DMH AAR "The Cash Box"

It's kind of funny because I actually prefer not to play when we have more than two people over for a game. I get much more enjoyment out of seeing others have fun with what I've built and painted. Or it could just be because I'm awful at actually playing games!  Plus, it gave me a chance to take some pictures to use in this, my very first attempt at an AAR.

The first game we played had Jakob running Pinkerton’s and Steve running Outlaws. We played 13 points, but I allowed more figures/points that I brought in at strategic “cinematic” points in the game - neither player knew that at the time though! The goals were pretty simple – the Pinkerton’s had to get a cash box into the safe room in the bank (it would take two figures to carry the cash box though) and the outlaws had to steal it for themselves.

The stagecoach entering Ford's Canyon

The Pinkerton’s started with two men inside the stagecoach with the cash box and one man riding a horse alongside. The two drivers and the stagecoach were treated as NPC’s, which I controlled. I used hidden deployment for the first turn because when the stage entered town it came to a “Y” and could go one of two ways. The Outlaws gambled and put more men towards the railroad, the longer way to the bank, and of course the stage drove in the other way!

First Outlaw casualty

As the stage headed down the side street, the Outlaws took the first casualty as the Pinkerton riding on the horse took out an ambush attempt from the alley of the Sante Fe Hotel. It was here that I had some Old West gun fight sound effects queued up from You Tube on my phone - it was fun to see the shock, but ultimate approval, on both Jakob and Steve's faces! I ended up doing this throughout the game and it definitely added to the enjoyment. As did the score to 3:10 To Yuma by Marco Beltrami I had playing in the background.

Out the window!

And onto the stage!

We had our real first epic cinematic moment in this game! Steve had one of his outlaws in the second floor of the Sante Fe Hotel and as the stagecoach started to turn in front of the building, he had his Outlaw burst out of the second floor window and use the porch roof to jump onto the stage! It was a pretty impressive move and I had him roll some nerve tests to see if he completed it, which he did.

The two figures who fell from the stage

This move ended up starting a neat little fight between the two Pinkerton’s inside the stage and Outlaw on top. A gun battle ensued as the stage continued to make its way towards the bank, lots of 1’s rolled though, ultimately the Outlaw ended up falling off after being shot once (we rolled a nerve test for balance on a moving vehicle) and one Pinkerton fell off attempting to climb out the window to reach the roof.

Pinkerton reinforcements

The stage was just about to the bank when the first group of reserves came out – two Pinkerton’s came out of the Gun Shop to help get the cash box safely to its destination. Both of the Pinks made their way around to the front of the bank as quickly as they could.

Outlaw reinforcements

With only one man in the stage, Jakob decided to try to get another Pinkerton in there as fast as he could to help carry the cash box out. The Outlaws were closing in fast and furious when three more reinforcements burst out of the Silver Saddle Saloon directly in front of the bank!

An Outlaw stole a horse hitched near the saloon and quickly made his way around to the back of the bank. A move that ultimately won Steve the game as this figure ended up ambushing the Pinkerton's from behind in the banks main entrance near the end of the game.

The two Pinkerton's taking the cash box into the bank.

The three Outlaws quickly made their way across the street, killing one of the Pinkerton's during the fight at the front entrance. Lots of wounds were taken by both sides, as it was point blank shooting at this part. Both sides felt initiatives would prove vitally important. Jakob ended up playing two of the swap initiative cards from his hand during the last few turns here and interestingly the swapping of initiative cards ended up not helping the Pinkerton's at all because of bad dice rolls.  Not only missed shots, but lot's of 1's were rolled! The amount of "Out of Ammo" markers on the table was staggering.

Here is a shot of the final turn where the Outlaw who had snuck in through the back door ended up winning the game for Steve. Two of the Pinkerton's were taken out by this one figure!

It was close, but not quite enough for the good guys in this game. It definitely was one of the most fun and cinematic games we'd played to date, though writing this up it became clear I need to take more photos throughout the course of the game. The stagecoach jump and fight was by far the highlight. I think my reminder at the beginning of the game about "pretend this is a Hollywood movie" helped a lot!

As always, thanks for looking!