Frontline news - Wild West Exodus 2nd edition - Outlaws vs Watchers

While dusk settles over abandoned mining camp roar of the engines disturbs silence over the vast desert as a small group of outlaws approaches the camp not knowing what was waiting for them.

Points:900
Mission:Treasure hunt
Watchers:
   -Faction posse: -Viridian Alpha Boss
                            -Grey Elite Face
                            -Grey Pulse Myriad Hands - 6 models
                            -Grey Drain Myriad Hands - 4 models,1 heavy drain rifle
                            -Umber Scarab Myriad Support - 1 model
Outlaws:
   -Honor among thieves posse: -Jesse James Boss - iron horse mount
                                                   -Frank James Face
                                                   -Apache Kid Face
                                                   -Bandit Cutthroats Hands - 3 models,1 thermite grenades
                                                   -Bandit Cutthroats Hands - 3 models,1 thermite grenades
                                                   -Blackjack Support  - 1 model

Outlaws deployment

Watchers deployment

There were words of a new Union mining town in  Deadman's gorge called Burning hole, but it was so well protected that no one who tried to raid it lived long enough to tell the tale. I was interested in why was the union so heavily protecting a simple mining town so I sent one of my scouts to survey the town. Few days later he returned and told me that when he arrived there wasn't anybody in  the town, and that there was still some gold left in it. Although it was very strange for a well guarded union town to be abandoned overnight and without a word I decided to gather a raiding group and next morning we left for the Burning hole.
When we reached the town in dusk we decided to spread around so we can retrieve more gold. As we went deeper into the town I noticed some strange metal contraptions half-buried in the sand. I tough that it might be Watcher machinery, which made me suspicious. As I was on an iron horse  I went ahead the rest of the group. But then as I was nearing a pile of money bags suddenly a barrage of energy hit me from a nearby house. That confirmed my fears that Watchers were involved in the mysterious abandonment of the town. I didn't even have time to return fire as my iron horse burst into flames.I jumped off right in time as the iron horse exploded a few yards ahead.

End of the round one

 Things got even worse when i found out that those money bags were filled with pebble. I was forced to retreat to the bulk of the raiding group. I ordered my group to hold ground, but then a big monster appeared out of nowhere attacking Apache kid. By concentrating our fire we managed to take it down but Apache Kid got wounded. He tried to retreat but an array of missiles from what looked like an Grey Elite hit him.

End of the round two

We were loosing forces quickly as two groups of Greys hit us from the sides. At one point only me and my brother Frank were standing. It looked like I would never see the sun rise again, but suddenly shooting stopped and Watchers were nowhere to be found. Frank and I managed to recover a lot of gold with iron horses that we left behind as a backup, but with such high losses I can't call that battle a victory.

-Story overheard from Jesse James during a poker night in a small Saloon near Leadville-

End of the round three and the game

This was our (my sons and mine) first game of second edition of Wild west exodus. The game lasted quite a while, as we were flipping through the book and tried to get all the rules right. Even with that, first two turns we spend fortune to remove conditions out of activation (Apache kid and Umber scarab lived much longer then they should because of that). Unexpected arrival rule of Umber scarab we just could not fined, so we had to watch battle report on Beasts of war to see how it goes. It seems to me that index of the book should have been a little richer.
At the begging of the fourth round we had to finish the game due to time constraint. At the moment Outlaws were in the lead with 3:2, but only James brothers were alive, and on the watcher side two grey pulse miriads and Umber scarab died. We called it a draw.
The fact that all units have just one wound is something that you have to adapt on, but after playing the game, it just feels right.
The game was immensely fun and we are eagerly awaiting next opportunity to play.

PS: Greys have very lethal guns.