Fistful of Lead playtest

 After reading on various wargaming forums/forae singing the praises of Wiley Games' Fistful of Lead, I decided to try it out as an option for small scale skirmish.  I was particularly attracted by the idea that FfoL has been used for diverse settings, from the original Wild West setting through 1920s/30s gangsters, future/sci-fi settings and medieval and fantasy.  The core ruleset is a refreshingly thin 52 pages, with no wasted space.  Wiley Games has a Youtube channel with a collection of short videos that explain each of the core concepts.

I was going to order just the core rules, but balked at the shipping cost.  So I added extra scenario books to rationalise shipping fees!  In addition to the core rules, I also got the Mexican Revolution scenario pack and the Tales of Horror supplement, plus a pack of cards.

A quick note about the cards:  FfoL is designed around a normal 52-card deck.  Some of the cards have special effects, such as the Queen of Hearts which will cure wounds on a figure.  The custom deck is nice to have as the 'special' cards have their effects printed on them.  This is very helpful, as it's going to be easy to forget or miss special rules, especially as a newbie.

For our introductory game, Arthur and I kept things simple.  Each of us took three western figures, each armed with a sixgun.  No one had any special traits.

Here is our basic little western town.  You can see that Wiley Games sent the 'Tales of Horror' game deck instead of the 'Core' deck, but the only difference is the artwork, both decks have the same information.

My three cowboys, intent on causing a ruckus in the town!

Arthur's lawmen, who are going to put a lid on the rowdy cowboys.

Gameplay is fast.  Each player gets dealt one card for each figure in the game.  These are played in order from Kings down to 2s.  Aces are wild, and can be played as any card.  We didn't get this quite right, as there were a few times that we missed the chance to use an ace as a Queen of Hearts to remove wounds, or to take another advantage.  Next time!

We started off on opposite sides of the table, so it took a couple of turns to get close enough for action.  This was helpful as it allowed us to get familiar with the activation process.  Soon enough, however, we had a lawman and a cowboy facing off on either side of the cabin.

A quick check shows that they are within close range.

The cowboy hits, inflicting a shock on the lawman!

Bowler hat lawman takes aim and shoots, but rolls a 1.  This means he is out of ammo and must reload!

Lawman decides to forgo shooting and charges into close combat.  The cowboy fights back, inflicting another shock on the lawman.

Both the lawman and the cowboy get a friend to support them.  The cowboys team up to take out the second lawman, while the first lawman retreats to the cabin porch.

My third cowboy, having wounded bowler hat, then sneaks up behind lawman one.

The wounded bowler hat takes a long shot at cowboy three, but gets another out of ammo!

Lawman one retreats inside the cabin, dragging his shock with him

Cowboys pile on to Lawman one.  He takes down the first cowboy through the door (inflicting a wound and knocking him down) but the next cowboy takes the lawman out of the fight.

Bowler hat decides to exercise the better part of valour, and limps away from the fight.

We enjoyed the game.  It's fast and cinematic in style.  Next time, we will remember about the wild aces, so that figures will have a better chance to recover from wounds or shock or to reload.  That will probably have a big effect on how the game goes.  We'll also add more traits - Arthur is busy assembling a couple of horror teams to try out the special rules for undead and other beasties!