Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[overkill]

Great Rail Wars was my first miniatures game and it will always hold a special place in my heart. Has anyone re-statted the GRW factions for use with the showdown rules? If it hasn't already been done I'll have to do it myself but I find it hard to believe that another devoted pinnacle fan hasn't already done this. Anybody seen any?

[MightyCthulhu]

GRW was the game that really got me into miniature gaming. Especially western gaming. I never owned a copy myself, otherwise I'd have done this long ago.

[overkill]

Looking through the reloaded book it seems that most of the creatures and troops are already statted out in some form. The stats are pretty different in a lot of places though so I'm not sure if I should use these or try for a more direct adaptation of the old GRW troops. The old Walkin' Dead for example are greatly outclassed by the stats for the Bayou Vermillion Rail Warriors. Hmmmm, I suppose that this would be somewhat balanced by the fact that each railroad has access to its own version of the Rail Warrior. Much to think about.

[overkill]

So I don't see any rules in showdown for fanning the hammer. I'm torn between -2 shooting ROF 1d4+2 or ROF = shooting penalty (choose to fan 4 and get a ROF 4 but a -4 to shooting). Restricted to troops with the fannin' edge. These both seem more in-line with the showdown rules than the old fanning rules because a) no need to remember about using a round to reload and b) this way you can still roll all the dice at once instead of rolling the first attack at -1, then the second at -2, etc.

On the topic of pistols... they kind of suck now but since this is a western game I feel like I need to create a setting rule to make them more attractive since a western without pistols is like a day without bloodshed. Maybe adding the option of taking two shots at -2 each.

[Sordorel]

For those of you who are looking for the book, you can get it from RPGnow in PDF.

What I would do is recalculate the cost of all the troops, simply keeping the stats as they used to be. Some abilities might have new versions and I would use that I suppose. At the back of the book is a list of all weapons, sure its still a +x system and that should be converted, but other then that I would keep all the weapon stats the same, I found the whole balance of rifles, pistols and shotguns a nice thing about it, actually perhaps tweak the stats until they are all the same point cost to keep that whole choice.

[rbwgames]

On this post http://www.peginc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18303&highlight=great+rail+wars a couple of years ago, when someone asked about a possible conversion of GRW to Showdown, Shane said “I guess my first question would be, why do a conversion? GRW works great as-is, and doesn't really need the Savage treatment.” I just picked up a copy of GRW off a guy on TMP and hope to give it a read over the holidays between more pressing things.

That said, I think I also read somewhere recently that they were planning some Deadlands scenarios/battlepacks for the new Showdown once it’s done. I hope so.

Sorodel:
Studio 2 still lists print copies of GRW, Derailed!, and Dogs o' War here:
http://www.studio2publishing.com/shop/index.php?cPath=46_30
and at great prices I might add.

For those that don't know, the GRW figs are available from Jeff Valant Studios
www.jeffvalentstudios.com/store/
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Stacy Young
Rverbluff Wargames

Heave to and prepare to be boarded!
rvrbluff@comcast.net

[overkill]

I guess I'm interested in converting it over because Rail Wars opponents are now impossible to find but player of Savage Worlds are relatively common. If I can make the game SW friendly I think I can scare up some games again. Plus I'm kind of enjoying the process. I'll post my results here when I'm done. Maybe somebody else will be able to get some use out of it or it will spark some discussion.

[rbwgames]

Oh, don't get me wrong. I think a GRW conversion, or just Deadlands in general, for Showdown would be great. Thus my "I hope" comment.

I likes me some wierd west tabletop action!
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Stacy Young
Rverbluff Wargames

Heave to and prepare to be boarded!
rvrbluff@comcast.net

[Doc Firefly]

I have brought a few friend to GRW in the past month. Halfway through my first game, my friend Pete bought a pack of Perry Brothers Civil War Troops to start his own Dixie Rails army. We played a 3 way 200 point battle last night and my other friend would have done another if it wasn't for the fact that we were all exhausted and needed sleep.

I see nothing wrong with GRW as it is, but if you wanted to, I would say convert to SW simply by calculating a Perry and a toughness for each troop. Keep the edges stats and points the same. The Parry/Toughness thing could be a good way to speed up the game.
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All men dream, but not equally
-T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia)

[overkill]

Alright, so I've calculated out a posse of Gunman with d6s across the board for attributes and a d6 for shooting, fighting and riding to be 130. If you arm them with the standard of two pistols, two rifles and a shotgun then it comes out to 214 points. I figure if you divide that by four then you've got roughly fifty and I'm using that for a baseline to get the troops to try and match that. Most stuff comes out pretty close but things are pretty wildly different with single troops like the demolitionist, pyromaster, and skinwalker. They're just too darned cheap.

I'm sticking to GRW stat blocks instead of D:R stat blocks because a lot of units are MUCH more powerful in the roleplaying game (Devil Bats and nosferatu for instance). I also think I need to keep GRW malfunctions system because otherwise flamethrowers are simply suicidal to use. Any thoughts on how much malfunction dice should bring down cost?

[Cutter XXIII]

Hey folks,

The interest in Great Rail Wars Showdown goodness is noted, and I'm happy to say we've got plans for making it a reality after the final version of the rules is released.

As we get closer to The Last Sons, the tell-all on War's Realm and Raven, expect to see some Showdown tie-ins letting you jump right into the middle of the Second Great Rail War!

Best,
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Matthew Cutter
Deadlands Big Bug (Brand Manager)
Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Inc.

[overkill]

Sounds great. I see that another version of the Showdown rules was posted today. Is this the final version? My Rail Wars conversion was almost finished but it looks like I'll have to do some tinkering to make things fit with the new rules.

[Seeker of Truth]

I know this is a pretty major thread rez, but I was curious as to that conversion you said you were working on, overkill? How comes it? I always liked GRW too, but would love to be able to use the (in my opinion) better Showdown rules.

I would be more than happy to help out if you want to PM me.
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Epic of the Arrows - A Saga of the Untamed Lands

[John Goff]

[Seeker of Truth]

Sounds great to me! I look forward to hearing, and especially hearing more.
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Epic of the Arrows - A Saga of the Untamed Lands

[inlife9]

I thought I had already mentioned this, but add me as another interested Rail War player.
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Eastwood Saves! The rest of you take Full Damage.

[Cutter XXIII]

[inlife9]

Nice... Very nice.
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Eastwood Saves! The rest of you take Full Damage.