Games Night 5th June

D-Day minus 1
However on one table D Day was in full swing as the Brits tried to capture Pegasus bridge....
More of that another time (maybe)!!

On the other table Binx and I set to for our first games of Dead Mans Hand.
A quick(ish) read of the rules and we were off.
We chose a different scenario to the one Zed and Cortez played to get a full feel of what was on offer...

"Ayy, you a steenkin cheeeet, gringo"

The first Scene was set, Binx (it was bound to have been him) gang member was cheating at cards and my bandito was noooo happy!

Only one way to settle it, DUEL!

This game kicked off with pontoon and confusion (mine!). I just wasn't sure how the pontoon connected with the game mechanics. It was easy in the end....

Anyway my bandito kept a cool head, drew first and

!!BLAM!!

shot a hole clean through the Cowbinx head (straight 20, baby!)

on to the next scene in seconds!

"These locals are going loco"

With the duel over the gangs ran to main street to see what had happened. Blood in the sand meant bullets started flying!

We had about 6 guys each and it felt like the fight had escalated from the duel.

The mission - to take out 2 enemy gang members.

This was where we really got a feel for the rules.

Most gang members start in the buildings with a few in the streets.

Bullets whizzed back and forth with not a lot happening early on except for realising both of us could roll a ridiculous amount of 1's on a D20 leading to gang members going out of ammo faster than Elliot eats a sandwich in Tesco.

These rolls only got worse in the 3rd game!

We grasped the quick shot rule well (a fighter can have an out of turn shot but gives up their activation of 3 actions later in the turn) and it is a good trade off between using the quick shot or awaiting your go,

In the end Binx took out 2 banditos before I'd taken a 2nd member of his gang.

This was largely helped along by one of my guys running up to a shotgun wielding cowboy and going "click, click, click" with his pistol rather than "pchow, peoow, pNnning".

On to the final scene.....

"HEY! Cowboy, you een the wrong town"

The biggest of the fights and the bosses come out to settle the argument.

Half of each gang starts in the street and only 1 is actually allowed in a building or on high ground.

Objective, kill or break the other gang!

We'd got the rules by now and things were moving quite quickly. It seemed as though Binx was getting the upper hand early on as he had plenty of rifles to lay down long range fire.

Some great cinematic moments occurred including Binx's "man with no name" (lets call him             for effect) ran to a window to fire at the bandito outside, only to find a bullet in his face as leaned out of the window.

Then there was the cowboy in point blank range of my bandito who re loaded, took aim and...ran out of ammo!? (this happened a LOT!).

My boss went off on a bit of a charge and suddenly found himself staring down the barrel of a shotgun.....

Initiative cards were played and the shotgun went first.....

El Guapo closed his eyes and preyed.....Click!

ANOTHER 1 !!!

My boss ran in and took the foolish cowboy in combat.

More fire was exchanged and the Banditos began to gain the upper hand, even forcing some "big nerve tests" (fail and its game over).

It came down to Binx Boss and another cowboy facing off against 5 banditos.

In a torrent of fire the Banditos tore the Cowboys apart (too many "under fire" markers to continue) and the game was won!!!

Thoughts on Dead Man's Hand

• Its fun
• Its fast (once rules are learnt)
• Its a little cluttered (markers and cards everywhere)
• Its quite random (D20 leaves a lot of variables)
• It needs a campaign system
• Its fun (did I say that already?)

"You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend. Those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig."