand, misses   He’s out in the open with his shotgun empty and feeling very exposed!
• Outlaw Boss Ron, 3 APs, hightails it straight Ahead! …diving behind the ill cover of some scrubbly bushes. Seeing those dust clouds gaining ground behind him has him convinced he’ll waste too much time heading across to his left, where he’d have liked to make a dash for the river on the northwest side of the combatant area; he figures he has more options moving forward, and a dead Deputy in the river is one less gun bearing down at him;
• Outlaw Billy, 3 APs, takes aim (costing 1 AP) and fires at Susan with his Revolver (2 bullets) and kills her dead; moves into cover in the scrub next to Cathy;
• Outlaw Miguel, 3 APs, moves out of the River, up to the bushes and back into the Water behind a dead deputy;
• Outlaw Cathy, with a lucky 4 APs! shifts right from behind the boulder and fires her Revolver (2 bullets) at Deputy Fred, and kills him dead with the second and four discharges;

That didn’t work out so well for Deputy Fred, being shot down dead after foolishly moving into open ground… bad calculated risk, that after Deputy Susan being mowed down in a hail of bullets. This is bad for the lawmen, with three dead, and three that haven’t even arrived on scene yet. Luckily, help is on the way! 

---

PLAYTEST NOTE: This scenario calls for four lawmen to arrive on horseback, starting on Turn 3, where they roll for a starting entry square on the southern end of the map. The Special Rules however, do not state if: A) they have to have been detected first (theoretically by the start of Turn 2 — or, B) do all come aboard detected or not? I am assuming the A choice, having too be detected first, so even if that doesn’t happen until say the fourth, fifth, or subsequent turns, they await detection before activation. Given this assumption, only deputies Belle and Jack will activate on the next turn (Turn 3). I think this works better in that the outlaws aren’t necessarily overwhelmed by four additional lawmen flying up their butt on horseback! Though, one could just as easily make the assumption of, why would Carmen and Henry be delayed (in the case of where we stand in-play at the moment). Great example of why playtesting is used to flesh out thoughts like this!!!

[mikeh]

Those outlaws are some pretty mean hombres!

[Whiterook]

Oct 4, 2024 14:52:31 GMT -5 mikeh said:

Those outlaws are some pretty mean hombres!

Tell me about it! They are taking names and kicking serious lawmen ass!!! Gosh, this is a cool frickin’ game!!!

[Whiterook]

TURN 3

Pursuer Activation: Deputies Belle and Jack had been detected the previous turn… Deputy Belle rolls and will come in square 1 (far left southern map edge); and Jack in square 5, four squares over.
Concealed Counters Movement: No detections, dummy counters eliminated.
Character Activation:

• Outlaw Ron gets a crappy roll for only 2 APs…bad timing! He moves ahead and into cover behind Deputy Susan’s dead body. His best chance will be to get a good AP roll next turn, get to Susan and drop his knife and grab her Winchester Rifle;
• Outlaw Billy, 3 APs, moves three forward onto Fred’s dead body… he’s considering whether to drop his Revolver and grab Fred’s shotgun;
• Outlaw Miguel, 4 APs, has a tough decision: he could shift over to the other side of the Boss, but that’s contesting the outlaws’ positions and creating a nasty bottleneck. He opts to stay on the eastern side of the map abd move slowly ahead and maybe provide better cover from the lawmen flanking that side. He can only move one space in water, but that works out OK, as he decides on a bold move… he moves onto Todd’s space, drops his sawed-off shotgun, and picks up Todd’s Winchester and revolver (four points expended);
• Outlaw Cathy similarly had tough decisions… she was eyeing Deputy Susan’s Winchester, but she knew the Boss would be so pissed, he’d killer her dead! So, she shifted left to the side of the boulder, behind the cover of bushes to hopefully slow the two lawmen she now sees riding hard on their behinds!
• Deputy Belle as pursuer comes aboard, mounted on a fast horse… OMG, she only rolled a 1… a 1! for 1 AP. She moves her allotted two spaces forward. Outlaw Cathy can’t believe her luck!!!
• Deputy Jack, 3 APs, comes aboard on his trusty stead and throws all caution to the wind… he’s kinda insane, so no surprise to his fellow deputies! …he rides straight up four squares, stays mounted and fires his Winchester, winding the Boss. This may cost Jack badly when others start unloading on him, however,

Only one wound inflicted on the outlaws, but if one was to be had, on the Boss is a good thing… but it may come at a steep price for Jack. Some upgunning with weapons for the outlaws. Tow of the lawmen pursuers are aboard, but the Sheriff is STILL nowhere to be found… is he asleep under a nice rocky ledge somewhere? 

[Whiterook]

TURN 4

Concealed Counters Movement: No detections.
Character Activation:

• Outlaw Ron gets a crappy roll of 2, so only 2 APs, moves up onto Susan, and can juuuuuust see past the builders too Deputy Jack, so he pops off a shot with his shotgun, and misses (it was a tough one, with +3 Sweat, +1 Wound, +2 for two Covers of bushes, +3 Distance, and +1 Jack on Horseback = 10 with 2d6). Plus he’s out of shotgun shells;
• Outlaw Billy gets a similar and crappier roll of 1, for 1 AP, and fires at Deputy Jack with two bullets, and misses;
• Outlaw Miguel, 3 APs, moves down in the river and fires both revolvers at Deputy Jack, Lucky Shot 12 for 2 hits, miss, and again for and miss. Jack has two wounds, so all in all pretty good shootin’ for Miguel, but his revolver in his right hand is jammed;
• Outlaw Cathy rolls superbly for 4 APs! She moves down one, into the bushes, switched her other revolver from her holster to her left hand and now having tow active revolvers, she shoots both revolvers at Deputy Belle, hit, Lucky Shot 12 for two hits killing Belle, shoes horse runs away as she falls to the ground, Cathy’s right revolver is now empty, and with an impossible-ish shot left with her remaining revolver (she’d need a 12 on 2d6), she moves back behind the boulder, out of LOS of Jack’s Winchester;
• Deputy Jack, an equally superb roll nets 4 APs, and fires at Boss Ron, hit, hits, hit and kill! End Game,

Man, Jack was badly wounded, but took out the Boss with his trusty Winchester! Poor Deputy Belle bought it unfortunately, but there’s also a ton of blood and dead lawmen everywhere. The outlaws fared somewhat well, considering they were outnumbered by one deputy, but the Sheriff and two purser deputies never arrived ( they would be the last Concealed Counters you see on the northern edge of the map and only one of them would have been detected next turn, ironically enough, the Sheriff, Alex  ). 

---

PLAYTEST NOTES:  Hard to tell what the balance of the scenario was on this play, however those three missing lawmen would definitely have been needed to help… the Sheriff at least would have been north of the battlefield, so he may have been crucial to stop the outlaw Boss; the other two deputies were two turns out from possible detection and would have had to ride like the devil to get in the action…built on horses, they could have covered that ground easily, so starting the pursuers on horseback is crucial, in my estimation. I would say balance was fine for this play… I definitely want to play a couple more times and see.

I actually forgot to use horseshoes, which would have allowed some re-rolls, so that might have added a bit of favor, but not a ton.

Three shotguns (two lawmen and one outlaw) were completely empty and would have cost reload APs expenditure. Three outlaws nearly emptied five revolvers and one of those was jammed. Boss Ron never got a chance to loose the knife and get a pew-pew, but that (and badly timed crappy AP rolling) made it a non-issue. One horse is probably in Montana by now, pissing itself mightily.

Probably a couple hours playtime, but in fairness, that included re-familiarizing myself reading rules.

Excellent game… LOVE it!

[saboteur]

Oct 4, 2024 16:24:51 GMT -5 Whiterook said:

• Deputy Belle as pursuer comes aboard, mounted on a fast horse… OMG, she only rolled a 1… a 1! for 1 AP. 

 

Comment: when you roll 1, you get 2 action points (not 1) as indicated on the table.

[saboteur]

Oct 4, 2024 14:14:54 GMT -5 Whiterook said:

PLAYTEST NOTE: This scenario calls for four lawmen to arrive on horseback, starting on Turn 3, where they roll for a starting entry square on the southern end of the map. The Special Rules however, do not state if: A) they have to have been detected first (theoretically by the start of Turn 2 — or, B) do all come aboard detected or not? I am assuming the A choice, having too be detected first, so even if that doesn’t happen until say the fourth, fifth, or subsequent turns, they await detection before activation. Given this assumption, only deputies Belle and Jack will activate on the next turn (Turn 3). I think this works better in that the outlaws aren’t necessarily overwhelmed by four additional lawmen flying up their butt on horseback! Though, one could just as easily make the assumption of, why would Carmen and Henry be delayed (in the case of where we stand in-play at the moment). Great example of why playtesting is used to flesh out thoughts like this!!!

As I have conceived the scenario, the Concealed counters of the pursuers should be considered as dummies. All pursuers arrive together on turn 3 and start detected.
Nevertheless, I'm open for other suggestions.

[Whiterook]

Oct 7, 2024 13:04:31 GMT -5 saboteur said:

Oct 4, 2024 16:24:51 GMT -5 Whiterook said:

• Deputy Belle as pursuer comes aboard, mounted on a fast horse… OMG, she only rolled a 1… a 1! for 1 AP. 

 

Comment: when you roll 1, you get 2 action points (not 1) as indicated on the table.

OMGosh, I totally missed the “<“ (less than) sign on a 1 roll! Yes, a roll of 1 would have gotten 2 AP… my bad   Noted for future play. 

I’m not in front of the game, but when rolling 1d6 against the action table, how would you get a modifier that makes it less than a 1?

Oct 7, 2024 13:11:36 GMT -5 saboteur said:

Oct 4, 2024 14:14:54 GMT -5 Whiterook said:

PLAYTEST NOTE: This scenario calls for four lawmen to arrive on horseback, starting on Turn 3, where they roll for a starting entry square on the southern end of the map. The Special Rules however, do not state if: A) they have to have been detected first (theoretically by the start of Turn 2 — or, B) do all come aboard detected or not? I am assuming the A choice, having too be detected first, so even if that doesn’t happen until say the fourth, fifth, or subsequent turns, they await detection before activation. Given this assumption, only deputies Belle and Jack will activate on the next turn (Turn 3). I think this works better in that the outlaws aren’t necessarily overwhelmed by four additional lawmen flying up their butt on horseback! Though, one could just as easily make the assumption of, why would Carmen and Henry be delayed (in the case of where we stand in-play at the moment). Great example of why playtesting is used to flesh out thoughts like this!!!

As I have conceived the scenario, the Concealed counters of the pursuers should be considered as dummies. All pursuers arrive together on turn 3 and start detected.
Nevertheless, I'm open for other suggestions.

Hmmm, I think I like your concept better… all activate as detected at start of Turn 3, and that’s how I’ll play the next scenario. It’ll be a great test to see if the outlaws are overwhelmed or not. The only reason I would suggest changing it to what I mentioned in “A” would be if it was clear the balance shifted badly in favor of the law consistently. From a cinematic standpoint, it follows fine in your concept, as posse’s would more times than not, tend to be far greater numbers than those being chased down.

[Whiterook]

GAME 2

Same character sheets used in each game, the difference being the random choice of Outlaw Boss (in this play, Billy), the Sheriff (Fred), and the weapons randomly outfitted to all the characters. I’m happy with having a different Boss and Sheriff… I suppose I could have played this as a pseudo campaign and kept the previous games’ random stats, but this is more fun!

What was interesting about setup on this second game was the weapons!!!



Firepower was fearsome last game, with a lot of shotguns, rifles, and Peacemaker pew-pewers; this game has a nor=table change that is going to make things a lot tougher on killing folks: all four outlaws and two lawmen have a knife for a secondary weapon (might be a lot of picking up bang bangs off of the dead!); one outlaw has whisky and no secondary weapon (though someone will surely have a chance to benefit with a free wound cured); and one lawman has dynamite for a secondary weapon. Lots of revolvers, and only seven long guns split almost evenly between factions. I’ll be curious to see how this affects the game and game length.

---

PLAYTEST NOTE: One observation is, I’m not a big fan of dynamite as a random weapon assignment. I’m not sure how practicable it is for characters to possibly be assigned dynamite, which is always a secondary weapon placement (so there is that), but why? Cowboys and lawmen didn’t typically carry around dynamite in thier back pocket   Granted it’s on a 1d6 roll of 6, so there is a decidedly low chance of getting one (though almost every game I have played gets at least one). I’m being nitpicky, granted, but I’d rather see a concealed derringer instead. Of course, I can always make my own counter and a house rule (optional) to switch out a derringer for a stick of dynamite. For me, I’d rather have dynamite to blast a hole in a wall for an entry/shooting angle option.

I am going to use a playtest variant this game, “The Horseshoe Variant Rule”:

• Every single character will get one (usually, only one character per side can get one in an optional rule);
  
• Instead of using it for it’s normal benefit of a dice re-roll and discarding the counter, it can be used to give a drm of +1 to any one die, and then be discarded;
• Or, it can still be used for a re-roll instead, as mentioned;
• Every time a character rolls a “1” on a die (during activation or shooting), that player gets a new horseshoe at the end of their turn! Note that as written, it doesn’t say anything about replacing a discarded horseshoe, so I will opt to just place another (so characters might have more than one horseshoe counter… I hope I don’t run out of lucky horseshoes  ).

---

TURN 1

Concealed Counters Movement: Deputies Alex and Todd were detected! …and one Pursuer (Belle), but she only activates on Turn 3.



Character Activation:

• Outlaw Ron activates, 4APs, moves up one and fires his Winchester at Deputy Todd with three shots, 2 hits for two wounds. Ouch!!! That was some good shootin’, ’ya doity scum!!!
• Deputy Alex activates, 4 APs, moves up one (to get in range, and also, he can only move one water space anyway, which he would have wanted to do anyway), and fires his Winchester at Ron with an Aim (1 SP) and a shot (1AP) for a hit and a miss on a second shot. Ron gets one wound;
• Outlaw Boss Billy activates, 4 APs, and moves up past Cathy and to the left and fires his sawed-off shotgun and scores a double hit on Deputy Todd and kills him;
• Outlaw Miguel activates, 4 APs, moves up four spaces;
• Outlaw Cathy is up next, 4 APs, moves up three into bushes and fires her Winchester at Deputy Alex for a hit.

One dead lawman, who never got a chance to activate to drink his whiskey to mitigate one wound… just too much lead flying at him, and nag good shottin’ (rolls). Not too bad elsewise for the first engagement!

[Whiterook]

TURN 2

Concealed Counters Movement: Lawman Fred activates after moving next to Fred (rolled for horizontal movement), and a dummy activates below Alex and is discarded.
Character Activation:

• Sheriff Fred, 4 APs, moves down one in the river and takes aim at Cathy (the boss is too far away and has three covered spaces to fire through), scores one hit with his shotgun for a double wound on Cathy, and fires again and misses, and uses his last AP to reload one shell;
• Outlaw Ron activates next, 4 APs, moves three spaced to Boss Billy’s left, on the other side of the boulder, to give him spotting range for anyone up noth, and uses his last AP to reload a bullet;
• Deputy Alex, 4 Aps, moves one space out of the river to his right and in front of Cathy and fires his Winchester at her, killed her dead; next with the 3rd AP takes aim and 4th Ap to fire at the Outlaw Boss Billy for a hit and wound;
• Outlaw Boss Billy, being winged, is pissed! 2 APs, he moves up tow and stands over Deputy Todd’s dead body, spitting at him viley;
• Outlaw Miguel activates, 2 APs (the die roll turned sour with a 1 for him, as it did for Billy!), so he moves a space to behind the boulder and left behind Cathy’s dean body, and takes a chance to drop his knife (free action) so he can quick grab Cathy’s Winchester next turn…it’s a gamble, especially as he noticed dust kicking up south of him, which is surely more lawmen!

With Outlaw Cathy dead, the kill count is dead even ( <— see what I did there?!?). Still, with only two desperados alongside Boss Billy, it’s going to be a nasty business trying to get up and cross that river, which will hold them up a turn as well. meanwhile, that dust clouds just materialized behind the outlaws, at too close a distance for comfort… it’s a good thing the Boss is not far from the river…the problem for him being, he has a bad choice to make next turn… go up and into the river, or to his right to that part of the river? …considering he’d have two turns of waiting with his heels cooling in the running river (two spaces worth to get to dry land), he’s likely going to have to go up and into the awaiting Lawmen ambush!!! …all while more law pursues him and his thugs from behind. This is going to be challenging for the outlaws, and they’re down one in numbers…and, pick up better weapons? …that has to be factored in, and it’s probably worth the gamble in time (APs).

---

PLAYTEST NOTE: When a character drops a weapon, page 23 says it goes on the ground in the space it was dropped and can be picked up. The problem might be that it would be hard to tell what character last had it; and if it were a gun, how many bullets were left and/or jammed. I would suggest playing it this way:

• Keep it on the map where discarded, but place a duplicate counter on the card of the character that dropped it, on or under the horseshoe space;
  
• If picked up on the map by another character, add the map one to his/her card and discard the “tracker duplicate” from the card of the character that dropped it… 
• The exception being a weapon with no bullets (i.e., a knife, axe, dynamite), in which you wouldn;t need a duplicate on the character card.

[Whiterook]

TURN 3

Concealed Counters Movement: Lawman Jack is detected, who was coming anboard annyway ans an pursuer, and two dummy counters discarded,
Pursuers will come onboard in rolled for assignments at southern board edge.
Character Activation:

• Sheriff Fred, 4 APs, moves down and over into the river for 2 APs, aims for 1 AP and fires his remaining shotgun shell at Boss Billy, and rolls a 7!!! …his hit number for two wounds on the Boss… the Boss only has one wound left to loose, but he’s luckily on Todd, who has whiskey, so if can make it to his turn, he can pick it up and ditch a wound;
• Outlaw Ron activates, 4 APs, he shifts over to the right two spaces, as he see’s the Boss is in trouble from Sheriff Billy and Deputy Billy… he needs to get some of that pressure off if he can by laying out some lead, and it also places him in harms way with the pursuers closing in from behind him, so who says there’s no honor amount thieves!!! He decided to shoot at Alex, as he believe the sheriff is out of ammo at the moment (plus it’s a closer shot), so he shoots his Winchester twice (no Aim, as a calculated chance to try and score two wounds on Alex), for one miss and one hit, Alex has another wound;
• Deputy Alex, 3 APs, just winged, activates but decides to fire at the Boss with his Winchester, for three misses, he uses his horseshoe, and misses Again!!!! Oh snap;
• Outlaw Boiss Billy activates, 3 APs, drops the knife in his belt, switches his sawed-off shotgun to his back, picks up the whisky and drinks it down, getting rid of one wound marker. He’s stuck in place, but with nowhere to run, he figured it’d be better to get in a better health position. He’ll have to hope the survives and can grab Todd’s Winchester next turn;
• Outlaw bandits Miguel activates, 3 APs, moves (1 AP) onto Cathy’s dead body, drops his revolver temporarily (free action), and picks up her Winchester;
• We’re left with the four Pursuers that all come on the map at each in a row… 
• Deputy Belle activates on square 2 (second from left on map), 4 APs, on horseback charging hard, she moves up four spaces straight up (2 APs) and shoots two bullets with her revolver at Outlaw Ron, killing him dead, then moves two spaces up around the left side of the bolder to her left, thinking she can help cut off routes up ahead next turn;
• Outlaw Jack activates on square 6 (second from right at map bottom), 2 APs, and rides up two squares and then one water space;
• Outlaw Carmen activates in square 5, (there from left side), 3 APs, rides up five spaces and stays mounted, behind a boulder, crowding the Boss and Miguel;
• Outlaw Henry activates for square 2 (second from left), 4 APs, moves onto Ron and switches his revolver in his holster to his left hand;

OK, that was bananas!!! Outlaws Ron joining Cathy in hell, and it’s down to Miguel to try and protect the boss. The net is closing and turn 4 may be a decider.

[Whiterook]

TURN 4

Concealed Counters Movement: Lawman Jack is detected, who was coming anboard annyway ans an pursuer, and two dummy counters discarded.
Character Activation:

• Sheriff Fred, 3 APs, Reloads a shell, fires on Miguel, and reloads again, and scores a hit for two wounds;
• Deputy Alex activates, 4 APs, and unloads his Winchester at the Boss, hit, miss, hit and the Boss is dead

Game end…

---

Hmmm, another quick game. Horseshoes didn’t really impact things, but I may have been forgetting g to use them regularly; but regardless, if the outlaws loose a couple bandits, they becioame severely outmanned, it would seem. More playtesting might reveal otherwise, but this is two quick games in a row.

[Whiterook]

GAME 3

PLAYTEST NOTES: Last game, I used a playtest variant called, “The Horseshoe Variant Rule”

1. Each time a player gets a die result of “1” (during activation or shooting), they get a new horseshoe for that character at the end of that turn. Now normally, any horseshoe can be used to re-roll future dice rolls once and then discard the horseshoe marker. This variant added a choice, of instead, adding a +1 bonus to any one die (activation) or dice (shooting) roll instead of a re-roll option.
2. I also added an option at set-up to assign a horseshoe to every character! …I have no idea where I got that and I can’t find a reference to it.

There is also an Advanced Rules option called, “Lucky Charm”, where:

1. Each time a player gets a die result of “1” during activation (only!), they get a new horseshoe for that character at the end of that turn.
2. …that new horseshoe is only usable on the next turn and then discarded, used or not.
3. That character can keep a maximum of three horseshoes on their card.

SUGGESTIONS:
  

• I like the option to assign a horseshoe to every character at set-up. Why not! It will only gain you one potential re-roll so, it’s not majority game-impacting, but a nice situational-impact. Now if that’s too loose-goosey, at setup, make a die roll, 1-3 let’s you do this, and 4-6 disallows the set-up of everyone gets one.
• I like the “Lucky Charm” variant better, as written… however, I would add in the choice to use it for a +1 bonus to any one die (activation) or dice (shooting) roll instead of a re-roll option, and…
• Take out, that new horseshoe is only usable on the next turn and then discarded, used or not… Let them stay on the card until game end if not used/discard when used.
• I would get amend the “Lucky Charm” rule under your proposed Advanced Rules as an addition to Volume 1’s, “Horseshoe Variant” rule accordingly.

So far, I haven’t used horseshoes very much, mainly because my head just didn’t process their usage very well. Part of the problem originally was, it is referenced in the Set-up Instructions on page 36 of Volume 1, as an Optional Rule; I think it said somewhere else that one can be given each side, but I believe that’s in yet another section. And now, there may be Advanced Rules (the “Lucky Charm”) that have yet more horseshoe rules and options… that’s three instances of slightly different takes on a horseshoe. Technically, there’s even a fourth instance, but that was part of a playtest assignment for me (the “Horseshoe Variant Rule”). Part of the issue I see here is, you (the designer) already have a rulebook in print, so if you chance that instance of the rule, it will have to be in a 2nd Edition version of Volume 1 (…and I personally hate 2nd, 3rd, etc., editions)…that’s why I’d suggest going with the last bullet in my suggestions above, as I think it’s a nice compromise with cool new variances.


NOTE TO VIEWER: I am playing this next game with my above playtest suggestions.

---

(…disregard the orange cube   Which snuck by my last game, board clear)

TURN 1

Concealed Counters Movement: Outlaw Susan, Deputy Belle (who will come aboard as a Pursuer in Turn 3) are detected, as well as three dummy counters which are discarded.



Character Activation:

• Outlaw Ron activates, 2 APs, moves up two spaces and into the Rattlesnake River;
• Outlaw Boss Billy activates, 3 APs, moves up on, aims, and fires his Winchester at Sheriff Susan for a miss;
• Sheriff Susan activates, 3 APs, moves one space into better cover from Miguel, and fires two bullets from her revolver at the Outlaw Boss, and scores two wounds, and fires two bullets again and misses (NOTE: One of her dies was a one, which under one interpretation of the Horseshoe Variant would get her a horseshoe, but the Luck Charm doesn’t, so it proves in this instant I like the only on an activation die roll getting a horseshoe);
• EDIT: I played the Revolver Double Shot wrong   …I was supposed to roll two dice per shot for a potential 1 Wound; I treated it as a Double Wound on the 2nd AP fire, which only nets 1 Wound (not two). The 3rd AP shots were never taken so tough luck on my part as the player. So, disregard the picture below showing Boss Billy with two Wounds and he now only has 1.

• Outlaw Miguel is up next, rolls a 1 and gets another horseshoe he can use starting turn 2, 2 APs, moves up two spaces, in front of the Boss to screen him from the Sheriff’s shot next turn…it’s a bad move for him, but he’s a loyal bandido!!!
• Outlaw Cathy is activated, 3 APs,  moves up a space into the bushes and drops her Whiskey for the Boss next turn, and proceeds two more spaces behind the boulder.

PLAYTEST NOTE: I have a question in to the designer on Cathy’s move: Can you drop an item from your carry-on? As an example, you have a Whiskey flask in your carry-on and a rifle in your main weapon hands… you want to drop the carry-on whiskey…can you? Or do you need to switch weapons? I would personally say you can… crook the rifle in your arm while you reach for and drop the whiskey, and take the rifle back into both hands… the reason for my logic is, otherwise, you need to spend an AP to switch the rifle out to carry on, drop the whiskey for free, and spend another (2nd) AP to switch your rifle back… that’s costly in APs. Based on his answer, I might edit this post, however, I may just make this a personal House Rule in allowance.