TRWNN: When the Sheriff's Away...

The Setting

Recently, the authorities in the small town of Yellowhammer Creek captured a notorious bandit leader (Emilio).  The sheriff and most of his men are out looking for the rest of the bandito gang, leaving Deputy Eddie in change of the lockup and the prisoner.  However Tuco, the bandit chieftain, has given the posse the slip and is coming to town to free his lieutenant!

Most of the townsfolk have gone to ground, but Blondie (a passing bounty hunter) and Black Bart (his paroled prisoner) have offered to help the hapless Deputy Eddie to protect the jail from the marauders.

Special Rules

• The bandit players (4 of them!) each start with 1 character, who is placed in a separate corner of the board.  Each turn that the Bystander card is drawn, another bandit enters from a random corner.  Note that most of the banditos are Gunman class, so they're fairly average.  I have 10 bandito models, so once they're all used then no more will arrive.
• Tuco is the bandit's big man; if he is killed or captured then the game ends immediately with a joint win for the surviving townsfolk.  Tuco is a very powerful character; this rule is intended to handicap the banditos by making them use him very cautiously.
• Otherwise, the bandits win by entering the jail and releasing their comrade.  Only the player whose figure releases Emilio counts as winning; the others tie for second place!
• If neither of the above victory conditions is met when the time limit for the evening's play is up then the sheriff and his posse return; the townsfolk score a joint minor win.
• Black Bart wins a major victory if he escapes from the town, but only if the bandits then lose (he did promise to defend the town, after all).  If the bandits lose but he doesn't escape then he scores a minor victory.
• Blondie wins a major victory he survives, the bandits lose and Black Bart remains in the town (i.e. is recaptured).
• Deputy Eddie wins a major victory if he survives and Emilio is still in the jail.

The Action

Blondie and Black Bart decided to stay near the jail, whilst Deputy Eddie ran to the far end of the street to hide behind the bank.

As the defenders took up their positions, Juan ran along the road from the south east, past the barn.  Almost immediately, a Bystander card was drawn and Rico arrived from the same corner.  He then activated and...well, Rico is a drunkard.  The tequila was strong with him this day, so he staggered up the road and fired at the nearest figure, believing it to be an enemy.  Despite being drunk as a skunk, he still managed to hit his target!  Although the wound wasn't disabling, Juan was only a citizen and he promptly failed his nerve test and fled.  First shot of the game and the banditos were already down a man!

Further down the street, Deputy Eddie poked his head round the corner of the bank and traded shots with Paco.  At extreme range for a pistol, Eddie blazed away, running out of ammunition several times and having to duck back to reload.  In contrast, Paco took a carefully-aimed rifle shot back and was unlucky only to hit the woodwork instead of the lawman.

While this was happening, 3 other banditos arrived (including Tuco himself).  They crept carefully around the back of the bank, no doubt intending to catch Deputy Eddie by surprise.

Back at the Jail

As Eddie held off 4 banditos all on his own, Santiago approached the jail from the opposite direction.  He was met by Blondie, who shot him down.  When Santiago tried to stand up again, Blondie shot him some more until he stopped moving.

Rico had another drunken moment and stumbled up the street again, firing at Black Bart from behind.  However, the notorious outlaw didn't take kindly to this; he spun round and gunned the sozzled bandit down.

Another rifleman (Cesar) approached the back of the jail from the northeast.  Black Bart strode past Blondie, firing as he went.  Although he took a minor wound from Cesar's hasty shot, he gave as good as he got and the bandit ran for cover, bleeding from the left arm.

Deputy Eddie finally gave up trying to hold the banditos at the bank and fled back up the main street.  As he passed the jail, Blondie and Black Bart returned.

By this time, Rafael and Tuco had made it up to the corner of the saloon.  Rafael stuck his head round the corner to take a potshot at the defenders...

...but a lucky shot hit him, just as Esteban arrived.  Time was running short now, so Tuco decided to have a go himself.

His luck was no better, though!  Blondie blazed away with his pistol; even though he was at extreme range he managed to hit Tuco twice in the head, killing him instantly.  Game over!

Aftermath

At this point, we had pretty much run out of playing time anyway.  The sheriff and the posse returned, scaring off the remaining banditos (Esteban, Cesar, Santos and Paco).

• Black Bart was disarmed and returned to custody, though maybe the judge would look kindly on his actions in defending the town.  He was injured, but still gains a minor victory.
• Blondie took a minor wound, but still gained a major victory (and lots of reputation as a hard man!)
• Deputy Eddie achieved all his objectives and therefore also gains a major victory.  He didn't kill anyone, but he was unhurt himself and is the surprise hero of the day!