Once Upon a Time in the West Indies

This small booklet, 36 pages, is an expansion for Once Upon a Time...In the West Country. The players need to supply miniatures, terrain, dice, etc. This game is strictly for skirmish wargaming, meaning one figure represents one person.

The game contains "cinematic" expansion rules for miniatures gaming with 17th-century swashbuckling pirates and musketeers, as seen in the movies. Figures are defined as either Leading Players, Supporting Actors, Bit Parts or Extras. A Leading Player can mow through a lot of Extras without even slowing down, but combat between two characters of the same level is tense and more drawn out.

Rules are also given for two types of stunts: Deeds of Derring-Do and Dramatic Entrances. Very entertaining!

The game provides two large scenarios - "Scripts," they call them, in keeping with their cinematic theme. One scenario is for pirates and the other for musketeers.

The rules not only deal with figures, but also add stand-alone rules for ship-to-ship combat and boarding. The ship movement system is very simple and completely ignores the wind (except you can't sail directly into it), even though these are sailing ships.

This is a light, easy, not too detailed set of miniatures rules aimed at fun rather than historical accuracy. It doesn't require a lot of miniatures to get started - even four figures per side makes for an entertaining game.