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What I have come up with is a “cascade”of three levels of umpire-controlledintervention. Indeed the first levelcan also be handled by willing andconsenting players without the need foran umpire. Essentially the first level is asimple random reaction to events aroundthem by unnamed civilians, passers-byand animals. The second level sees theintroduction of “civilian” characters withtheir own storylines and player statisticswho can be controlled by the umpire in amore or less random fashion. The thirdlevel is where insanity may truly set in!At this level what is envisaged is ascenario within a scenario. At a random,or pre-determined, point in the gamethe inhabitants of the board suddenlycommence upon their own scenario.This will impact upon the playersplaying, ideally, a multi-player game toa greater or lesser extent. The rest of thisarticle sets out how each of these threelevels works, together with examples ofcharacters, storylines and scenarios whichpeople are welcome to use, either lock,stock and smoking barrel, or merely asexamples to fuel their own imagination.This article, and the ideas and scenarios,are written from two basic start points.Firstly they are written with theWarhammer Historical rules in mind andtherefore the character statistics usedare designed for use with that game.Secondly they are designed for use inmy own western town of Desolationso please excuse some of the “locality”based references. I am sure that the ideaswould transfer to other rules systems and,indeed, hope that they do provide someamusement for players using other rules.Simple Randomised EventsThe basic concept here is to produce aneasy way of making random charactersreact during the game. One of the greatappeals to me about western gunfights isto produce a town that is crowdedwith buildings and populatedby civilians. Fighting agame around these obstaclesis much more fun than doingso over a terrain made up of a couple ofodd shacks in a strangely deserted setting.Nonetheless there is a downside to this.If the civilians and/or animals do notreact or move then they are no more thansmall pieces of terrain.A simple way of dealing with thisproblem is to take a dice throw whenevera violent incident occurs near to a civilianor animal. A simple throw of one on aD6 would suffice. It is, however, muchmore fun to use a “smiley face” diceif you can find one. These have sixdifferent expressions from very happy tovery irritated and enable you to determinewhich expression makes the figure react.Once a figure has “reacted” then throwa GW scatter dice and a single D6 for acivilian or 2D6 for an animal. Move thecivilian or animal the distance on the dicein inches in the direction of the arrow.If an explosion is shown then the civilianor animal dives or falls to the groundand whimpers!How this works out in reality lies largelyin the hands of an umpire. Commonsense should be used. Except in cartoonsand poor computer games people andanimals do not run slap bang into thewalls of buildings. They move aroundthem. Accordingly characters shouldbe made to move with the semblanceof realism. (It has to be acknowledgedhowever that there is occasionally much“fun” to be derived from something verysilly indeed happening!) Given that thistype of event is largely dictated by diceroll you can understand why I say thatthis can be used without an umpire at all.It does require players to share a similarview of how the game should be playedto work properly.Random CharactersBy adding this level of detail umpirecontrolled characters with their ownstatistics become involved in the game.The intention here is that each turn theumpire will roll a D6. On a roll of‘one’ one of the characters below willbecome “live”.In my own game I have continuedthe theme set out in the WarhammerHistorical rules of using playing cards. Ihave put these details and statistics on toa separate playing card for each randomcharacter. Once a roll of ‘one’ hashappened, the card is drawn by chancefrom the pack and that character entersthe fray. From that point on it is down tothe umpire to use that character as closelyas possible within his other storylinesor, alternatively, to achieve the greatestamusement for all the participants!The list of random characters grows.To try to make the system work I havegenerally expanded them as the townof Desolation expands. Each time anew building or accessory is added Idream up a new random participant.When my steam train was added the twoWelsh railway workers appeared. Theschool room was accompanied by MissMacdonald and Little Britches. A fewof the characters just appeared withoutthe need to be supported by a particularbuilding and are part of the background“colour” of any western town. Someof the characters have however beenprovided by friends whose insanityappears to exceed my own. (Even Iwould not have dreamt up an Eskimo ina western town!) These additions havesometimes actually led to the purchaseof a building or accessory in order togive a good excuse for that character toappear. Other ideas are in the pipeline.A Chinese laundry with its owner, WanHung Lo, will appear before long, aswill a set of town Meeting Roomswith some slightly more upper-classdancers etc. Of course amongst thosedancers will be some with worryinglypsychotic tendencies.Illustration by Kenson Low:kenson_low@hotmail.com

Jones the Steam and hisbrother CaseyDriver and fireman of locomotive.Spend spare time cleaning theirown train and “spotting” others.Obsessed by their machine and willrun riot if its paint gets damaged.Both:S F St G A W P5+ 3 3 3 1 1 3Equipment: Repeating rifles.Dan Daly and Seamus RileyReporter and photographer for theDesolation Clarion. When fuelledby drink (often caused by boredomof sleepy town) have been known tocreate their own “news”. Seamusalso gets very touchy if anyone goesnear his camera.Both:S F St G A W P5+ 3 3 3 1 1 3Equipment: SixgunsErnst “Big Dutch” SchultzLoving husband to Dora and father to triplets - gentle giant- 6’ 8’’, 22 stone railwayman - champion rail spike driver -ambidextrous, immensely strong - capable of using a 28lbhammer in each hand to drive two spikes simultaneously-essential good nature undermined by endless sleepless nightsand distress caused to Dora & triplets - heading into town withaxe to request any player he encounters to keep the noise downunlikely to take an un-cooperative response well!S F St G A W P- 3 5 3 1 1 3Equipment: HandweaponScenariosAs stated in the preamble, insanity can truly set in at this level!The intention is that the umpire should have in mind an eventthat may occur at some point during the game. This mightbe a pre-determined point or, like the appearance of randomcharacters set out above, occur on a random throw of the dice.If the latter option is used then I suggest that the throw of thedice works in the same way that reserves are often summonedto the table in wargames. E.g. a roll of 6 will be required on thefirst turn - 5 or 6 on the second - 4, 5 or 6 on the third etc. Thismethod will ensure that the scenario kicks off at some point andthe umpire’s efforts creating it are not wasted.The scenarios are, at the moment, of two basic types. One is anevent that involves most, if not all, of the non-playing figureson the table. In these scenarios every male or female characterhas an identical set of statistics set out below. I apologise for theobvious sexist difference in the statistics. The Wild West was aman’s world after all!MenS F St G A W P5+ 3 3 3 1 1 3WomenS F St G A W P5+ 3 2 3 1 1 3These do not require a complicated additional set of specificfigures and have an attraction because of that. The first twoscenarios are of that type.The second type is where a number of specific identifiedcharacters with their own statistics and storylines becomeinvolved using a linked theme. The final scenario, “The BritishAre Coming!” is one of those. These are perhaps the most timeconsumingfor the umpire because of the need to buy and paintadditional figures. Nonetheless they can be the most amusing.There’s gold in them thar hills!When this scenario commences all the male civilian figures on thetable hear the news that gold has been discovered in a nearby rangeof hills. Immediately overcome with dreams of wealth beyondimagining they lose all common sense and stampede for themountains. The umpire can determine which side of the board themountains are located off. Objectives can be set for these civilians.They may try to steal every available horse or wagon to speed uptheir attempts to “stake a claim”. Trips to any of the stores in thetown that may sell shovels, pickaxes or even frying pans may benecessary. Woe betide anyone who stands in their way! Goldfever will also affect the members of each participant gang. A“Head for the Hills” test must be taken for every figure, everyturn. A failed test means that this particular member of the gangdecides that the chance of getting rich quick is more important thanwhatever else he was involved in. He joins the stampede!Bringing in the sheavesThe women of Desolation have decided that enough is enough.They have formed the Bible Union and Temperance Union forGodly Living for Yourselves, BUT-UGLY for short. All thewomen on the table attempt to drive troublemaking playersout of the town by the force of their will and personality. Anymale civilian figures join this union rather more reluctantly.Nonetheless they will do so on a dice roll of 4 or more. Testfor this roll every turn. The normal rules about not shooting atcivilians apply. Accordingly the civilian figures can effectivelyblock out movement for some players and pen them in or drivethem off the table. Despite their religious fervour the civilianfigures will fight back if attacked. Of course this option mayonly be available to outlaws and certain special characters.The British Are Coming!In this scenario there is a strange gathering of “limeys” ofvarious description within the town. Some resident, most not.When trouble breaks out amongst the locals one of the Englishsees something going on that he feels is “just not cricket”.(Sadly this paragon of justice is almost always Lord Anthony!)Once he gets involved then the other characters set out belowwill join in. It is unclear whether they do this out of a spirit ofnational unity, pure jingoism or a simple desire to “show thesedamned colonials a thing or two!!” The real reasons do notmatter, it is the fun of the game that is important.

Lord Anthony Auberon Allardyce D’ArcyThird son of the Duke of Elmet -noble nincompoop, but well awareof his own considerable limitationsin “the old brainbox department,haw haw” and a very kind andconsiderate young man who isperfectly charming (as overgrownpuppies often are) - however heis fearsomely athletic - Captain ofRugger, Rowing, School Boxing,Fencing and Singlestick Champion;he will undoubtedly grow intothe sort of British Army Officer whose “Men will follow himanywhere - if only out of curiosity!” unless his determination to“do the decent thing” gets him killed first!S F St G A W P5+ 3 5 3 1 1 3Equipment: Heavy pistol; handweaponNaik Prabend SinghEx-Garwhool Rifles NCO, ex-batman to Lord Anthony’s fatherand general factotum to the above - extremely fond of both his“Young Gentlemen”, and very protective of Lord A - inclinedto think that The Hon Peter is pretty well able to take care ofhimself…and indeed most anything else if required…dismissesas sentimental nonsense the notion that a Ghurka only sheatheshis Kukri once blood has been shed, but still has a lattice ofsmall neat scars on his left thumb from the odd occasions whenhe has breached this ancient superstition.S F St G A W P4+ 3 4 3 1 1 3Equipment: Rifle; handweaponThe Honourable Peter Hoo-DunnitSlightly older and very much wiserfriend of the Lord Anthony - archetypalamateur sleuth - clear thinker, goodshot, useful in punch-up but generallyprefers brain to brawn - expensivetastes in wine, women and song - hasfound that poker is a “D’vlish goodgame, what ho” in terms of financingthe above - especially as he has an IQin the high 140s, and a mind as sharpas a steel trap; would never cheat - butactually doesn’t need to when playingwith sozzled cowboys and miners who need to remove theirboots to count to twenty In the last three months he has alreadywon 140,000 acres in Montana, a small but productive silvermine and his own railway.S F St G A W P3+ 3 4 3 1 1 3Equipment: SixgunArthur “The Englishman” EntwhistleKeeps a well organised boarding house on the edge of town -late middle age, neat in appearance, sober and modest in habit- but not generally known to have started life as a pick-pocketand cat burglar in the London “Rookeries” close by WappingDock - avoided the gallows for theft as a boy of 12 by taking theQueen’s Shilling - more than 30 years with the Colours, retiringas RSM of a crack cavalry regiment - has served in the WestIndies, West, South and East Africa, the Persian Gulf, India,North West and North East Frontiers, China…met, fought andgenerally killed the Queen’s enemies on a hundred differentbattlefields with quiet and good natured efficiency - crack shotwith rifle and pistol - pig-sticker par excellence - beau sabreur.Has a very strong sense of order and decency, and a welldeveloped concern for women, children and the elderly - alsocompletely fearless, and accustomed to being taken seriouslyand obeyed promptly. Most western gunfighters killed a handfulof people “in extremis” - Arthur has killed hundreds “in a goodcause” without losing his temper or a wink of sleep - generallyill advised to give him a good cause…S F St G A W P3+ 3 5 3 1 1 3Equipment: Rifle; Heavy pistol; handweapon