Howdy Gents,

I've been receiving e-mails asking how my health was and if I ever
intended to run another Gunslinger Blind game. Well, I'm in fair
health. I've survived two heart attacks and a year and a half later
I'm still alive. There was no tissue damage, so I was supremely
lucky. I'm not 100%, but at my age, who is?

So all you trigger happy gents. Who's up for walking the streets of
No Name City again?

To Join, please contact me at tdchistorian@gmail.com or post here your desire to play. This game does NOT have a character limit. In the past it has had between 25 and 45 players. You will also need the Gunslinger Vassal Mod. And I will supply that, because I have the latest and greatest, which is NOT the one on Vassal or Limey Yank. There is also a Module Extension with extra boards, again not posted anywhere. These were constructed specifically for me and for Blind Play. Regular MSWord and MSExcel are also useful.

When I calculate we've waited long enough for recruiting, I will proceed with distributing special rules, which is fortunately not extensive. Characters are generated randomly. And weapons are purchased through a system that allows a random money system. And of course, being a Blind GM'd game you will only be able to see characters in your aim zone. In the past the system I've used for directional gunfire (i.e. "you heard a gunshot distantly to your right rear") will be simplified. It tended to confuse people. What is "Distant" or Near or Close or Immediate? Players tended to forget the differences, and even I had to look them up. So we will make this simpler.

Anyway, it's time now to contact me and for me to begin building a player list from which to work.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting
Tom

We presently have 11, not bad for only 24 hours. As usual, I will hold off on many organizing things until we are closer to 20 ... or more. The last half dozen Blind games have had more than 20, 2 over 30, and one was 42. Have always hoped for 50, but we're all getting older and the number of us still healthy enough and willing to spend what can take as long as 18 months (maybe more - I've known that to occur) to complete a game is getting fewer and fewer.

But we're progressing. Even 11 can be fun if constricted to 1 board.

Good Luck & Good Hunting,
Tom

14 as of tonight.

We're now 17. I hope to see 3 more players (maybe this weekend?) bringing us to 20 and then I'll begin sending set up information and the like.

Howdy Gents,

The current game now has 19 players. We are still in the set up phase of the game. Player Characteristics have been calculated. Players are now attempting to buy their preferred weapons. The limit has been set to 1881 (the time of the Ok Coral fight). The map has been set. I've limited it to only 4 panels, which calculates to 5 players, more or less, for each board, which should provide plenty of room to separate players during initial set up so no one gets shot in the back on Turn 1 (not very fun especially for newbies and something the professional gunmen that play this game rather enjoy with an evil grin).

Take Care,
Tom

No Name City!

I wish I could post more than this. Being a Blind GM'd game I can't reveal more than a general description because it would give away the locations of the players.

What I can do is provide general descriptions:

Turn 1 ended with four players out of 20 catching a glimpse of each other. Two of them were canny enough to duck back out of sight before the end of Turn 1 so all they got was a fleeting glimpse. The other two, however, came nose to nose with each other at the end of their turns. I'm sure they were quite surprised when each rounded the same corner. Many of the other players are newbies with teething problems learning the rules. There were many stumbles, but they will learn .... if the professional gunmen playing this game don't make short work of them first.

Good Luck & Good Hunting,
Tom

Howdy Gents,

I think one of the most important duties of a GM, especially for new players, is to point out rules errors as they occur so those who read here might learn from "experience" so to speak.

Last turn there were several instances of the same error. Players lost track of the facing of their characters and named the wrong direction to turn. Additionally players forgot that the Turn Action permits a change of direction of only ONE hexside. The other error regarding Turning has to do with the Advance, Run, and Sprint Actions. These Actions permit players to move their pieces on the board in a specific direction, BUT you cannot change the FACING of the character. This is a very important quirk in the rules.

Another common error, happened more than once last turn, was players didn't realize the Head In/Out Action required players to place their head counters in the Straight Ahead hex. The rules allow a player's head counter to be in any hex within the Aim Zone of his Body Counter, but FIRST that head counter MUST be placed in the Directly Straight Ahead hex. Later you can execute Turn such that your body counter is facing to either side of the head counter, which permits the head counter to remain in the Aim Zone. This too is a requirement of a Head Counter, it MUST remain in the Body Counter's Aim Zone. But I reiterate the Head Counter MUST FIRST be placed in the Straight Ahead hex. There is also a rule that says that if anyone tries to put their head through a wall, because they forgot about the Straight Ahead rule, then they must draw 2 Delay Cards Penalty. OOPS!

That does it for the Turn 1 Installment of Errors.

Turn 2 began with a very hurried shot by one of the gentlemen who last turn found himself nose to nose with an opponent at the corner of a building. One of the most important lessons to learn about Gunslinger is that the game, as in life, rewards he who takes time to AIM at his opponent. This explained, you can imagine the result. If he hit anything it was air.

One player lost track of where he was and stumbled into a wall ... twice, coming away with only a couple delay, fortunate that.

Late in the turn, on the last segment, the second of our gunmen at the corner opened fire, having taken time to Aim. And yet, nose to nose, with sufficient Aim Time, he still missed (the luck of the draw). This reiterates the need to take time, though in this instance it would have made no difference. But the point is he WAITED and AIMED before wasting lead.

Elsewhere on the board two of the most dangerous of our professional gunmen came into each other's company inside a building. This has set the stage for a most violent end for one, or both of them. The professionals in this deadly game don't waste time killing each other. Let us see what happens next turn.

And in a third confrontation just emerging, another of our professional gunmen has had a newbie stumble into the street directly in front of him. Unless the newbie is quick of mind, this gunman will kill him "dead'er 'n hell" (to quote Bo Hopkins - The Culpepper Cattle Company).

A fourth duel is about to erupt. Though no one can tell what will happen this this one. Both characters are quite some distance apart, but are in clear sight of each other. Will a long range exhibition of marksmanship erupt, or will one or both of them decide to duck out of sight. Both will have the time since the distance requires quite alot of Aim Time, time which can be translated into movement well before either of them get a chance to shoot.

The No Name Gazette will report all the news when available.

No Name City has seen its latest fatality tonight. It just goes to show you it's not wise to play in the streeet. There were other attempts at gunplay, not one of them hit their mark. The wisdom of taking your time to aim seems never to be heeded.

Only one player seems to have had a problem catching on to the most basic of rules. He stumbled into a wall for the 2nd time in three turns. One might think he had a bit too much redeye. Other than this single instance, the players, the newbies, are getting the hang of basic movement.

Howdy Gents,

Christmas and family got a bit in the way this week so I didn't get this complete until tonight (nearly 3 AM at the moment).

I continue to be surprised by gunmen I've played with for .... well at least 5 or 6 years who make no effort to aim at their targets. There were two shots this turn that were moderately well planned. One entirely missed just because that's the luck of the draw. The third one managed to inflict what would have been a scratch if things had been normal ... but they weren't. The "flesh wound" was inflicted by a BUFFALO gun. In this case it nearly tore the arm off the target. And the unfortunate victim was actually left standing! There's little doubt he will bleed to death shortly. The damage from a big rifle then and now is truly catastrophic.

There was a recent question over at BGG regarding Wounds with 0 Stun. Someone answered correctly regarding the use of Strength Cards to increase the levels of damage. However, that answer didn't go far enough for it only applies to Brawling Attacks.

The article in the General Magazine "The Gunsmith's Shop" also has a rule regarding weapons with a + rating. That means that if you get a Zero Damage hit with a weapon that has a + rating that damage is increased by the number of + ratings for that weapon. For instance a weapon with an A++ will increase the damage it inflicts by +2. Thus a Zero becomes a Stun 2 or Fatigue 2.

Take Care and Merry Christmas,
Tom

Turn 6

Howdy Gents,

Hope your Christmas and New Years were satisfactory. Just completed Turn 6. There was LOTS of gunfire this time. There were several serious hits and even one outright kill. Standing toe to toe with a rifleman is not usually a good idea. The rules for Fan Firing are very specific. Your weapon MUST be in the Both Hands Box. This killed one character. This game is not very forgiving of lack of rules knowledge or failure to pay attention to detail.

An interesting point of "law" turned up this turn too. A character with his head out a door had an opponent move through that door and into the same hex as his Body Counter. Now the rules state that a character MUST draw his LOS FROM the Head Counter if a Head Counter Exists. In this case the Head counter is one one side of the door, while the opponent is in the hex on the other side of the door, but in which the Body counter that belongs to the Head Counter also exists.

C1 with the Head Counter now no longer has a LOS to C2 who is in his same hex as his own body counter. Never encountered that glitch before. But it exists. Something needs to be written to correct that.

Well, that will do it for tonight.
Good Luck and Good Hunting,
Tom

Cundiff wrote:Turn 6

An interesting point of "law" turned up this turn too. A character with his head out a door had an opponent move through that door and into the same hex as his Body Counter. Now the rules state that a character MUST draw his LOS FROM the Head Counter if a Head Counter Exists. In this case the Head counter is one one side of the door, while the opponent is in the hex on the other side of the door, but in which the Body counter that belongs to the Head Counter also exists.

C1 with the Head Counter now no longer has a LOS to C2 who is in his same hex as his own body counter. Never encountered that glitch before. But it exists. Something needs to be written to correct that.

After unexpectedly encountering an enemy on the other side of a door, C1 is in need of a new pair of long johns!

Howdy Gents,

I seem to have forgot to post Turn 7. We've just completed Turn 8.

Fortunately Turn 7 wasn't action packed. Two characters did find each other across a narrow alley. However in Turn 8 they both backed down rather than squaring off and shooting. This didn't turn out too badly for one of them. However, the second of them accidentally backed up around a corner and directly into the lap of another player who, though he didn't realize it at the time, had set himself up to shoot anything that came around that corner. Mind you, this gunman has killed once, and it looks like he's going to once more.

In another corner of the board two other gunmen have walked around corners directly into each other's arms. It will be interesting to see which survives this accidental encounter. Both of them are armed with rifles at a range of 1. Big rifles at close range do BAD things.

Elsewhere one of our older gunmen has failed to clear his rear when he walked past a window and has caught one in the back from another professional who knew he was in there and was just waiting.

In another building a bleeding character continues to bleed so his opponent opted to put him out of his misery. But humorously the man's rifle went .... Click .... Misfired! So he's going to have to try again.

Well, that does it I think.

Good Luck & Good Hunting,
Tom