Logos: Chris Libey, Charles Ryan, & Ron SpencerSpecial Thanks to: Thousands of Rail Wars fans who demanded the return of our award-winning game!

Deadlands created by Shane Lacy Hensley.

Dedicated to:

Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Inc.P.O. Box 10908Blacksburg, VA 24062–0908www.deadlandsl.com(800) 214–5645 (orders only)

Visit our web site for free updates!

Deadlands, Weird West, Dime Novel, the Great RailWars, the Deadlands logo, all characters andlikenesses herein, and the Pinnacle logo areTrademarks of Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Inc.

© 2000 Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Inc.All Rights Reserved.

Printed in the USA.

™

Written By:

Shane Lacy Hensley, John R. Hopler, John “Bayou Vermillion” Goff, Matt Forbeck,And a Cast of Thousands

Interior Art By:

Paul Daly, Kim DeMulder, Dave Dietrick, Barry Doyle, Geoff Hassing, Chris Libey,Ashe Marler, Andy Park, Charles Ryan

This Product is Free from PinnacleEntertainment Group. It May be Freely

Distributed with No Alterations.Enjoy!

Welcome, partner! High Noon is a rip-snortin’ fast and furious miniaturesgame set in what we like to call the“Weird West.” It’s a world where the CivilWar drags on into the current date of1877. California fell into the sea back in‘68, creating a “Great Maze” of toweringsea-canyons and exposing a superfuelcalled “ghost rock.” This miraculousstuff has led to all kinds of wackyinventions—from flamethrowers tosteam tanks.

The “Reckoning” that started all thismayhem has given rise to humanity’sworst fears: monsters, haunts, and spiritstorn from nightmares and legends givenlife. Werewolves are real, vampires stalkthe night, and zombies erupt from thegraveyards.

The heroes who fight against theseterrors are brave souls indeed. Deadlygunfighters, mad scientists with infernaldevices, mysterious hucksters castinghexes powered by demons, and therighteous blessed fighting back theforces of darkness with hickory sticksand hoglegs.

Sometimes, if they’ve got enoughsand, these desperate heroes can evencome back from the grave!

The following chapter delves into thebackground behind all this mayhem. Ifyou’re already familiar with the WeirdWest, you can skip right on to ChapterOne.

If you want a truly detailed accountof the Weird West, you need to pick upthe core books from our sister game,Deadlands: The Weird West, available atany decent game store, as well as onour very own Weird Website(www.deadlands.com).

That’s enough gabbin’, friend. Let’s getto talking about why the West’s so darnweird.

How the West Got WeirdOn July 4th, 1863, an event called the

Reckoning unleashed evil spirits intothe world. These spirits, called“manitous” by the Indians, feed the rawenergy of human fear to greatermasters—the Reckoners.

These ancient and mysteriouscreatures take some of the energy fed tothem and return it to the world,sparking the occasional creation orinspiration of sinister monsters,

Introduction:

Welcome to the Weird West

4 High Noon

fanatical cultists, and pure horrors,essentially planting seeds of fear thatwould produce even more fear later on.

The incredible energy unleashed bythe terrible battles of the American CivilWar caused any number of strangehorrors to rise in their aftermath.Though kept quiet from the public, thecommanders realized something strangewas afoot and delayed their offensivestime and time again. This gave thewaning Confederates a much-neededbreak that has stalled the conflict into asort of cold war, with occasionaloffensives flaring only every other yearor so, particularly around election time.

By 1868, the West was weird. Horrorslurked in every dark corner. Only a fewknow the truth about the Reckoning,but everyone knows the shadows are alittle darker than they used to be, andthe ghost stories told around theircampfires are a little more real.

The Return of Magic

One of the strangest effects of theReckoning was the return of spiritualenergy—magic—to the world. Thestrongest shamans and mystics had

been able to cast simple enchantmentsbefore, but the flood of supernaturalenergy—and the ability to freelyconverse with the spirits and themanitous—gave incredible power tothose who had even the slightest arcaneaffinities.

Gradually, men and women began todevelop and enhance their magicalpowers. The blessed call upon the powerof the Almighty Himself. Shamans tradefavors with nature spirits in exchangefor supernatural abilities. “Hucksters”learned Edmund Hoyle had coded thesecrets of magic in his original Hoyle’sBook of Games. Now they use theknowledge to cast spells in flurries ofspiritual poker cards. Even madscientists—who believe their powercomes from science—actually drawinspiration from the whispers of themanitous for their infernal devices.

Most of those spellslingers and madscientists use their powers for good, orat least for personal gain with few cruelintentions. But there are others who dofar worse things with this power.Witches, warlocks, cultists, evil priests,houngans, and worse have all arisen inthe Weird West. Though their beliefs aremany, their powers actually come fromthe Reckoners themselves.

A shaman named Raven is one suchtwisted soul. It was he who freed themanitous. Later, he used his dark powersto shatter the coast of California.

High Noon 5

Great Quake

The “Great Quake” struck the westcoast in 1868, shattering California into alabyrinthine maze of sea canyons.Thousands died and tens of thousandswere left isolated and alone in this now-desolate wasteland. But in the wake ofthe Great Quake, a new mineral—called“ghost rock” because of the eerie,groaning vapors it produces whenburned—was discovered in the fracturedcliff faces of the “Maze.” It proved to bea superfuel. Those who experimentedwith it, dubbed “mad scientists” by thepress, could make incredible devicesyears ahead of their time. The Mazeflooded with hundreds of wild-eyedacademians and thousands of desperateminers hoping to get rich by finding thenext great vein.

Ghost Rock

Ghost rock was later found elsewhereas well—the Black Hills, the WasatchMountains around Salt Lake City, andeven what were formerly thought to becoal reserves Back East. In fact, itseemed the stuff popped up anyplace itcould cause trouble.

The first group to truly realize ghostrock’s potential for destruction was theConfederate army. They developed newand terrible weapons at their secretbase in Roswell, New Mexico. In 1870,Rebels armed with flamethrowers androcket packs, backed by massive steam“tanks” and flying machines, raided theUnion capital in the famous “Battle ofWashington.” The bluebellies eventuallywon their capital back, but the nature ofwarfare had changed forever.

A stable supply of ghost rock was thekey to victory. President Ulysses S. Grantdeclared that the first company to builda transcontinental railroad to the Mazewould receive the exclusive governmentcontract for ghost rock—a prize worthbillions. The Confederate governmentquickly followed suit, and the race to thecoast was on. No one guessed thetrouble this would cause.

But they realized their mistake a fewyears later when the Great Rail Warscame to full steam and did to the Westwhat the Civil War had done Back East.

The Great Rail Wars

Six companies proved contenders inthe race to the coast. They were notfriendly competitors. The race West wasexpensive. The railroads needed spurs toevery valuable stop along the way.When Rail Gangs competed for thesame “right of way,” battle ensued,starting what the papers came to callthe “Great Rail Wars.”

At first, the Rail Gangs were filledonly by grim gunmen and desperateoutlaws, but some of the Rail Baronscommanded darker forces. Soon, theirarmies were augmented by the walkingdead, devil bats, and even hulkingmechanical men.

The Barons were careful to keep suchbizarre monstrosities away from towns.If civilians ever discovered a railroadhad allied itself with such dark powers,it would lose both passengers andcargoes. When someone occasionallydiscovers the true nature of the RailWars, the Rail Baron’s enforcers silencethem quickly. Only a rag called theTombstone Epitaph dares report thetruth. Unfortunately, the public is eagerto read this tabloid, but scoffs at the“wild stories” that appear within itspages.

The Story Has Only BegunThe fearsome battles of the Great Rail

Wars have now engulfed the Weird Westin a firestorm of blood and profits. It’stime to choose sides, partner.

The next few chapters tell you how toplay the Great Rail Wars in miniature. Toactually play, you’ll also need the GreatRail Wars Army Book, also availablecompletely free on Pinnacle’s WeirdWebsite, www.deadlands.com.

Happy Trails!

Welcome to Deadlands: High Noon,partner. We hope this little journey intothe world of Weird Western miniatureswill be the most thrilling ride you’veever been on—at least on a tabletop!

We’ve tried our best to make this thefastest, wildest miniatures game you’veever seen. If you’ve played other gameslike this, we think you’ll find High Noonis similar enough that you can hop rightin and start playing, and differentenough that you’ll be comparing othergames to this one from now on.

To get started, read through this bookto see just how we do things out here inthe Weird West. Don’t worry—it’s a fast,fun read. We’ll have you up on thetabletop blasting Perdition out of yourbest friends in no time.

Those of you who are familiar withthe Deadlands roleplaying game alreadyknow quite a bit about the world andcharacters behind all this madness andmayhem. If you’re new to the “WeirdWest,” don’t worry, we’ll bring you up tospeed shortly.

So strap on your six-guns, partner. It’stime to ride.

What You Need to Play

This is the High Noon: Great Rail WarsRulebook. This book covers all the rulesyou need to fight one of the greatestconflicts the Weird West has ever seen,as well as complete statistics for thetroops who fight it, their ghost-rockpowered weapons of war, arcane spells,and even the bizarre creatures some ofthe gangs use to terrorize their foes.

What we can’t give you as adownload you have to rustle up on yourown. In particular, you need:

Troops: Pinnacle makes both leadminiatures (available only from ourwebsite) and Cardstock Cowboys. Ifyou’re using Cardstock Cowboys, you’llwant the Deadlands: Starter Pack andthe Legends of the Great Rails Warsexpansion. See the Smith & RobardsOrdering Center at www.deadlands.com.

Dice: Every player needs a handful ofdice in the standard “gaming” sizes.That’s d4s, d6s, d8s, d10s, d12s, and d20s.

Battlefield: A playing area, such as atable or a patch of floor. We recommenda space that’s four feet wide by eightfeet long. If you’ve got more spaceavailable, use it, partner.

Chapter One:

Setup

8 High Noon

Scenery: You’ll need some sceneryfor your troops to fight over, like treesfrom a model railroad set, hills madeout of styrofoam, or some rocks likeyou gather from right outside your door.

Poker Chips: Fate plays a stronghand at High Noon. To represent it, weuse poker chips. Specifically, you need20 white, 10 red, and 5 blue chips. Ifthese aren’t available where you live, usegaming beads instead. As long as youcan drop your tokens in a cup and drawfrom them randomly, you’re in fineshape.

Poker Cards: Each player also needsa deck of poker cards. Leave the twoJokers in each deck, and mark one asthe Red Joker and one as the BlackJoker. Be sure to look for the officialDeadlands double poker decks at yourlocal Smith & Robards(www.deadlands.com in case you forgotit, tinhorn!)

Step One: Create TheBattlefield

Once you’ve read the rules and knowhow to play, you need to create yourbattlefield. If you’re going to play apredesigned scenario (several areavailable on Pinnacle’s Weird Website),simply copy the map as best you can.

Otherwise, roll or choose one of thescenarios below, set up any specialterrain it calls for, then you and yourfriends can place whatever other terrainyou feel like over the rest of the gametable.

Scenarios

d6 Scenario1-2 Last Thing Standing3-4 Raid!5 Scavenger Hunt6 Twisted Tale

Scenario DescriptionsThere are four basic types of

scenarios. All of these have a standardformat for telling you how to get started.

Setup is where you find specialterrain pieces needed for the scenario. Ifit says to generate the rest of theterrain normally, you and your friendscan simply put out whatever terrain youhappen to have on hand.

Troops tells you if you must haveany particular figures in your Gang. Inpredesigned scenarios, it might list yourentire force plus any named characters.

Deployment tells you where theplayers may place their troops at thebeginning of the game. For most games,each player should roll 1d20. The lowestrolling player sets up first, placing hisgame along any table edge in a spaceabout 2” long and 8” deep. No otherplayer’s zone may start within 12” (that’sone foot, partner) of his DeploymentZone. Once the low-roller has chosenhis zone, the next lowest-rolling playermay choose, and so on. Don’t place anytroops until everyone has chosen theirstarting area, however.

In defensive games, one player mayplace his forces in the center of thetable, but still no more than 12” fromany other player’s Deployment Zone.

Special Rules describes any out ofthe ordinary rules that are in effectduring the fight.

Bonus tells you how to get extraBounty Points over and above the usualpoints given for causing casualties. Notall scenarios have Bonuses.

Multiple Players gives you some tipson how to run the game with more thantwo players.

Last Thing Standing!

Gangs in the Weird West are meanerthan rattlers and twice as slippery.When these sidewinders meet, the leadstarts flying.

There’s nothing fancy about thisscenario. The side with the most BountyPoints wins.

Setup: Roll a die. On an odd number,there is an unfortunate town in thecenter of the board.

Troops: 500 points or more each.Deployment: Standard.

High Noon 9

Bonus: There are no specialobjectives other than to put down everyvarmint in sight.

Multiple Players: This one worksgreat for teams or as a free-for-all.

Raid!

A cowhand can’t get a decent rest inthe middle of a range war. In thisscenario, one Gang has holed up in atown when another launches an attack.

The defender in this scenario gets25% more points to buy troops withthan the attacker.

Setup: Roll 1d6. On an odd result, theattack takes place at night.

Deployment: The defender sets upfirst anywhere in the middle of theboard, no closer than 8” to any otherplayer’s Deployment Zone.

The attacker deploys in any of thestandard Deployment Zones. He maysplit up his troops and attack fromseveral sides if he chooses.

Special Rules: None.Bonus: Every time a player uses an

Area Effect template, roll 1d10. On a 10,the attack has hit an innocentbystander, causing the careless gang tolose 1d6x10 Bounty Points.

Multiple Players: If there aremultiple players, one “side” should beplaced in town, the attackers are alsoallied, though allies may not shareDeployment Zones (the troops of twodifferent players cannot walk onto theboard from the same zone).

Scavenger Hunt

The Gangs are always looking forvaluable ghost rock strikes, treasures, ormagical relics to give them an edge.When two or more Gangs go after thesame treasure, there’s going to be bloodand grieving widows for some, cigarsand dime novels for the rest.

Setup: Place a Strange Locale (seeAppendix E) in the center of the table.

Deployment: Each player’s troops setup in a standard Deployment Zone.

Special Rules: The first troop toreach the Strange Locale discovers whatawaits inside. Beware! The things thatlurk inside ancient ruins, haunted mines,and Indian burial grounds rarelywelcome visitors!

Bonus: See the Strange Locale tables,partner.

Multi-Player: A Scavenger Hunt isthe perfect set up for a free-for-all!

Twisted Tale

Twisted Tales are scenarios outsidethe usual “find the bad guys and plug‘em” routine. These are unusualmissions that tell a story of the WeirdWest in all its gory glory.

You’ll find a number of them on ourWeird Website from time-to-time, andthe book Fistful o’ Ghost Rock (now outof print but you might find one in yourlocal game store) features 3 wholecampaigns. Another campaign book isRaid on Roswell, available for freedownload on the web.

Setup: See the scenario for details.Deployment: See the scenario.Special Rules: Per scenario.Bonus: Again, see the scenario.Multi-player: At the risk of being

redundant and repeating ourselves, seethe scenario, partner.

Step Two:Hire Troops

Once the table is set up, it’s time tobuy troops. Start by having everyoneannounce which Gang they’ll be playing.

Buying troops in High Noon is verysimple. Simply look over your Gang’stroop list in the Great Rail Wars ArmyBook. For most games, each playershould have at least 500 points worth oftroops. Medium-sized games feature 750-1000 points worth of troops per side,and large games start the bidding at2000 points worth of sidewinders.

Each group or “troop” representseither 5 figures (Posse), a single figure(Single or Hero), or a Crew of some sort.The number of figures in a Crew varies.Check the troop description in the GreatRail Wars Army Book to find out howmany figures make up the Crew.

10 High Noon

Enforcers

You can hire any of the troopsregularly available to your Gang, thoughyou must include at least one Hero. Thisis the leader of this mission, called the“Enforcer.” If you have multiple Heroes,name one of them as the Enforcer.

Experienced Troops

Some gangs come in both regular andexperienced versions. If you’d like to buyexperienced troops, simply pay that cost.There’s no limit on how many of yourtroops can be experienced in a regulargame. It’s your Gang’s “money”—spend ithow you want.

Troop SheetsOnce you’ve selected your troops,

copy each of them down on a standardTroop Sheet (provided at the end of thisbook). Give each troop its own card onthe sheet as you’ll be placing countersand cards upon them. When you’re done,place your Troop Sheets face-up. It’snow public knowledge what unsavorytypes have signed on to your Gang.

Name is, well, what we call thisparticular rascal.

Traits are a rating of the troop’s rawabilities: Strength, Smarts, Vigor, Shootin’,Fightin’, and Guts. These are expressedas a type of die, from a lowly d4 up to ad12 (the higher the better, partner)..

Number tells you how many figuresare in the troop, either Single (1), Hero (1),Posse (5), or Crew (Variable).

Special Abilities are unusual tidbitsabout the troop that don’t fit anywhereelse, like whether or not these goonsare undead or have the scout ability..

Weapons are the means the troop hasto shoot at or fight with other troops.“Basic” means the troop can have anymix of pistols, rifles, or shotguns youchoose. In many Posses, for example, 2pistols, 2 rifles, and 1 shotgun is astandard mix (so that’s how we packageour metal miniatures). You can changethis to 5 shotguns, 4 rifles and ashotgun, or whatever mix you decidebest suits your battle-plan. All basicweapons are pretty much equal—depending on the terrain and how youuse them—so feel free to mix them asbest suits your particular gang.

Cost tells you how many points itcosts to add this troop to your army.The cost is for the whole Posse, Crew, orSingle figure—whatever’s listed.

Bounty lists how many Bounty Pointsyour opponent earns when she putsdown a figure from this troop. Pay

Strength Smarts Vigord6 d6 d6

Shootin’ Fightin’ Gutsd6 d6 d6

Weapon Range ROF DamPistol 12 2 2d6Rifle 24 1 2d8Shotgun 24 1 Spec.Special Abilities: None

Gunmen

5 50

Name

Traits

NumberPosse Special Abilities

Weapons

Cost Bounty

High Noon 11

attention, ‘cause this is the good stuff.Each enemy figure your boys put downis worth a bounty as well.

AlliesThe Gangs are often forced to forge

temporary alliances with their foesagainst even more powerful rivals. Thesetruces last about as long as the battle,but during that time, a solid ally canmean the difference between victory anddefeat, or even life and death.

There are two types of Allies: rivalgangs and independent factions. RivalGangs are other Rail Gangs that aren’tcurrently involved in your battle. Whatwe mean is that if you’re playing UnionBlue and another feller is playing DixieRails, Wasatch, Bayou Vermillion, IronDragon, and Black River are available asallies.

Independent factions are forces likethose of Reverend Ezekiah Grimme,Danites, or the various Indian Tribes.You’ll see some of these rascals as theRail Wars roll on.

Hiring Allies

Up to 1/4 (25%) of your army may beallies. If you’ve got a 1000 point army, forinstance, you can spend 250 on variousallies.

Ally Leaders: Allied troops musthave their own Hero to lead them. Thisindividual keeps the rest of the rabble(monsters in some cases!) in line. TheHero can be an unaligned character (aHired Gun) or one from the allied Gang.He cannot be a Hero from another Gang.

Chaos: A player may only havetroops from one other Gang. He cannothire troops from two or more differentGangs besides his own. It’s hard enoughto keep two groups from plugging eachother. Any more than that is impossible.

Bidding For Allies

Quite often, several players want tobuy allies from the same Gang. Here’show you decide who gets the first shotat hiring them.

Everyone who wants to buy alliessays so. Then each player writes downthe Rail Gang or faction they’reattempting to bribe into helping them

fight. You also need to place one ormore Fate Chips (of any color) underyour bribe and place it on the table.When everyone’s done, reveal all thechoices.

The player who bid the most for anyparticular gang or faction gets them asallies. Count white chips as 1 point, redchips as 2, and blue chips as 3. Nochips, no allies, amigo.

Should two players tie for the samefaction, they’re both out of luck.

All Fate Chips bid for allies are lost,whether you get them or not.

If you win, by the way, you don’t haveto actually hire any allied troops. It’sperfectly legal to bribe a rival to stayout of the way until this fight is over.

Chapter Two:

The Rules

We’re about to show you how to blastyour foes to Hell (and sometimes back),but first we need to explain how thebasic mechanics work, what thosefunny numbers on the Troop Cardsmean, and what those cool poker chipsare for.

Skill ChecksLet’s start with those fancy numbers

on the Troop Cards. We’ll start with Traitand skill checks.

When you are told to test a troop’sTraits, such as “make an Easy (4) Gutsroll,” roll the die listed under Guts onthe Troop Card versus the TargetNumber (or TN, for short) listed inparentheses. There are only two TargetNumbers in High Noon: Easy and Hard.

Target Numbers

Difficulty TNEasy 4Hard 8

If your die roll meets or beats the TN,the troop succeeds in whatever it wastrying to do. If the roll comes up lessthan the TN, the troop failed.

Raises: Rolling 4 points higher thanthe Target Number, such as rolling an 8when you only needed a 4, cansometimes gain you an advantage ofsome sort. Getting a raise when one ofyour figures is trying to recover from“Eatin’ Dirt,” for instance, lets him notonly get up, but act that round as well.

Check the rules for whatever you’retrying to do to see if a raise has anyspecial effects.

Modifiers

Die rolls can be modified by certainsituations. The most common modifiersare added or subtracted in combat.Firing at a prone figure, for instance,incurs a –1 penalty. These are added orsubtracted directly from your die roll.

For example, say your Hero is takinga shot at a sniper lying prone in thedistance. The TN for long range is 8, andyou roll an 8. Normally, this would hit,but since you must subtract –1 fromyour die roll, the shot misses.

14 High Noon

Aces

The more mathematically adept ofyou out there may be wondering justhow you can beat a TN of 8 if you havea d4 or d6 Trait. Never fear. We’ve gotyou covered. If you roll the maximum ona die, called an “Ace,” you get to roll thatdie again and add it to your total.

Say you need an 8 and you’re rolling ad6. If you get a 6, then you roll againand get a 2, your total is 8.

If you get an Ace on your reroll, youcan roll that again too, and so on. A d8roll of 8, then another 8, then another 8,then a 3 is (8+8+8+3=) 27.

No Aces: Aces only count on Traitand damage rolls. Don’t use them onspecial tables or running rolls.

Fate ChipsFate Chips are what we call your

poker chips, gaming stones, or whateveryou’re using. You should have 5 blue, 10red, and 20 white (or whatever colorsyou happen to have in the same mix). Asyou might have guessed, blues are best,red chips are second-best, and whites

are the red-headed stepchildren Fatespat upon God’s Green Earth.

At the beginning of the game, put allthese chips into a cup of some sort. Wecall this the Fate Pot ‘cause we’re funnythat way. Whenever you’re told to drawa chip, grab one randomly from the pot.No peeking, sidewinders!

At the beginning of the game, everyplayer draws three Fate Chips.

Callin’ on Fate

Fate Chips are used to give you rerollsand keep your most valuable troopsalive. They can only be used on Traitchecks. They may never be spent ondamage, rolls on special tables, or thelike.

Let us repeat that one ‘cause we’vesure answered enough mail about it inthe past: You may not spend FateChips on damage rolls!

The exact function of each chipdepends on its color.

White Chips: White chips let youreroll a die and try again, keeping thebest of your rolls. You may spend awhite chip, roll, spend a chip again, etc.until you are satisfied.

Red Chips: Red chips let you reroll adie and add the result to your currenttotal. For example, if you rolled a d6 andgot a 3, you could spend a red chip toroll again. If you got a 4, you’d have atotal of 7. The catch is that anytime you

High Noon 15

spend a red chip, your opponent gets todraw a chip from the Fate Pot forherself. (In multiplayer games, only onerandomly chosen foe gets to draw.)

Blue Chips: Blue chips work just likered chips, but when you use them, youropponent doesn’t get a draw from theFate Pot. Use these carefully, since theyonly come along every so often.

Other Limits: You must spend anywhite chips before using a red or bluechip, and you can only use one each ofa red or a blue chip on any roll. Gotthat, compadre? You can’t spend a red ora blue and then use a white to reroll it.You have to spend any whites beforeyou jump to reds or blues.

Playing the GameIn High Noon, we impose a little law

and order on the otherwise Wild Westby breaking each turn up into twodistinct and separate phases: Draw! andAction! Read on, hombre, and we’ll tellyou how they work.

Draw!The beginning of each turn is called

the Draw! Phase. Don’t go reaching foryour pistol, partner. We mean “draw” asin “from a deck of cards.” These cardsdetermine when each troop acts in theupcoming turn. Aces act first, thenKings, then Queens, and so on, all theway down to a lowly Deuce (two). Moreon this in a heartbeat, muchacho.

Each player gets her own deck ofpoker cards to draw from. In largegames, you might need more than onedeck for each player. (If a player needsmore than 27 cards at the beginning ofeach turn, add another poker deck forevery 27 cards she needs. And hey,thanks for buying so many figures!)

Deal one Action Card face-up ontoeach of your Troop Cards on the TroopSheet. That’s when each of those troopswill act, and why you should make sureyou’ve filled out a card for every Posse—even if you have several of the sametype.

After everyone has completed all theiractions for the turn (after the Deuce),shuffle the cards and start all over.

Fortune and Calamity

Red Jokers represent some sort ofFortune on the battlefield. Black Jokersrepresent Calamities. Drawing either oneduring a battle means good luck forsomeone, and bad luck for another.

Whenever a troop is dealt one ofthese cards, roll 2d6 on the Fortune orCalamity Table (at the end of thischapter) to see what happens!

Besides any other results, a Red Jokeralways allows the troop to go first inthe upcoming Action! Phase.

A Black Joker is always discarded,and the action is lost.

Action!Once all the cards are dealt in the

Draw! Phase, it’s time to move on to theAction! Phase.

To start, count down from the Ace.Any troops with Aces take their actions,then troops with Kings act, then thosewith Queens, and so on, down to theDeuce (one last time, that’s a 2, partner).

Troops act whenever their cardscomes up. In a single action, a troopmay move and: fire, cast a spell, or use aspecial ability.

If a troop ever gets a second ActionCard somehow (usually the result of asupernatural effect or a lucky Fortuneroll), he gets to act and move normallyon each card.

Ties: If two troops have the samecard, the highest suit acts first. Theorder of suits, from highest to lowest isreverse alphabetical:

Suit Order

SpadesHearts

DiamondsClubs

Suit & Ties: We’re not talking aboutyour Sunday-go-to-meetin’ clothes,friend. We’re talking about ties withcards of the same suit and number.

If two troops have the same card andthe same suit, they must roll a contestof Smarts. The winner (the troop withthe highest roll) goes first. That meanszombies (God love ‘em) and the like area little slower on the draw than sometwitchy gunslinger.

Only roll one die for each troop, nomatter how many figures are in it. Don’tmake the Smarts check until the ActionCard comes up. We like the suspense.

MovementAll troops can move up to their Pace.

Unless the Troop Card says otherwise,humans have a Pace of 6 and horseshave a 15. Weird critters have a Pacescore listed in their troop lists. Some ofthose bizarre varmints can reallyskedaddle when they get going!

Moving TroopsIndividual figures can move any way

they want. A figure can start facingnorth, move a few inches and turnsouth, fire, then turn north and moveagain with no penalty to its movement.None of the turns or actions slow thefigure down in any way.

Posse Power: Each figure in a troopof 5 is also free in how it can move,except that it must stay within 4” of atleast one other figure in the troop. Thatdoesn’t mean every cowpoke in a possehas to be within 4” of everyone else,just anyone else in his posse. Got it?

Getting Left Behind: If a figure isever separated from its troop (usuallybecause it’s squirming in the dirt from abelly-wound), it must use its fullmovement to get back with itscompadres the next chance it gets. Afigure that’s Eatin’ Dirt (see Damage)doesn’t have to crawl toward itscompanions, but it can if the playerwants it to. Should several figures in atroop get separated, they need to movetoward the majority. If a troop isseparated evenly, you can choose whichfigures move toward the others. Don’tget all complicated on us, amigoes.

Moving Backwards: Most of thetime, figures won’t need to movebackwards because they can turn duringtheir movement at no cost at all. If itever becomes an issue, though, a figurecan move backward as if each inch wasactually two (which works just likeRough Ground).

Running

Sometimes your troops need toskedaddle faster than their Paceotherwise allows.

Troops can run by sacrificing anyother actions (like shooting) to get anextra d6” of movement. The onlyexception to this is that a running troopmay still make a hand-to-hand attack,but only at the end of its movement. Seethe Fighting section for details.

If there are multiple figures in a troop,roll for them all at once. They all get thesame running bonus.

Horses: Troops on horseback cansacrifice their other actions to get anextra d10” of movement.

FacingA figure’s front is whichever way his body

is facing. For most cowpokes, figure thedirection the chest is pointing in is the front.Anything behind the character’s chest isbehind him.

Critters and other monsters (usually) havefacings too. You just need to figure out whatthe front and back arcs are based on themodel itself. Just try to make it as obviousas possible so there’s no confusion.

Figures can attack and act on anything intheir front arc.

For those technical players out there,figures have a 180° front arc. If you’re reallypicky about these kinds of things, you canpaint your bases to show a figure’s precisefacings (though we don’t recommend it,tinhorn).

A figure can attackanything in it’s front arc, asshown in this diagram.Anything to its rear issafe—for the moment.

High Noon 17

Rough Ground

There’s a lot of treacherous ground inthe Weird West. Rocky fields, muddystreams, steep slopes, and tangled scruball slow a cowpoke down.

All of this is collectively labeled“Rough Ground.” When a troop movesthrough it, each inch of actualmovement counts as two inches.

You and your compadres need todecide which of your terrain piecescounts as Rough Ground, but thefollowing should always fall under thisrule: forests, wadable water, really steephills, and fields full of crops.

Obstacles

Getting over obstacles slows a fellowdown. A cowboy hopping a barbed-wirefence too fast might find himself singingHome on the Range in soprano.

It costs 3” of movement to get overobstacles that are chest-high (relative tothe figure) or lower. Larger obstacles upto the figure’s height cost 6” ofmovement.

Slow Pokes: If a troop doesn’t haveenough Pace to top an obstacle in oneturn, it can keep working at it until itmakes it. For example, a troop with aPace of 3 that needs to get over a highobstacle (requiring 6” of movement)needs to use two turns worth ofmovement. If the troop decides to quitpartway over an obstacle, it costs halfas much movement to get back (rounddown) as it did to get that far in the firstplace.

Contraptions: Rigs and wheeledguns can’t scramble over obstacles ofany height.

Climbin’

Higher obstacles can be climbed ifyou’re really desperate. Think hard onthis, because you’ll very likely lose someof your troops.

To climb, each figure in a troopmakes a Strength roll for every 6” ofvertical height. The TN is almost alwaysEasy (4) as there are usually hand-holdsin rock-faces, gutters or window ledgeson buildings, and so forth. Only if ascenario tells you otherwise, or all

players have agreed a surface is reallyflat, should the TN be Hard (8).

Each figure who fails the roll takesdamage as shown on the Falling Tablebelow. A figure that was already 6” up acliff, for example, falls from 6” if hefailed the next climbing roll.

Climbing Pace: Those who make theroll move as if on Rough Ground.Climbing figures cannot “run” or attack.

Contraptions: Horses, rigs, andwheeled guns can’t climb. Honest!

Jumping

Not every fool who hits the grounddid so accidentally. Let’s talk about that,amigo. A figure that deliberately jumpstakes less damage, as shown on theFalling Table. Figures can leap up to halftheir Strength in inches horizontally.

Death From Above: A figure whojumps on another from above makes aFightin’ roll against his opponent asusual. If he fails, he lands beside the foeand takes jumping damage as usual(and this ends his action). If he wins, hetakes half the usual jumping damageand adds +4 to his hand-to-handdamage roll. Halve the dice beforerolling, not the total.

Falling & Jumping Damage

Falling JumpingHeight1 Altitude2 Damage Damage

1”-3” Low 1d6 03”-6” Low 2d6 1d66”-12” Medium 3d6 3d612”+ High 6d6 6d6

1Read Height as “from 1” up to 3”, from 3” up to 6”, and so on.2Altitude is used with flying rigs. See the Derailed Supplement.

18 High Noon

Going ProneSometimes even the bravest cowpokes

have to duck. Troops can go pronewhenever they want. Standing up costs2” of movement, however.

Lay any prone figures face-down toshow that they are prone (face-upmeans they’re Eatin’ Dirt—described lateron). As you’ll see under Shooting,enemies shooting at prone troops mustsubtract –1 from their attack rolls.

Use common sense to determinewhether or not something can go prone.Horses, animals, automatons, gun crews,and the like just aren’t capable, or aren’tsavvy enough to know when a hunk o’lead is heading their way.

Point Blank Range: A prone targetdoesn’t gain any benefit if the bad guysare standing right on top of him. Troopswithin 3” of a prone target can ignorethis modifier.

Prone in Melee: Troops caught ontheir belly when an opponent rushesinto hand-to-hand automatically standup and fight.

Crawling: Prone troops may crawl asif their Pace was half its normal value.Yes, that means a troop who “ran” whilecrawling could move half his Pace plushalf the roll of a d6 (round up).

Hiding

To hide, simply position your figure inor behind whatever cover is available. Ifthe figure can’t be seen, it can’t be shotat. Indirect weapons such asflamethrowers and explosives might stilldo the job, but otherwise it cannot betargeted. and even then your figureusually gets cover (see Shooting).

Unfair Knowledge: Assume theenemy knows your hidden troops are “inthere somewhere.” Your opponents canact on the knowledge (because playerscan’t help but see your figure), they justcan’t directly target it. Only withbushwhackers does the enemy truly nothave any idea where the figures are (andthe players won’t either).

Pop-Up Attacks: If you want to havea figure hide, rise up, shoot (or performsome other action), and then hide again,that’s called a “pop-up” attack. Themodifiers are covered under Shooting.Just be aware that the only way anopponent can take a shot at a troopwho “pops up” is with a Hold maneuver(described next).

HorsesThis being the West, there are lots of

folks riding around on horses. Here’show to handle these noble critters.

Horses have a Pace of 15. They arealso fleet-footed, meaning that they roll1d10 when running instead of 1d6.

Troops with horses can mount anddismount one time each in a singleaction. That means a Gunman who getson his horse, rides a ways, thendismounts, can’t mount his horse asecond time this action.

Mounting and dismounting costs 2” ofmovement, both for the horse and therider.

Horses can’t be used actively—theowner can’t move them or have themattack. They just sit there without arider in contact with the animal.

On defense, they have the followingstatistics: Strength: d8; Smarts: d4; Vigor:d8; Shootin’: —; Fightin’: d4; Guts: d6.

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?:Anytime a mounted figure is shot by aburst-effect weapon (like a flamethroweror shrapnel round), the horse is hit too.If the attack came from a direct-fireweapon like a pistol, rifle, or shotgun,assume the rider is the victim unlessthe attacker specifically targets thehorse (it’s the low-down, dirty, horse-shootin’ skunk’s choice).

Bounty: Killing a horse is neverworth Bounty Points. It just doesn’tmake the headlines.

Hey! Wait for Me!

When a rider’s horse is killed or runoff, the rest of the posse often can’twait for the unmounted loser. As usual,this fellow needs to do his level-best tokeep up with the rest of his amigoes assoon as possible.

High Noon 19

Eatin’ Dirt: A mounted cowpokewho Eats Dirt does not fall onto theground. He simply slumps in the saddleand allows Trigger to carry him on withthe rest of the posse.

Riderless Horses: When a figuredismounts, his horse stays where heleaves it. It can be attacked and killed,or even stolen by other figures as longas they have the horse ridin’ specialability.

Fear: If a creature with fear or terrorgets within sight and 6” of a riderlesshorse, the animal immediately movesdirectly away from the threat at its fullrunning speed.

Holding ActionsSometimes troops want to wait and

see what happens before they cut loosewith their hoglegs. Maybe they’recovering their buddies dashing acrossMain Street, or maybe they’re waiting fora pack of stinking zombies to comebusting through the barn doors at them.

A troop that hasn’t moved and takesno other action can place a Holdcounter on its Troop Card.

At any point until its next action—even in the middle of another troop’saction—the troop can discard the Holdcounter and claim its held action.

Holding troops can fire their weaponsor move up to half their normal Pacewithout penalty. The troop can evenmove into contact with another troopand start fighting. They can even run,but you must halve their running bonustoo (round down).

If a figure on Hold moves and thenfires, subtract –1 from its Shootin’ rollfor the hasty shot. This penalty doesn’tapply to hand-to-hand attacks.

Posses: All the figures in a possemust not move or act to take a Hold.Similarly, if any figure uses the heldaction, the entire unit loses its Holdcounter. In other words, individualfigures in a Posse or Crew can’t Holdwhile others act.

Holding Holds: A posse that hasn’tused its Hold action in the Draw! Phasedoes not get a new Action Card. A troopcan never Hold multiple actions. If itgets an additional Action Card fromsome other troop’s Fortune or Calamity,

it must use its held action before theextra action comes up or lose the Hold.

Timing: If troops on Hold want tointerrupt other troops’ Hold actions,everyone involved must make Smartstests. Start with the last troop to declareit is coming off Hold, then the nextplayer rolls, and so on.

The troop with the highest result goesfirst, then the next highest, and so on.Regardless of who won, everyoneinvolved loses their Hold action.

Line of Sight

For the most part, a cowpoke must be able tosee a target before he can attack it. This is calledhaving a “line of sight.”

High Noon uses “true” line of sight. You canfigure out if your figure can see a target byhunkering down to the table and looking foryourself. If your Gunman can see over theClockwork Tarantula in front of him to thezombie beyond, he can fire away. Similarly, if ahuckster sees a Witch firing balls o’ doom from asecond-story window, he can cut loose on herwith a soul blast, though in this case she’d gethard cover for the window frame.

Most of the time, determining line of sightshould be pretty clear. If there’s ever adisagreement, you can run a tight string from theattacker to the target, or use a laser pointer oreven a homemade periscope if you have them(lots of miniature gamers do these days). If not,don’t let a silly dispute ruin your game. Roll a die.On an odd result, the shot is blocked. On an evenresult, the attacker has line of sight.

Shooting

Troops armed with ranged weaponscan make shooting attacks. Amazing,huh? Those without must whip out theirknives and check out the Fightingsection.

A figure can make a Shooting or aFighting attack in one action, but notboth. The attack is always made to thefigure’s front.

Picking TargetsPicking targets ain’t like picking your

nose, hombre. So pay attention.Troops can fire at any point in their

action—even in the middle of movement.Troops with multiple shots may fireeach shot at any point in their move.

When it’s your troop’s turn to slingsome lead, tell your opponent that yourthugs are going to fire, and then pointout their prospective targets.

A figure can only fire on a target toits front, and only at targets it can see.High Noon uses true line-of-sight (seethe sidebar, amigo), so hunker down andeyeball the shot it if you have to).

Since each action is only a fewseconds of real time, you must point outall your targets for each troop at once.Once you’ve nominated targets andstarted rolling dice, you can’t add inother attackers. This keeps you fromwaiting to see if your pistolero kills oneenemy before saying who your riflemanin the same posse is shooting at. You’vegot to decide for them all at once. Namea posse’s targets, resolve its hits, thenmove on to the next Action Card.

Range

Once you’ve declared your troop’stargets, you next measure the rangefrom the shooters to the targets. (Youcan’t measure the range first, amigo.)

Anything up to and including half theweapon’s Range statistic is short range.Anything up to and including the Rangeis long range. Anything over that is outof range and cannot be targeted.

If the target you named is out ofrange, you’ve wasted the shot. Again, nofair measuring beforehand.

The TN depends on the range. Rolleach figure’s Shootin’ die, add orsubtract any modifiers, then comparethe result with the proper TN, as shownbelow.

Range TNs

Range TNShort 4Long 8

Rate o’ Fire

All weapons in The Great Rail Warshave a “rate o’ fire,” or ROF. This is howmany times a figure can fire it on asingle action.

In general, pistols have an ROF of 2,while rifles and shotguns have an ROFof 1. Certain special weapons (likeGatling guns) have an ROF of 3.

Multiple Shots: A figure planning tofire multiple shots must declare all itsshots before resolving any of them.Multiple shots may be split amongtargets, and may be resolved at differentpoints in the attacker’s movement.

ModifiersThere are many factors that can affect

your cowpoke’s ability to hit his targetwhen firing his hogleg. Let’s take a lookat the most common.

Cover

There are two types of cover: lightand hard.

Light cover comes from concealmentand thin obstacles. A figure half-obscured by scrub, a sparse forest, or arail fence can claim light cover. A troopfiring at a target in light cover subtracts–1 from its Shootin’ roll.

Hard cover is bestowed by larger,thicker obstacles such as buildingcorners, windows, or trees. A shot at atarget in hard cover subtracts –2 fromthe Shootin’ roll.

In either case, if the shootercircumvents the cover (by movingaround the back of a cowboy lurkingbehind a stone wall, for example), itdoesn’t count anymore. The cover mustcome between the shooter and histarget at the time the shot is actuallyfired for it to affect the die roll.

Mounted Attackers

It’s hard to aim when your horse isbouncing all over Creation. Mountedattackers subtract –1 from their Shootin’rolls. A figure can dismount to avoidthis penalty.

“Pop-Up” Attacks

Sometimes a figure might want topop up out of cover, fire, and thenreturn to cover. That’s perfectly legal anda smart way to keep from getting acowpoke’s noggin blown off.

The only way the enemy can shootsomeone doing a pop-up attack is witha Hold action. Then it can plug thesneaky varmint in the pun’kin (that’s thehead, partner) as soon as he comes

around the corner or looks out over thatwindow sill.

Since neither party gets much chanceto aim at each other, however, both thepopper and anyone shooting at himmust subtract –1 from their Shootin’rolls.

Prone

A figure lying on its belly (or on itsback if it’s wounded but not quite deadyet), is harder to hit than a standingtarget.

Troops must subtract –1 from theirShootin’ rolls when firing on a pronetarget. Troops Eatin’ Dirt get this bonustoo.

You can ignore this if the attackergets within 3” of a prone opponent. Atthat point, laying down just means acowpoke doesn’t have as far to fall.

Two Guns

Figures with two pistols can fire both.They can even fire both guns up to theirmaximum ROF and split the shots up asthey choose.

The player must declare (beforeshooting) if the figure’s going to fireboth guns. If he does, all the firstpistol’s shots are made at –1, and thesecond’s are at –2.

Two-Fisted: The two-fisted Edgeallows a gunslinger to ignore thesemodifiers. See Appendix A for details.

Firing into Melee

By and large, the Rail Gangs treattheir troops as cannon fodder. Thismeans firing into a wrasslin’ match

Shooting Modifiers

Situation ModifierTarget prone –1Target behind light cover –1Target behind hard cover –2Pop-up shot –1Shooting at a popper –1Shooter is mounted –1Shooting two guns:Regular hand –1Off hand –2

where the shooter might hit his ownbuddy isn’t really a problem. Say aGunman is tangling with a couple ofmean Nosferatu. His buddy, bravelywatching nearby, isn’t likely going towait and see who wins before he startsfanning his hogleg.

When shots are fired into a melee,see if the shot hits first. If it does, rollrandomly among all possiblecombatants to see who got hit.

Area Effect: Area-effect weapons,such as cannons and some spells, hiteveryone within the template as usual,friend or foe.

Large Opponents: Use a littlecommon sense when firing into a meleewith opponents of mixed sizes. AWendigo that’s twice as large as anormal human-sized figure shouldcount as 2 “targets” when determiningwho catches a round.

Fighting

If your troops don’t have a rangedweapon, they need to whip out theirknives (or claws or fangs!) and startcarving.

A figure is considered in hand-to-hand combat when its base touches anenemy figure’s base.

When contacted, prone figuresautomatically stand to fight, and figureshit in the “rear” automatically turn toface their opponents.

A figure in hand-to-hand combatmakes its attack on its action. Thefigure and its opponent each roll theirFightin’ die. If the defender’s Fightin’total is higher than the attacker’s, nodamage is done. If the attacker’s total ishigher, he has scored a hit and shouldnow roll damage (see Damage).

“Charging”There is no actual “charging

maneuver” in High Noon, other than thata figure can run and still make aFightin’ attack in one action. This is anexception to the normal rule onrunning, which says you must sacrificeyour other actions for the extramovement.

Firing at Chargers: Opponents canfire on charging troops if they’re Holdingan action. If a Holding troop interruptsan opponent’s move, the defending troopmay fire if they haven’t already done sothis action. Finally, the chargers mayhave to make a Guts check if any ofthem is Put Down (see Guts) on theway in.

Fightin’ with Pistols

A figure can use its pistol in hand-to-hand, and it uses its Shootin’ skill asusual. The gunslinger can even take twoshots, as usual.

Here Comes the Cavalry

The power and speed of a good horsegives an attacker a bonus in hand-to-hand combat.

Mounted attackers add +2 to theirdamage rolls, even against othermounted opponents.

High Noon 23

“Florentine”

A figure with two weapons (such astwo knives) may make two Fightin’ rollsif the player chooses. In the old days,they called this “Florentine” style.

The first attack in this style is madeat –1; the second is made at –2.

If the fighter is in contact withmultiple foes, he may direct his attacksto any two of them. He can even turn toattack targets on either side on hisaction.

Two-Fisted: A two-fisted gunfightercan ignore all this nonsense and carvethe Christmas goose with both handsand no penalties.

Multiple Opponents

When a troop moves in for a hand-to-hand brawl, the figures are placedwherever the moving player sees fit. Ifshe wants to gang three figures up onone and ignore several others, that’s herbusiness. Of course, on the defender’sturn, he may do a little rearranging ofhis own.

Being buried under a flurry of fists,claws, or knives isn’t much fun. Forevery opponent after the first in contactwith a figure, it must subtract –1 fromits attack and defense rolls.

Facing: An outnumbered figure candirect its attack at any opponent to itsfront. Models in its rear cannot betargeted, though it may turn to face anyfigure it chooses on its action. (This isusually only important when a figurehas more than one attack per action.)

Withdrawing

Troops who are really desperate toget away from the big bad man can turntail and run for it.

Here’s how being a yellow-belliedcoward works. The figure moves awaynormally, but each enemy figure incontact with it gets one (and only one,even if frenzied) free attack before thefigure escapes. If that makes the figureEat Dirt or Puts it Down, he’s paid theprice for his yellow-bellied cowardice.

A figure that has just withdrawn fromcombat can’t do anything else thataction.

Damage

Now it’s time to listen to yourenemies squeal.

Shooting DamageOnce you’ve determined one of your

thugs has actually hit the broad side ofthe barn, you need to roll the weapon’sdamage. Like skill rolls, damage rolls areopen-ended. If you get an Ace, roll itagain and add it to the total. Now youropponent must make a Vigor test. Ifyour damage roll is higher than hisVigor test, he’s wounded (see Wounds).

Fate Chips: Note that Fate Chipscannot be spent on Shootin’ damagerolls—but they can be spent on Fightin’damage (see below).

Shotguns

Shotgun shells scatter as they getfurther away from the gun, and so dodamage a bit different than other guns.

A shotgun’s range is 24”. The basedamage of a shotgun is 3d6 for anytarget within 6”. For targets in the next6”, the damage is 2d6. Any targetsbeyond that (which is long range) takeonly 1d6 damage.

Fighting DamageDamage from a hand-to-hand

(Fighting) attack is equal to theattacker’s STR plus the weapon’sdamage bonus. A figure with a STR ofd6, for example, rolls 1d6 and adds theweapon’s damage bonus (usually +1 or+2) to get his total damage.

Note that unlike other types ofdamage, since a STR roll is involved(and Fate chips can be spent on Traitchecks), you could spend Fate Chips onthe damage roll!

As with Shooting, the victim mustmake a Vigor check higher than thedamage total or he’s in trouble (seeWounds).

24 High Noon

Wounds

So just how many chunks does abuffalo rifle blow off the walking dead?And how big a gash does a Bowie knifecut in a Devil Bat’s hide? We’ll tell you,compadre.

Once you’ve rolled damage above atarget’s Vigor roll, subtract the Vigortotal from the damage and find thedifference on the table below.

Wound Effects

Difference Result1–4 Eatin’ Dirt

5 or more Put Down10+ Pushin’ Daisies

(Heroes & Rigs)

Eatin’ DirtThis result means the victim was

forced to take cover, got his skin grazed,or maybe just banged his knee on theway to the ground while avoiding somesidewinder’s attack.

Lie the figure on its back to show it’sEatin’ Dirt. Any Hold counters are lost,and on its next action, the figure musttry to recover by making an Easy (4)Vigor test. If successful, you can set thefigure back up on its feet if you like, butit cannot move or attack on that action.It may act normally on any lateractions.

A really tough or lucky figure whogets an 8 or better on the recovery testcan act normally right away.

Crawling: Figures that can crawl maydo so after attempting to recover,regardless of whether or not they weresuccessful. This way a cowpoke who’smade to Eat Dirt out in the open cancrawl toward safety to catch his wind,count his bullets, and get back tofighting.

No Mercy

A figure that’s Eatin’ Dirt isparticularly vulnerable in hand-to-handcombat. In fact, a Fighting attack on anyAction Card after the one in which theopponent was wounded automaticallyPuts Down any figure that’s Eatin’ Dirt.Even Heroes can be killed if they’recaught in this predicament.

Say two Gunmen from the sameposse are carving up a huckster withtheir Bowie knives. The first makes thehexslinger Eat Dirt. The second cowpokecan’t kill him automatically, since hisattack is made on the same Action Card.He can still attack the hucksternormally though. The huckster had besthope he has an action left this turn, orgoes before the killers in the next,because if he’s still Eatin’ Dirt when theGunmen go again, either cowpoke cango for the “No Mercy” kill.

Shooting: You can shoot at a figureEatin’ Dirt too, but there’s no extra effectfor it. It’s just another chance to makethe loser push some daisies.

Guarding: The only way to prevent acharacter who is Eating Dirt from being“no mercied” by the enemy is to move afriendly figure in contact with thewounded one. That way, any enemytroops who want to finish off thedowned figure must fight the guardianinstead. This counts even if the guardianis at one “end” of a downed figure(assuming he’s human sized) and theattackers touch the other. Assume thedefender is standing “over” his fallencomrade and can cover him.

Put DownThe tough hombres of the Weird West

know they’re going to Boot Hillsomeday—maybe soon. Most just hopethey’re buried with their boots on.

A figure who is Put Down has takena real wound, one so bad it’s removedfrom the table. The loser may not bedead, but he’s definitely out of the fight.

When Heroes are Put Down by adamage roll of 5-9 points higher thantheir Vigor total, they roll on the CriticalHit Table instead (see below).

Vehicles that are Put Down suffer acritical hit, as explained in the Derailed!supplement.

High Noon 25

Hero Critical Hits

2d6 Location2 Flesh Wound! This hombre’s been hurt worse

shaving. Ignore the damage and immediatelytake one free shot (or whack) at the varmintwho nicked him for revenge.

3 Groin! The Hero takes an embarrassing butnonlethal hit. He’s Eatin’ Dirt until he makes aHard (8) Vigor roll.

4 Weapon Arm! The character Eats Dirt and mustsubtract -2 from his Shootin’ and Fightin’’. Thisis cumulative, so put a Winged! counter on hiscard for each wound.

5-9 Guts! The Hero Eats Dirt and is Put Down unlesshe makes an Easy (4) Vigor roll.

10 Leg! The Hero catches one in the knee anddevelops a serious hitch in his getalong. He EatsDirt and his Pace drops by 2” to a minimum of1”. Put a Lame! counter on his Troop Card torepresent the wound. A Hero can only have hismovement reduced twice.

11 Gizzards! Uh-oh! Something important got hit!The Hero Eats Dirt and is Put Down unless hemakes a Hard (8) Vigor roll.

12 Head Shot! The Hero’s head explodes like amelon. He’s dead (permanently Put Down), andhas no chance of coming back Harrowed.

Pushin’ DaisiesHeroes and rigs (again, see Derailed!)

that take 10 points of damage over theirVigor or Durability roll are automaticallyPut Down. They’re out of this fight(though Heroes may come backHarrowed—see Appendix B).

Marking WoundsWe’ve made it so that you don’t have

to clutter your pretty, blood-soakedbattlefield with lots of counters andmarkers. You can put those thingsdirectly on the Troop Cards, instead.

Even better, for the most commonwound results (Eatin’ Dirt and PutDown), you can use the figuresthemselves to mark their condition.

Positions

Prone Lie the figure on its frontEatin’ Dirt Lie the figure on its backPut Down Remove the figure from

the table

GutsMost troops rustled into fighting for

the Gangs have stared the Reaper in hisempty eyesockets before. The ones wholive to tell it are sometimes those smartenough to run away.

Doing that takes Guts. Troops mustmake Guts checks on two occasions:when they lose one of their own andwhen one of their Gang’s Heroes bitesthe dust.

Casualties

Figures in a troop that loses a figureoften start wondering about their ownmortality. At the end of an actionsegment in which a figure that was partof a troop is Put Down, its troop mustmake an Easy (4) Guts check. Only oneGuts test is made for all the figures leftin a Posse or Crew.

Multiple Casualties: The troop mustonly make one Guts check per Action

Card (roll only after all attacks againstit have been resolved). If the troop losesan amigo on a later Action Card, theyhave to test again.

Halting a Charge: Also, a troop thattakes a casualty while moving intohand-to-hand combat must make aninstant Guts check after any and allHold actions are used to fire on it. Iffailed, the troop stops in its tracks.Otherwise, they can keep moving in toattack. If the chargers lose a figureduring the attack (which might happenif the defenders were Holding an action),they must check again after the melee

is resolved.

26 High Noon

This is the only way in which a troopcan be forced to make more than oneGuts check on a single Action Card.

Death of a Hero

Most of the mercenaries hired by theRail Barons could care less whathappens to those outside their posse.But even these folks flinch when arenowned Hero falls beside them.

Any troop within 6” of a Hero who isPut Down must make an Easy (4) Gutscheck. It’s hard for the average Gunmanto make a stand when a legend of theWeird West gets gutted like a trout bysome slavering horror.

The Guts CheckA troop that makes its Guts check

suffers no ill effects. If the troop’s rollfails, however, it becomes Shaken.

Going Bust: If the troop’s Guts totalis 1 or less (after modifiers and FateChips), it immediately becomesPanicked.

Shaken

A Shaken troop is starting to lose itsnerve. The cowpokes aren’t ready to runaway yet, but their shaky trigger fingersand jumpy nerves are rubbing everyonein the troop the wrong way.

Place a Shaken marker on the TroopCard. Until it rallies (see below), all of itsrolls are made at –1.

If a Shaken troop is forced to make aGuts check and fails, it becomesPanicked.

Panicked

These troops are getting the Hell outof Dodge. Get in their way and they’llput a bootprint on your head as theyhightail it home.

Panicked troops immediately rundirectly away from their enemies or thesource of their terror (even if they’vealready moved this turn). They stopwhen they reach the board edge or aspot behind cover where they can’t beattacked. Troops that panic while inhard cover—and not engaged in hand-to-hand combat with enemy figures—canchoose to hunker down on the spotinstead of running away.

Panicked troops cannot attack or takeany other actions besides running orhiding. If they are caught in hand-to-hand, they cannot attack, and the enemygets +2 to hit and damage.

High Noon 27Rallying

A troop must rally to improve itsmorale. This is a Guts check, and the TNdepends on whether the troop is Shakenor Panicked.

Rallying takes a troop’s entire action,during which time it cannot do anythingbesides move or run.

If a troop makes its rally check, itimproves one step. Panicked troopsbecome Shaken, and Shaken troopsbecome normal.

Penalties: A Shaken troop does notsubtract –1 from rally checks, by theway. This is the only time it can ignorethe Shaken penalty.

Bust: Rolling a 1 or less whenrallying does not cause a troop topanic. We’re not that mean, partner.

Rallying

Morale TN to RallyShaken 4Panic 8

End GameAll good things must come to an end.

High Noon comes to an end sometimeafter the 4th turn. That’s when nightfalls, the cavalry arrives in force, themilitia shows up, or whatever.

At the beginning of the 5th turn, oneplayer should roll a d6. On a 6, the gameis over. Every turn after the 5th, subtract–1 from the Target Number. (On turn 6,the battle ends on 5 or more, on turn 7the game is over on 4 or more, and soon.) This allows you to finish a game ina single evening (a couple of hours onceyou know how to play).

The Rule of One: A roll of 1 alwaysmeans the game lasts at least anotherturn, however. This way, no one knowswhen the game is going to end,preventing a player from throwing awayhis troops just because he knows it’s thelast turn.

Victory!

When the smoke has cleared and theday is done, the player with the mosttotal Bounty Points wins.

Bounty Points come from twosources: wiping out the bad guys andcompleting scenario objectives.

Bounty PointsMost of your Bounty Points come

from taking care of the bad guys in thatpermanent, bullet-ridden fashion.Whenever you Put Down an enemyfigure, increase your Bounty Points bythe Bounty listed on its Troop Card.

Putting an enemy Gunman out ofaction, for instance, is worth 5 BountyPoints. Keep track of points on a pieceof paper, an erasable white board, aneasel, or somewhere that everyone cansee. That way everyone knows whatthey need to do to win.

ObjectivesThe value of battlefield or mission

objectives are always listed in thescenario description. These BountyPoints add to your total just like thosegained by offing the bad guys.

Spending Bounty PointsBesides determining who wins, once

per turn, you may buy a draw from theFate Pot by spending 50 Bounty Points.You can do this at any point in the turn,whether your troops have an action ornot.

It’s a tough call whether or not youshould blow your lead to gain somechips, but that’s probably the only wayyou can keep valuable Heroes alive ifFate’s gone the way of the dodo.

28 High Noon

Fortune

2d6 Result2 Freak Event. Roll on the Freak

Event Table.3 Twist o’ Fate! Take 1 Fate Chip at

random from an opponent of yourchoice.4 The Quick & the Dead! Take any

one of your opponent’s cards and give itto any of your troops. Return it at theend of the turn.5–6 Rally! If you have a Shaken orPanicked troop, it rallies and can actnormally on its action. Otherwise, justdraw an additional Action Card for thistroop.7 Hand o’ Fate! Draw a Fate Chip.

8–9 Spirit o’ Battle! Draw anadditional Action Card for the fortunatetroop immediately.10 Heroic Effort! Draw an additionalAction Card and give it to any of yourtroops immediately.11 Iron Will! Roll 1d6. That many of

your figures who are currently Eatin’Dirt recover immediately and may actnormally on their next action. If youdon’t have any figures Eatin’ Dirt, treatthis as a Heroic Effort instead.12 Jackpot! Take your pick, partner.

Calamity2d6 Result2 Freak Event. Roll on the Freak

Event Table.3 Fate’s a Bitch! Give your highest

card to your opponent. He may give it toany troop on the table as he sees fit.4 Busted. Choose one of your cards

and give it to your opponent for theturn. He must immediately assign it toone of his troops.5–6 Dirt Slow! The troop loses all itsactions this turn.7 Reload! The troop has to reload

or hesitates for some reason. Discard theJoker as usual, but there’s no othereffect.

8–9 Fickle Finger o’ Fate! Youropponent (roll off in multiplayer games)gets to draw a Fate Chip.10 Confusion! Your opponent maygive the Joker to any other troop underyour control. This troop now loses itsaction, but the troop that originally gotthe Joker gets the lost cards.11 Yeller! A close call with death

makes the troop think twice about thisfight. It must make a Hard (8) Gutscheck immediately.12 Bad Moon Risin’! Your opponentgets to pick your result, amigo.

Freak Event1d20 Result1 Dust Devils! A fierce wind whips

across the dusty battlefield. All Shootingattacks are made at –2 for the rest ofthe game.2 Militia! A gang of locals has

decided to lend its guns to your side. Aposse of Gunmen pops up at a randombuilding (or a random board edge ifthere are no buildings). They can act onthis card segment, and they are dealtAction Cards normally next round.3 Whims of Fate! The player with

the least number of Fate Chips gets todraw chips until he has the samenumber as the player with the most.4 Rain! It begins to rain. For the rest

of the battle, no troop can see furtherthan 24”, and all Shooting attacks aremade at –2.5 Brother Against Brother! It

turns out one of your Heroes has arelative or former friend fighting for theother side. Pick one of your Heroes androll randomly for your foe’s Heroes.These two Heroes are either related orhave worked closely together in thepast. They refuse to cause the otherharm no matter what.6 Worms! All the ruckus disturbed a

Mojave rattler. The giant worm pops upout of the ground and tries to eat oneof your opponent’s Heroes. Rollrandomly to see which one. If the Herocan’t make a Hard (8) Strength roll, he’sworm food. Afterward, the wormdisappears back into the dirt.7 Hired Gun! A grim gunfighter

pops up in the middle of a town or train(or a random board edge otherwise). All

High Noon 29

players secretly place Fate Chips in theirhands. The player who bids the mosthires the grim gunfighter. In a tie, thegunfighter wanders off and joins noone. Use the standard Gunfighter Herofrom the Great Rail Wars Army Book.8 Inspiration! Your side gives out a

big yeehaa! Any 1’s rolled for the next1d4 turns may be rerolled. You can evenreroll your rerolls if they’re 1’s.9 Out of Ammo! The troop cannot

make a Shootin’ attack until it findsammo. This can be done by visiting anybuilding or retreating off your side ofthe board for 1 turn. Other troops refuseto share their ammo. Get yer own!10 Downpour! A sudden storm endsthe battle at the end of this turn. Dowhat damage you can in the meantime!11 Betrayal! If this card was dealt to

a player’s ally, that ally betrays hisemployer and turns on him. Youropponent may take control of thesetroops for the rest of the game.12 Restless Dead! The violence ofbattle causes the dead to rise from theearth! Place the Boom! Template at thecenter of the table, then move it byrolling a deviation of 3d6 inches in a d12direction. This turn, a posse of Walkin’Dead arises from this spot. The nextturn, two posses rise from a newlocation (roll a new deviation from thecenter of the table), and so on. Eachposse of the restless dead attacks theclosest enemy troop as usual.13 Yeller Bellied Cowards! Any andall troops currently Panicked rundirectly off the board and don’t comeback.14 Sand! For the next 1d4 turns, all ofyour troops may roll their Vigor twiceand take the best of the two rolls whenresisting damage.15 Good Press! Your side’s actionstoday will make the papers. Increaseyour Bounty Points by 25% of theircurrent total.16 Curse of Fate! You may dictatethe result of any one of your opponent’sdie rolls this game. This includes a rollon a table, a Shootin’ roll, or anythingthat requires a die roll.17 Wily Wizard! Someone woke a

cranky and mysterious huckster fromhis sleep. This enigmatic figure appearsin a random building or train (or at arandom table edge otherwise). He’s out

to prove he’s better than all the otherhexslingers on the board. Roll among allhexslinging Heroes to determine whohis first target is. The opponent controlsthe huckster until that target is nolonger available (dead or removed fromplay). Then the wizard moves on to thenext target. When the hexslingers are allgone, the huckster stalks off into thesetting sun. Use the standard HucksterHero from the Great Rail Wars ArmyBook.18 Jackalope! A jackalope stalksyour forces. While it’s on the table, allyour side’s skill rolls are made at –1. Theenemy gets to move the jackalopearound (Pace of 10; running bonus ofd10”). Anyone attacking the jackalopedoes so at a total of –5 (which alreadyincludes that –1 penalty.) Once thecritter’s killed, the first side to get to itscarcass gets a lucky rabbit’s foot thatgives the Hero, Posse, or Crew +1 to alltheir die rolls for the rest of the game.19 Stampede! A stampede of buffalo,cattle, wild horses, or some other largecritters rumbles across the field. Thestampede originates from a corral orlivery if there is one, or the center of arandom table edge otherwise. The herdis 10” wide and 20“ long. It appears atone end of the table and runs 10” a turn.Roll below for direction. The stampedealways steers around major obstacles,but it loves to trample the forces of theRail Barons. Any figure hit by thestampede takes 3d10 damage.d6 Path1–2 Veers 45° left3–4 Straight5–6 Veers 45° right20 Lucky Day. Choose any FreakEvent and have a field day.

We’re about to dig into the actual rulesof Grim Crusade. If you’re new to theworld of Deadlands, or to miniaturesgames in general, there’s a mess ofstrange words you’re going to run into aswe mosey along. Here are some of themore notable ones. Refer to this listanytime you see a term you don’tunderstand.

Action: The moment at which a troopcan move, shoot, fight, or try toaccomplish something else. Action orderis determined by drawing cards.

Crew: Crews operate big guns such ascannons, and rigs such as Velocipedesand Ornithopters. The exact number offigures in a Crew is listed on its TroopCard. A Gatling Gun, for instance, has aCrew of 2, and thus says Crew (2) on itsTroop Card. Crewmen are completelyinterchangeable—a Gatling gunner canman a cannon or even a weapon on a rig.The only restriction is that Crewmencannot operate rigs or weapons availableonly to another Gang. Chapter XXX hasthe complete lowdown on Crewmen ifyou need to know more.

Dice Terms: Grim Crusade uses sixdifferent types of dice (which areincluded in the boxed set). They’reabbreviated as d4, d6, d8, d10, and d20,with the number after the d telling youhow many sides the die has. If there’s anumber before the d, that tells you howmany of that kind of die you need to roll.For instance, 2d6 means to roll 2 six-sided dice and add them together. Othermodifiers can pop up too. So 3d4+2means “roll 3 four-sided dice, add themtogether, and then add +2 to the total.”For 3d4–2, you would subtract 2 from thetotal.

Gizmo: The Reckoning and thediscovery of ghost rock (see above) hasled to the invention of all kinds ofinfernal devices. Collectively, any gadgetwith supernatural undertones or that is

ahead of the real-world tech-level, iscalled a gizmo.

Hero: A single “named” figure, such asRonan Lynch. Heroes are a little betterthan most other troops. They takewounds differently and usually get to domore in a turn.

Measurements: Inches and feet areoften noted with ” and ’. Two inches is 2”,and two feet is 2’.

Posse: A troop composed of 5 figures,such as Gunmen.

Relic: Magic items. Most can only beused by Heroes, but there are someexceptions.

Rig: Any kind of vehicle, includingwagons, steam buggies, velocipedes,ornithopters, trains, and even boats.

Segment: All the actions that takeplace on a single card. Troops who draw8’s, for instance, all act on the sameSegment.

Single: A unit composed of a singlefigure, such as a Muckraker.

Spells: All the magical abilities troopscan use, whether they are Shaman’sprayers or black magic rituals, are calledspells in Grim Crusade.

Target Number (TN): The numberyou’re trying to meet or beat with a dieroll. It’s often abbreviated as TN.

Troop: This is the generic term for aunit. In Grim Crusade, units are eitherSingle figures (such as a Sawbones),Posses (5 figures, such as a group of fiveScouts), Heroes (single “named” figureslike Nevada Smith), or Crews (variablesized groups such as Gatling Gunners). Ifwe say “the troop must start in the jail,”then the whole unit, whether it’s onefigure or five, follows these instructions.Check the Troop Card (just under thetroop’s picture) to find out whether it is aSingle, Hero, Posse, or Crew.

Turn: A whole Action! Phase, from Aceto Deuce.

Rules Glossary