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Best Wild West Games

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Dead Man's Hand Legends of the Old West What A Cowboy!

This topic contains 15 replies, has 10 voices, and was last updated by jamescutts 2 months, 3 weeks ago.

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June 20, 2024 at 3:07 pm #1883377
elysium64
5634xp

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This is a question to the community but particularly for @avernos.

What are the best Wild West wargame rules, I am either looking for rules that can cover small skirmish upto larger scale games, I would also like something that can cover basic cowboys to plains wars.

I am happy for recomendations for rules specific to just cowboys or specific to plains wars.

My overall preference if I was to get one set it would focus on plains wars. Thank you.
- This topic was modified 2 months, 4 weeks ago by elysium64.
June 20, 2024 at 3:46 pm #1883380

grantinvanman
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For Plains Wars, I might be tempted to go with Black Powder – they work well for Zulu Wars, so really, could be a nice fit for Plains Wars, at a larger scale.

Skirmish, Dead Man’s Hand seems to be the go-to. I honestly enjoyed the now out of print Legends of the Old West and its supplements, by Warhammer Historical. Nice production values, too.

Just my thoughts.

June 20, 2024 at 4:28 pm #1883388

khusrau
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For skirmish, What a Cowboy from TooFatLardies is well worth a look.

I’ve played Plains Indian engagements using Black Powder, but it had to be heavily tweaked.

June 20, 2024 at 11:25 pm #1883419

smithsco
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1212xp

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Legends of the Old West. It’s is from GW and uses MESBG as it’s starting point. Been out of print for a while. But *cough* I might know someone who has them in PDF form if you were to message me *cough*

June 21, 2024 at 8:29 am #1883431

avernos
Keymaster

33940xp

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Honestly if you can put your hands on Legends it would be the way I’d go for moving between large engagements and skirmish so you don’t have to learn multiple rulesets.

I do love Dead Man’s Hand though (even with the d20) but I’m also getting more fond of Fistful of Lead and with it’s expansions for large games it could be a contender to take Legends place.

June 23, 2024 at 10:11 am #1883538
bvandewalker
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2077xp

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Could try Savage Core I believe it has wildwest rules (does have weird west ones lol), Chainreaction should cover it and is Free so worth checking out and Fist Full of Lead is probably a good suggestion. Also I noticed no one mentioned Gunfighter’s Ball by Knuckleduster, so make what you well of that.
- This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by bvandewalker.
June 23, 2024 at 12:21 pm #1883548

pagan8th
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10226xp

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Not played Gunfighter’s Ball, but I do own some of the miniatures that I use as bystanders and gunslingers.

June 23, 2024 at 12:49 pm #1883558

piers
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I’ve always liked ‘The Rules with No Name’ that Foundry released in the 90s.

Fast, alot.of fun, and can handle from 6 to 60 figures.

June 23, 2024 at 3:13 pm #1883570

elysium64
5634xp

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Yeah, I have found an old print out of “The rules with no name” and I am thinking of starting out with these as I used to love these rules when I played them many years ago.

June 23, 2024 at 8:52 pm #1883614

avernos
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it’s great for con games with everyone playing a single figure but I wouldn’t try a large skirmish with it

June 25, 2024 at 8:23 am #1883852

elysium64
5634xp

1

I have also found my old copy of Draculas America, the Shadows of the West rules in their look to be good for smallish skirmishes so will try these also, without the supernatural elements.

Could be my first battle reports…..

June 25, 2024 at 1:31 pm #1883902

blipvertus
12315xp

1

I’m quite fond of Fistful of Lead as it’s easy enough to teach quickly so it makes a great participation game and plenty of flavorful rules to just make it fun. It’s also highly customizable so you can tailor it to whatever you like.

Wiley Games publishes a supplement to their Fistful series of games called Bigger Battles. I haven’t played it but I think it’s worth checking out for games that involve units of troops instead of just individual models.

June 25, 2024 at 2:08 pm #1883920

pagan8th
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I was interested in Fistful of Lead, but the shipping from america was more than the rule book, so I went with Dead Man’s Hand instead.

June 25, 2024 at 4:18 pm #1883976

jamescutts
6889xp

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Dead Man’s Hand for me is my favourite of rules that are in print and easy to get hold of, its easy to learn, reasonably quick to play and importantly pretty much always enjoyable.

I wasn’t too impressed with What a Cowboy, its a good game and classically lardy (which you will love or hate) but for me it was a bit overhyped and didn’t deliver on the enjoyable side to the same level as DMH.

“The Rules with No Name” sounds interesting though, as does Fistful of Lead.

June 25, 2024 at 4:25 pm #1883978

blipvertus
12315xp

0

@pagan8th regarding shipping, perfectly understandable. Though an option for digital format exists which if you’re like me, you probably prefer a physical rulebook. I feel the same way buying from UK companies but bit the bullet on that to get most of my figures from Great Escape Games.
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