Dead Man’s Hand Scene 1

Whiskey for the Demons

Summer sure is busy! Finally got a game in though. Tried out the western skirmish game Dead Man’s hand. While I enjoyed the simplicity of Dracula’s America for a western I wanted to try another one with a little more grit… plus I wanted some more minis and the cool buildings in the starter box of DMH! So Scott came over and we had a go at it.

This post will be the first of 3 parts. The ideal way to play DMH seems to be in a 3 scene narrative scenario. In the 3 scenes of any scenario there is a narrative thread and build up leading to the final scene. While you can certainly play a one off scenario, the short mini campaigns of a narrative three scene scenario seem to be the best way to play this game.

Our game took place on the edge of the fictional town of Black Water Gulch in the Dakota territories in 1886. In scene #1 of the scenario “Whiskey for the Demons” called “Introducing” Two desperados Sam Winthrop and Buck Grimes are searching for a man indebted to their boss Hector. While at the saloon the desperados get into a brawl and shots are fired. The fight is taken out into the street where the desperados entangle with lawmen Bobby Callahan and Tom Whitefeather.

The mechanics of DMH are interesting. The game uses decks of playing cards with special actions written on each card. The cards are used for both determining initiative and special actions which can be played throughout your turn. Several of the special actions are specific to whatever faction you are playing such as lawmen, outlaws, cowboys and desperados. Expansions for the game give you the opportunity to play many other factions, but these are the ones that come with the core game. To be honest we had a bit of trouble initially figuring out the card system as its kind of a game in and of itself. Once we had that down however the game ran pretty smoothly.

In this particular scenario the goal was simple, take the other side out of action. This could be done by eliminating the other side or causing them to take what’s called a Big Nerve test. Both sides started out on the street and the lead started flying quickly. I learned quickly that it seems best to play cards early as opposed to waiting despite what the rules suggested.

I played a trick card on Scott where some random citizen pops out and takes a pop shot at one of his guys, but I failed to play the card that would’ve kept Callahan upright for another turn…. Boo. With only two dudes fighting two dudes in scene one the game was over quickly as my lawmen were quickly taken down when the dice failed me and the desperados got the drop. The curs fled town before more lawmen arrived to avenge Callahan and Whitefeather.

After the 1st scene each side received fame points that could be used to upgrade posse members and we also had to check for injuries. I rolled horribly on Callahan and he done perished. Whitefeather however got a thirst for revenge and made a full recovery gaining a +1 on his nerve tests. Apparently he was steeled by the encounter. The desperados were uninjured and gained more fame than the lawmen and were able to do an upgrade. (I forget the exact one they got).

This got us all set up for the 2nd scene which would add a few more dudes with higher stakes for fame. More on scene two later. Overall after working out some unclear rules it went pretty smooth. This scenario was quick, but as we added more guys in the next two scenarios they would last a bit longer. All three scenarios could easily be played in under two hours if we had a good grasp on the rules. However we had a lot of joking around, paging through the rules and debates that slowed things a bit for our first game. Fun time. Stay tuned for scene 2 “Dusty Throats and Broken Bodies”…..