Greenhorns!

Only took me ten years to get around to finally paying a game of  Two Hour Wargames'  wild west horror game High Moon Dead Reckoning.  As with everything by THW, this one can be played solo, co-op or head to head, and this one's a solo game.

First off, THW uses Stars to as a miniature representing each player (Savage Worlds calls them Wildcards and D&D calls them PCs) and Grunts (Savage Worlds Extras or D&D NPCs) are the sidekicks.  For this first game I decided to just put two Grunts on the table to let the story play out.  As usual, my dice had specific plans.

 Our protagonists are:rookie Secret Service agents on their first independent field mission.  Meet Wesley James – a Rep 4 Brawler who's Near Sighted and Gordo Artesian – a Rep 4 grunt with Quick Reflexes.  We begin our tale with the two young agents leaving the saloon at closing time after having spent the evening tracking down leads about the villainous Nurse Lovelace.

Turn 1 - PEFs activate first

PEF A passes 1 and moves 4: into the Undertaker’s business.  PEF B passes 2 and moves 8” out of the General Store and ends in a cactus patch.  PEF C passes 1 and moves towards the sheriff’s office.  Wesley and Gordo walk down the street spotting nothing unusual.

 Turn 2 - PEFs activate first

PEF A passes 2, moves 8” towards Wesley and resolves as "False Alarm!".  PEF B passes 2, moves 4” towards Wesley and resolves as "Somethings out there!".  PEF C passes 1 and moves 4” towards Gordo, still not in sight.  Wesley and Gordo walk down the street and get LOS on PEF C which resolves as a Chupacabra.

I roll an "In Sight" test for each miniature on the table.  Wesley passes 0, Gordo passes 2 and passes 1 on a "Draw!"roll.  The Chupacabra passes 2 and passes 3 on a "Draw!" roll so will act first, followed by Gordo while Wesley "freezes".

Since the Chupacabra doesn't have  a firearm, it takes a Charge into Melee test to attack Gordo, who's closest.  The Chupacabra passes 2 and in response Gordo passes 0 so the beast will attack before Gordo can shoot.  In the melee, the Chupacabra gets 5 successes while Gordo gets only 2.  The Chupacabra rolls a 5 (+3 for more successes) for a total of 8, ripping Gordo’s throat out Obviously Dead.

Turn 3 – Chupacabra rolls a 4 for Activation while Wesley rolls a 1. 

Since they're within an inch of each other, the Chupacabra attacks Wesley and scores 4 successes while Wesley scores 2 successes.  The Chupacabra rolls a 6 for Damage, which is always an "Obviously Dead" result, shredding Wesley into his Final Destination.

 

 

This may seem brutal, but as these are all Grunts lacking a Star's ability to "Cheat Death", not all that unusual, except that the dice were decidedly in favor of the Chupacabra and against the hapless greenhorn agents.