Mech-Abomination horde, v2

published Dec 07, 2019 | | |
Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Mech-Abomination horde, v3 0 0 10

Bojangles 18

Okay, so here's the beta phase of my fearmongers/mechanical abomination horde deck.

My idea is to win by having players too scared to attack the horde. With many cards that can bring abominations back from Boot Hill or discard, and some that can summon them as shootout or cheatin' actions, ideally it'll give the opponents pause for concern. In the mean time, I can build up my forces, and also gain CP from some of my other cards. That being said, frequent attacks will also be made to wear them down. At the start, I'll use Ol' Howard to bring out an Undertaker, so I can begin profiting from acing straight away. I usually play in a three-way with two good friends, so I can sit back and let them fight out for that card too.

I only ever play with friends, and none of us go for the 16x3 deck structure (although, one of my friends is making a dead man's hand deck), although I do intentionally have a lot of Ks and 8s. I have a number of cheatin' cards, although not many that are actions.

There are several cards that I ended up taking out, but if anyone thinks they're useful in this, please let me know! They are: The Ghostly Gun (took him out in favour of The Wretched and Horace Manse Dabney Scuttlesby The Caretaker The Brute Valeria Batten (Exp.1) (I love the picture and she's on value, but I don't have any use for hucksters) Zeb Whateley-Dupont (cool card, but had he been an abomination, I'd have been more likely to keep him) Adler's Needle Claws

The theme idea is of a mad scientist, who creates automaton creatures, ends up discovering some bad stuff and unleashing great monsters.

So, does anyone have any thoughts or opinions? Perhaps strategies that'd work really well with this, or new cards/ideas I hadn't thought of?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Thanks too for @Findegil, @Benni and @Lapp for their previous feedback. Some of it I've used, some has inspired me to change in different ways! :)

5 comments
Dec 07, 2019 Findegil

Even in a casual environment, you seem awfully vulnerable to being overrun early on - with only 1 starting influence, you're pretty dependent on the influence boost for holding Town Square, but without any studs to fight them off...

Dec 07, 2019 DoomDog

Valeria xp1 actually looks pretty useful for this deck. She can invent Mystical Gadgets, is a stud with influence and can use her ability to give one of your Abominations influence to control a deed.

With only starting four dudes, why not bring back The Brute as your fifth starting posse member? He's a great card to have on your side when an early shootout goes badly. If not starting him, why not add him in place of Ol' Howard. Since you're not starting Howard, The Brute is a straight upgrade.

Alternatively Ambrose Douglas would work well here as your fifth starting dude. He can use his ability to gain a point of influence, useful early on especially if you lose grip of the town square, and cycles a card that isn't currently useful from your hand - more card draw for next turn. I'd be tempted to swap the Flamethrower or Force Field for a second Magnum Opus to give him more Mystical cards to get the added bonus from his ability.

With so many Gadgets and only one starting Mad Scientist, is Signing Over the Stores going to be useful enough? Margaret can't be in the job posse either as she'd still need to boot to invent any Gadget you play if the job is successful.

You have eight cards in the deck (plus three starters) that would fail the pull for Margaret inventing The Wretched, increased to twelve for the non-Dude gadgets (except for Force Field). There's quite a high risk of things going wrong, and even a fun deck can become no fun to play if you keep failing your invention pulls, so it may be worth bearing in mind with future revisions.

Dec 07, 2019 Bojangles

@Findegil, @DoomDog: Thanks a lot for the feedback! Very good points from both of you. Actually, I was meant to have Ol' Howard in the starting posse, but forgot to tick him as such. He was going to be used for the Undertaker to help me generate lots of income. I really like the Pagliaccio, and the fact that they're non-unique, but in reality they're probably not really all that useful. I mean, good for sacrificing to The Wretched, but then any abomination can do that, and then come back with my other cards.

I could drop the Pags, and start instead with Ambrose Douglas, Margaret Hagerty, The Brute, Richard Slavin and Ol' Howard. Howard can bring in a Pat's Perch at setup, which Richard Slavin can then start digging at once I start getting some items in the discard pile. As you stated, I can get rid of the mundane gadgets, and keep only mystical gadgets, which Richard Slavin is able to dig up. It then also frees up some slots for Adler's Needle, increasing my high card ratio, and allows me to get rid of cards like Signing Over the Stores. Plus, as you said, I then have more cards to boost Ambrose Douglas. Granted, I have only one starting abomination, but I have many more to come.

What are your thoughts?

I do really like Valeria Batten (Exp.1), I am a little concerned though that her cost and upkeep is kinda wasted, since she's not able to utilise her huckster ability, and at level one huckster, Margaret Hagerty is better at inventing gadget dudes.

Dec 07, 2019 Bojangles

@DoomDog I forgot to add, I kinda need a way to either reliably enable Richard Slavin to use his power multiple times per turn, or to redraw pulls.

Dec 07, 2019 Bojangles

@DoomDog (and others): Okay, so here's my amended version. I do have less control boosting cards, unfortunately, although I have taken out quite a few low rank cards and altered my starting posse (and made a few more changes). :)

dtdb.co