On Saturday, 4 November, I was able to host two games at the Hamilton Road Games Group in London, ON. Both were using the Fistful of Lead rules from Wiley Games. One was a direct play of the "Prey" scenario from Wiley Games. The second used the plain rules on the same tabletop.
In the first game, both "human" players (Aris and Ryan) had teams of 5 First Nations warriors, armed with bow and arrow or spear. Some of the names I put together for their crews were "Hands-to-the Sky", "Head-of-Rock", "Fleet-of-Foot", "Joe Bear-killer", and the ever-popular "Dances-with-Vermin." Bear, the third player had three Alien Hunters in Holo-suits that made them almost invisible (unless you crossed a body of water which shorted out the suit for a turn), carrying lasers, and being big and nasty. The humans started at opposite corners of the field and the Aliens started dead center on the table. I'll try not to reveal too much about the scenario in case someone reading this wanted to surprise their players with it. It really was a lot of fun.
 |
| One hunter advances toward Ryan's crew. Head-of-Rock kneels in wait. The whole table was considered forested (light cover) except the areas like the light green one, which was considered to be a clearing. |
 |
| Aris's team advances toward the creek, coming up behind Bear's alien hunters. (Figures by RAFM) |
 |
| Head-of-Rock keeps waiting. |
 |
| Alien Hunter #2 ("Frazzi" I think) shows one wound (red bead), one shock (yellow bead), and a working holo-suit. (white ring) Tau Stealth Suit troops seemed fine for this use. |
 |
| All three Alien Hunters face down Ryan's warband. Dances-with-Vermin is in front with one wound and one shock. |
 |
| Aris' band keeps sneaking up on the Hunters. |
 |
| One Alien Hunter takes on a spear-armed warrior with claws. The warrior didn't win. |
 |
| Another view of that desperate fight! |
In the end, Ryan killed two Hunters (10 renown points) and had 4 braves surviving (4 points) for resounding 14 point win. Aris had 4 points and Bear lost two hunters to the Native Braves while taking one out hand to hand. The third Hunter blew himself up when the situation got too desperate and no rescue was forthcoming. It really was closer than it looked. A Joker in the deck caused a hunter to fall into a pit with sharpened stakes at the bottom. Jokers are fun!
After a brief and satisfying lunch of cherubim and seraphim with iced tea, the same crowd went at it again, using new teams and no Alien Hunters. 2 Jokers were in the mix, which allowed the player to use it as a wild card, but it also caused a downpour of rain which forbid long range shooting. Aris and Bear both had teams of 5 cowboys while Ryan fielded a patrol of the RCMP - an inspector, a veteran sergeant, two constables, and a dog... a dog of legend whose story will be told over campfires for years.
Bear's team entered the field at 12 o'clock level, Aris' at 9 o'clock, and Ryan's at about 4:30 level. Lots of shots were exchanged. In the end, it came down to a one-on-one shoot-'em-out between the survivor of Bear's crew and the last man of Aris' crew, Ryan's all having been gunned down but not without giving almost as good as they got!
 |
| Three of Aris' gun-slingers advance over rough ground (Figures from various manufacturers) |
 |
| Long range shots between Aris and Bear. |
 |
| Bear's boys come over the creek. |
 |
| 'Tis the Law north of the border! (Figures by Pulp Miniatures) |
 |
| Ryan's Mounties engage Aris' crew. |
 |
| More shots ring out. |
 |
| THE LEGEND! Dog Constable Nova did a high speed sneak around the Mountie left and attacked one of Aris' boys in the creek. Nova took the gunman out in short order to the cheers of all players and the games master. (Me!) We were all cheering for Nova to take out ALL of Aris' crew. Nova was armed with teeth and claws and was "stealthy." (Since the dog couldn't shoot, he got an extra trait and I gave him "stealth" with it -1 to any shooting attacks on him. It was worth it!) I think I like dogs as part of a crew for this sort of game. |
 |
| More shot exchanged. |
 |
| Sad to say, one of Aris' gang got the initiative on Nova and laid the legendary dog low. We all held a brief moment of silence in the dog's memory. (Silence... 1... 2... that's enough.) Aris is to be known as "Dog-killer" from now on. |
In the end, all of the RCMP patrol were out of action and only one shootist in the gangs of Bear and Aris remained. The exchanged a few shots and then retired to the saloon for some libations since Bear's ride came and he had to leave.
I like the Wiley Games because the same mechanics apply to any game of any period or style you might play using the rules. My son and I played a Grimdark game of Chaos-type nastys vs. Tau-ish aliens and the rules worked great. Our last Christmas party game used the rules in a mixed way, with magic users, modern Canadian army troops, sci-fi heroes, pirates, pulp heroes, and others all in the same team, all trying to save Santa from the Krampus and the Grinch... and it worked great. (See the photos below.) For what it's worth, I'd recommend the entire range of rules - Wild West, historical, horror, Sci-fi, fantasy. It's all just plain fun.
 |
| Company Sergeant Major Vanier of the Van doos faces down the Martian ape. |
 |
| Santa, Krampus, the Grinch, and some mercenary gunmen. |
 |
| Goblins! Flash Borden! The Phantom! Professor Fate, Master of Magic! RCMP Sergeant Steele! The Pirate Queen! Weird mushrooms! All in one game! |
So when you play again, I hope the fighting spirit of the legendary Canine Constable Nova, and crazy fun of the First Nation's sniper, Dances-with-Vermin will be celebrated on your table.
More to come soon.
