Western Mordheim?

A while back I had made rules for a western version of Mordheim, although necromunda rules might work better but i don't know them as well. Of course this meant non-historical accuracy but so what right?

The teams were:
Rustlers (Mounted criminals)
Outlaws (balanced bad guys)
Banditos (Hoard)
Prospectors (Strong melee team and good at making money)
Ranchers (Variety of model special rules)
Lawmen (Strong heroes, weak henchmen)
Army (Elite team with limited gear options)
Indians (3 varities, 1 gets guns, 1 gets horses, 1 was melee specialist)

Major difference was that guns were very common (duh) and therefore shooting was very strong as well. Also one had to keep track of their ammo as many guns were six-shooters or had a 5 round magazine.

Is there enough interest from others for me to follow through with this? I have a minimal at best group to game with sadly. So little to no playtesting will come out of me for a while...

I think there's a game called Legends of the Old West, made by GW, which was written specifically for western settings. Never tried it or read it, though.

Hmmm could be interesting. But my way is free. Either way I wish Warhammer Historical was still around and kicking.

Seriously, give LotOW a try - it does exactly what you are suggesting!... Apart from the small fact that the core mechanics are based on the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game rules. The campaign and experience system is lifted almost completely from Mordheim though.

http://www.warhammer-historical.com/acatalog/Legends_of_the_Old_West.html

It sounds like a fun set. Nothing wrong with the LOTR rules either. They make a large emphasis on skill though which can make leveling up awkward if there is a system. I'll have to track down a copy. And find good models of course. Anyone recommend any good western 28mm models? (Or other scales if reasonalbly priced)

Otherwise it is Empire Militia and greenstuff time.

There are quite a few mini makers with Western mini ranges. Old Glory's Mini of the Month are quite nice:
http://www.oldglory25s.com/index.php?cat_id=816&catname=%27The%20OG%20Army%20Figures%20of%20the%20Month%27
Black Scorpion has some fine looking minis also. Check them out at the War Store:
http://www.thewarstore.com/BLACKSCORPIONMINIATURES.html
A LOT of Wyrd's Malifaux minis are Western in nature, although a bit steam-punk/horror:
http://wyrd-games.net/shop/
Western types from Reaper's Chronoscope Range:
http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Western
AND fill your hand, Pilgrim!

Of course! Malifaux! That's another system you might want to look into (it has supernatural and steampunk elements that you might not want though...) I heard Wyrd are going to publish a free PDF of the core rules (with no background info) next year.

A home-made version of Western Mordheim with no LotR would be nice as well. I like the version of pirates that our group has cobbled together from Warhammer Ahoy! and Stryrofaomking's Sartosa better than the bland old Legends of the High Seas.

I would also recommend looking for a copy of Rail Wars if you like a little magic with your gunslinging.

I would have this be a magic free setting, but still the hollywood style gunslinging. Maybe have trick shooting as a sort of 'spell' list, but available for any hero who learns the skill. Any ideas for something like that?

Maybe a shotgun can be used to open a 'door' in a weak wall, or you can shoot their hat off.

So roll difficulty (as per Mordheim spells), roll to hit, apply effect, then roll damage etc as normal since it is still a bullet, but with any modifiers stated in the trick.

Hat Shot (needs a better name...) D7 S as normal usable by Pistols, Bows, Rifles and Throwing Weapons. If the attack hits the model loses their hat for the rest of the game.

Also, for review (give me ideas too!):
Hats - some would be armor or 'dodge' saves, some would be protection from weather and so on...
Armor - if someone really wants they can get metal or other armor but those are not fun in the heat, mostly things like Dusters or leathers which have small bonuses. Armor would probably not affect aim, but would impede trick shots.

Duster 6+ dodge save against ranged attacks
Leathers 5+ save modified by strength as normal
Leather Armor 4+ save but gets hot quick
Full Plate Armor 2+ save modifed as normal, gets really hot, and looks downright silly, turns critical hits into normal hits on a 3+. This sounds really good but most guns still will punch through this. Especially rifles.

Weather conditions include:
Heat make things hard for your models, penalties to M, WS, BS, I and/or Ld
Dust makes things hard to see, minor WS penalty, large BS penalty
Wind
Bright Sun
Night
any others?



I'll work on this then some! But I may be slow since I decided to follow in my brother's footsteps and build some followers of Hashut. But I play Mordheim while he makes armies.

Love the idea of trick-shooting working like spell lists - especially if the random selection is kept.

How do you all propose the lists work? Redhammer from Chaos Dwarf online forums suggested I make them skill trees. While Warboss here suggested Random lists (i would assume a Pistol list, a rifle list, shotguns, throwing knives etc. with some skills able to be used by multiple weapon types, or would it be a Disarming list a called shot list etc.?)

If Redhammer wasn't my brother I would have gone with Warboss here just out of pure orcy-ness...

My brother is getting all inspired-like and wants to do a full overhaul of the rules to make the western game a little more streamlined and focused around a single heroic character with a posse. He is proposing a 'Fine/Winged/OOA' system for damage rather than S T and wounds.

What do you think of something like that? Or would people rather see this (if it goes anywhere) be closer to Mordheim rule-wise?

Its up to you since its your project. I've played a few versions of Western games so I'm not so much interested in another new system as I am in a way to introduce a Mordheim player to a new setting.

Mordheim has everything a Western game needs except good rules for mounted models and a few rules to reflect the weapons and situations of the West.

Weather-
Dust storms were not a historical occurrence in most (any?) of the American West. The Dust Bowl conditions of the 1930s don't exist. Dust clouds from buffalo or cattle herds would be about it and they were very localized and fleeting.

Good old fashioned fog is more likely.
Rain is fairly common, except when it isn't. Messes with visibility, heavy rain makes it hard to move about. Lighting will kill you on the prairie.
Blizzards will kill you in the winter.
Heat-its not the heat its the humidity.
Bright Sun--the sun is more of a scenario specific kind of thing. The Indians always attack at dawn with the rising sun at their backs.
The canny gunfighter has the sun at his back, that sort of thing. (If so why is one of the most popular western movies High Noon?)
Darkness-we use darkness a lot in our Mordheim games, but we roll for weather in addition. Some Indian tribes (Apache) don't like to fight at night (more likely to rout?)

Armor? Naw. Bibles in coat pockets, big buckles on belts maybe (Like a lucky charm?)
Some gunfighters were rumored to wear steel plates under their clothes, but armor has been abandoned among Europeans and the natives used shields and leather breastplates and thats it. Nobody expects anything but faith or magic to stop a bullet.

I would also discourage big changes to the basic rules - more people are likely to try it if the basics are familiar. Also, there is a lot to do in other areas so you'd be either distracted by the cool stuff like weapons or miss out stuff people would really want - just to change something that isn't broken!

Weapons - don't go into specifics of make or model but use "bands" or broad types with a few sub-types.

For example, I would like to see at about a half-dozen different types of pistols:

"Hold out" tiny single-shot, or possibly double barrelled pistols.
Light Pistol - cheap self defence weapons used by shop keepers and farmers.
Medium Pistol - the "normal" gunfighter's 6-shooter: colt, peacemaker, etc.
Heavy Pistol - large calibre for the serious pistoleer!
Special - something like a magic item in normal Mordheim, super rare. Like the the LeMat (7 shots plus a shotgun shell in a second barrel under the main one).

Other weapons:

Shotgun - single barrel, double barrelled, sawn-off.
Rifles - a similar selection to pistols? Carbines, long rifles, "Winchesters", etc.
Gatling Gun (I just watched 3:10 to Yuma )

Rifles.
Trade Musket--a cheap, unreliable one shot long gun. Similar to a Mordheim handgun.
Carbine-a short range multi-shot long gun. Winchester or Henry. Carbines could be split into several categories such as light carbine, heavy carbine and a single shot version of both.
Rifle-longer range weapon, slower to reload than the carbine. The army Springfield.
Buffalo gun-very long range, heavy calibre weapon that is also a bit slow to reload.
Special guns could come with scopes, improved cartridges, the Rifleman's fancy lever action for increased rate of fire...

Shotguns.
As WbK said. For a Special gun you could add the Colt Revolving Shotgun.

Hmmm... so we've basically come up with 5 bands for each type of weapon?

Cheap Crap
Light
Medium
Heavy
Rare or Special

I like that idea a lot! They could have the same basic stats with a special rule for each band.

For the Hold Out gun StryrofoamKing has already got rules for Pocket Pistols written in the Sartosa setting.
Light Pistols could be St 3 and range 6", mult-shot.
Medium Pistols could be St 3 range 8". multi-shot. LotOW has the option to FAN (fire all 6 shots needing 6s to hit.)
Heavy Pistols--St 4, range 10", multi-shot. Can be used as a club in H-t-H.
Specials
-Spring-loaded Sleeve gun. Hidden hold out gun that gets into action fast.
-The Buntline Special. A long barreled heavy pistol. As above but range 16". Slow on the draw though.
-Somebody made a 12 shot Navy revolver as well as a sword-pistol revolver also for the Navy.