The Governator 3.1: Jailhouse Rock

Winner of the OP Kit #2 Event at Fanboy 3 in Manchester, UK 13/06/15.

Four players rode into town, games were in round robin format.

After not being entirely convinced by the Jail in the last couple of tournaments I played, I decided to give it one more go. I'm glad I did, as it was actually useful today!

My memory isn't amazing, so apologies if I get any of this wrong:

Game 1 vs Oddities of Nature: This game felt quite close, with both of us taking losses in some early shootouts and a Pagliaccio getting sent to jail. Liz not being familiar with some of the new cards in her deck led to a couple of bad plays which I was in position to take advantage of, and with the game in check Arnold McCadish's desperate dash across town to occupy the jail ended with him getting gunned down in the town square.

Game 2 vs Desolation Row: This felt like it went on forever! Scott had everything set up to make opposing the Desolation Row job seem like a very bad idea, so I just let him succeed. After a couple of turns, he'd got Milt Clemons, Marion Seville and Angelica Espinosa in play but no deeds, so was relying on the Row for income. I kept getting the edge in lowball as while we often got the same rank hand, mine was lower value. I mostly avoided shootouts and built up on dudes, deeds and guns while sniping with Bounty Hunters, successfully jailing Jake Smiley. When I felt I could get away with a turn of things going wrong I started to move out and take control of the town square. Barton Everest proved to be a surprise MVP, his trait firing to edge a shootout against Angelica (sending her to jail) and then when Scott sent his own Barton over to deal with the Law Dog imposter his cheatin' ways saw him Coachwhipped. After a final shootout in the town square, only the Law Dogs were left standing.

Game 3 vs Morgan Gadgetorium: This one was over fairly quickly. George Horse Wrangled a lot of Pintos and built a Mechanical Horse for Jen, and then used Rope and Ride to isolate my dudes and then have everyone ride in to help out, taking out Travis early on. I'd played Pettigrew's Pawnshop first turn, and the extra ghost rock from that was crucial for being able to play a Bounty Hunter and Steven Wiles when I needed them. Tommy Harden got hit with Ride 'Em Down then Roped behind Jen's bike and George's cavalry followed. I had the better luck in the following shootout rounds (a succession of cheatin' four-of-a-kinds), whittling down his dudes. A wanted Irving Patterson got sent to jail and the game was sealed.