Last night I ran Bigger Battles scenario from the movie Major Dundee with nine players. It was the scene where the cavalry is crossing the river on the way to ambush the Apaches and the cavalry got ambush at the river crossing. The Apaches had hidden setup but it did not seem to matter much as they set up right next to the trail and there was deadly fighting on the first turn. After a couple of hours of continuous fighting like that over two thirds of both sides were dead. At about halfway through, the body count was 18 dead Apaches and 19 dead troopers. As we got down to the last turn, it looked like whoever got the most victory points for controlling the pack mules was going to win. Victory points for controlling pack mules is not covered in the basic rule set. We had been allowing the pack mules to move at the discretion of the owner, but the Apaches complained that this would not give them a chance to take the mules on the last turn. Therefore, to reach a compromise, I said that the mules would get initiative cards on the last turn and the troopers would be considered to have won under the old rules and we would play it out with the initiative cards to the mules. Under the new rules, the Apaches won. I thought everybody would be happy as both sides could claim victory. I forgot I was dealing with wargamers and both sides joined the lynch mob for the gamemaster and everybody said they had fun. Just another day in wargaming. Stephen Lowry
