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Your First Game

Mike Mitchell - 1/21/2014

As an historical game, there's not much of a learning curve. Westerns are a great starter miniatures game for kids of all ages. Even an 8-year-old knows that good guys wear white hats and have six-shooters. Speaking of which, I've played with kids as young as 7 and they really enjoy Gutshot. At that age, they need a little help with the math and keeping on task, but other than that they are more than capable of coming up with the strategies suitable for this game. And by the ages of 11-13, most kids are quite capable of taking down any grown-up in a shoot-out.

A few suggestions for your first game:

• Keep everyone on foot: I don't suggest bringing in horses until you've mastered basic foot movement and combat.
• Go for a mix of characters so you can play with a mix of Specialties and Target Numbers.
• Resist the urge to change the initiative system to a random dice roll or just have everyone take one turn at a time around the table. Pulling names from a hat (or using a deck of cards) introduces a much-needed random chaotic element to the game. When we playtested with other initiative methods, players quickly fell into using modern warfare tactics that just didn't feel right for a Western.
• Remember the Retaliation Shot: When someone shoots at you (hit or miss), if you have a loaded gun in your hand, you get to shoot back at them.
• Damage is only applied AT THE END of the Action Round. So it is completely possible for you to shoot me, kill me, and as I fall to the ground, gasping, I can squeeze off a shot that kills you! 
• Finally, unless your family is super competitive and holds grudges, the "Last Man Standing" is a great first adventure, as it's just a lot of movement on foot and shooting at people (no plot to get in the way). If you do play this one, I suggest you require that everyone start the game outside of buildings and keep the town small (otherwise you spend a lot of time just moving figures around).
• If you want your family to work together, consider running the "Shootout at Coyote Gulch" adventure. It's a simple plot to rob a bank and it's fun to see what kind of plan they come up with. Both adventures can be downloaded here: http://hawgleg.com/downloads.asp 
• Have fun!

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