Battle Report: Last Days, Old West - Calhoon Clan VS Jay's Baddies

 

In the Old West, the dead don’t rest easy…

Been a while since I’ve had a chance to play something and it’s going to be Last Days again. With Jay. Again. BUT! We decided to try out the Old West rules from BLASTER Volume 1.

For this game, I brought a group I call the Calhoon Clan (based on the Ferner Five, the Deadlands posse of legend). Let’s take a quick look at who we have and what they’re packing:

Nona “Cookie” Calhoon (Leader, Selfless), armed with a LeMat and knife.
Phil Calhoon, Fire Fighter, armed with an axe and revolver.
Dr. Ashleigh “Penny” Penwood, a Sawbones, with a magnum and “heavy blade.”
Running Bear, a Survivor, with a bow, tomahawk, and a spear.
Little White Dove, another Survivor, also with bow, tomahawk, and spear.
Victoria, a Gunfighter, with a pair of sixguns and knife. 

 

For Jay, he made a list with:

Selfish Leader with LeMat and Heavy Blade, Soldier with hunting rifle and spear, Goon with shotgun and heavy club, Tough Guy with revolver and club, Gang Member with a knife, and a dog. (no one had a name as he made it here after he got here.)

 

When it came to setting up the game, we decided to throw down a mix of my stuff and his, not even bothering to roll for deployment, just using the edges we were sitting closest to. I deployed with a split force, Phil, Nona, and Penny set up near a bridge in cover, while Running Bear, White Dove, and Victoria were on the board edge. Jay also split up his forces but not as far apart as mine were.

Once we had everyone on the board, we slapped down my three Reaper Zombie Miners. Jay had really good rolls early on, winning placement, first turn initiative, and the like. I was behind from the start.

As the game progressed, my forces got waylaid by zombies. Little Running Bear, White Dove, and Victoria were locked down on and off in the early game because of zombies. In addition, due to Phil blocking the bridge while trying to put down his zombie, Nona and Penwood had to slog through the water.

Meanwhile, Jay had free rein to go after the tokens and do what he wanted. He was able to get rid of his zombie problem as easily as I did but he was in better position than I was, with his crew.

Things came to a head when he decided to switch from going for the tokens to trying to take me down. I lost Victoria, then Running Bear, and then Phil. After I lost Phil, I started going after him. One of the more interesting moments was when Jay’s dog charged Penny and Nona. We had a bit of a heated debate, as he pointed out that there was no direct rule against it, and I was of the opinion that it shouldn’t be allowed because it normally isn’t in other games. We agreed to let it go in his favor but I posted in the Facebook group. I’m yet to get a large response to it. Anyway. While this did allow him to lock them up in close combat, it also prevented him from shooting them. I did manage to take out the guy who killed Phil, and two others of his crew. So, we had both lost three members and started having to roll for Breaking. He lost.

 

So, it was a slight victory for me. Could I have won in the end? Maybe. Jay’s rifleman was locking me down really hard but I did have Nona out there, with her shot tube still loaded. And, while both of our rolls were terrible at the start of the game, mine were starting to get better as the game went on. It was really anyone’s game at the end. 

And that’s where we’re at. It was a fun game and I think we really liked how it went. We did discuss some changes to the Break Tests for one-off games and we’re talking about doing a campaign in the future, after we have the rules down better. Keep your eyes out for it...