Showdown at Evans' Ranch

The Pinkertons have gotten wind that the townsfolk have sent to the county sheriff to intervene against them. Creeping out to the Evans Ranch through the badlands the Pinkertons arrive to find Ol' Jeb with Evans across the stream with the Peterson brothers and Farrell at the Evans house.



Ol' Jeb can see the Pinkertons approach but he won't waste his shotgun ammunition at this range.



Zeke White has climbed up a rock cliff overlooking the ranch walls to get a better shot, but is shot by Farrell from the front door of the Evans place. He stumbled and falls off, twisting his knee in the process.



The Peterson brothers skirt the McEwan house, hoping to outflank the Pinkertons' advance.



Evans and Ol' Jeb reach the road having considered trying to cross the ford but taking shots nonetheless.



Rucker charges ahead of his crewe. For some reason he's advanced with no regard for cover, while his men run from rock to rock.



Evans and Ol' Jeb head for the bridge, picking up speed on the good surface and somehow aren't hit by the volley of fire coming from Pete Walsh beyond.



Jake Peterson and Farrell wait for Rucker to appear around the copse of trees. When he does, he's surely done for...



They open fire on Rucker over the wall, but miss due to Rucker's canny use of cover.



Rucker returns fire, but missed completely as well.



McFarland has caught up at this stage and has slinked up along the tress. He takes aim at Peterson and shoots him dead.



McFarland leapfrogs Rucker's position to take aim at Farrell with deadly effect.



With Peterson's brother in the McEwan house, and Ol' Jeb and Evans at the bridge, the Pinkertons has taken control of the Evans Ranch and the others surrender. The Pinkertons have mastered the town's most important people. Will the County Sheriff save them?

Slaughter at Oheke Creek

James Wilson Marshal of Caspar discovers that the Pinkertons are holed up at the Widow Compton's farm by Oheke Creek. He grabs his brother Thomas, deputy Jerry McEwan and long-time friend Hank Shelby to go run them out of town.


The Pinkertons get word of the raid, and start out from the farm through the scrub towards the cooperage on the creek.


Zeke White and Frank Rucker peel off to make straight for the cooperage


Jim McFarland runs ahead, skiring around the high ground and leaving Pete Walsh behind.


Seeing a flash in the distance across the creek, White makes a snap shot at Jerry McEwan hitting him in the leg.


Taking careful aim, he lets off another few rounds, seriously wounding McEwan, who promptly skedaddles back into town.


McFarland leap up like a mountain goat onto the heights overlooking the creek to get a better shot.


With a lot of lollygagging going on between the marshals, James Wilson and Hank Shelby finally reach the creek and get ready to cross the stream. Over to their left, Thomas Wilson has crossed the creek successfully and drags himself out, soaking wet but not right beside the cooperage.


White and Rucker position themselves behind the barrels, ready to get a good shot at anyone crossing the bridge.


White moves around the barrel hut and catches Shelby unawares. He shoots him in the gut.


Shelby goes down, for good. Wilson curses and unloads his shotgun at the Pinkerton before running for cover by the old mill.


From here Wilson can get a better shot at White but has no luck with either of his shots.


With Wilson no longer covering the bridge, Rucker moves up alongside the barrel hut and fans the hammer, emptying his six-gun at Wilson, but missing each time.


White takes careful aim at Wilson and puts a round in his chest. Wilson's last act is to wave away his brother, knowing he'll surely die in the crossfire the Pinkertons have set up in the vicinity.


Looks like the Pinkertons rule the roost at Caspar, Wyoming. Vanderbolt's plans can be brought forward now...

A few post-mortem thoughts:
If you look at the first photo of the game showing the terrain, the Marshals started just at the top of the setup beyond the rough ground. The Pinkertons started off near the tall grass at the bottom of the setup (in fact you can see their hats if you look closely)
This should have allowed the Marshals to get to and control the bridge and the buildings just beyond before the Pinkertons got to them which would have made the gunfight very interesting. However as the movement cards were drawn the Pinkertons got theirs much earlier than the Marshals did (despite Loughlin's careful poker shuffle). That combined with the Pinkertons having a high agility and being able to move on the 'Greased Lightnin' card mean that getting stuck on the other side of the bridge proved to be terrible for the Marshals.
Combining with this was an initial "heroic moment" shot at long range causing the marshal with the rifle to skedaddle (everyone else was armed with pistols or a shotgun). The Pinkertons then had a definite advantage until the Marshals could close the distance.
With the Marshals split into two definite pairs the skedaddling rifleman was out of range for the leadership check needed to talk him back into the game.
If the Marshals had actually put in some successful shots the fragile Pinkerton morale may have faltered, but as it was the eagle-eye shooting of White accounted for two dead and one seriously wounded marshal.

The People of Caspar, Wyoming

The Caspar Marshal, James Wilson, his brother Thomas Wilson, deputy Jerry McEwan and long-time friend Hank Shelby.


Caspar Townsfolk: Batt Farrell, old timer Jeb Masterson, Danny and Jake Peterson, Marty Evans and local hot shot Andy O'Reilly.


The Pinkertons: Frank Rucker, Jim Mcfarland, Pete Walsh and Zeke White.


Johnson County Sheriff, Charles Sloane and his deputy Bill Harvey. Rumours are that he's in the pocket of the Vanderbolts but no one knows for sure...


Old style Texas cavalrymen Nick Carson and Adam Greggs.


A Cheyenne war-party has infiltrated the region and in set on more than just counting coup...

Trouble at Peterson's Mill

Dropped into Steve at the weekend. After some chewing the fat, playing some Supreme Commander and watching The Kingdom we played a game of PKowboys, Piquet's Old West skirmish game.

Trouble at Peterson's Mill



With the approach of the railroad and rumours of gold in the hills near Caspar, Wyoming; the prominent family of the Vanderbolts has contracted the Pinkerton Agency to acquire land in the Caspar area. Stalwart of the fledgling community are the Petersons who run a mill outside of town.



The Petersons and their mates have gathered just south of the mill once they heard of the Pinkertons' approach. They know their skill and weaponry isn't a match for the Pinkertons but they are definitely up for a fight.

The Townsfolk near the small barrel storage barn



The rest of the Townsfolk near the Smithy



The Pinkertons approach in two pairs, one near the Farrell's House



The other two Pinkertons come in through the scrub.



Jim McFarland and Zeke White come out through the scrub shooting



Batt Farrell returns fire and while he doesn't hit anything, the Pinkertons withdraw to take some cover in the tall grass.



Jake Peterson and Ol' Jeb Masterson take cover behind the barrels and take aim at the two Pinkertons over the wall. Some fire is exchanged and Jake is clipped by a round, but he shruggs it off.



Marty Evans pokes his head around the Smithy to spot the Pinkertons in the scrub.



Danny Peterson and Andy O'Reilly can't see the Pinkertons from the side of the mill, and can't decide who should jump over the wall first.



Farrell move up behind a rock column, searching frantically in his pockets for more cartridges for his rifle.



Danny Peterson and O'Reilly change their minds about jumping the wall and move around the Mill to join the others near the barrels.



Evans moves through the darkened Smithy in an attempt to outflank the Pinkertons.



Evans move through the trees until he can see the Pinkertons near Farrells'



Jake Peterson follows Ol' Jeb around the Barrel Hut. Ol' Jeb wanted to get up close with his double-barrel shotgun.



Farrell and O'Reilly shoot at the Pinkertons once they take up their new position.



Danny follows his brother Jake, he can hear lots of gunfire from Farrells'.



Ol' Jeb unloads the shotgun at Rucker and Walsh: he's caught them loading but somehow they are unscathed!



They unload a torrent of fire back at him, while backing away.



McFarland runs down the laneway to support the guys at Farrells', leaving White behind.



Evans shoots at the Pinkertons but comes nowehere close to hitting them



McFarland catches Evans dead to rights and inflicts a serious wound on him, driving him back to the cover of the trees.



The shells continue to fly near Farrells', Ol' Jeb is hit several times by Walsh but he grits his teeth and reloads. He's had far worse when he fought in Mexico and at Mill Springs. He unloads again into Walsh who feels it this time.



With five of the Townsfolk now working their way towards them, Rucker and Walsh withdraw around the Farrells' House and the Pinkertons make their getaway. But they'll be back...



The Townsfolk high morale kept them in the game, and although no one was killed, it wasn't for lack of effort! (More down to our inability to roll high when wounding)

First time playing the game, and at half two in the morning after a long day, you might have expected it to be tiring or difficult, but it wasn't. While I can't say the rules are especially well written, they are good. We expect to play more of this.