I had heard of the Fistful of Lead rules and thought them to be a simplistic beer and pretzels set of western Gunfight rules. I have only been introduced to them properly recently with the Footsore Miniatures Kickstarter “Savage Frontier”.

Footsore Miniatures were going to supply there own rules but something happened and in order to fulfil there obligation of figures, mat and rules they arranged for Wiley Games to supply a copy of their Horse and Musket rules.

I initially put them aside as something to clutter up the shelves and began sorting out the figures. For those who know my favourite period is French Indian Wars, probably because of reading “Last of the Mohicans” growing up, and movies like “Northwest Passage”, (movie and the TV series), “Saskatchewan”, the “Iroquis Trail”, “The Pathfinder”, “Allegheny Uprising” and “Drums Along the Mohawk”.

Recently we had been using “Rebels and Patriots” rules for the period, produced by Osprey and written by Dan Mersey. These give an excellent game and the Hollywood movie and serial feel I was after. I like skirmish games and while the rules represented small groups of men and not individuals I am quite happy with them.

One of the posts from the Kickstarter indicated that although they were supplying the Horse and Musket rules intended to cover the whole period there was a particular supplement “Red Hatchets and Black Powder”, that covered the French Indian Wars.

I was starting to get interested.

I went on to the Wiley Games website and downloaded a pdf of the FIW supplement rules and a whole lot of free pdf files including some solo rules. I was now very interested.

The main driving force behind the game is an ordinary pack of playing cards, which helps to organise and regulate the turn sequence and the actions that may be carried out by each model. Some cards also have a special purpose within the game, enabling the player to expand the range of actions that may be carried out in a turn. The do sell their own set of cards which has the characteristics of the special card printed on them.

Each model may take two actions per turn, which are partially defined by a list of examples but could actually cover a whole host of activities.

Textual and pictorial examples are used to define movement, cover, shooting, etc. The weapon tables cover a number of generic types, from Spear and Bow to Rocket Launchers and Laser Rifles.

The close combat rules continue the simple but effective motif found in the rules, dealing with pairs of combatants up to multiple fighters.

The effects of wounding upon a model’s abilities are discussed in detail, making for an effective and quite characterful set of results. By rolling a D10, the result of a wound is either Shaken, Wounded & Down or Out Of Action. Models can have up to three wounds inflicted upon them before they succumb but can suffer a number of statuses after each one. Wounds may be recovered from, by activating the figure as usual but then spending time dealing with wounds.

A two-page Example of Play is simple to follow, and very useful. Having dealt with the basic rules, there are Advanced Rules, including undertaking tasks beyond the realms of combat, using a task difficulty roll.

The Building Your Team section enables players to put together their chosen models as a playable group. A team consists of a Leader, a Specialist and up to three Regulars. In addition, Grunts may be added to your team, although these are less able than the other models, only using a D8 to gauge the result of their actions.

Grunts come in groups of three, and only have 1 wound. Each member of a team has their statistics, weapons and the all-important Traits recorded upon them. Traits are the specialist skills and abilities that players may choose from to create unique characters. These may be both positive and negative and may be balanced against each other: if you take a negative trait, then you may take an extra positive trait for ‘free’. Traits may also be allocated to the Team, and there is a sample crew offered as an example.

The properties of each type of weapons, whether ranged, close combat are otherwise, are further clarified, adding extra layers to the choice of weapons. A handy approach is the decision to juxtapose modern and historical weapons against one another, allowing knights on horseback to engage World War Two troops or similar. This ‘mix and match’ approach is rare to find in most skirmish games.

After creating a team, rules exist to progress it through the course of a number of games, using Renown Points. A number of scenarios are presented, taken from a variety of genres. There are also pages of sample teams taken from both historical and fictional origins.

The simplicity of the games system allows the inclusion of a one-page reference sheet in the book.

Over the years, the core rulebook has seen a number of additions, most notably a set of supplements which focus upon a particular genre, thereby saving the ‘time poor’ gamer the need to work out everything themselves. So far, there are:

• Tales of Horror; the world of classic horror movies.
• Fistful of Lead Reloaded; classic Wild West gunfighting.
• Horse and Musket for the Black Powder era.
• Red Hatchets & Black Powder for the French and Indian War.
• Galactic Heroes collection for those looking for some retro sci-fi.

In October they will be bringing out “Battle Suit Alpha” a large mech based game as well.

Quite frankly, I wish I had known about this set of rules long ago. Fast, easy to use, but with a low figure count and depth of gameplay, Fistful of Lead and its supplements have a great deal to offer those gamers looking for a tabletop adventuring system. It is adaptable, covers a variety of genres and could be used again and again for not only skirmish gaming but the type of ‘games within games’ where small groups of warriors undertake the type of missions legends are made of. Equally, the presentation of the books evokes the comics, movies and pulp literature that is so popular with those gamers who enjoy narrative adventures and campaigning.

Although the rules may have been around for a while, they are pretty much ‘on trend’ for the current crop of skirmish-style rules, whilst also having been thoroughly play tested by legions of gamers, something not always seen amongst more recent releases.

I really enjoy these rules and am happy to recommend them to players that want a quick simple set of skirmish rules that are easy tom learn but hard to master.

Thanks to Miniature wargaming magazine for some of this information.

For more information, go to https://wiley-games.myshopify.com

I have just played a game with some of our regular group and will post a Battle Report in the near future.