Dead Man's Hand.

[Legionnaire]

The only hobby purchase this month arrived yesterday, Dead Man's Hand rules from Great Escape Games. This is my impression of it after the first read through:

Even though the ruleset is only 44 pages long, it seems to cover most things. The layout is nice and there is little room for misinterpretation of the rules. The cards seem fairly well-thought out and balanced so you have essentially a "good guy" deck (red) and a "bad guy" deck (black).

The rules seem very easy to handle and there are not a plethora of modifiers to account for, which in the long run will make the games pretty fast paced. I really like the approach of setting up the game as scenes in a movie, with mix-and-match options, but would still liked to have a few more examples. I personally like to make up my own scenarios, and at the moment before I've played the game it's difficult to gauge whether it'd be a balanced scenario or if it just looks that way.

Despite the different special abilities for the different gangs, the basic profile for the individual members are the same with few exceptions. Maybe there could've been a slightly varied option there (Cowboys more Hits, Lawmen better Nerve etc.)

All in all the rules seem quite enjoyable though, but I personally will watch out for the campaign rules. At the moment all you can do is having single games.

[Elbows]

Do us up a good and proper battle report...in a jiffy!  I'm a bit jealous as no sign of my buildings yet...It's my birthday here shortly and they're a bit of a gift to myself. 

[Juan]

I have also liked the ruleset. No complex rules and all the topics included but I would like to have seen, as you have said, different profiles for the different factions.

[Heisler]

I have read through the rules and I'm eager to try and get a game in and try them out. I guess the only "objection" I have is a pretty minor quibble. The Law "gang", as it were, lists the Sheriff as the Boss and then 0-1 Marshal as a Gunhand. Well, the reality is that the Marshal should be called something else, as a Marshal in the old west is a Federal lawman while the Sheriff is local (and elected) and who's jurisdiction pretty much ends at the county lines. So basically they would each have their own "gang" but would not be in the same "gang". It doesn't effect anything game wise its just a terminology use that bugs me.

[greatescapegames]

Call him whatever you want, we just thought of him as an experienced Marshal invited in to lend a hand.