Tombstone 2018

Tombstone at the end of the shoot-out

The end of year Society wild west shoot out for 2018 has gone down in the Annals of the West.  The town photographer captured the action!

This saw Sheriff “Frontier Steve” Walters defending the good citizens of Tombstone against raiding gangs led by Black “Texas Bob” Jang and Frank “Bexley Dutch Mike” Schmidt.  The Sheriff was later reinforced by a mercenary crew led by No-Eyes “Chairman John” Luke.  A motley range of citizens were controlled by the host and umpire, “Treasurer Mark” showing varying levels of commitment to help defend their town.

Bashful Baz heroically (and ineptly) confronts Frank “Bexley Dutch Mike” Schmidt

The gang led by Dutch Mike made a beeline for the bank, whilst the gang led by Texas Bob made a bee-line for the Drink n Drop Saloon.  Patrolling deputy Ted ‘The Lawman’ spotted Dutch, raised the alarm and opened fire with his trusty Colt,  while Sheriff Steve Walters moved round the general store to outflank Dutch’s gang, only to die in a hail of bullets from Quick-Draw Mc-Graw.  Several citizens waded in to help – the general store owner shot down Dutch from the window of his store before rashly coming out and in turn being gunned down by Quick-Draw.  Ted the Lawman fell to the shotgun of outlaw Heath Robinson.  The hapless citizen Bashful Baz placed himself squarely in the line of fire and then spent the rest of the game rooted to the spot and twice trying to unjam his Colt in a hail of bullets, emerging unscathed with only a few bullet grazes.  The only Deputy left standing, Camp Freddie, despatched outlaw Doc Savage through a window, having fled for cover in the bank.

Black “Texas Bob” Jang goes head to head with No-Eyes “Chairman John” Luke

At the other end of town Texas Bob went head to head with the newly arrived John ‘No-eyes’ and gunned him down in a hail of lead, then laying out his gang-side kick Jimmy Six-Shot with a ‘real-bad’ hit in the legs.  His rampage was finally stopped with a hail of bullets from ‘No-Eyes’ number 2, Yankee Seb.  Texas Bob’s side-kick, Stick-up Joe moved in to rob and recruit in the Drink n Drop.  Joe won over his secret admirer, saloon girl Rosie Williams and saloon ‘resident’ Whiskey Will.  All hell broke lose as the jilted and alcohol-fuelled Hallelujah Jones attacked Rosie.  Stick-up laid him out cold and Rosie completed her journey to the dark side by finishing him with her trusty Deringer.  However, as Stick-up Joe emerged from the Drink n Drop, he was gunned down by hired guns Yankee Seb and Ugly Trev.

Stick-up Joe and Rosie Williams emerge from the Drink n’ Drop to their doom

Meanwhile outlaw Sam Sharpshot went after town resident ‘The Butcher’ who had been gunned down after emerging from his livery stable and wildly shooting his shotgun at Texas Bob’s gang.  ‘The Butcher’ was heroically rescued by the town Doc, Sweeney Todd, but both were then pursued and ‘The Butcher’ was killed by the hard-bitten Sam assisted by Whiskey Will – Sweeney Todd was badly injured trying to save him.  Meanwhile last member of Bob’s gang, the outlaw Maximillian met a sticky end at the hands of Yankee Seb, Deputy Camp Freddie and hotel owner ‘Hurricane’ Higgins, who suddenly found the ‘courage’ to shoot him in the back as he faced Yankee Seb.

Crazed with grief Rosie dashed across the street aiming to gun down lawman Camp Freddie, who calmly turned and shot her down.

With this, the surviving outlaws headed for the hills.

Black “Texas Bob” Jang – during his gun toting rampage

The winner on the day was the gang of Black “Texas Bob” Jang, who scored 7 points after robbing the Drink n Drop and the Livery Stable (1 point each), recruiting two citizens to the gang (2 points), killing Legend ‘No-Eyes’ (2 points) and two citizens (half a point each).  The only survivors were Shootist Sam Sharpshot and the now infamous ex-citizen Whiskey Will.

No-Eyes “Chairman John” Luke moves up at the head of his hired hands

In second place was “Chairman John”, who scored 4.5 points after killing Legend Black Jang, Doc Savage, Maximillian and half a point for citizen turned outlaw, Rosie.  All of the hired gang except leader ‘No-Eyes’ survived, but Jimmy Six-Shot was ‘hurt real bad’.

Frank “Bexley Dutch Mike” Schmidt – killed by the unseen owner of the general store

A close third was “Bexley Dutch Mike”, who scored 4 points, his gang gunning down Legend Sheriff Walters, Deputy Ted the Lawman and citizens ‘Doc’ Walters and Ol’ George.  Only two gang members survived, Quick-Draw Mc-Graw and gang side-kick, Heath Robinson, who was ‘hurt real bad’, but caused mayhem with his shotgun.  McGraw becomes a legend after taking out the Sheriff and his marksman deputy without so much as a scratch before avenging his fallen leader.

Sheriff “Frontier Steve” Walters – a dedicated lawman to the end

“Frontier Steve” had an unlucky day with 3 of the 4 lawmen shot down stopping Dutch’s gang with the Sheriff and Chief Deputy killed and Deputy Billy the Bloke badly shot up as he emerged from the jail to help.  Their sacrifice will always be remembered.

Sheriff Walters gunned down in the performance of his duty. Bashful Baz is under fire from Heath Robinson and Quick-Draw McGraw on the other side of the store.  Dutch Mike has fallen near the bank.
Doc Walters proudly poses in front of his store on the day it opened. He is now remembered as a fallen hero of Tombstone

The citizens held a fine funeral for Doc Walters who fell defending his store and the town, killing outlaw legend ‘Dutch’ Schmidt.  Bashful Baz can spin a fine tale showing his bullet grazes having survived a hail of bullets and shotgun shells (probably leaving out that his gun jammed twice and he never hit anything other than the side of the bank).  The severely injured doctor, Sweeney Todd becomes a town hero after his selfless rescue of ‘The Butcher’ and attempt to save him from the brutal assault of Sam Sharpshot and the treacherous Whiskey Will.

Whiskey Will and Sam Sharpshot emerge from the Livery Stable after their savage pursuit and killing of the ‘The Butcher’

The tragic tale of the doomed love of Stick-up Joe and Rosie Williams enters western folk-lore.

Camp Freddie plans to stand for Sheriff.

The game used “The Rules With No Name” and 20mm figures and buildings from the collection of our late Chairman, Trevor.

The rules use a card driven activation sequence and make for an excellent, fast, fun game.

A random roll was used to drive the action of citizens, with the potential to defect to an outlaw gang under pressure, avoid action, or alternatively suddenly gain the courage to defend the town, with limited, or excessive enthusiasm, as events unfolded in their direction.