Gangs & Battles

So we had our 3rd session tonight, and it was the best yet, but at the end we kinda muddled through some battle confusion.

We were using the optional moves for the first time, and from this gang-on-gang warfare a couple questions sprang:

1. In a Battle (with the optional countdown in play), can a gangleader use his gang as a weapon for one move and with the next move use his very favorite gun or whatever?

2. In a Battle (with the optional countdown in play), can you keep using the basic moves in addition to the Battle moves? I very much suspect the answer to this is yes, but I'm a little unsure.

3. How would you resolve this without going to the Battle moves: two gangs face off (seize by force roll), each does 1-harm to the other; people are injured, some serious. The fight ain't over, is it? I didn't know what to do in play, so I switched over to the optional battle moves and said they were at 9:00 and had two moves left. This worked great, but I'm wondering if there's something else I could have done. Hrm, I suppose I could've just used an MC move, like, "There's a momentary pause in the gunfire, and Lars levels a sawed-off at you and narrows his eyes. What do you do?" Makes sense.

Also: It's hard to stat up gangs on the fly and have the players feel the numbers are fair!

1. I don't see why not if that's what they're describing. Like maybe he has his gang back off and steps up out of the trench and opens up with a machine gun.

As far as 2 goes, the Battle Moves are pretty optional I think. It's not like you switch over to them when it's Battle Time, you can carry out a whole battle with just the Basic Moves.

3. I'd have to see what's going on in the fiction, like: Sorrow your children rise up to defend you against Fleece's gang. Fists fly. You see Tumtum drop to the dirt and it looks like she got hit so hard her teeth are sticking through her cheek. But they're giving as good as they're getting. Wasp has pulled Rufe's shirt over her head and he's swinging and Rufe is going limp and the shirt is covered with blood. Monk is using an old, rusted street sign with leather straps as a shield and he's holding this long fucking knife like a meat cleaver or something and he's coming at you. What do you do?

But yeah I'd keep the action going. You could more or less have them keep inflicting harm and casualties until one side breaks (maybe they're leaderless and the other isn't) or they both give up in exhaustion.