FLAGSHIP
GAMES
presents. . .
"GUNFIGHT!"
Rules for Wild West Combat!
Wild
West Combat, Flagship Games Style!
The Wild West was an exciting period of history that
has fascinated historian, the general public, and wargamer alike for decades.
The image of the gunfighter has been burned into our minds through countless
books, movies and television programs. Something of an enigma, he
is hero and anti-hero at the same time. His life was filled with
the challenges of day-to-day living in a hard environment, interspersed
with moments of intense excitement in the form of the gunfight.
Gunfight! is a new interpretation of Wild West wargaming.
Using a tried combat system first found in our gladiatorial combat rules,
Habet, Hoc Habet!, Gunfight! allows you to
recreate everything from Main Street quick draw encounters to full blown
skirmishes between cavalry and their brave Native American foes or small
unit actions in the American Civil War. Play is fast and tense thanks
to our Card Based Initiative SystemTM,
and, thanks to fully proactive combat rules, no one is ever left sitting
on their hands waiting for it to be "their turn". Fire fights and
the effects of period weapons are faithfully recreated, all in a system
that plays quickly and smoothly, even for the beginner.
While the core rules are enjoyable by themselves, the
true strength of Gunfight! is in the campaign rules. These rules allow
you to play a campaign with developing characters, providing continuity
to your games. Best of all, the campaign rules do not acquire a gamemaster
- everyone gets to play! A campaign can be concluded in as few as
two or three gaming sessions, so losing players to lack of interest is
not a concern like it can be with other systems. You can actually
see a full campaign to conclusion, which allows the winner bragging rights,
and the losers a burning desire to play again so that they can exact their
revenge!
Gunfight! is a complete system. All you need to
do is add dice and figures and you're ready to go! Enjoy Wild West
wargaming at its best with Gunfight!
Figures by the Foundry and painted by Bob Bowling.
Structures by Frontline Wargaming.
Rules
Synopsis
Here is a quick synopsis of how Gunfight! is played in
the campaign environment.
Illustration by Colin Upton.
In a campaign every player represents a "faction".
A faction may be any organized group or concern possible in the Wild West.
Examples include a group of bandits or lawmen, a rancher and his crew,
men working for the railroad, miners, a saloon owner, a group of like minded
cowboys, a troop of US cavalry, an Indian tribe, some foreign investors
or dignitaries looking to make their fortune, or just about anything else
you can imagine! The goal of the faction in the campaign is to acquire
a minimum number of properties and reputation, the amount of which is determined
by the players prior to starting the campaign. Properties represent
income generating property; perhaps a saloon, mine, railroad, ranch, or
similar. Reputation is the faction's notoriety in the Wild West.
The more you have, the more well known you are!
Before
the first campaign turn, you will "build" your first gunfighter.
This particular gunfighter will be the head of your faction - your "faction
boss". He represents you in the campaign. Like all gunfighters,
he is built using a randomly generated number of Character Points with
which you buy stats and skills. During the first campaign turn, after
determining any random events, you will have an opportunity to hire more
gunfighters to work for you.
"El Guapo" painted by Thomas Foss.
You may also hire "flunkies". The best analogy
for flunkies is to say they represent all the extras in your western movie
world. They are the laborers, citizens, and less-than-heroic gunmen.
Flunkies are good to have around, but are not as tough or durable as your
average gunfighter. They work for cheap though, and no savvy cowboy
would get into a scrape without at least one to watch his back! Flunkies
have only one stat - their level - and that is used for all their die rolls.
After hiring on more helpers for your faction, you may purchase and sell
livestock in an attempt to generate more income for your faction.
Each
campaign turn represents about a month of real time, and there will always
be an encounter of some type in that month (this is a "wargame", not a
"peacegame", after all). There are 16 different encounters, providing
lots of variety. Included are classics like "Show Down", where two
gunfighters backed by their seconds face off in the street for a test of
quick draw skill, and "Posse", where you hunt down some fugitives from
justice.
"Bank" by J&T Miniatures. Figures by Foundry and painted
by Bob Bowling.
One fascinating facet of life in the Wild West was how
a person could be a bandit one day, and a US Marshal the next. People
were doing their best to get by, by whatever means possible. Gunfight!
recreates this in its campaign system where factions end up on either the
side as the Protagonist or Antagonist or their allies, and sides can and
do change every campaign turn. Throughout a campaign, factions will
develop "feud ratings" with other factions, representing how much bad blood
there is between the factions. The higher the feud rating, the less
likely the two sides are to work together in an encounter, and the more
motivated they are to gun down people in the other faction - even if they
happen to be on the same side at the moment!
Actions
are resolved using our Card Based Initiative SystemTM,
using regular playing cards. Aces give bonus, or "free" actions,
while Jokers grant a reroll during the turn it is dealt. This system
was proven in Habet, Hoc Habet!, and works
beautifully with Gunfight!
Alamo Figures by Old Glory and painted by Fernando Enterprises.
Alamo by Hudson & Allen.
Combat is conducted with d10, with the attacker rolling
to hit and the defender rolling to dodge. There are 8 hit locations,
including both arms, both legs, the abdomen, chest, neck and head.
After an encounter surviving gunfighters and flunkies
have a chance to gain experience. More experience means higher stats
and skills. Meanwhile, the faction they belong to can gain reputation,
and their properties will generate income. Of course, there are bills
to pay, and all gunfighters and flunkies collect a salary. But, the
faction that manages to snag a few properties early on will have no problems
meeting their financial obligations and will soon find themselves with
more money than they know what to do with (unless a cannon or gatling gun
becomes available...), while those that fail to may find themselves going
bankrupt and out of the campaign!
The campaign rules are deep and richly textured, allowing
you to recreate the more adventurous (or notorious) side of life in the
Wild West. A typical campaign lasts until one player has purchased/stolen
5 properties and 100 Reputation, and this campaign can usually be played
over the course of four to six evenings. In spite of its depth, the
campaign rules allow you to recreate three or four months of game time
in a single evening, with lots of action and plenty of chances to make
a name for yourself in the Wild West!
We hope this synopsis has helped you decide to check
out Gunfight!! If you have any questions, we are happy to answer
them, and you can email the author by clicking here.
Figures from Old Glory and West Wind. Buildings by Redoubt
Enterprises.
Painted by the Author.
Gunfight! Products
Are you ready to start playing Gunfight!?! If so,
you can purchase a copy of the rules for the low price of $20.00 plus S&H.
For ordering information, check out our Catalog
page.
While we are not currently stocking gunfighter figures,
we will be soon! Check back here for updates.
Gunfight! Cheat Sheet!
This cheat sheet was developed during production of the
rules, but due to space constraints was omitted from the book itself during
publication. Anyway, here it is not in all it's glory in .pdf format.
This sheet was designed to allow beginners to play Gunfight! at conventions
and in similar situations without having to constantly flip through the
rule book.
If you are totally computer ignorant (and there's no shame
in that), then you are going to need Adobe Acrobat Reader to read this
file. Head to Adobe's webpage
if you don't have it all ready.
GF! Cheat Sheet!
in .pdf format
Gunfight! FAQ
It's like a curse. You spend three years developing
a game - three serious years - and you proof read the thing so many times
you think you are going to go blind. You have other guys proof read
it too, both the professional and amateur. Then it goes to press.
It's perfect, so why not?
When you get it back from the printer you lovingly fondle
your latest creation. Then, when you open it up to a random page
to admire your work, it's there. An error. It glares at you
like a hungry pitbull. You swear it wasn't there when you sent it
to the printer! Then you find another one, and another one...
And that's life in the small-time game publishing world.
We try our best but, apparently, having an error-free document is beyond
our capabilities. Still, we do not have egos so big that we cannot
admit our mistakes. (I, in fact, have no ego since my ex-wife got
it in the divorce.) Here's a link to a FAQ page where you can find
some corrections to our admittedly embarrassing mistakes and faux pas'
found within the pages of Gunfight!
Gunfight! FAQ
Pirates!, Mecha!, Spirit Warrior Empire, Taiko!, Battlepole!
Starship! Habet, Hoc Habbet! and Gunfight!
are copyright of Flagship Games.
Omega Warrior is copyright Flagship Games and Wargamers Paradise
(an old, mostly-defunct venture of Rod's)
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