Customer Questions: Volume 1

In these posts I'll be addressing emails or questions from customers which are about the more vague "up to player discretion" portions of the game.  My answers will consist purely of opinion, vs. hard declarations.

What do horses of dead riders do?

When writing up the rules I did consider making them panic, or flee, or attack a nearby model, etc...but in the end I chose to simply leave the horses in place.  I like horses to be stolen and used by other models, and a dead rider is already in plenty of trouble.  As always, players should feel free to house-rule this as they wish.  For simple games, leave the horse in place.  Once you're comfortable with the rules, if you want the horse to walk, run, or wander - by all means!

Does picking up a weapon lift a Disguise?

Another thing I considered creating a small rules table for, but in the end felt it was becoming a little clunky.  Only the players know when/where/how a model is picking up a weapon and what type.  I'm very open to what the players think when I run a game.  I normally simply state that an action against your opponent lifts the disguise.  Is a prostitute picking up a knife and hiding in her dress an action against the Lawmen?  Perhaps not.  A thief grabbing a shotgun off of a dead Deputy in the middle of main street - while being watched by other Lawmen?  Probably.  In short, there's no perfect answer to this, but you can use a simple table like below if you wish:

• Blatant action against opponent: Automatic

• Very suspicious action in view of opponent: D20 

• Suspicious action in vew of opponent: D12

• Sneaky action in view of opponent: D8

Can a character move into base-to-base contact with another model without penalty?

This is being addressed in the updated rules (available shortly).  Basically a character may not move within 1" of an enemy model if it is not in close combat.  A character may, however, move into base-to-base contact with a friendly model.  This would mean that enemies shooting at these characters would randomly assign shots (meaning you can attempt to protect or screen your fellow characters).

How do I use townfolk if I feel like placing 30-40 of them on the board?

This is a damn good question - and one I'll be doing an article on at some point.  I rarely use many civilian figures, but for players with larger collections I will work on some optional rules to include them reacting to the unfolding events in the game.  Stay tuned for that.

Why does the Carbine (Short Rifle) shoot further than the Lever Action Rifle?

In many instances a lever action rifle was a repeating rifle chambered in a pistol cartridge (one which often matched commonly available handguns of the day).  Some were designed with purpose built rifle cartridges, but most were not.  The common cavalry carbine, while short, was chambered in a standard rifle cartridge and thus had more range and power than the average lever action repeater.