GAZETTE issue1 campaign intro

Incorporating the Ugley Imelda Gazette
Issue No. 1

Posses
Posses start with a fistful of $200. You cannot recruit any hired guns at this point.
If your leader dies then you can elect a new leader from your posse. This is not without risk, for not everyone in your posse may agree with the result. Roll a d6 for each member. On the roll of a 1 that member refuses to take orders from the new leader and heads west. You can elect a hired gun to be your leader in which case you will no longer have to pay a retainer. This can cause an even bigger rift within the group, roll a d6 for each member of the posse on the roll of a 1 or 2 that member heads of to find his fortune elsewhere.

Hired guns
Hired guns will become available as the campaign progresses, I intend to introduce them as encounters as well as you being able to hire them once you have won a scenario.

Head honchos
At the end of each campaign turn the posse with the highest infamy rating is allowed to call out a rival posse for the next game. He can choose not to which will allow the posse with the lowest infamy rating to throw down a challenge if desired. All other games will be either narrative driven or random encounters.

Top six gun
The dude with the most kills (taken out of actions) at the end of each campaign turn will be classed as the top six gun. A reporter (Nathan Vanderslice) from the Spirit of the Times newspaper will escort around the top six-gun, with all the benefits as found in the hired gun section. While you are being made famous in a land where reputation is everything this makes you a great target for any wannabe after a rep to call his own.
The man who takes out the "top six gun" may at the end of the campaign turn roll once on any of the skills tables. This is in addition to any other advance he may make.

Introduction to the characters
The Wind of Valdez
by
Pat Smith
Valdez and his Merry Men. They took from the rich and gave to the poor.
Valdez was a bandido to the gringos but a hero to his suffering people. Times were hard so he took his merry men across the border to find money and gold to bring back to his village. He also wanted to punish the Long knives and Lawmen as he had a burning hatred for authority.
Valdez had sympathy for the Redskins as he felt they were a people similar to his own who had fallen on hard times because of the gringos.
Outlaws, even if they were gringo's he would tolerate as they shared the same enemy, as long as they didn't double cross Valdez and his merry men.
They were making camp for the night when one of his merry men called out to his leader
"Hey! Valdez, how many sheets you want on your bed?" Valdez stood, pulled up his green tights, walked over and looked him straight in the eye and said...
"You sheet on my bed and I kill you!"

Apache warband

by

David Marks

Shami-leave-no-marks was a man who was already dead. His soul had departed that day three months ago when he and his braves returned from their hunting mission to find their encampment a smoking ruin.
No matter, they had suffered worst injustices at the hands of the Palefaces. What was worse this time, infinitesimally worse, was to find the broken bodies of their wives, mothers, sisters and children.
That night they swore vengeance on the blue shirted long knives and the rabble scum that would have helped them. The tracks were still warm and they had followed the murderers for weeks, always staying hidden and waiting for their moment. The trail had led them to the border town of Imelda and here they waited, hidden in the hills. They knew that the moment to strike and be revenged was coming, and it was coming soon...

Bushwhackers
by
Stephen Hall

The wars over, but not for Rob Johnson and his boys. After spending the past few years spilling blood and facing off death behind enemy lines, Rob and his unit would have one hell of a hard time fitting in to civil peaceful lives, especially with the bitterness of defeat gnawing away at their souls. So they have decided to band together, not give up their guns to the new government. Instead they will carry on the fight for their own end until one day the south will rise again!
After their last successful raid, the bushwhackers have split up and are believed to be rallying around the vicinity of Imelda. If this is true then there is a storm brewing. Best you batten your hatches!

Marshall Shirley
by
Michael Howe

My lawmen are the US Marshals (who’s gonna say different?) and they’re in the area because of some Mexican bandido scum who have stolen some gold. The US Marshals are gonna get it back and put it to good use against both the redskins ‘n’ Mexicans. Get rich, and bring the law to the frontier. That is what I want… and in that order.
US infantry

by
Sam Marks

Lieutenant Norman House was a man new to the West, his US army boots crunching on the dry Texas sand. His troopers were elite and well trained troops, maybe lacking in mental ability, but they were loyal and reliable; exactly what he needed. Norman’s father was an Englishman who lived for the next bottle of whisky. He had fought in the Great American War but he had died at Gettysburg. His mother, an Indian of the Apache tribe, was regularly beaten at the hands of her husband, but her fierce nature strove to keep her five children in school and give them food. When he was fourteen, she was arrested on highly unfair charges and then sentenced to jail - unjustly. She died in her cell five years later. Norman, from then on, fought for the justice of all peoples, whatever race or community, a shinning example against the racism of his violent age. First he entered the world of politics in the cities of America, but, being appalled at the lack of respect for the many different nations of America, he gave up on politics and joined the army. So here he is now, a Lieutenant in the US army. His mission is "to deal with any threat to the US state and its protectorates in the areas of Texas and the lower Southern States". Trying to follow this rather vague order to the letter, he decided to begin by eliminating the ring leaders of the region’s hostile groups, and then work his way down the ranks of their leadership. And so he goes about his duty, with the guidons singing and Old Glory flying, to the old West.

Cowboys
by
Joe Dever

Jake Fargo is a man on a mission to win fame and fortune on the Wild Frontier. He is a skilled horseman and a crack shot with his trusty Winchester repeater. He has already achieved a degree of notoriety for his daring exploits with General Jeb Stuart in the Shenandoah Campaign of 1862, and with Nathan Bedford Forrest during the dying days of the Civil War. Fate placed him on the losing side of that bitter conflict, but Jake Fargo and his loyal compatriots are no losers.
He and his posse have had their fill of driving cattle across the high plains of Northern Texas. Now they have cut free from the herd and ridden south into the New Territories, hungry for gold and glory. They have long forgone the wearing of the grey, but in their hearts and minds they are still true Sons of the South. Proudly they uphold the noble traditions of Confederate chivalry, and steadfastly they resist the lawless corruption and greed that blights the lives of so many who are struggling to make a name for themselves here, in the gold-rich hills and the one-horse towns of the Wild Frontier.

opening game
GOLD RUSH!
Mad Mickey got drunk again last night at the saloon, started mouthing off about the gold he has just found and how rich he is. He made himself busy showing everyone his map with lots of crosses marking where he has hidden the gold.
Now he’s finally woken up in the arms of fat fanny Annie to find that his map is no longer in his possession.
Strangely enough the town is also empty. Everyone has run to the hills to grab the gold and make it rich!
Even the US army has marched to "apparently" secure it for the government.

Gold rush scenario 1
Played on 6’ x 4’ table with a few hills, lots of groups of trees, a shallow stream and a small hut. This represents the tree lined foot hills on the outskirts of Imelda.

Objective
The objective is to find as much gold as possible and stop other people getting any by whatever means you deem necessary.

Loot
4 loot counters will be placed randomly along the stream which runs along the centre of the board. You must grab the loot and leave the board. For each loot counter in your possession at the end of the game roll 1d6 and consult the table below. The loot will slow you down to half move and it takes 1 full turn to dig loot out of the ground.
1
Fools gold! The find has no value apart from to crack your henchmen on the head with
2
Impure gold. Melt it down and make yourself a new tooth. Roll 1d6, this is the amount in $s it is worth
3
Gold. Nice little find. Roll 2d6 this is the amount in $s it is worth
4
Booby trap! The stash you found was booby trapped. Whoever was in possession of the stash takes a S6 hit from dynamite.
5
Your lucky day! Roll 3d6 this is the amount in $s it is worth
6
Yeehaw! You have found a nice big bag of gold roll 5d6 this is the amount in $s it is worth

Deployment
Divide the board by six and name each are 1-6. Then Draw cards, whoever draws highest gets to roll a d6 for their deployment zone first. Place your posse touching the board edge.


Drop
Whoever deploys last gets the drop on the first turn.

Experience
Survival: Each fighter who survives the game gains 1 experience point- this applies even if the fighter is taken out of action, so long as he survives and lives to fight another day.
Leadership: The leader of any posse that manages to secure three or more loot counters gains 1 experience point.
Kills: Fighters gain 1 experience point for every enemy model they personally put out of action.
loot: the fighter who opens the loot gains 1 experience point, if he survives!

INTRODUCING THE Spirit of the Times INTREPID REPORTER & PHOTOGRAPHER TEAM...

Kindly refrain from shootin’ and cussin’ at these two (fool)hardy professionals. Remember, your fame and glory will likely depend upon their longevity!

INJUN QUOTES
An Injun saying concerning feelings toward the White men who were continually encroaching on their property: "It is better to give a porcupine blanket room than to be generous to a White Man."

"I have advised my people this way: When you find something good in the White man's road, pick it up; but when you find something bad, or it turns out bad, drop it and leave it alone." ...Sitting Bull - Sioux

"Let me see, is this real, let me see, is this real, this life I am living? The Gods, who dwell everywhere, let us see, is this real, this life I am living"...Pawnee

"A warrior I have been, now it is all over. A hard time I have." Sitting Bull

"We shall live again, we shall live again" .... Sioux
"Brother, our seats were once large, and yours were very small: You have now become a great people, and we have scarcely left a place to spread our blankets; you have got our country, but are not satisfied"... Red Jacket (Seneca)

"My reason teaches me that land cannot be sold. The Great Spirit gave it to his children to live upon. So long as they occupy and cultivate it, they have a right to the soil. Nothing can be sold but such things as can be carried away"... Black Hawk - Saux

"The land we live on, our fathers received from God, and he transmitted it to us, for our children and we cannot part with it"...Cornplanter (Seneca)

In 1866, an Indian Agent attempted to negotiate a treaty with the Chippewa of Minnesota. The Treaty proposed an exchange of the tribes valuable land and best hunting grounds, rice fields and fisheries for what was described as the "poorest strip of land in Minnesota ... unfit for cultivation." Presenting the proposed treaty to the assembled Indians, the Agent said:
"My red brothers, the winds of fifty-five winters have blown over my head and have silvered it with gray. In all that time I have not done wrong to a single human and as your friend, I advise you to sign this Treaty at once."
The Chief of the Mille Law Tribe replied: "My father, look at me! The winds of fifty-five winters have blown over my head and have silvered it with gray. But they haven't blown my brains away."

Stage Coach Vocabulary
• BOOT: the baggage compartment at the rear of the stage and also under the driver's seat; it was made of leather
• BOX: the stagecoach driver's seat
• BULL-WHACKER: a driver of a freight wagon, usually with oxen
• CARRY-ALL: a light, covered carriage holding several people
• CHARLIE: a stage coach driver
• CONCORD COACH: a stage coach made by Abbott, Downing Company, Concord, New Hampshire
• CORDUROY ROAD: a road created by logs laid across a swampy, low-lying area, placed together or "ribbed" like corduroy cloth
• EXPRESSMAN: a messenger carrying express items
• GROOM: a stableman, one who takes care of the horses
• HAME: one of two curved bars fitted to a horsecollar, holding the traces of a harness
• REACHES: bars connecting rear axles with forward part of the coach
• REINSMAN: stagecoach driver
• RIBBONS: reins
• RIG: harness
• ROAD AGENT: a stagecoach robber
• "SHOTGUN": a stagecoach guard
• SINGLETREE: horizontal crossbar, to the ends of which the traces of a harness are attached
• STAGERS: men who ran the staging business
• STAGING: the business of carrying people and mail by stagecoach
• SWINGS: the horses in the middle position in a six-horse hitch
• THOROUGHBRACE: a leather strap of many layers supporting the stagecoach body
• TRACES: the side straps by which a horse pulls the stagecoach
• WHEELERS: the horses nearest the front of a stagecoach
• WHEELWRIGHT: the person who makes and repairs wheels
• WHIPPLETREE: the horizontal