Team Ballance Rehash

OK, let me try taking a run at this to make my point. I feel like we are a couple of chapters from being on the same page on this one. First of all the concept of "cowboys and Indians" is perfect for the game play that I would like to go for. The cowboys are holed up in their hideout with very little rations and very little ammo. They know one place they could get more rations but it's a long way away. There is no more ammo period. They know they outnumber the Indians by a good margin but the Indians are no where to be found and in fact know the terrain much better (thus the offense has a map and all their gear blends in well with the forest). They can't just hole up at the hide out or they will starve. Also, we all would like to have another plot device (I LOVE Jule's idea of the broken down wagon with some cool supplies) that strongly encourages the defense to leave the main base. This may not be too dang important because over 36 hours people aren't very good at just sitting around unless they have been trained to be. The Indians have all the food they need to travel the whole time, albeit lightly. They have better gear overall to represent the fact that they are better prepared to exist in nature. Maybe they even have binoculars to go with their map. Unfortunately, they only have about half the numbers to get back the item that they are after. If you can get the item without a fight then fine. You probably wouldn't win anyway so that would be better. If you can get to the location quickly and then take the time to pick people off on or two at a time that would work too. But all out assault is not an option.
If you lose a guy on either side they are gone for good. They can go have a drink and chill at the main camp so that might be enjoyable but they are out. This helps to weed out recklessness. I imagine this game to be intense in it's duration and anticipation as well as it's constant stealth. It will also be intense at it continues t'words it's climax, weather that is a mad dash and big distraction at the end of the second evening or it's just plain waking up and having some bastard sleeping at his post with the item gone. At the main camp the victors should get a heroes welcome (whomever they are) and the losers should probably endure a little humiliation. I have always considered the game to be about woodsmanship over power and stealth over numbers. But you can't make rules and scenarios to break up a group that is on offense. You just start them as small. Further, this way requires the least amount of people, which lets face it, could be a serious hurdle. This also keeps it simple in terms of over site for the wanderers as you will likely have just one group of offense to keep track of. In this way you can have just one RPG like experience to pull off and it would be something like, "If you want to sleep in a tent tonight, take this NPCs map and go find his broken down supply wagon with food, 2 extra clips and the tent." There would be no further time as the defense would hopefully be obsessed with finding the offense first and taking away their advantage of surprise. The offense would be constantly and easily be role playing as they would have to know that discovery would mean death and the game being over before they even had an opportunity to win it. Again, the "base" could not be a super well defended position in the scenario. It's greatest strength might be it having a certain spot where you can see most of the valley from. Or that one side is a virtual cliff so you don't have to defend it. Having really great ways to encourage the defense to not just sit on the item would be important too. Airsoft is perfect for this I agree. I also think that the wanderer roll has basically been defined and I love it. The gampelay and balance parts are what we have to work on and location will be KEY.