The Boys are one of the two new Dead Man’s Hand gangs released by Great Escape Games during 2023 the other was The Bucks. The Boys is an interesting gang with an interesting narrative – basically its 2 old men and their young range hands – err Young Guns anyone?
The metal model set comes with 8 models – 1 with a repeater, 1 with a shotgun, and the rest with single pistols. As with all gangs at least half the gang must have pistols.
From the Store page The Boys have the following write up.
Details
Great escape games
The Rancher was left with a difficult choice, his men had all moved on and left him, he could either lose his year’s work or use somebody else to help him get his herd across the country.
Sometime big help can come in small packages. The boys from the local school answered his call and have helped him get the herd across the land and has arrived in town looking for a buyer.
Now they’re in Dead Man’s Hand the lessons they have learned across the land need to be used to keep them alive.
The Boys Faction Rules: NEVER UNDERESTIMATE A KID, SMALL TARGET, LIVING IN HIS SHADOW
The Boys have 4 model types
The Rancher
The Range Cook – you could swap these 2 models over but I think this dude looks more like a cook
Young Un’s – the gang must have at least 2 of these, they can be armed with a shotgun, pistol or repeater but only 1 may have a shotgun.
Rascals – the gang must include at least 2 of these, they can have pistols, repeaters or shotguns, but only upto half can have shotguns or repeaters.
Now currently there are very little other options for figures for this gang, neither of the 2 plastic sets from Great Escape Games can produce kids, However I have some 25mm Foundry Western figures and if you look below they match the size of the Young Un’s quite well but are a bit tall for the Rascals.
From left to right – Great Escape Games Young Un, Foundry Outlaw, Great Escape Games Rascal, Foundry Outlaw, Great Escape Games Young Un.
The Great Escape Games Gunfighters 2 and Gunfighters plastic box set both would allow you to design and make your own Rancher or Range Cook – below are a few examples from my meagre attempts.
Their 3 special rules are also interesting
- NEVER UNDERESTIMATE A KID – there is never a draw in initiative for a turn when the Boys are on the table, as they automatically win any initiative roll off.
- SMALL TARGET – Almost a I should have guessed this rule – all shots at Young Un’s or Rascals get an extra -1 to hit.
- LIVING IN THE SHADOW – In any game where the Rancher was present and is removed through an opponents action (i.e. goes out of action), all the remaining members of the Boys will automatically pass any further Nerve Tests. Interestingly this does not explicitly exclude Big Nerve Tests as many other Gang specific rules do – but I would assume (and yes I do know I run the risk of making an Ass out of you and me) that it does exclude Big Nerve tests.
Their Jack, Queen, King and Aces cards also bring some interesting options
- ACE – “We’re gonna finish a job” – can be played against a single opponent model when an opponent declares the models actions and includes at least 1 move action, The boys player gets to choose the move made, and yes you can get them to fall off a roof, but no you can’t move the model off the table.
- KING – “We can be men” – this can be played when one of the Boys it taken out of action, when played the player removes 3 under fire markers from any other characters in the faction. This could be 3 from 1 model, 1 from 3 different models etc. I assume if there are less than 3 available to be removed then as many as are available upto 3 can be removed.
- QUEEN – “Sometimes it’s hard to understand” – is played against an opponents model that has yet to be activated, that model immediately takes a duck back action and burns their activation for the turn.
- JACK – “You wouldn’t shoot a kid” – this can be played on an opponents model when an opponent declares a shoot action at one of the Rascals or Young Un’s (so the Cook and Rancher can’t benefit from it), all shoot actions for that model for that turn are lost.
I am going to review my previous Dead Man’s Hand gang posts and do a similar write up for those I can.
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Thanks for sharing! Always love seeing the Old West style content and Dead Man’s Hand minis!
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