Thursday 13 February 2020

A glimpse from the distant past .


The other day I noticed on a Facebook group I follow (Vintage Wargames Rules) somebody mentioned 'The Old West Skirmish' rules and that they were available once more through the History of Wargaming Project  , I had these rules in the early 70's and played them till the book fell to bits on me . I used plastic Britains Cowboys , Indians etc and converted figures for Australian Bushrangers and Mounted Constabulary . I turned cardboard shoe boxes into saloons and even had a couple of the plastic Timpo Western buildings which were expensive at the time . 


The rules were a time and motion study of combat actions and it took so many phases/moves to load weapons and respond to wounds , each character had their own record sheet were each moves action was noted , all a bit laborious nowadays but then I though nothing of it . The rules used percentage dice which were just coming into use then and jolly hard to come by if I remember rightly . I don't think I'll end up using them but they are worth it for the nostalgia hit and it's surprising how much of the rules I remember - even the fighting Grizzly Bear ones ! .


7 comments:

  1. This would be an interesting group to follow...if I was on Facebook. Sigh.

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    1. Its a great group Johnathan, one sees a lot of rules, tried and discarded.

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    2. Very nostalgic for men of a certain age .

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  2. A classic! One I don't think I ever played though in the early 80's we had a quick and simple gunfight system here at "Rosie's Cantina".

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    1. Been reading through them and I must have played them so much I can remember most of the rules .

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  3. Wonderful find. I recall a similar experience. I got a copy of a set of medieval/fantasy skirmish rules we played back in the day. Looking at the rules now, I can't for the life of me figure out how we managed to play it so fluently then (maybe we were just playing it wrong and didn't know it?). Ah, youth!

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    1. They did a Colonial set as well , which I used 25mm Minifig NWF with .

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