Estevan repeat

Long gone to Saskatchewan - having refined the approach for the strikers vs cops, we had another go at Black Tuesday in Estevan.  The major difference from the previous game is changing from standard Fistful of Lead to FFoL Bigger Battles.  The two sides were steamlined:  the strikers consisted of union organiser Annie Buller with three bases of 6 striking mineworkers plus two bases of their families - one each of women and children.  The police side had two bases of 3 police (RCMP plus Estevan Town Police) led by Chief of Police Alex McCutcheon and Mayor David Bannatyne.

As a recap, in the summer of 1931, mineworkers in southeast Saskatchewan's Souris valley went on strike to protest their wages being capped and for a release from the company store monopoly.  On September 29th, the workers planned a parade through the Town of Estevan to bring attention to the reasons for their strike.  Town cancel met the night before to ban the parade, so when the mineworkers and their families arrived, they were met by a line of Estevan Police reinforced by RCMP.  

We kept the scenario objectives simple.  The strikers goal is to get to the cenotaph, and the cops goal is to stop them. Below is the table looking southeast along 4th Street with the cenotaph in the foreground.  Souris Ave runs diagonally just past the courthouse.

A farmer drives his Model T Ford past a run-down building.

The strikers, led by Annie Buller.

Against them, the police led by Police Chief McCutcheon and Mayor Bannatyne.  Mounties are in their khaki patrol tunics rather than the more famous red serge. 

Mineworkers march down 4th St.

Police form a line at Souris Ave as a local shopkeeper looks on.  Chief McCutcheon gets his loudspeaker ready to warn the marchers.

After being by a rock thrown by the miners, the shopkeeper gets out of the way!

The police chief "reads the riot act" at the marchers.  This is a contested roll.  If the chief wins the roll, he gets to put a number of shock points on each group of miners.  Shock points are shown by the black dice.

Which Side Are You On group decides that they will go via the back yards to get around the police line.

Mineworkers are reluctant to close with the police.

Another group of strikers choose to flank on the other side of the intersection.

A couple of RCMP get out the fire hose to discourage the marchers.

But they can only point the hose one direction at a time!

Two groups of workers close in on the cenotaph.

Chanting "Down with the Company Store!", Annie Buller and the mineworkers' wives keep up their advance along 4th Street.

Mineworkers reach the cenotaph, put their boots to Mayor Bannatyne and claim victory!

Overall, the rules we use for these games are getting smoother.  Deploying the groups of strikers and cops as FFoL BB units works much better than as standard FFoL skirmish mobs. We've come up with ways to use shock rather than wounds to influence the game outcomes - the cops want to inflict enough shock to force the strikers to withdraw.  There are still a few rules to fine tune but overall I think we are on the right track.