Help with alternative to simple contest in a combat

From: a_verheaghe <a_verheaghe_at_...>
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 13:23:03 -0000

I'm about to run a combat that I would like to make dramatic but brief. It's the beginning of a new campaign that I want to kick off with a bang, but not an extended contest. A player has found himself (with his sidekick and the five and a half freedmen –followers) in the path of stampeding cattle rustlers. There are just short of 20 cattle raiders and a dozen cattle coming over a hill at them. The other players should arrive just after combat begins.
I thought of running this as a series of simple contests breaking the raiders into groups of 5, one leader and 4 followers augmenting his skill. Allowing the player to use his followers to augment his or his sidekicks skill, treating the player and sidekick as separate combatants.
This would reduce us to 4 simple contests, which with a little narrative input could be an exciting opening scene. But, I'm interested in hearing alternative ideas, keeping it simple but allowing for the player to face off against unlikely odds before the other players swoop in and join the fracas.