Oh my goodness. I just realised my game group have been playing William Specks totally wrong.

As per the official FAQ here: pineboxentertainment.com

"As inventing a Gadget requires a Mad Scientist to boot, William cannot also boot to reduce the cost of a Gadget he is inventing."

We have been playing it that Specks could also do the inventing after booting, which I now see is garbage: Specks boots to reduce the cost of the invention, thus is booted and cannot invent, and so another Mad Scientist then has to be booted to invent the cheaper gadget!

No wonder my Morgan opponent always seemed to have the upper hand!

Clearly, playing William Specks correctly nerfs Morgan Gadget decks significantly, as if Specks is used to invent he is limited to paying full price. He is still a strong card and very useful starting dude, but no longer quite as overpowered as when misplayed.

So in essence Specks ability when used to invent allows you to invent a gadget onto any of your dudes, anywhere, inventing with a different Mad Scientist.

Combos well with Currency Press, Arnold Stewart and Decimator Array

This is a great card that is often the flashpoint for conflict.

Pros: Cheap 2 cost, one income deeds are always useful.

J-value good for spell and gadget pulls.

The Noon ability is very scary for anyone with a crucial high-upkeep dude on the board (looking at you Ivor Hawley & Sloane!) Expect them to respond to the threat by trying to contest control of this card. If you can play the noon ability you can change the whole tenor of the game, and maybe even force them to discard a lot of influence and thus put them into check.

Cons: The noon ability is a double edged sword. If you lose control of this card at the wrong time it could be used against you, so beware. If you see this hit the table try to contest it and subsequently keep some ghost rock handy to cover your upkeep if needed.

Combos with: Government keyword synergises with Constance Daughtry and Notary Public.

Puppet is a devastatingly powerful card. Any low grit dude facing a Huckster with this attached is going to have a problem.

Pros: There is nothing more satisfying than puppeting your opponents dude then using him as cannon fodder in a pointless shootout against his erstwhile allies.

Cons: 2 GR is fairly expensive for a hex (but probably worth it!). It is on a low value so taking many copies might be risky if your Hex deck is reliant on higher value spell pulls.

Notes from the official FAQ: " Can be used to take control of an opposing dude that you already have a copy of in play.

 If you have taken control of an opposing dude, you can still play your own copy of that dude, as you don’t have a copy in play that you own.

 If you take control of an opposing dude, and then overlay it with an Experienced version, you retain control of that dude after Sundown because control reverts to the owner, which you now are."

Holy cow. That last one is a boss move. I am just picturing the opposing players face as you convert their dude into a better, more experienced one that is 100% all yours. Total pwnage.

Lucinda "Lucy" Clover is semi-useful as a cheap way to get 2 influence on the board as a Law Dogs player, at any stage of the game. Law dogs are not blessed with many cheap influence cards so this is important.

Her trait is nice to add bounty to the opposing posse, but really, truly, just forget it exists as she she is not at all suited to joining shootouts. She is easy meat for Soul Blasts, Shotguns and opponents can easily Puppet her due to her low grit.

She is often used in conjunction with the Law Dogs original home ability to "boot for bounty" and her high influence comes in handy here.

I would rate her more highly if she had the Deputy keyword, but she doesnt, so is less useful than say Constance Daughtry who can additionally unboot after adding bounty via the Law Dogs original home card and has potentially a third influence point in the right deck.

My advice: Go with Constance Daughtry, unless you are strapped for ghost rock.

Pros: Cheap influence.

Cons: Hopeless shooter, low value, low grit.

Combos with: Law Dogs original outfit.

This card is one that should be feared by all players. Cheap, and easy to invent, it sees a lot of play. Essentially it allows the forcefield wielder to buy their way out of a losing hand rank. If they buy their way to a draw? Guess what, both sides will take a casualty! Very dangerous as it permits even the lowliest chump dude to force the discard of your best guy in a 1v1 shootout, provided he has enough ghost rock to use the resolution ability. So before entering into a shootout with a forcefield guy, check the guys stash to see how many handranks he can make up. Deny him funds, and you have nothing to worry about.

This card is ideally countered by denial of funds. The other antigadget options include Faithful Hound, No Funny Stuff or simply a Shotgun to the face before the draw for the shootout even starts.

This is a nice little card to boost your economy and on a good value for a lot of decks, including those gunning for Dead Mans Hand. I am always pleased to see this card in my hand.

I also enjoy the way out of town deed mechanics open the board up and add some decisions to the movement game: Do I boot a weak influence dude out of town to contest this deed? Or do I keep my gang concentrated in town and allow my opponent uncontested income? Who will be sent to turf me out? Will a gun fight here be winnable without the support of the rest of my dudes? Will this distract my opponent from the conflicts elsewhere?

Its all good!

This card is a strong one: 2 cost/one production cards are always welcome as they are cheap, and thus easy to play in the early game.

The ability is truly useful for Sloane Gang and Law Dogs who benefit from the bounty mechanics. Need an extra influence as Sloane? Add a bounty to Fred Aims. Need to make someone wanted for an Ol' Fashioned Hanging or a Bounty Hunter? This is the card you are looking for.

It is on a useful value for those shooty decks that are not looking to suceed in skill test pulls.

To me, Barton Everest is an absolute must-take starting dude for my Sloane Gang.

As a two-stud, he is a strong shooter in the early game, and with a few buffs like an attached weapon or Bad Company (also on a 5 -value) he can get quite scary. He is affordable and has that crucial influence point to allow him to contest deeds.

His trait is the epitome of the Sloane Gang philosophy: a cheating hand is better than a legal one, but risks a nasty cheating resolution!

Tied draw hands are a frequent occurrence in Doomtown Reloaded. Any opponent in a shootout had better be packing anti-cheat or else they are going to get whittled down by Bartons inbuilt handrank trait.

To be sure of avoiding a nasty Cheating Resolution like Coachwhip , I tend to start playing Barton more aggressively as the opponent depletes his playhand. If the opponent has no play hand cards, or his discard pile contains his best anticheat cards you can push Barton into fights with confidence.

A Pair of Six Shooters or Jaels Guile are nice to attach to Barton: Opponents will frequently be tempted to cheat to get a sufficiently good handrank to avoid Bartons trait, triggering your own anticheat.

Fred Aims has become a mainstay of my Sloane Gang decks. Although with 2 draw bullets he is unsuited as a frontline shooter, he is affordable and his trait is one of the best in the game.

Influence keeps you in the game, and it can sometimes seem a struggle to get sufficient funds to bring in a new dude with influence into play.

Your more durable gang members can quickly start racking up bounties by "breaking and entering", or running jobs like Kidnapping or Ambush. If paired with Mikaeo Kaleo those bounties can be transferred to Fred Aims, giving you sufficient influence to keep from getting knocked out. Another way to add bounty to Fred is via cards like The Evidence, or via the action of B&B Attorneys.

This dude can thus quickly stack up bounties to a ridiculous level. If you play using the Desolation Row starting home, becoming wanted can garner control points pretty readily, and Fred will usually be over 4 bounty without much effort.

As he becomes an influence powerhouse expect Fred to attract hostile attention. He should avoid shootouts whereever possible, unless the whole gang are involved. Avoid getting him Pinned Down!

Cards like Bounty Hunter targeting wanted dudes are his nemesis. Beware of the many jobs targeting wanted dudes: dont leave him isolated!

Dave Montreal is a strong card, but very expensive, and as a result rarely makes the starting line-up. His ability is quite defensive but useful in every shootout as a legal hand is nearly always possible with his bullet rating.

One tactic might be to use this ability to protect yourself from taking casualties shootouts s that are unfavourable, while hitting the opponent with abilities like Legendary Holster or Shotgun.

In order to get him into play it might make sense to use A Piece of the Action or Recruitment Drive to make him more affordable. Max Baine might also arrange a discount.

He combos with the Town Hall to reduce his upkeep, but this is obviously quite situational.

Rules note: if you play Calling The Cavalry and use the React on Cavalry Escort, it arrives after the window where Calling the Cavalry counts horses, so it will not count toward your hand rank.

Ruling: forums.pineboxentertainment.com

Corner case for Irving Patterson:

Note that if you run a job and have Irving join the Leader's posse (even if the job ends up being unopposed) does count as Irving joining a posse, thus, triggering his trait.

Note that effects which change attachment (such as the ability on Luke ) do not count as trading, which allows this to move off of the inventing Mad Scientist.

Related, if a card effect allows you to bring this into play onto any dude, it does not have to be the Mad Scientist who invents it.

Maggie is a solid addition to any Horse deck, and she actually does great work in Gadget Horse decks as well. You can use her to fetch a Yagn's Mechanical Skeleton or a good ol' Mechanical Horse from your discard pile, using a Mad Scientist to invent it and then attach it to any dude in any location. Now that's synergy!

Here's the rules clarification on that combo being possible: forums.pineboxentertainment.com

Pinebox Entertainment has ruled, that this card only interacts with effects that "take" ghost rock, but not ones that tell you to "pay" or "give" ghost rock. As of this writing, there is only one card in the game that says to "take" ghost rock and that is This is a Holdup!

So unfortunately, the effect of this card is kind of useless. It may be worthwhile due to paying for itself and then some over two turns, having two Control Points, and being a good value Dead Man's Hand and Kung Fu decks. But it might as well be a blank Public deed given that the only card it affects is so rarely played.

Notable Ruling:

• If a Totem's ability refers to "this location", it means Kabeda's location. Source

After noting the ruling above it's easy to see why she can be an essential part of a totem deck. She's a cheap and low maintenance starting dude who brings a nice shaman skill on her own. But, because of the ruling and her ability she is able to mobilize totems that would otherwise be easy to counter or avoid outright.

For example, Kabeda Hakurei is capable of producing call-outs at Town Square or any in-town deed while in Town Square using Mother Bear's Rage. She can also activate Silver Pheasant's Bounty from an adjacent deed booting her location instead of the deed Silver Pheasant's Bounty was originally attached to. Or use Red Horse's Tail to boot opponents in Town Square. This sets her up as quite powerful if you can keep her in Town Square. It's also worth noting that her ability doesn't require booting so pairing this ability with a Spirit like Strength of the Ancestors makes her a great Town Square camper.

Technical Errata from Rules Compendium v0.8.0 published July 6, 2018:

Tom can only move to your home or to a location that has another dude.

This makes Smiling Tom in line with the Faction update in Rulebook v1.4.0 published July 6, 2018, so that he can move to the location of any Fearmongers dude, rather than just those from the Fourth Ring Outfit.

Other errata images available: 108 Worldly Desires, Auto-Revolver, Bad Company, Concealed Weapons, Desolation Row, Focusing Chi, Forced Quarantine, Henry Moran, Hot Lead Flyin', Ivor Hawley (Exp.1), Junior, Morgan Cattle Co., Mugging, Nathan Shane, Nicodemus Whateley, No Turning Back, Paralysis Mark, Rico Rodegain, Undertaker, Unprepared, Unprepared Promo, The Wretched

February 13, 2018 - pineboxentertainment.com

Nicodemus Whateley Errata wording reads:

While your dudes are at in-town deeds, they gain the ability: “Noon, Boot: If this dude has 1 or more influence, give Nicodemus a control point, to a maximum of 3.”

At the end of Sundown, or if he is ever at home, Nicodemus loses all his control points.

Other errata images available: 108 Worldly Desires, Auto-Revolver, Bad Company, Concealed Weapons, Desolation Row, Focusing Chi, Forced Quarantine, Henry Moran, Hot Lead Flyin', Ivor Hawley (Exp.1), Junior, Morgan Cattle Co., Mugging, Nathan Shane, No Turning Back, Paralysis Mark, Rico Rodegain, Smiling Tom, Undertaker, Unprepared, Unprepared Promo, The Wretched

February 13, 2018 - pineboxentertainment.com
Showboating has been banned and will no longer be a legal card for organised play events.

From Design Team, Emre Guzelsu:

Showboating’s ban stems from 2 main reasons:
First, the card violates the fundamental contract of DTR of player interaction being the game’s primary driver. A card like Showboating allows you to win the game simply by casting spells to no actual effect. While the card opened up a variety of new win condition paths, it ultimately just fueled too many NPE (Negative Play Experience) decks. As such, pulling it from the environment is the best path forward in protecting the game’s health.

Second, the card has been an incredible drag on design and playtest. When literally every skill check has to be measured against whether it fuels Showboating, that’s a severe indicator that the card has problems. By hitting the Fortress deck type (which these changes should do), we can hopefully open up the design of Spirits more in the future. This would be impossible with Showboating in the meta as any good card for Eagle Wardens was fundamentally a good card for Fortress. Hopefully this will make our job easier in providing fun and balanced cards to the players, and allow us to free up space to not need to measure every single card against its enabling of Showboating.

To answer your questions:

1. Yes, you always shuffle the deck after searching it.
2. If you get a gadget horse, you will have to invent it as normal with a mad scientist, but do so immediately.
3. As to whether or not the card is worth it, it's not bad on it's own, but the existence of Maggie Harris makes it a bit obsolete.

Also, if you're running a lot of horses you probably want your 6 of clubs spot free for Calling the Cavalry.

If you don't have those available, however, this is a fine way to get horses out on the board if your deck depends on them, and it fits into your shooting structure. Make sure there's a good reason to include it rather than just including more horses though.

I want to like this card but I have a few questions.
The first question is does the player shuffle the deck after searching? If the horse is a gadget, like Mechanical Horse, can it be played right away or should the player wait for the next time to act? My final question is would one ghost rock be worth pulling a card from your deck or discard pile?

Ivor Hawley is one of the best dudes 4th ring has for building a deck around.

This isn’t the same Ivor.

Inexperienced Ivor, much like most of the base set dudes, is simply over costed for the roll he fills. However unlike those other dudes, he has an experienced version on the same value that not only does everything he does but also lets you vomit out abominations/hexes and comes at a discount.

It isn’t even that inexperienced Ivor is bad, 4th ring needs scary dudes that can ace with soul blast and shadow walk over with enough influence to steal a win, it’s just too bad that his future version fills that niche and is almost universally cheaper.

The only reason to take this version of Ivor over his experienced counterpart is for his +1 influence (once he has a hex mind you) and frankly the difference between 3 and 4 influence on a single dude isn't worth what you are giving up.

Superficially Ivor fits with most forth ring decks. High value, abomination keyword, and strong huckster skill are all nice. However, beyond that he's really not that impressive compared to other options. Even with a hex, he's only 2 stud, 4 influence, and huckster 3. That's enough influence to make him a target but not enough bullets to fend for himself. Plus, at 9 cost and 2 upkeep he's outrageously expensive for what you're getting. Most other dudes with that price tag will have a strong ability to make it more worth while, while Ivor gets a buff that is effectively useless. 2 stud isn't particularly scary, and the Huckster 3 buff is nearly worthless considering no halfway decent huckster deck would run hexes/values that a Huckster 2 couldn't reliably cast.

Bottom line: Unimpressive and not worth the cost.

Errata wording - Effective October 21, 2017

Source: Morgan Cattle Company Errata: Effective October 21, 2017

Noon, Boot: Boot your dude to play a deed, reducing that deed's cost by that dude's influence, and move that dude to that deed.

"The original wording of some base set cards were made prior to the cardinal rule that the requirement for the use of any card is in the first sentence. In looking at Morgan Cattle Company, and conferring with a member of the original base set Design Team, we discovered that the intent of the card was to make the dude vulnerable at the deed the dude is moving to. To violate this would go against the design intent of the card."

For OCTGN play I've modified the card image with the errata wording. The file path is OCTGN\ImageDatabase\b440d120-025a-4fbe-9f8d-3873acacb37b\Sets\4faa78e0-7f18-4b5b-89ac-56b79624bc83\Cards

The image is named with the correct OCTGN id.

Other errata images available: 108 Worldly Desires, Auto-Revolver, Bad Company, Concealed Weapons, Desolation Row, Focusing Chi, Forced Quarantine, Henry Moran, Hot Lead Flyin', Ivor Hawley (Exp.1), Junior, Mugging, Nathan Shane, Nicodemus Whateley, No Turning Back, Paralysis Mark, Rico Rodegain, Smiling Tom, Undertaker, Unprepared, Unprepared Promo, The Wretched

Posted with permission form Pine Box.

This card is banned from competitive play. The rules compendium has a list of banned cards: pineboxentertainment.com

Pinebox lay out the reasons for the ban in this blog post: pineboxentertainment.com

Tyxarglenak can be used to add consistency to a huckster deck that may be lacking in strong shooters. His value works for Hex pulls and his 2 stud bullets let him take on enemy dudes directly. Obviously, he's most effective when used alongside hucksters. He'll allow you to actually put up a fight against a Kidnappin' on your primary huckster and prevent an Unprepared from completely nullifying all your hexes. The abomination keyword opens up all sorts of possibilities as well if you're playing Oddities of Nature.

For me, his biggest downside is his lack of influence. Even though you may want to use his 2 studs aggressively, without influence there is little he can do on his own, and he's ultimately a defensive card. He's affordable enough, but I generally dislike paying upkeep for cards that aren't giving me influence. Usually he's one of the first dudes to be taken as a casualty though, so the upkeep isn't a huge issue.

Bottom line: A strong defensive card that can protect your hucksters from shootouts and shootout actions.

While not the type of card you build a deck around, Kevin can be a good addition to a Fourth Ring huckster deck. His value is high enough to succeed on nearly any Hex pulls. He shares his value with Tyxarglenak and Forget, two cards that are good for filling out a huckster deck, as well other great J values, like Jackson's Strike. On his own, he is a mediocre card; not expensive, but 1 influence and 3 draw isn't going to make much of a difference on the board. Kevin's key feature is of course his ability. Its great because it allows a 3-stud to pop up anywhere on the board. You may usually be cautious about sending your best Hucksters into a shootout, but with Kevin, you can feel free to use them aggressively, knowing that Kevin can come to the rescue. Definitely a consideration if you're looking to add some firepower to a Huckster focused deck.

A good choice for a starter in a MCC gadget deck. His cost and upkeep are affordable, and his 2 influence come in handy in the early game. His ability basically makes him a MCC version of Micah Ryse, but is extra useful as a Mad Scientist 1 because it allows him to invent gadgets after moving. He also pairs nicely with Disgenuine Currency Press. They share the same value and with a difficulty of only 5, he can constantly invent them while moving around the board, using his 2 influence to control deeds while also providing a stream of ghost rock and card draws.

Rules Compendium v0.7

For OCTGN play I've modified the card image with the errata wording. The file path is OCTGN\ImageDatabase\b440d120-025a-4fbe-9f8d-3873acacb37b\Sets\2ee0c504-5607-4f6e-9f50-cb91f850cc02\Cards

Errata text:

Resolution: Ace a dude you own and control to reduce your casualties this round to zero. Choose a dude who gets +2 bullets and becomes a stud for the remainder of the shootout. Your dudes cannot flee this round.

Other errata images available: 108 Worldly Desires, Auto-Revolver, Bad Company, Concealed Weapons, Desolation Row, Focusing Chi, Forced Quarantine, Henry Moran, Hot Lead Flyin', Ivor Hawley (Exp.1), Junior, Morgan Cattle Co., Mugging, Nathan Shane, Nicodemus Whateley, Paralysis Mark, Rico Rodegain, Smiling Tom, Undertaker, Unprepared, Unprepared Promo, The Wretched

Posted with permission form Pine Box.

For OCTGN play I've modified the card image with the errata wording. The file path is OCTGN\ImageDatabase\b440d120-025a-4fbe-9f8d-3873acacb37b\Sets\a4740baa-7999-4448-990b-20d933874417\Cards

2017-06-28 - Pine Box Forum post

Please note a minor errata is now in effect for Henry Moran. His wording is now as follows:

If Henry is unbooted when you would reveal an illegal draw hand during lowball, boot Henry, discard the illegal hand, and reveal the top five cards of your deck as your hand instead.

This is just to clarify that his trait is a replacement effect.

Other errata images available: 108 Worldly Desires, Auto-Revolver, Bad Company, Concealed Weapons, Desolation Row, Focusing Chi, Forced Quarantine, Hot Lead Flyin', Ivor Hawley (Exp.1), Junior, Morgan Cattle Co., Mugging, Nathan Shane, Nicodemus Whateley, No Turning Back, Paralysis Mark, Rico Rodegain, Smiling Tom, Undertaker, Unprepared, Unprepared Promo, The Wretched

Posted with permission form Pine Box.