Q-Troop: Quar Defend the Wild West

Last week the Legends of the Old West league saw another sunrise.
In the last league (you can find the reports under the Legends of the Old West tag, I ran Bandidos.
Since it's just the second time I've played the game I wanted to try something different.  The problem is, I didn't have the time to paint up a new posse, and it's always more fun playing with minis you own rather than borrowing some, so making a mental run down of my collection I thought about my Quar Royalists I used in last summer's VSF campaign, for the Quar of Phobos.  Their uniforms are blue... they have long rifles and bayonets... looks like US Infantry to me! Just with rather long noses...

And so, Q-Troop have come to the Old West, to protect the innocent, right wrongs, and.. well, that's for the pulp writers to fabricate later. On to the games...

I used the US Infantry list.  I'd considered using my cavalry and running US Cavalry, but the Gatling Gun tempted me, so infantry it is.  Here is my troop:

Not many to start, the weapons are very expensive.  I took the max characters: a Lt. & 2 Srgts.
The Lt. has a saber & heavy pistol, one Sergeant has a heavy pistol, the other a rifle.  I have a trooper and recruit manning the Gatling Gun ($10 cheaper if you start with it, so I squeezed it in) and two troopers, one with a rifle, one who lost his somewhere along the way, guess he'll be peeling potatoes!

The first game of the night would be against US Cavalry! Guess I wasn't the only one looking for something different! He got a surprising number by taking only recruits after his 3 characters and everyone had pistols.

I expected to outnumber them, but they had 6 to my 7.. not much of a numerical advantage!

Game 1: Take that Hill!

We had a few tables set up, so rolled to find ours randomly, it would either be the open woodland or the crowded town (I was hoping for the town!) we got the woods.

Knowing he had the movement and charge advantage, and that a lot of those trees would mess up my line of firing with the Gatling Gun I set my Gat to have the best field of vision I could find and divided my troop, part to defend the gun and the Sgt with rifle and a trooper to run to the hill on my right, to take cover and try to get some shots at the vulnerable cavalry.

The cavalry crest the hill... steady that gun boys! 

My advancers scout up the hill and prepare to fire.

The foolish recruits head into the Gatling Gun, two are brought down while the riflers on the hill get another.

At one point, he stayed out of range and moved his officers to the side, and I moved the gun up, since I didn't have priority, to threaten them. 

Seeing the repositioned Gatling gun, the officers and a recruit charged up the hill, but my troopers bravely held and even won combat against the cavalry Lt., pushing him back.  The rest of Q-Troop then head up the hill to surround them. At the bottom of the hill riderless horses mill about, grazing. 

The cav then belted out a retreat and galloped away.  

He had no lasting damage and I hadn't lost anyone.  I got enough cash to buy another rifle, some bayonets as well as another trooper with rifle.  My Lt. got another wound (3 makes for good survival) and my Gatling Gunner went up in shoot skill! Ideal! 

Game 2: Stop those Bank Robbers!

As the soldiers of Q-Troop went back to town, as they met the new trooper, checking his transfer papers and supplies he'd brought, a call went out from the bank, it was being robbed! 

Luckily, the Gatling Gun was placed and being guarded just outside of town and most of the troop were in position to try to head off the robbers. But the Robbers had the jump on them, and were using civilians to guard their escape.

The Robbers kept getting priority, so those innocent folks were not getting away. 

A few robbers tried to rush the troops with the Gatling gun, in case those civilians wriggled free, he wanted that gun occupied.  But the gunner leveled his sights and the recruit cranked it wildly! after 16 hits, those robbers looked like so much spilled camp fire beans on the ground.

The robbers had to drop their loot to ensure their escape as the brave soldiers took out a couple more of their numbers.  One of my sergeants was injured but recovered just fine. We were rewarded by the town with enough cash to telegraph for another trooper recruit.  The Gatling Gun loader got an improvement to his shooting skill, so should the gunner ever be hurt, he can take over respectfully enough.  The wounded Sgt has a higher fight value now, the other Srgt, with the rifle has the rifleman skill (reroll misses with a rifle) and one trooper got grittier while the other got an additional wound: both good for survival. The Bank Robbers however won't be forgetting this, they now Hate my troop, so might stand their ground longer in the future.

But for now, the town is safe and peaceful again.

The other table, that I didn't play on: 

The farmstead is attacked by Outlaws! 

Local Cowboys try to come to the rescue, but too late to save the elderly couple, who are gunned down in the back. That's one nasty outlaw gang!  But I'm sure Q-Troop will track them down before too long!