AAR: Buckskins & Rangers: British and Indian Engagement

  On a recent Saturday, Kalissa and I went out to our local Hobbytown, U.S.A. to play a French & Indian War game. In this game, we were testing out Buckskins & Rangers as a game. I had acquired these rules a couple of Historicons back. It is about time to play these rules, otherwise why have them? Of course, I also know lots of fellow gamers that love to collect rules sets in search of the "Holy Grail" of rules. I am not saying that they don't exist, but I am aware my taste in games changes other gaming. I like to think of that idea like a "fine wine". In my case, maybe, a well aged whiskey. But in our household, Kalissa and I try to play all of the rules set with gain. Sometimes, this process take a year or two.
    There is another reason for dusting these rules off. I am on a mission of finding rules for my next Historicon Project.  Buckskins & Rangers has some nice elements that can fit what I am trying to do. It is a card drive game that uses both D6's and D20's. You have your unit of six people that you have to roll you number of actions for each one on D6. The lead figure is your command figure. If you want you unit to move as a group, you can just use you commanders actions for the whole group with the command range or you can play everyone with their individual actions. So there is a lot of flexibility with these rules, which can be good for a convention game. Also, I first played this game at Historicon. Imagine that!
    However, in our game, Kalissa had never played these rules or read them. Yes, it is an unfair advantage! In my defense, you have to realize how smart and logical my wife is. She picks up on games very easy. In fact, too easy! After killing five of her natives, she still striking back. There were a lot of bad rolling on my wife's side that gave her an up hill battle, but that did not stop her from coming out on top. It came down a single duel between to men. I lost the game in a final end on turn seven. I still like to think her man tripped and fell on a sword while leaving the battlefield. We both had a lot of fun with this game. We will have to play some more.