"I've Come Fur Ma Ma!"

Matriarch of the notorious Carfax family, Ma Carfax, has been apprehended by the law! Sheriff Collins and his loyal deputy Donal McTeague are taking her back to town for trial. She call for help!

Her children rush to her aid. From left to right they are Wilson Carfax, Ella Carfax and Joe Carfax. The siblings have also recruited gun-for-hire The Orinoco Kid.

After Thursday's game I wanted to try one of the scenarios with an objective, and picked The Rescue. In this one there is an object or person near the centre of the table to be grabbed or rescued. Once side defends it and the other is out to grab it and escape.

I also thought it would be interesting to try forces that weren't equal in number; quality vs quantity.

The law had two figures:

Sheriff Collins - Gunslinger - Shotgun, Revolver
Donal McTeague - Shootist - 2 x Revolvers

The Carfax Family consisted of:

Ella Carfax - Shootist - Revolver
Wilson Carfax - Shootist - Rifle, Revolver
Joe Carfax - Greenhorn - Revolver
The Orinoco Kid - Shootist - Revolver

Sheriff Collins started on table with Ma Carfax. He stashed her in a cabin then moved nearby to defend against the approaching villains.

The Carfax family would be approaching from the left. McTeague would appear from the right. Until then the Sheriff was on his own. He hid behind a rock and waited.

The Carfax family arrived. Ella moved to the cover of a rock ...

... and fired. Her shot wounded the sheriff. Not a great start for the law.

Wilson Carfax took a shot with his rifle and the sheriff was hit again.

(At this stage I was thinking I should cut my losses and set it up again, but I kept playing).

Sheriff Collins vacated the dubious cover of his rock and Ducked behind the cabin. But he was still in danger of being outflanked and would have to hold out until McTeague could get across the table.

McTeague was moving fast to his rescue. He aimed for the cover to the south of the cabin, but on the way took aim at Wilson Carfax who was lurking behind the second building and seriously wounded him with a gut-shot.

Ella Carfax also moved to the south and took a shot at McTeague. The two ducked into the cover of the undergrowth around them as they exchanged shots.

Ella came out the other side and made for the Sheriff, but he was too fast for her ...

... One shot from his shotgun took her down, stone dead.

Now things were looking better for the law. One Carfax was dead and another seriously wounded to the point that he would be of little use in the rest of the action.

Joe Carfax now came up to the cabin, protected by covering fire from The Orinoco Kid. Collins was forced to duck inside the building.

McTeague was wary of running across teh open ground to the cabin whilst Joe was there, and sought to drive him off. He emptied his revolver in Joe's direction and managed to miss with every shot!

Sensibly Joe took cover though. I added a small floor plan to show the inside of the cabin.

McTeague kept up his fire, and still couldn't hit anything.

Collins peeped out of the door and forced Joe back into cover with a second shot from his shotgun. 

The Orinoco Kid sneaked up to the window at the back of the cabin and took the Sheriff under fire from there. Collins was now rather trapped and not in a good state.

McTeague had fired off almost all of his shots and was frantically reloading.

Joe Carfax ducked into the cabin, fired twice ...

... and the Sheriff was down!

The Orinoco Kid climbed in through the window and rescued Ma Carfax, dragging her back out of the window to make the run for home.

But with Sheriff Collins down, McTeague decided to call it a day and bolted to the south.

So the Carfax family had won! Wilson was very badly wounded, and Ella was dead, though. So it wasn't as decisive a win as it had originally looked.

I'd probably not allow a rescue via the window in another game. Get in? Yes. But taking the prize out through the door would be a requirement. 

With hindsight setting up Sheriff Collins that close to the enemy arrival edge was a silly thing to do, as the activation sequence meant that he had to stand there and take several shots before he could act. A position that covered the door to the cabin would have been better. McTeague started well, taking out a Carfax very early (and the dangerous one with the rifle at that). But afterwards he couldn't hit a thing. He scored two hits with twelve shots during the game.

Still, this game showed that an objective is the way to go in order to get a decisive fight.