108 Dead Man's Handits

The deck I played in the York OP#3 event 26/09/15. 2 wins, 2 losses and a bye. This was the first event in the UK where the new factions were legal. We saw seven players with two 108, two Eagle Wardens, Law Dogs, The Arsenal and Oddities being represented.

I really like the 108 Righteous Bandits in Deadlands, so when they were announced I knew I'd be trying them out. In game, I really like their mobility, and I can see I'll be making all kinds of decks for them in the future. I haven't really tried Kung Fu yet either. The general plan here was fairly standard Doomtown chess with added Establishin' Who's in Charge to make tempting targets to lure my opponent out of hiding or build up extra control for the win, and Rumors make the whole thing even better. Thinking about it now, I should probably also have added Hustings. One for next time! Draw structure is Dead Man's Hand, heavy on Aces and Jacks but comparitively light on Eights (15-15-10). I'd look to tighten the draw structure for future games as there were a couple of times I got shootout hands full of off-values.

Here are some game write-ups based on what I can remember:

Game 1 vs Dan's Eagle Wardens

My first game against Wardens, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Dan was playing a spirit summoning deck I quickly found was heavily stacked for shooting (15/15/15, I think) and he got Many Speak as One and Spirit Dance out early. I don't recall the specifics but after a few turns of maneuvering and a couple of casualties on both sides from minor shootouts we ended up in a town square shootout that would decide the game. While I matched or bettered his shootout hands he had enough spirit tokens and 0-influence dudes to eat the casualties and continue the fight and whittle away my expendable dudes so I ended up losing some influence and that settled the game.

Game 2 vs Steve's Eagle Wardens

Steve was playing a different take on the Wardens, making use of their high influence and ..It's who you know to be aggressive. Unfortunately he got a terrible opening hand and never really got going. I took control of the deeds he played, and when he went to town to use the Wardens' home to try and get some better cards, his dudes were left vulnerable. In the following shootout he revealed a cheating hand, so Black Elk and his Nature Spirits got sent home with Flight of the Lepus and the influence they were protecting took the casualties instead, which sealed the game for the 108.

Game 3 vs Tom's Oddities

My greatest advantages here were Tom not being familiar with the 108's home ability and forgetting about it a lot, and me getting lucky with a Flight of the Lepus that let me take control of the town square from him and put him on the back foot for the second half of the game. At that point I'd managed to get enough deeds out to pay Steven Wiles upkeep every turn so Steve bossed town square, chase away his dudes that moved to my deeds and was generally annoying and always in Tom's way thanks to The 108 Righteous Bandits ability. Tom didn't see any deeds all game and while he managed to hang on til time, his only chance of winning was to take on Wiles in a fight to get control of a tasty Establishin' Who's in Charge'd up Gomorra Parish. The shootout didn't go his way, another victory to the bandits.

Game 4 vs Karl's Law Dogs

A lot of back-and-forth maneuvering as we fought for control of the town. A lot of chess happened, but aside from a couple of minor shootouts it wasn't the most eventful of games (at least, I don't remember much happening). As we were getting close to time and everyone else had finished their games and were getting ready to leave, I decided I'd go for a game-ending all-in shootout at the Bunkhouse, where a lot of Karl's dudes were booted out due to earlier chess shenanigans. Unfortunately my deck didn't back up my gung-ho charge so I ended up losing the game, but at least I saved everyone else waiting around for us to finish!