Weird West Wargaming

 Probably inspired by playing Hunt:Showdown 1896 on PC, I've recently been on a wild west craze. My DVD pile includes such diverse titles as The Wild Bunch, Bone Tomahawk, Wild Wild West and Westworld. 

Naturally that spills over into my gaming, so I've been digging through my collection. On the tail end of the original Malifaux launch, I collected quite a few "normal" western miniatures to make my own weird west world. I've dug them out and note the somewhat chipped paint jobs and hasty natural sand bases. So that needs to be fixed.

I've also got some MDF western buildings (unpainted, unglued). Painting them seems a bit of a big job, and I'm wondering if there is a quick "finish" to put on it to darken it and make them look more... "woodlike". I'm pretty sure the MDF will soak up stuff like linseed oil (then swell/warp?) so a bit unsure where to go here.

So I'm procrastinating that while digging through my rulebooks. What will I use/adapt?

As usual my digital gaming tends to trend into analogue wargames..

Malifaux.

OK, the obvious one. I have good memories of the very varied range of missions/objectives Malifaux had; that gave goods variety and attempted away from "kill em all." It has a very detailed and interesting lore and it's a game that seems to have survived well over the ensuing years as while it's not A tier, there always seems to be some presence locally and online. But - it's not for me. The detailed stat cards, the hitpoints, the "named" characters, the 'gamey' special attacks, the ridiculously short shooting ranges of ~12" maximum. I don't view replacing dice with cards as anything desirable, though I recall it being good in trying to get the initiative. The art, fluff and missions are useful though. Zero inclination to play the rules or print out complicated cards for each unique character - but keep out for reference. 

 

 Yep, that IS a lot of text and rules for ONE character, Malifaux. Not what I need or want for homebrew gunfighting horror adventures.

Dracula's America

An inoffensive but kinda meh Osprey game. There is a single universal stat dice (d10 to d6) depending if you are a hero, vet or mook. As usual with these genius attempts to deal away with "complicated" stat lines, you instead end up with excessive special rules to differentiate your otherwise identical d8 hellhound monsters from your d8 human cowboys. I.e. instead of 4-5 common stats and a single unique special rule per model, you end up with 1 common stat and 4-5 unique rules...  The mechanics were meh, and pretty beer and pretzels but I do recall players playing a card from a hand to determine action order - kinda a bidding mechanic which I liked; and the ability to choose either taking 2 actions by one model or 1 action from two models - which was simple and kinda unique and interesting. It's not bad - and at least each model doesn't need 10 lines of text and unique actions like Malifaux and would be nice on a game night with newbies, but this one is going back in the cupboard.

Deadlands RPG

I actually dislike the Deadlands fluff - it just seems corny with "magic maze""ghost rock" and magic being powered by manitous. While it does have lots of stuff in it - mad inventors, undead, confederates, Indian spirits, monsters etc - reading through the books again has not changed my mind. It's just a mish-mash 'background' that tries to cram in too much random stuff and just hits the wrong notes for me - Carnevale for example has a much stronger, more consistent theme. However it IS powered by Savage Worlds RPG engine which is one of the few RPGs I tolerate (based as it is originally on a skirmish miniatures game). Back in the box - but it's given me an idea.

 

Empire of the Dead (EotD)

Not set in the wild west but the right era and theme, Empire of the Dead is a very Games Workshop+ game. This means an ex-GW writer who has tweaked the usual formula to make it slightly more modern. EotD unfortunately keeps IGOUGO rather than the standard upgrade to alternate activations, but does swap to d10 to allow more differentiation. Like Dracula's America, it would be easy/familiar to teach, and I recall some very light campaign rules. Pretty meh, though, so back in the box.

Legends of the Old West

If I'm going to get a GW-esque game, I might as well look at one modelled on their best.  Using the LoTR:SBG engine, this allows heroes to have "might" and "fate" to perform heroic deeds or cheat fate and miraculously survive; it also has a more detailed campaign system than any of the others so far. The LoTR engine is less suited to a shooting-heavy game, though, and while you could probably easily enough mock-up monsters off LoTR profiles the game is purely "historical" with no monsters included. I'll put it to one side though as my kids already know LoTR:SBG so it would be the easiest game of all to play and a points system means you can roughly balance encounters.

....so I'm going to do my own thing, I think, with Legends (+homebrew monsters) as a backup plan.

As usual, I dislike reinventing the wheel so I am going to steal/borrow from Savage World's core pulp rulebook. It already uses playing cards (so beloved of Western rule writers) for initiative, so it's already got the vibe, and it has access to miniature-esque combat aimed to handle very diverse heroes, monsters and magic - with robust magic, skills and traits I can borrow from if needed.

 

Why Savage Worlds?

It's a good introduction to the 'dice are the stat' system i.e.  characters have stats ranked from d4 (hopeless) to d12 (great) that roll against a fixed number - usually a 4+, with predicable +/-2 shifts for modifiers. It's certainly got the potential to be more complicated or gluggy than anything so far except Malifaux, but of course SW is merely a big toolbox for many genres and settings and I can easily strip it back towards its wild west skirmish wargaming roots. There's plenty of magic and monsters ready to go, as well as existing rules for lassos, Winchesters and six shooters. There's even a very rough guide to 'rating' miniatures combat-wise, to balance scenarios, and a levelling system where a dice stat is upgraded each round.

 

So how did Hunt: Showdown inspire this all...

Well, it's kinda a weird west PC extraction shooter (PUBG/Tarkov?) but you have to sneak/battle your way past undead and defeat and banish a demonic monster (PvE) for a bounty whilst dodging a dozen other human players trying to do the same (PvP) - who are happy to gank you and steal your bounty. I thought it had some good ideas for a wargame....

a) numerous wandering 'grunt' NPC zombies that only lock onto you at close range 

b) a range of hero NPC zombies with special attacks (one zombie has a beehive for a head, tentacled things lurk in the swamp creeks, giant spiders etc)

...so the environment/terrain is threatening- maybe allowing solo gaming

c) the aim is to kill/banish a NPC monster or collect clues to get xp/$ etc

d) heroes choose from a small selection of 'gear' - like dynamite stick, molotovs, medkit, dagger etc - allowing limited customisation which they can also find via exploring

e) heroes may choose to 'extract' any time (leave via board edge) with loot

......so you don't need to 'kill em all' to win/succeed, and success may just be leaving with cool stuff, alive

I thought there were some interesting ideas for a wargame, as well as there are levelling skill/traits I could easily duplicate with Savage Worlds. And it might be fun to GM this where players pilot a small team of cowboys each where they can team up to fight monsters or gun each other down....

Intercept Vector 2025 (Jet Aerial Wargaming)

 ....because I only have 6 projects on the go, I decided to revise one of my homebrew rules (as per my New Years resolutions)...

This is called "wo-crastination". It's procrastinating a job while doing another, similar job. Much more defensible than ordinary pro-crastination. 

Anyway the blog regulars know my eternal (hopeless) quest - fast playing jet rules that giver a feel of aerial combat. Where you can go "fwoooosh!" with your mouth while moving handfuls of models around. More Ace Combat and Top Gun than super strict sim. It's like Forza compared to iRacing.

Actually Blood Red Skies (Mantic) has attempted something like this for WW2 (and even uses a similar high/low energy system than what I do), but I don't enjoy the "throw handfuls of dice and only count 6s" - I feel it has stripped too much out. It also has lots of special rules in an attempt to differentiate the rather samey planes. It does, however, handle quite a few fighters.

Jet combat is a bit of a conundrum. There's a lot going on. A lot of natural complexity. Gravity/height, energy management, maneuvers, radar/EW, missiles, limited fuel/ammo, pilot skill. The fast paced nature of combat is also at odds with this. An Age of Sail 74-gunner may take a while to ponderously complete a move. I want to pick up a jet, swoop it across the table with pew pew noises, and plonk it down. I find space fighter games far easier cos I can handwavium away what I choose.  It's fair to say streamlining aerial wargames are a knotty problem.

 "We do this not because it is easy, but because it is hard we thought it would be easy"

Most aerial wargames (think Check Your Six as typical) track every minute throttle adjustment and stick movement in detail that would be considered insane micromanagement if you applied it to a ground skirmish wargame. In Top Gun, they call out general instructions like "break left!" and "evade!" not "move the throttle 3/4 forward and turn left at a precise 45d angle." Pilots should be following general instructions like those given by a wingman over radio not a godlike omniscient being guiding their every finger twitch. 

So what do we simplify/abstract?

Where I'm up to in 2025's version:

1. There is a detection phase where planes can roll to spot any in a short/360 arc (visual) or a longer/60d frontal cone (radar). Whether to bother to roll or not should be visually obvious in most cases. Any undetected jets are marked as such and treated as "stealth" in a conventional wargame i.e. you can't attack them or react to them and they get attack bonuses.

2. Starting with the highest energy plane/best pilot etc, players take turns activating jets. A jet can move normally for free, but attacking or a special maneuver (like a reversal) uses an action. Jets have 1 action unless they pass a pilot test to get a 2nd action. A failure stresses the pilot (like suppression). So only good pilots can reliably, say loop AND fire guns. A wingman can attempt to follow on and move directly after his buddy. Moves are pretty simple; like "turn up to 60d then move 2-6" - no charts or special tools are needed - it should be similar in complexity to moving an Infinity model or similar skirmish wargame.

3. Special maneuvers like Immelmans, yo-yos or scissors require a pilot test. Failure could stress the pilot and result in a more mundane maneuver, or even result in a spin. Planes are marked with high, normal or low energy. Energy is abstracting together altitude AND speed. Controversial I know - I wouldn't do this for a earlier era (WW2/Korea) game but with 1:1 thrust to weight ratios more common I feel altitude is less important now.   Most special maneuvers should allow you to trade energy for better position.

4. An enemy jet can react to a visible active jet IF they have more energy or equal energy and some advantage like a better pilot, on their tail etc. There is a contested Infinity-esque dice roll for this and many other actions. This makes energy state and detection pretty important.

5. Firing missiles is "shooting" and a dogfight is "melee." 

Missiles are pretty normal. Roll to lock (radar vs target EW), then roll to hit (missile accuracy vs flares/evasive) etc.

Dogfights are a bit more unusual. 

Basically you push the models together like a normal skirmish wargame, take into account relative energy/approach angle, roll a contested roll then mime how the results play out while swooshing your hands around with afterburner noises. The jets are likewise swooping and twisting around the general vicinity.

6. Energy is a resource to be spent/gained for positional advantage. There are three levels - high, medium and low energy. Violent maneuvers like reversals cost an energy level. A low energy plane that spends more energy can stall and crash. A dogfight bleeds energy for both combatants. Certain moves - like a slow steady climb - can regain energy. Jets with powerful thrust can regain it more easily. 

 

 This is an example. As you can see I use hex bases because (a) they are cheap and (b) handy to define relative positions/turns. Note the use of F-18s due to my recent watching of Top Gun: Maverick.

 

 The dogfight shows the end positions, but is assumed to include cool maneuvers around the general area of where the models met. 

It must be accompanied by lots of hand gestures and explaining "and the F-18 cuts onto his tail - fwooosh!" "Fox Two!" or "he fires the Vulcan - tracer spews towards the MiG!"

7. Finally there is a "fuel pool." Basically this is a slider (a 1m ruler for me) that tracks combined fuel/ammo expenditure for all jets - a token on each side for both forces. 

This is because I have noticed many air combats are broken off due to one side having expended fuel/ordinance.

How it works is each jet contributes to the combined pool; perhaps 1 each 200km range, 1 each 2 missiles or 1 each 500rds of ammo. Now whenever ANY jet regains energy or fires a weapon, it removes "fuel" from the pool. 

Certain jets cost more to spend from the pool - a jet with only 2 missiles "limited missiles", or 400km range "limited fuel", or only 250 rounds "limited ammo" uses TWO fuel each action. This means although you don't track individual fuel or ammo usage, you will be more sparing when firing missiles from say a F-5A with 2 AIM9s then a fully loaded F-15 - so it has the same effect.

The checklist:
(  ) Detection matters

(  ) Pilot Skill matters

(  ) Plane Stats matter/differentiate (thrust/top speed/agility/toughness/radar) 

(  ) Energy = resource to manage: Swaps height/speed for position/advantage/initiative.

(  ) Fuel/ammo matters

(  ) Speed and Simplicity - can handle 4-8 planes per side; similar to Necromunda/Infinity

(  ) Minimal recording and table clutter