Northstar Miniatures: New Chris Peers' The Law of the Gun Rules Announced

Northstar Miniatures: Coming soon, Mr Chris Peers' new Ruga Ruga Publications rule set, The Law of the Gun. "The Law of the Gun" is a set of rules for small-scale skirmish gaming set in the American West. The approach is very different from the author’s previous 19th and early 20th century skirmish set, "A Good Day To Die", in that it is specifically focused on the western gunfight. Even more than most other periods, this one is as much mythological as historical, and these rules attempt to cater for players interested in both the real and the "Hollywood" West. From the former point of view, the time period covered is roughly from the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 until the last of the Indian fights, at Wounded Knee in 1890. 

The emphasis is placed more on the individual man rather than the unit, and you can give him his own personal characteristics, and follow his adventures in combat, in a way that was not possible with the previous set. But although you can allocate special abilities to some of your figures if you wish, you will not have to spend valuable playing time dicing for everyone's individual statistics before the shooting can start. Most figures fit easily into a small set of categories based on their equipment and level of combat experience.

As ever, the emphasis is on simplicity and speed of play. What a gunfighter needed on the streets of Dodge City was not a lawyer's eye for the small print, but the ability to react quickly to unforeseen circumstances, and this is the trait that we try to encourage in the players. The game systems in "The Law of the Gun" are fairly conventional, and should not take much time to learn. Nearly all the dice used in these rules are the traditional six-sided variety, otherwise known as D6s, though they also make use of special "wound dice" and "wind dice", both of which can be replaced by normal D6s if you prefer. Measurements are given in equally traditional inches

Figures are based individually, but the basic manoeuvring unit is what we call a "gang”, which can consist of between one and four figures. One or more gangs can be combined to make up a player's force, which might represent an official posse, a band of outlaws or Indian war party, or just a small group of companions or even a lone gunman. An “action dice” system is used to introduce an element of uncertainty regarding who moves next, enabling the better fighters to react faster than less experienced ones and take several actions while their opponents are still hesitating. The result, we believe, is a fast-paced, unpredictable and exciting game which can usually be played to a finish in an hour or so.