THE GREAT FURNACE BANK ROBBERY

By Steve Flack & The Barnes Wargames Group

New Mexico, 1885

An exchange of gunfire is nothing out of the ordinary in the town of Furnace, and most of the townsfolk went about their business as though nothing had happened. That is until a young boy raced down Main Street shouting out the news.

"Mexicans are trying to rob the bank! Sheriff Koerner is shot but he got one of the bandits first and their horses bolted. Now they're trapped inside the bank. There's a big reward for the men who capture them - dead or alive!"

The Game

This scenario formed the basis of a participation game run by the Barnes Wargames Group at the Salute show in London in 1997. The action takes place in the town of Furnace, Territory of New Mexico in 1885. Members of the public took the role of town residents, while the Mexican bandits were controlled by the umpires. The game ended when all the Mexicans were either dead or safely off the table. The layout of the game is shown in the map. The Mexicans left the bank by either the front or rear doors and spread out to give a fairly even distribution across the table.

The Mexicans

There were two groups of Mexicans: Bastardo Velazquez (aka The Bastard, Shootist) led three companions (all Gunmen) out of the front door on to Main Street, while Rafael Angel Chinchilla Fallas (aka the Black Chinchilla, Shootist) led a further three bandits (Gunmen) out of the back door and into Cattle Alley.

Most of the bandits carried pistols although one was armed with a repeating rifle and one with a single action rifle. The Black Chinchilla also carried a bundle of sticks of dynamite menacingly but never dared to light the fuse.

As they emerged from the bank each bandit also carried a bag of money. This had no effect on their movement or firing but would be dropped if the figure was wounded or got into a melee.

(Note: Bastardo Velazquez, and Rafael Angel Chinchilla Fallas are the names of real people, Velazquez is the former Venezuelan Chief of Staff, while Fallas is the former Comptroller and Auditor General of Costa Rica.)

The Players

Each game had six players, and each player had two figures; one shootist and one gunman, drawn at random. The figures were armed with an assortment of weapons including pistols, shotguns (long barrelled and sawn-off), and single action and repeating rifles.

Points win prizes

Foundry generously provided prizes, in the form of vouchers for free figures, to be given to the winners. This necessitated a points system to determine a winner in each game.

There was a bounty for killing the bandits (15 points each for Velazquez and Fallas, 10 points for any of the others), furthermore players gained points for recovering the money bags carried by the robbers. To make things a little more challenging, however, players could lose points for killing or wounding innocent bystanders, school children, priests, doctors or other figures who appeared as a result of event cards.

What Happened

As the Mexicans burst out of the bank the players' figures started to move towards them from various positions near the edge of the table. The routes taken by the Mexicans would vary depending upon the actions of the players and any special events which arose but in general Velazquez and one of the gunmen in his group headed towards Maxfield's Livery while the other two moved towards the Golden Nugget before trying to dash down a side alley towards the Chinese quarter. Meanwhile, Fallas' group also split, two heading towards the horses at Owen's Livery and the other two trying to high-jack a two wheel wagon moving up the street from the direction of Flack's Hotel (and Whorehouse). The distances were such that the Mexicans usually made it as far as the livery stables or the wagon before numbers told and they were overwhelmed, but one memorable game ended with three of the bandits driving the cart Ben Hur style out of one end of town, while Velazquez and a companion fled from the other using the collision of a herd of cattle and the arriving stage coach as cover.

Most players were careful not to injure townsfolk but this proved difficult for those armed with shotguns. Most of the special events were short lived distractions, however the stampede could have a material effect on the game, not to mention the body count. Games lasted between an hour and an hour and a half.

Rules Modifications

The rules are based upon "The Rules with No Name" by Bryan Ansell of Foundry, simplified for the purposes of speed in a participation display game.

The detailed hit location system, and its effects on fire and movement, was replaced with a deck comprising only three categories of hit: graze which had no effect on the figure, wound which affected both firing, movement, and , in the case of the Mexicans, the ability to carry money bags, and dead. Wounded figures died on receiving a second wound. The ratio of graze to wound to dead was 1:2:1. To make the deck more varied death was described using colourful expressions of the time ("Kicked into a funeral procession", "Given a window in the skull", "Made wolf meat of" etc).

Figures rolling three ones when attempting to move rolled two further dice to determine how far into their move they fell over. This move distance was obligatory for all classes of figures, if it was not practical for the move to be completed because of a physical obstruction such as a wall the figure was considered to have collided with the object and fallen at that point. Figures rolling two ones for movement when attempting to move and fire did not fall over but did lose the opportunity to shoot in that turn.

We used "spiders" to determine the area effects of shotguns rather than the system of aiming dice, resulting in a broader spread of shot within the possible cone of fire.

The character deck contained two bystander cards and two event cards. The Joker was not included in the first round to ensure that all the participants got at least one move, and in subsequent turns the deck was shuffled and the Joker was then inserted towards the end of the deck making sure most figures moved.

A bystander card could be used by the player whose character was drawn next to move any one of the unarmed townsfolk on the board. Bystanders could move in any direction, including towards an armed figure, but must move 2D6 inches in a straight line. They could be used to block lines of fire or escape routes, or pick up dropped money bags.

There was a second event deck containing some twenty cards. When an event card was drawn from the character deck an event was triggered. Events included; the arrival of the stagecoach , a stampede, a drunken cowboy determined to challenge one of the players' figures, a snake oil salesman, a grizzled prospector claiming to have struck a motherlode, a distraught wife trying to convince her husband (one of the players' figures) to return home to her and their six children, and a sleeping Mexican who, when drawn, revealed himself as another member of the gang and opened fire with a rifle. Events took place immediately in the turn in which they were drawn; in subsequent turns they were moved on the basis of their own character card, in the case of the drunken cowboy or the Mexican lookout, or when the joker was drawn, as in the case of the stampede or the stage coach. .

Figures and Terrain As far as possible the figures used came from Foundry Wild West Range, however, in the absence of casualty figures from Foundry, Dixons figures were used, and, in order that all the Mexican bandits were different figures, those from Foundry were joined by others made by Pass of the North. The stage coach and wagon came from Old Glory, and the cattle for the stampede were from Dixons and Britannia. The principal buildings making up Furnace were a combination of models made by Steve Flack - a member of the club - and those produced by POP Enterprises. A number of resin shanties, outhouses and tents were also used to create the "Hell on Wheels" part of town. The terrain was completely flat and the base was made of self adhesive cork tiles liberally coated with budgie sand. The total area of the town was approximately 8' x 6'.

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