A Western Adventure - Hold Up At Skull Rock

Bill intends to rob the Stage going to Little Whiskey, his plan is to jump out in front of it and yell for it to stop. Well good luck with that plan Bill.

He was never the shiniest spoon in the drawer, direct action was more his forte and this plan reflected years of perfecting his preferred method of stagecoach robbery. That’s what he told his men and they were very dull spoons compared to Bill and believed him.

In fact this was his first stage hold up and he was not really sure how to go about it, but practice makes perfect so they say.
Unless you get shot to death at which point there is no more practice.

Here is the stage jolting along the main road to Little Whiskey, road is a bit of a misnomer as you can see, it’s just a dirt track, mostly clear of boulders and brush, but this is what passes for fast communication out west at this time.

As usual a general overview of the board, the Stage has to exit this end of the table, or maybe even turn round and go back, it doesn’t really matter because the losers are the ones who are dead and the winners are the ones who aren’t.

I like to keep my winning conditions simple. None of this 5points for this plot point, 3 points for that one. You are either dead or alive, this is the wild west after all.

The Stage is being driven today by Chester because Rose is having a day off.

I know he could do with reins to the horses but that involves a lot of work so just imagine the stage bouncing along, the dust, the heat and the lack of space inside and then you will have forgotten the lack of reins.

Riding shotgun is English Bob you may remember him from the last episode in Little Whiskey he still has the star but it’s under his big coat and he’s grown a moustache.

Undertaker Haulage Company have employed a young boy, a kid really, Henry McCarty to run a mule train bringing supplies into town, so far he only has one horse in his mule train but the west is expanding as is the mule train. For some reason he’s always been known as Billy, maybe he didn’t like his given name of Henry.

And yes, that is a coffin on the roof. (Bryan don't start getting excited)

Eduardo if you happen along, this is the best I felt able to do cutting the horses bases off.

The ambush – On the left is Bill Samuelson in his trademark black coat, white hat, they all have bandana's as masks except Charlie who figures there are so few left handed outlaws he's fairly easy to recognise anyway.

Nick here has been delegated to hold the horses. I think this is because he is developing quite a name as a gun man and Bill doesn’t like the competition.

He is also wearing a new duster, I really didn’t like the army painter quick shade and have tried to lighten it without doing a complete re-paint only partially successful but quick to do.

I hope you have noticed the cactus, and if not why not. I don’t know if I've mentioned this but I've been doing stuff with DAZ and this is some of it.

This is just to place all the outlaws, so you can see Bills cunning plan in all it’s glory, and to let you know that the hold up is taking place at Skull Rock a well known landmark on the road to Little Whiskey. In fact this will go down in history as the Skull Rock Holdup.

I picked up Skull Rock off a beach in case you were thinking I had been spending money on terrain.

Turn 1 – The stage is coming. Bill doesn’t step out into the road and yell stop. He fails to activate.

Turn 2 The stage is coming and just for a bit of drama a head on view, but Bill still doesn’t step out into the road and yell stop. He fails to activate - again.

At this point I’m thinking one more failed activation and this games over before it’s even begun :-(

However Charlie (on the right) decides to act, he can see Bill has frozen, well would you jump out in front of a stage and four horses, - neither would I.

He gets an ambivalent brains test, so not sure what to do, he wants to shoot the stagecoach horses.

I don’t really hold with back shooting, and so I make my lead men pass a test before they can do something really bad. Charlie passed!

He can’t see the horses because of Billy and so his choice was 1,2,3 shoot English Bob riding shotgun on the stage or 4,5,6 shoot Billy’s horse.

He shoots Bob and hits him twice, right leg and left arm, not bad for a lefty. Roll 1D6 - 1,2 Bob has the shotgun in his left hand, 3,4 in his right, 5,6 it’s in a boot holster on the coach. Bob rolls a 1 so shotgun in left hand, as he’s shot in the left hand he drops the shotgun, it’s not going well for him, fortunately he dropped it in the foot well of the coach.

It doesn’t really matter because Bob is Out of the Fight OOF and slumps down. Same again 1,2 out of the coach 3,4,5,6 into the seat. Rolls a 1 again and falls out of the moving coach and lands on his head which would also have put him OOF but he already is, if you get my drift.

Billy reacts to the shot, turns in the saddle and draws and shoots in one fluid motion, Charlie takes lead in the head and is down. Not dead but he’s not going to get up soon.

Chester reacts to the shooting and wants to get the hell out of here, flap the reins and go, but he realizes the dope who set up the stage didn’t give him reins. No - actually he got a bad roll for him on the affinity check and couldn’t leave English Bob behind. Especially after he had fallen from the stagecoach, there will be questions. So he pulls back on the imaginary reins and the horses slow and finally grind to a halt.

Steve on the far side of the coach also wants to shoot the horses to stop them but a similar bad roll means he is too soft hearted and so shouts to Chester to stop, which he is doing anyway.

Chester has halted the team and the stage has stopped. Bill finally activates – steps out and yells his famous line “Stop and keep your hands where I can see them”. Chester is braver than he is smart and so goes for his gun. He’s fast, for an old man but not fast enough, they fire together, damn Chester’s gun jams but Bills doesn’t and he hit Chester in the right arm Chester is OOF and drops his side arm as well.

Billy passes his Brains test and so was going to ride off and fast but he must have some affinity for English Bob (another bad roll) because he can’t leave him hurt and lying in the road so climbs off his horse to see how Bob is.

Steve sees Billy climb down and snap fires at him but misses, Billy returns the bullets in spades. Sparks fly off the rock close to Steve’s head and he ducks back into cover.

Billy standing over English Bob ready to defend him to the end.

Bill moves up to the stage and pokes his pistols in through the window and in a savage drawl says, “get your asses out here”.

The stage is carrying 5 passengers inside and here are three of them, all on their way to Blonde Edna’s Saloon and Brothel in Little Whiskey.

Climbing out of the off side is the rest of the working crew. In the distance Billy is trying to pull Bob to the safety of the big rock, he just doesn’t have enough strength. Bill fails to activate.

The girls all walk round to Bills side of the stage, Bill fails to activate again, probably stunned by the ladies approaching him.

Then there is a creaking and a clattering followed by a dull thud as the coffin lid falls from the coffin on top of the stagecoach and a figure stands up. Slowly and carefully, it weaves about a little, almost like it’s drunk, eyes blinking in the strong sun light.

Bill looks up in shock, the figure looks down. “What you doing making so much noise, you woke me up” it drawls in a deep southern accent.

Bill lifts both his pistols and points them at the figure and for something that appears so uncoordinated the figure reacts swiftly to the threat and pulls a gun and they both fire together. I'd like to say simultaneously but I couldn't spell it.

There is a crack of gun fire followed by the squishy sound of bullets striking home, followed by another crack and the figure on the stage drops his revolver, blood coursing down his right arm, but Bill is already on the ground – gut shot and OOF.

At this point Steve recovers his nerve and slides around the side of the rock. Billy and he dance the dance of death, firing bullets and jumping around shouting and screaming like you do, but both miss and Steve ducks back behind the rock, he is out of ammo and needs to reload.

At this point two of the ladies turn, pulling short, stubby but very deadly derringers out from the recesses of their clothing. Pointing them at Steve, they indicate he should drop his gun and reach for the sky. Which unsurprisingly he does.

It’s all over, Nick holding the horses decides he is going to win the game. Yep he is not going to mix it with these serious looking working girls and he's going to stay alive, so he rides off into the sunset, leading the other 3 horses.

A quick introduction to the coach party from left to right.

The Kid is Henry McCarty, calling himself Billy. Dora DuFran in the grubby pantaloons, Pearl De Ville in the elegant crimson dress, the owner of Blonde Edna’s Saloon and Brothel. The blonde lady in yellow and red is Mollie Johnson, then Mary Ann Conklin with the red sash in which she keeps a supply of stones, and finally Eleanor Dumont wearing a nice black corset.

I will do a full and formal introduction when the ladies reach Little Whiskey.

The driver and shotgun guard are not well enough to have their picture taken.

The figure on the roof of the coach is Doctor John Watson, he was drunk and asleep, hitching a ride in the coffin, travelling 3rd class as you might say.

Whiskey has been his ruin, he was a surgeon of some renown back East but now has been struck off in more states than he can count on the fingers of both hands and some toes as well. He maintains that drink helps steady his hands when operating, but when you are weaving around on wobbly legs you do need something to steady your hands, I imagine.


If you are still here – thanks for reading and let me know that you passed this way.
Cheers