Dedicated to My Father

Dedicated to My father

for taking me into the evil lair of a certain gaming store and introducing me to the world of little lead men.

Black west is askirmish war game based on the rough and tumble times of
the Wild West. The main idea of black west is to create a game that can be played in only an hour or two and still be enjoyable without too many counters, rosters or extra rules. The rules are broken down into basic rules and advanced rules.

CONTENTS:

1. Basic introduction
2. Movement
3. Shooting
4. Dynamite shotguns and snake oil / Fighting
5. A basic intro game

Advanced rules

1. Other rules
2. Taking captives / earning loot / buying a posse.
3. Posse type explanations and profile/ lawmen.
4. profile civilians
5. profile outlaws
6. profile Indians
7. profile bandidos
8. hired guns
9. animals and vehicles
10. Gatling guns / power points and showdowns
11. Brawling rules
12. templates
13. rosters

Basic Introduction

To play black west you will need

-Cardstock or war gaming miniatures

-Some kind of terrain (even old books could do as buildings)

-plenty of six sided dice (at least a handful)

-Two tape measure’s or 30cm rulers.

-Some kind of counters to signify wounds and explosives (you can use dice if you want)

-And a good imagination

Once you have had a quick read of this rule set and played the intro game you should be ready to set off into the world of

Grim,

Dark,

Black West!

To begin each turn both players roll a dice, the player with the highest roll wins priority for that turn, this means he gets to move and shoot first and decide who is fighting who in multiple combats.

Movement:

Movement is the first phase of every turn during game play.

The player that moves his miniatures first is the one who won priority

First he moves all his miniatures then the other player does. If the player who won priority wishes to let the other play go first, the other player may do so.

Basic Movement:

Each man can walk 6cm’s or run 12cm’s

Figures wielding rifles or shotguns must move only half if they desire to shoot the same turn.

Movement penalties

Some obstacles cause movement penalties. (If you are moving over them you will not be able to move full distance.)

obstacle / penalty
stairs / Half movement
water / quarter
forest / half
Train track / half
doors / Half
(to move through)

If a person come across an obstacle such as a wall or fence blocking there way during movement they may attempt to jump over it by rolling on the next chart and following the outcome. If the wall is higher than half the figures height (roughly), they may not jump over it. And instead must go around it.

roll / result
1 / The person fails to jump/climb over the wall
2-4 / The person jumps/climbs over but must forfeit the rest of there move
5-6 / The person successfully jumps/climbs over and carry’s on with there move

Climbing obstacles follows the same chart.

Shooting:

Each gun has a:

-Range

-To hit modifier(what the player needs to roll on 1D6 to hit a person)

- To wound modifier(what a person needs to roll on 1D6to wound a person)

-Price

type / Range cm’s / To hit d6 / To wound d6 / Price
$
Six-gun
(generic pistol) / 10 / 5+ / 5+ / 10
Cavalry pistol
(next up) / 15 / 4+ / 3+ / 15
Peace-maker
(good pistol) / 20 / 3+ / 3+ / 20
WinchesterRifle
(generic rifle) / 30 / 3+ / 3+ / 25
Repeating rifle
(next up) / 25 / 4+ / 5+ / 30
Revolving barrel rifle
(best rifle) / 40 / 5+ / 5+ / 35
shotgun / See below / See below / See below / 35
Longbow# / 20 / 4+ / 4+ / 15
Indian rifle / 25 / 5+ / 4+ / 15
Throwing club# / 10 / 4+ / 5+ / 10
Dynamite / See below / See below / See below / 10
Snake oil / See below / See below / See below / 10

#= can only be used by Indians

General Shooting is as follows

-The player firing takes as many d6’s as he has attacks on his profile.

-He then rolls for his “to hit” rolls

-The player being fired at takes the dice that hit and rolls them as his save dice. (The statistic on their profile will tell you how high to roll.)

- Any failed saves are given back to the offending player to roll to wound against the opposing player.

-When any figures wounds reach 0 then they are dead and must be removed from play.

Dynamite, shotguns & snake oil

To fire a shotgun you need to

-roll 1d6

-If a 1 is rolled it back fires and the shotgun bearer loses 1d6 halved (rounded up) woundswithout any saves.

- If a 4+ is rolled he/she places the shotgun template in front of them and anything in the range of the template suffers one wound (with a 5+ save)

(even allies).

For dynamite you need to

-roll 1d6

-If a 1 is rolled the dynamite template is placed directly on the miniatures head (centre point) and all within the template suffer 1 wound with a 6 (on 1d6) save.

- If a 5+ is rolled, the dynamite can be thrown up to 2d6 in cm. The blast template is then placed down and all within the template suffer one wound (with a 5+ save) anyone who survives the blast is knocked down and can’t shoot or move anymore this turn. They may get up next turn at the beginning of there movement.

The rules for snake oil are the same as dynamite but the burning snake oil remains on the ground throughout that and the next turn. Anyone who moves onto or over it gets wounded on a 6. this is the after effect of snake oil.

Repeating rifles and revolving barrel rifles

Repeating rifles and revolving barrel rifles follow a similar procedure to normal shooting the only difference is that they get more shots and a different hit and wound value.

A repeating rifle can have the miniatures attack value + 2 shots per turn.

A revolving barrel rifle can have the miniatures attack value + 4 shots every turn.

Any roll of a 1 on a revolving barrel riflechokes up the gun and it may not shoot that turn. Regardless of how many other high rolls you got. These guns, just like Gatling guns can potentially make or break the game.

An example of shooting phase with a revolving barrel rifle>

-John is a sheriff and has 3 attacks. With a repeating rifle he has 5 attacks per turn.

-John wishes to shoot at an oncoming horde of Indians. He takes aim and picks out 5 Indians in range.

-Upon rolling to hit he scores only 3 4+’s. two Indians get off scot free.

-The Indians then roll there saves. Only one Indian makes his save of a 5+.

-The sheriff then rolls his wound dice. He wounds both rolling one 5 and one 6.

During a small posse game (10 or less) this kind of kill count could lean the game in your direction completely.

Fighting:

When 2 or more models go into base contact they are in close combat.

Before the fighting rolls commence the player who won priority must decide on how fights are split up, e.g. three men charge two men, the fight must be split up into 2 fighting one miniature and 1 fighting another, the player with the drop gets to decide how this is done.

The combat rules are as follows.

vBoth players roll 1 dice

vThe lowest roll moves their figure one cm away from the other

vThe winner now rolls 1d6

vHe needs (5+ for follower 4+ for henchman 3+ for leader) to wound the other player.

v the victim player rolls one save dice. If he loses the save the player loses a wound.

When some one loses all there wounds they are dead and must be removed from play.

A basic intro game:

You will need

-A sheriff a deputy and a Village peacekeeper.

-Also you will need a Bar man a soiled dove and a villager.

-A central building or piece or terrain to symbolise a saloon or similar. (e.g. an old book) and a small wall or log (or similar)

-A handful of dice.

-And two measuring implements.

To play this game we assume that all leaders have peace-makers, that all Henchmen haveWinchester rifles and that all Troops have six-guns. The reason for this is that it will help you get used to the different types of gun. Once you play the game once, maybe you could stir it up and add a shotgun or a stick of dynamite in the mix.

Deployment / set-up:

The lawmen are the blue dots, who are trying to stop a village rebellion due to general drunkenness; the villagers are the red dots. They start deployed behind the barricades. You can add more terrain if you so wish, but this isunnecessary, it only makes things look pretty.

Objectives:

-Lawmen: kill the barman and one of the other figures. By 4 turns of game play

-Villagers: kill all of the lawmen OR move the soiled dove off the lawmen’s side of the board. By 4 turns of game play

The game only lasts for 4 turns. Once the first game has ended and one player is victorious (if not the player closest to achieving his goals is the winner) switch the sides or the objectives and play once more. After one or two games you should pick up game play pretty easily.

IN THIS GAME IGNORE ALL CHARACTERS SPECIAL ABILITIES.

Other movement rules

Charging:

A charge must be declared at the beginning of the movement phase. When a model charges it moves full move. It cannot move over or up obstacles to charge.

Other rules:

Buying IN GAME:

Players can purchase horses/mules and explosives in game. (during a game). To do so they must go to the following places.

Product / Shop/ area / other / price
explosives / gun shop, saloon and general store / The explosives (counters or chips) must already be in the designated areas of purchase. / Same as on shooting chart
Horses and mules / Ranch or farm / The animals (models, chips or counters) must already be in designated areas of purchase. / Posse’s animal price is stated on their profiles.

Once bought a product may be put straight into use and added to the posse’s roster.

Rules for fear tests

Fear isn’t a great factor in the game but if it is a weird west or steam puck themed game/campaign fear rules can be useful.

An example profile for a fear inducing character could be as follows.

Walking dead: $5

-Wounds: 1

-Save roll: 4+

-Attacks: 2

Special rules: fear, (look in other rules)

A player must take a fear test when being charged by a fear inducing character or creature. To take a fear test the player must roll on 1d6 and get lower or equal to than their wounds and attacks added together. If they fail this test they must move one half move towards the nearest table edge. If they reach it they come back into play the turn after.

Buying a posse

When selecting a posse to play a one off game you have up to $300 to spend on the posse. The price of the guns and explosives used is included in this total. E.g. an Upstanding civilian costs $10 with a rifle they cost $45.

When participating in a campaign it is possible to buy more figures as they die during the games. You start (at the beginning of a campaign) with a kitty of only $100. You can earn more by doing the following.

-a kill during game play= $10

-an objective secured = $30

-an enemy gang member taken captive = $10 / $20 (if they talk/captivity explained below)

You can use your extra cash to buy more members or mounts for your characters. If you choose to change a figure (as you change a figures gun), make sure you tell all players involved in the campaign.

Captivity

Men can take another man captive, if a man has a pistol, knife or any other club like weapon, in the moving phase he can creep up on an enemy and knock him out. To do so you need to

-roll a 3+ to see if you can creep and if your within range you can get in base contact

-then you must roll a 4+ to knock them out

-followed by a 3+ to put them in your base (side of the table, or allocated building before the game starts) if you don’t roll the final 3+ just put a chip or marker to signify that the miniature is knocked out and he can get up next turn roll free.

After the game the player with a victim in captivity can roll on this chart to see what the outcome of the interrogation is.

roll / result
1-2 / The captive says nothing, the gang realises he is useless and he gets let free, he dies in the wasteland and doesn’t return to his gang. (don’t get $20)
3-4 / He talks and escapes, his gang find him face down in the sand, he lives to fight again (interrogators get $20 and the victim survives to fight in the next game)
5-6 / He talks and gets executed by the gang ( gang gets all $20, victim is killed, remove from campaign)

You can only take miniatures captive during a campaign.

Posse types

In Black west there are 5 main posse types, these are

-lawmen

-outlaws

-civilian

-bandits

-Indians

PROFILE: lawmen

Lawmen were the peace keepers, the law abiding lot of the west. In fact even they didn’t abide by the law completely, at all times.

Sheriff: 60$

-(status: leader)

-Wounds: 3

-Save roll: 3+

-Attacks: 3

Leader abilities :( the badge) All deputies within 6 cm’s get a +3 save roll.

Deputy: $25

-(status: Henchman)

-Allowed O-3

-Wounds: 2

-Save roll: 4+

-Attacks: 2

Special abilities: (sharpshooters) any roll of a six is an instant hit. No save rolls. If using a rifle. They still need to roll to wound.

Upstanding civilian:$5

- (status: follower)

-Allowed Unlimited

-Wounds: 1

-Save roll: 4+

-Attacks: 2 (can’t use shotguns)

Special abilities: any group of upstanding civilian’s up to a maximum of three standing within 3cm’s of each other get a +1 to hit when shooting. E.g. a 4+ becomes a 3+ and so on.

OTHER: both the sheriff and the Deputies in a lawman posse have the “powerful aura” rule. It means that when a civilian miniature wants to charge them they must take a loyalty test to see whether they can, to take the test they must roll a 2+ on 1d6. If they fail they must remain stationary or do something else.

Guns: all lawmen CAN use Gatling guns.

A lawman posse may buy a horse and or pack mule for $30. For every pack mule bought by the posse an extra hired gun may be bought. Other wise maximum hired gun count for a lawman posse is 3.

PROFILE: civilians

In the America during the late 19C almost all true Americans had a pistol by there side or a shotgun under there bed. These occupants of the old west were often both the peace keepers and the rule breakers.

Barman: $50

-(status: leader)

-Wounds: 3

-Save roll: 3+

-Attacks: 2

Leader abilities: (bottle a’ cider) this unit can have one extra attack every other turn if he does not run. (Rule does not apply if he is armed with a rifle or shotgun)

Soiled dove (woman): $25

-(status: Henchman)

-Allowed O-2 (per posse)

-Wounds: 2

-Save roll: 4+

-Attacks: 1

Special abilities:(womanly influence) any ally man within 6 cm’s gets +1 attack.

Townsmen:$10

- (status: follower)

-Allowed Unlimited

-Wounds: 2

-Save roll: 5+

-Attacks: 2 (can’t use peacemakers)

Other: miniatures in a civilian posse have the “rally at the bar” rule. It means that if 3 or more civilians are inside a bar on any turn they get can recover one wound on a roll of a 5+.

Guns: Barmen and Townsmen CAN use Gatling guns, soiled doves cannot.

A lawman posse may buy a horse and or pack mule for $25. For every pack mule bought by the posse an extra hired gun may be bought. Other wise maximum hired gun count for a lawman posse is 2.

PROFILE: Outlaws

Certain trouble makers in the late 19C decided to take the game a bit too far, and formed posses based on getting rich quick. Often the posse wouldn’t end up with a clean record; instead they were wanted for hundreds maybe even thousands of dollars.

Desperado: $65

-(status: leader)

-Wounds: 4

-Save roll: 4+

-Attacks: 3

Leader abilities: (rage) some of the most famous desperado’s where plagued with the thought of mutiny on their minds. Every other two turns a desperado may throw a massacre run. In which all allies within 6 cm’s can charge towards the nearest enemy before the enemies move. (This must be announced before the turn begins)

Bastards: $20

-(status: Henchmen)

-Allowed O-3 (per posse)

-Wounds: 2

-Save roll: 5+

-Attacks: 2

Special abilities:(fools shot) you could only make it to rank of Bastard in an outlaw posse by proving your aim. Every other turn a bastard can attempt to roll a 4+ on one dice in the shooting phase. This gives them one extra attack.