Batrep: The Magnificent Six

Introduction

Some years ago, I ran a game of The Rules with No Name that was vaguely reminiscent of the film "The Magnificent Seven".  If you're interested then the outcome can be seen here.  Last week I decided to do something very similar at the Helensburgh games club.  This is what happened:

The Scenario

The game setup was very similar to the previous version, but not quite identical, as follows:

Forces

We had 3 players, [plus me, running the bad guys], so each player controlled 2 Americanos.  There was a 7th Americano figure; this was held in reserve to replace the first hero to be lost [there's always one who gallops in to help his friends after the battle has started, having initially said that he wanted nothing to do with the fight!].

All of the 7 attackers were either Legend or Shootist class ["level 4" or "level 3", for anyone who doesn't know The Rules with No Name]; the banditos were all either Gunman or Citizen ["level 2" or "level 1"].

Morale

I decided to keep things simple and not use Nerve tests:

• The Americanos would continue to fight as long as they were alive.
• A Citizen-class bandito would be put out of action by a single wound of any type.
• A Gunman-class bandito would be out of action after 2 wounds - assuming that the first hit wasn't fatal.

To give the Americanos even more of an edge, I included a Bystander card in the event deck.  My initial thought had been that this would give a turn to whoever had been the longest without one [i.e the character whose activation card was not drawn for the longest period].  However, after just a couple of turns this was obviously not working well; it was very hard to work out who should get the action.  Instead we changed it so that the players could choose between them which of the Americanos should get the action from the Bystander card; this worked much better.

Bandito Reinforcements

There were 6 buildings in the town:

• A bandit would appear from a random building at the start of every turn - unless the indicated building had been "cleared".  If the building had been cleared then no bandito would appear that turn.
• To clear a building, an Americano needed to spend 2 actions at the front door without being involved in a fight.

Victory

Obviously, when [if!] all the 6 buildings had been cleared then no more bandits could appear and the game would end.  Victory would then be determined thus:

• If more bandits escaped off the board than there were Americanos still alive then the bandits would win.  In this case, the banditos could raise another gang and continue their life of crime.
• If fewer bandits escaped than the number of surviving Americanos then the Americanos win.  The heroes could hunt down any escaped banditos and bring them to justice, or perhaps to an unmarked grave.
• If the numbers were equal then it would be a draw.  Nobody wins...

Simple, really.

The Game

First blood went to Black Bart.  He saw a bandito trying to take cover and ran up the main street after him before shooting him down.

This stirred things up a bit; banditos started to appear from windows and doors all over the town.

Too much happened too quickly for some of the characters.  A Mexican rifleman appeared out of a doorway behind Emmett, took aim and shot him in the back.  Emmett collapsed in the middle of the street with a serious head wound.

In the centre of the town, Blondie and Black Bart traded shots with a pair of banditos who had appeared from the sheriff's office.  Blondie got his man, but Black Bart was shot dead by his opponent!

At about the same time, a couple of banditos appeared out of the saloon.  Preacher Adams didn't seem to notice them as he strode up the street, but the bad guys saw him.  One pistol shot was all that was needed to fell the Americano, badly wounded and unconscious.

Blondie got revenge on the man with the rifle, but another bandito appeared immediately from the sheriff's office.  This new bad guy was singularly inept: he tried to shoot the hero but jammed his gun spectacularly.  For several turns thereafter, he tried to fix it while the Americano took deliberate shots at him; all of which missed.  I guess that Blondie was laughing too hard to shoot straight!

About this time, a lot of brawling started to take place.  First up was Jesse; the big man had approached the Dry Goods store to try to clear it when a bandit appeared from the inside.  Now here's the thing: Jesse is a hand-to-hand specialist.  It only took a single attack to leave the Mexican sprawled in the dirt, unconscious.

Sheriff Roberts was also trying to clear a building.  He unloaded his shotgun rather messily into one bandito and charged into melee with another.  Neither could get the upper hand for some while.  Even when a second bandit joined in, the best they could do was knock Roberts down, once.  Eventually, the Americano triumphed and knocked out both adversaries, but this took much of the rest of the game.

Remember Emmett?  He had been shot very early in the game, but finally came around and staggered to his feet.  Unfortunately, this was just as Two-Gun Rafael came out of a nearby building.  The bandito blazed away and amazingly rolled two '6's and two '1's for each gun.  He ran out of ammunition, but scored four hits on the poor Americano to add to the existing head wound.  We all held our breath as the damage was resolved; amazingly Emmett was still standing (though he was swaying a bit from blood loss and couldn't really use either arm).

So, this was the situation towards the end of the game:

• Sheriff Roberts was wrestling with 2 banditos, whom he eventually defeated.
• Jesse put paid to Two-Gun Rafael and then cleared the bank.
• Blondie held the middle of the town.  Having put a number of banditos out of action near the sheriff's office, he shot one of the gunmen on the saloon balcony.  It was decreed that this casualty did the classic "fall off a high place whilst clutching a chest wound" dive to the street below.
• Preacher Adams was still unconscious; he had lain there for most of the game.
• Deputy Rex had been pinned down behind an outhouse by the gunmen on the saloon balcony for most of the game.
• Emmett staggered from one building to another, checking that they were clear of bandits.  He was so badly hurt that he couldn't do much else, but still wanted to be useful...

Just as Emmett reached the gun shop, two fresh banditos appeared from within.  They must have been scared by the bloodied, corpse-like appearance of the Americano as they failed to hit him in several rounds of melee.  Eventually, Sheriff Roberts came to assist and beat up the bad guys, thus allowing Emmett to clear yet another building.

Meanwhile, Blondie still hadn't cleared the sheriff's office.  As he was about to attempt it, yet another pair of banditos came out of the door [what is this - a clown car?  Just how many bad guys are in there?].

• Blondie was shot by one opponent but used his Hard as Nails skill to ignore the hit; he then killed his attacker.
• Jesse attacked the other Mexican, but astonishingly the bandito felled the big guy and gave him a nasty wound.  However, seeing the [finally!] recovered Preacher Adams running up the road screaming about hellfire and damnation, this last bandito took to his heels and ran for it.

The bandit had almost made it out of the town when the Preacher came thundering after him, intending that not even one enemy should escape.

Adams must still have been suffering from his earlier wound, though.  In a brief scuffle, Cesar swung his rifle as a club and split the Americano's skull open, before heading off into the desert.

At this point, we called the game.  All the buildings had been cleared and although there were several unconscious banditos lying about the town, we were certainly not going to play on just in case any of them ever woke up (and were promptly executed?).

Conclusion

The Americanos won quite handsomely, by the victory conditions laid out before.  Five of the seven were still alive, whereas only one bandito escaped.  But they weren't unscathed:

• Sheriff Roberts: unhurt
• Deputy Rex: lightly injured (?)
• Emmett: very badly injured indeed: hit multiple times on the head and both arms.
• Preacher Adams: dead.
• Black Bart: dead.
• Blondie: shot, but not bothered by the wound.
• Jesse: badly injured.

Depending on your view of Old West battlefield medicine (i.e. whether you think that the badly-injured characters would survive!), the Americanos lost between 2 and 4 of the original seven.

Note that I didn't document every bandit death in this account; that would just have been tedious.  Also note that bandit figures were recycled, so it's not necessarily the same guy in all the pictures.

Putting all the extreme violence aside, it was a fun game, enjoyed (I think) by all the participants!

"We don't need no steekin' badges!"

Introduction

I've got several small projects that I'm dying to show you, but none of them are quite ready yet.  This means that today's post will be a good opportunity to carry on my work in documenting my collection of figures.  Actually I doubt that I'll ever come close to completing this self-imposed task, but I'll give it a good shot!

It occurs to me that I've described a number of games of The Rules with No Name, but I've never shown any of my Old West figures.  That's an omission which needs to be remedied, so without further ado here are my 28mm Mexican banditos!

Oh, the title of this article?  It's a very famous misquote, possibly the best known line in any Western.  The original encounter between Humphrey Bogart and a group of banditos from which this line derives is, of course, in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

The Leaders

I have 2 models that I use as El Jefe, depending on the role that the Mexicans are to play in a game.  Santos is smartly dressed, well off and honourable.  He's probably the owner of a ranch south of the border and not really much different from his American counterparts.  Santos comes from Knuckleduster Miniatures.

On the other hand, Tuco is just plain evil!  Don't be fooled by his unkempt appearance; this man is a ruthless and sadistic killer.  He'd shoot his own men just as happily as anyone else's if he thought it would help his cause.  Tuco is made by Artizan Designs.

Lieutenants

Rafael is known for his habit of firing 2 revolvers at once.  He thinks it makes him look tough, though in reality all he achieves is to make a lot of noise and smoke.  Rafael doesn't have much in the way of brains, but he'll willingly undertake any dirty task that his boss commands.  Put plain and simply, he's a thug!  Rafael is from the same Knuckleduster pack as before.

Unlike the other lieutenant, Emilio is quieter and more reflective.  He's intelligent but not particularly strong-willed; he'll try to please his chief by following orders.  Also, Emilio is a very good shot with his rifle.  This model also comes from Artizan, though not from the same pack as Tuco.

Foot Soldiers

The banditos gang has a lot of cannon fodder at the bottom of the pecking order.  These are a mixture of disenchanted peasants, low grade crooks and aged has-beens!

To be honest, in all the games we've played, these characters tend to blend into each other.  I find it difficult to remember one such bandito from another.  The only exception to this is Rico, the drunk.  He's always been crazy and unpredictable; sometimes passing out without firing a shot and sometimes charging into fistfights with hostile shootists.  Never a dull moment, except when he sobers up!

The first 4 of these models are from Knuckleduster, whilst the last 2 are Artizan, again.

Conclusion

I've always liked the banditos.  They may just be used as generic bad guys, but in my mind they're more than that.  Perhaps they're displaced farmers who have resorted to banditry to try to feed their families?  Maybe they're misunderstood revolutionaries fighting for a better world?  Or possibly they're just 2-bit outlaws after all!

Obviously I need to get some more guys for this gang sometime.  The Magnificent Seven wouldn't even get to shoot 2 banditos each, let alone an entire village full!  I'm also lacking any mounted models or casualty figures, though I do have an as-yet-unpainted Mexican taking a siesta under his sombrero!

TRWNN: The Shooting Contest

Introduction

In today's game of The Rules with No Name, there's going to be a shooting competition.  Mr Henry Smythe (the proprietor of the town's biggest gun shop) has offered a brand new rifle of the latest model as a prize.  This exceptional weapon has quite a reputation and this has drawn in hopeful contestants from far and wide.  The sheriff and his deputies are keeping a close watch on things during the contest, but who knows what will happen when the victor leaves the town boundaries?

The Scenario

This game will be in 2 parts.  As a prologue there will be the competition itself, followed by the main opart of the game (in which the winner attempts to escape with his prize).

Forces

Each player is randomly allocated a main character who will take part in the competition.  These are all either shootist or legend classes, with a variety of skills.  Additionally, each player will have a sidekick of either gunman or citizen class.  These sidekicks won't play any part in the competition (apart from spectating) but will be used in the main game.

We had 5 players.  The groups were as follows (and yes, there were quite a lot of Mexican cowboys involved this time):

• Santos and Jebediah
• Emilio and Santiago
• Jesse and Esteban
• Black Bart and Kid Shelleen
• Tuco and Old Pete

The Shooting Competition

For this part of the scenario, each contestant would take 4 shots at a target.  It is assumed that they were firing with rifles, lent to them for the duration of the competition and that the firing is deliberate (i.e. not aimed).  Each shot would be evaluated by throwing the number of dice for the range band plus appropriate modifiers for class and any personal attributes.

• If the best dice is a '6' then the shooter has hit the bullseye (gold) and scores 4 points.
• If it's a '5' then they hit the red (3 points)
• If a '4' or a '3' then the blue or white is hit (2 or 1 points respectively).
• If the best dice is a '1' or a '2' then they've missed the target altogether and much jeering will probably follow!

The first round of shooting will be at short range (i.e. 3 dice for range + personal bonuses).  After the initial round, if anyone is ahead by 3 or more points then they are the outright winner.  Otherwise the contestants who are more that 3 points away from the winner drop out, the targets are moved back to medium range (i.e. 2 dice for range + personal bonuses) and the remaining contestants take another 4 shots.  If necessary, this is repeated at long range as well, until there is a clear winner.

Leaving Town

Once the contest is over, the winner is given the prize rifle (this is such a good weapon that it gets +1 dice when fired) and retires to the saloon for a short celebration.  While he's doing this, the jealous other parties all plot their revenge!

Each of the other players is given 3 tokens.  2 are blank and 1 has a suitable mark on the back.  In turn, they place all of these tokens face-down behind cover between the town boundary and the stables (where the hero's horse is tied up).  A token is revealed when the hero or his sidekick can see it without any intervening cover, or when the owning player chooses to do so at the start of a turn.  If it's a blank then the token is simply removed.  Otherwise, the group associated with that token is placed on the board.

Victory

To win is very simple: you have to take the prize rifle into the barn at the end of the table.  It is then assumed that you find a horse and make your escape.  Note that all players share this victory condition: the only advantage (?!) that the winner of the shooting contest has is that he starts this segment with the prize.  Let's see how long he can keep it...

Our Game

1st round: Close range

In the first round of shooting, it was quickly obvious that Emilio and Tuco were a long way ahead of the rest.  The 2 of them progressed to a second round, whilst the rest retired, grumbling.

2nd round: Medium range

Emilio seemed to have some difficulty at the slightly longer range, or maybe the pressure was getting to him.  His shooting wasn't as consistent as it might have been, whereas Tuco's shots were still very well grouped.  With such a commanding performance, Tuco was declared the winner and was given the prize rifle.  Now all he had to do was retrieve his horse and gallop off into the sunset!

As the afternoon turned into evening, Tuco and his faithful friend Old Pete came out of the saloon where they had been celebrating their win.  The street was deserted; everyone else had left already.  "I have a bad feeling about this" mumbled Pete, as the pair set off for the barn where they had left their horses that morning.

Carefully, the pair made their way through the town's back alleys, trying to think how to cross the open ground on the outskirts.

They avoided the main road (well, dirt track) and had travelled perhaps 2/3 of the way towards the barn before seeing anyone else, when...

2 players decided that this had gone far enough and declared their positions.  Oddly enough, both Emilio & Santiago and Jesse & Esteban had decided to hide near a rocky outcrop on the far side of the road out of town.

Tuco wasted no time in using his new rifle.  He was lucky enough to be dealt a whole bunch of action cards and used these to aim and fire at both Emilio and Jesse.  Despite the range and the slightly-obscured targets, both men were sent scurrying for cover - Emilio clutching at a badly-bleeding shoulder.

Showing a considerable amount of bravery (or maybe foolishness!), Santiago ran back to his injured friend Emilio.  He picked up his boss's (ordinary) rifle and fired at Tuco.  Santiago wasn't a very good shot, but he put enough lead in the air to cause Tuco to duck down behind a small cactus.  Meanwhile, Jesse used the distraction to start on a wide flanking manoeuvre.

At this point, a Bystander card was drawn.  Lola Vasquez, a "certain kind of lady", came out of one of the buildings, looking for mischief.  She would be controlled by whichever player drew the first character card of each turn, so the target of her fluttering eyelids could change from turn to turn.

At about the same time, another team declared their position.  Black Bart and Kid Shelleen appeared from inside the barn, where they had been hoping to stage an ambush.  They were tired of waiting and moved outside to see what was the result of all the recent gunfire.

Sadly for the newcomers, Tuco was once again gifted with a handful of action cards.  Again, he used the prize rifle to aim and fire at Black Bart and Santiago.  Both men were luck that the bullets hit the cover behind which they were sheltering, but the splinters and dust caused both of them to hit the dirt nevertheless.

Meanwhile, the wounded Emilio had drawn his pistol with his off hand and was approaching Tuco from the front (but sheltered from view by a small patch of scrub).  Similarly, Jesse was coming in from the side, hidden by a rock outcropping.

Jesse thought he had the drop on the distracted Tuco, so he stepped out from behind his rock and prepared to shoot.  However, Tuco was unbelievably fast; he spun round and fired before the big man - but missed.  Jesse's hasty return shot also went wide.

Not fancying his chances at gun play, Jesse decided to charge Tuco and wrestle with him.  This obviously caught the legend off guard; he didn't react as the tall stranger closed the distance.  Old Pete, Tuco's loyal sidekick, ran in to help his boss - though against the brawling specialist this looked like a forlorn hope.  (Jesse was typically rolling between 6 and 8 dice in melee, depending on his chosen attack or defence.  Old Pete usually rolled 2 dice...)

It looked as if the gambit had paid off for Jesse as he punched Tuco's lights out.  Now all he had to do was overcome the little old man and he'd be able to pick up the prize rifle from Tuco's unconscious body.

At this point, the final group entered play.  Santos and Jebediah came out of the tent on the far side of the road, close to where Santiago was dithering about what to do next.

In a strange decision, Emilio decided to give up trying to cross the fence (perhaps his injured arm made this just too difficult?) and run to the aid of his sidekick (Santiago) instead.  He charged full pelt straight towards the new arrivals but Jebediah, despite being only a lowly citizen, thumped Emilio so hard that he went down for good.

Santos now marched towards the fence, intending (I think) to cross and have it out with Tuco.  On the way, he was beset on all sides.  Both Kid Shelleen and Esteban blazed away at him, but although both of them emptied their pistols, neither came close to hitting.  Lola also tried to entice him away from his plan, but the man in black wasn't at all interested in her charms.

Even as Santos was rejoined by his sidekick (Jebediah), he tired of the 2 pests who had been firing at him.  Santos walked casually between them and shot down both his attackers.

Meanwhile, Old Pete was doing a very impressive job of fighting with Jesse.  Unbelievably, the big man just couldn't get past the old timer.  Tuco recovered consciousness, grabbed his prize rifle and ran hell for leather  towards the barn.  He slipped past the waiting Black Bart at the end of the fence line before the latter could react, but was hotly pursued by Santos.  And at this point we had to end the game and pack up.  Tuco was within 1 move of safety!

Conclusion

Well, that was anarchy!  Who won?  I have no idea!  Let's see:

• Santos and Jebediah were both unhurt and had acquired considerable kudos from capturing and killing enemies.  Not the right ones, however.
• Emilio was wounded, knocked out and tied up.  His sidekick Santiago started well, but then hung about uselessly in the background.
• Jesse had a good plan, but was foiled by an old codger that he should have been able to push over.  Esteban didn't do much.
• Black Bart was pretty useless as a "main" character: he stood around looking fierce but did nothing more.  Kid Shelleen tried hard, but was too junior to make much impression on his own.
• Tuco won the competition and still held the prize rifle at the end of the game, though he hadn't yet escaped.  Old Pete was quite a hero, though not in a way I would have predicted at the start.

Who do you think was man (or woman!) of the match?

TRWNN: The Magnificent Five. No, Six. Ah, Seven!

Introduction

Time for another game of The Rules with No Name at my local club, this week.  Once again I was struggling to think of a decent scenario (Tuesday evenings come round frighteningly fast!), at least until my older son mentioned something.  I can't even remember what he said now, but it led down the classic Western route of a small band of heroes against huge numbers of bad guys.  So, how shall we do this?

The Scenario

The small settlement of Los Lobos has been overrun by banditos.  However, all is not lost: a small band of mercenary Americanos have been engaged to take on the bandits.  It's a matter of honour to them not to accept defeat, so they must succeed in destroying all the bad guys and freeing the town!

In this game, each player would take one of the Americanos.  As umpire, I controlled all the banditos.

Forces

 The Americanos have a small number of elite gunslingers.  For my game of TRWNN, they were all Shootist or Legend class and had a variety of skills and weapons.  Since we had 5 players, there were initially 5 models, though we had another 2 figures in reserve (in case of early casualties, so that none of the players would be reduced to spectators for most of the evening if their model was shot).

Because they're attacking the town, the Americanos may deploy on any edge of the board.  They must cover all sides of the settlement (i.e. they're not allowed to just walk down main street in one large mob!).  I told the players that the banditos would win instantly if even a single bandito managed to run off any edge of the table and escape.  This wasn't actually their victory condition, but it did encourage the players to spread their forces about.

The banditos were all Gunman or Citizen class.  I was planning to have their Legend leader arrive late, but we ran out of time before this happened.  Oh, well.

Initially there would be 4 banditos on the board.  Each time the Bystander card was drawn from the Fate deck, another bandito would arrive as a reinforcement.  Since there were 6 buildings on the table (excluding small sheds, privies, tents and the like), a dice would be rolled and the bandito would emerge from that building.  If an Americano had "searched" the indicated building by spending an action to look through the door then the dice would be re-rolled.  Dead banditos would be recycled as reinforcements when necessary, thus providing a potentially endless supply of bad guys; this would only be limited by the available playing time!

Because of the "all or nothing" nature of the game and the potentially large number of figures, we wouldn't use Nerve tests.  The Americanos are simply reckoned to pass, always.  Bandito Citizens will faint or run away after a single wound (assuming it doesn't kill them anyway!), whereas Bandito Gunmen will automatically be out of action if they take any 2 wounds (or a single Dead, of course).

Victory Conditions

For the banditos, this was simple: kill all of the Americanos!

I didn't really think too clearly about the victory conditions for the attackers.  Obviously I couldn't make it "Survive until the game ends", as this would have led to all the heroes just hiding!  Possibly it could be "kill at least 10/20/30 banditos"?  Or maybe it should have been "Search every building" (thus preventing any more enemy reinforcements)?  On the evening, none of the players actually asked what they needed to do in order to win, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

One thing that is important: they all win or lose together.  Even players whose characters are dead can still claim a win if the group is successful!

Our Game

As might be expected, there was no coherent flow to this game.  Rather, it developed from very early on into a series of small encounters and vignettes.  Here are some of the more memorable moments:

First blood went to Deputy Rex.  A hapless bandito stumbled out of the nearest house, fell over his own feet, stood up again and was then shot by the waiting Americano.

Retaliation was swift, though.  2-gun Rafael dodged through the tent city and blazed away at Preacher Adams, before the preacher even had a turn.  Only 1 of Rafael's many bullets actually hit the Americano, but it was enough to kill him.  Adams was replaced by Jesse as the 6th Americano.

Blondie ran up to shelter behind the horses that were tied up outside the saloon.  He hadn't realised that a bandito had just come out of the building, but when he heard a noise he spun round like lightning and shot the ambusher dead.  I think the horse he was hiding behind was taken by surprise too!

2-gun Rafael continued to make the running for the banditos.  He peppered the newly-arrived Jesse, wounding him multiple times but failing to knock the Americano out of action.  [That player still hadn't had a turn; all he could do was sit and take it (and look glum)!].

Sheriff Roberts and a bandito almost bumped into each other at the corner of one building.  All would depend on who got the first action card (and was able to make effective use of it, since the bandito's rifle wasn't a good weapon to have at this range).  The sheriff was the lucky one; he scored massive overkill with his shotgun!

Feeling elated, Sheriff Roberts strode out into the main street, only to be gunned down by Santiago.  He was replaced by Emmett, the 7th Americano.

The badly injured, but still terrifying, Black Bart came face to face with a poor bandito Citizen.  The two of them wrestled, trading ineffectual punches for much of the game.

Deputy Rex was taken by surprise when a rifleman appeared out of a house behind him.  Although the Americano turned to face the bandito, the bad guy still had enough time to take an aimed shot, which severely injured poor Rex and knocked him out.

As the rifleman ran up to finish Rex off, Blondie came running down the street (he gets everywhere, doesn't he?!) and shot the bandito.

The injured Jesse staggered towards the saloon and was hiding behind the horse that Blondie had used for cover before.  In a very unlucky sequence of Bystander cards, 3 banditos came out of the doors, one after another, before he could react.

However, it wasn't Jesse who was unlucky.  In the very last turn of the game (we'd run out of time), the drunken bandito Rico sobered up and fired at Blondie.  Despite the moderately long range for a pistol, he dropped the Americano, dead!

Conclusion

The final casualty list was as follows:

• Sheriff Roberts: DEAD
• Preacher Adams: DEAD
• Blondie: DEAD
• Black Bart: a single, serious head wound
• Deputy Rex: badly wounded and unconscious
  
• Jesse (replacement): 4 (!) flesh wounds, but still going
• Emmett (replacement): uninjured

Against this, somewhere around 10-15 banditos had been taken out of action, either dead or severely injured.

I think if I was running this again, there would have to be some changes.  In essence, the heroes' moves were too unpredictable.  This was especially a problem for 2 players (Black Bart and Preacher Adams/Jesse), who didn't get to do very much as their character cards just weren't drawn.  I think that either a player should have more than 1 model to control (thus multiplying their chances of having something to do), or extra activation cards need to be added to the deck for the Americanos.  If the former route is chosen then it restricts the number of players on the "good" side to 3 or maybe 4.  On the other hand, I've always been wary of altering the balance too heavily in favour of already-powerful characters by allowing them more chances to take actions.  Perhaps this could be justified on the grounds that the banditos are taken by surprise and are therefore confused, unprepared and slow to react?

So, did the seven win?  I don't know - you'll have to decide for yourself!