Welcome back to our ongoing game of Plains Indian Wars. The game is entering its fifth round of a 10-12 round game. This round both players face minor defeats while railroad interests and wagon trains make the greatest gains. The faction discs are back in the bag and we’re ready to be drawn for the first draw. This is what the board looked like when last we left it.
Fifth Draw Round
1st Draw – The orange Southern Plains Tribes (SPT) token is drawn first and placed on the Token Track.
The SPT player commits her Little Mountain War Party Card which allows four SPT reinforcing cubes and activation of three groups with movement of up to two regions. She places two cubes in an open southern region and two in the Denver region. Her first group activation is to move five cubes from her casualty box to her ready box. Her second activation moves three SPT cubes north of the tracks to the Cheyenne region and two SPT cubes & one NPT cube east into the adjacent region occupied by a wagon cube. Her third activation moves two SPT cubes & one NPT cube east two regions to engage another lone wagon cube. (Indian factions may move through regions occupied solely by wagon cubes as wagons cannot control a region).
The SPT Player then declares two separate wagon attacks. The first attack in the Dodge City region goes badly as one SPT cube is lost and the wagon escapes down the Santa Fe Trail. The second attack next to St. Louis fares no better as the dice results are identical. Again the SPT player loses a cube and the Wagon advances into the Dodge City Region. The SPT Player disgustedly discards and draws a new card ending her turn.
2nd Draw – The blue Cavalry token is drawn and placed on the Token Track.
The Cavalry player commits his Fort Leavenworth Card which allows four Cavalry reinforcing cubes and activation of three groups with movement of up to two regions. He places all four cubes in St. Louis.
Then he activates his Western concentration and moves two Cavalry cubes east to make room for a Cavalry cube and two settler cubes which he moves west from the same space. Finally he activates St. Louis and sends the four reinforcing cubes there into the adjacent plains region. The Cavalry player makes no attacks. He discards, draws a new card and ends his turn.
3rd Draw – The red Northern Plains Tribes (NPT) token is drawn and placed on the Token Track
The NPT player commits his Little Crow War Party Card which allows two NPT reinforcing cubes and activation of two groups with movement of up to two regions. He places both new cubes in the Cheyenne region. Activating the region he declares an attack on the wagon cube there. He then moves two NPT & one SPT cube from the Northern Trail Fork space west on the Oregon Trail to attack a lone purple Enemy cube. His first attack against the wagon succeeds in only one hit, not enough to win the battle, while the Settler player pleads for peace with two treaty rolls. The second roll allows the wagon cube to escape. All the wagons seem get a free pass this token draw! The roll against the Enemy cube goes better, although its elimination costs an NPT cube. The NPT player sighs, discards, draws a new card and ends his turn.
4th Draw – The yellow Wagons token is drawn and placed on the Token Track.
The Settler player places two wagon cubes in St. Louis. She moves all wagons on the board one region. The two wagons previously in St. Louis are moved to the two regions adjacent to St. Louis. Thus done, the wagons’ phase is over.
5th Draw – The black Railroad token is drawn and placed on the Token Track.
Four settler cubes occupy a region adjacent to the Union Pacific railhead so three rail cubes are placed by the Settler player extending the UPR. Two settler dice are rolled in an attempt to build through the Rockies. One symbol is rolled allowing one cube to be placed. Two more mountain spaces to construct through then it is smooth sailing on the Plains. Progress is slow here but at least progress is being made. A good rail turn! The rail phase is now over.
6th Draw – The brown Settler token is drawn and placed on the Token Track.
The Settler player commits his Homestead Act Migration Card which allows four Settler reinforcing cubes and activation of three groups with movement of up to two regions. The Settler player places four settlers in St. Louis. He moves two settlers cubes and one Cavalry cube from the north along with two Settler cubes and one Cavalry cube from the south to attack the Indian concentration adjacent to St. Louis. For her final activation she moves all of her settler cubes from the Casualty Box to her Ready Box. The first attack does not go well. She rolls one hit to the Indians’ two hit roll.
Neither side retreats anyone and a second battle roll is made. This time both sides roll a Treaty ending the battle. Since both sides have an equal number of cubes in the region, the Indians are considered the controlling party and they relocate all of the U.S. cubes back to St. Louis. The Settler player discards, draws a new card and ends her turn.
7th Draw – The purple Enemies token is drawn and placed on the Token Track.
The Cavalry player draws and places one purple cube in an empty southern purple region. He decides not to move or battle with his Enemy cubes this turn . So this ends the Enemies Turn and this Draw Round. The Draw Tokens are gathered up and placed back in the bag.
This is what the board looks like at the end of the turn.
Again, I apologize for not getting these turns prepared and published faster but now that the Christmas is rapidly approaching it has become increasingly harder to do. I would appreciate any comments you might have. Always helps to know if I’m headed in the right direction. In the meantime, to you who take the time to read these postings, I hope each and every one of you have an extraordinary holiday season!!!
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Author: John Poniske
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