Dead Man’s Hand Redux: Outlaws

The Outlaws were one of the original 4 gangs for the Dead Man’s Hand Wild West skirmish game available from Great Escape Games. They are also one of the first 4 to be updated as part of the Redux.

The rules for them are available for in the Redux rule book and their original stats can be downloaded from Great Escape Games website, and are also suitable for use with characters you can create using either Gunfighter plastics or Gunfighters 2 plastic box set.

Their gang specific cards are included in the Core Card set – which comes with the rules or can be bought separately.

Now I don’t own this set of metal miniatures, but instead used Great Escape Games Gunfighters and Gunfighter 2 plastic sets to create my set.

The Outlaws are introduced with the following in the Redux rules

There’s not an illegal pie you haven’t got your sticky fingers in. You’re careful though not to disturb things too much here in town, you know what they say about doing the dirty in your own bed, or house, or something!

Well whatever those fools say you’ve never robbed the bank here in town, not yet ..

Outlaw cards are all about making the most of your characters.
Take a final shot with a dying gunman, grab some nearby fool and use them as a human shield, have one final dash for life or turn one of your shooters into a dead-eye killer, for a turn at least!

Dead Man’s Hand Redux rules – Great escape games

Outlaws have 4 characters to choose from

The Boss – a gang must have 1 of these and they can be armed with a pistol or a repeater – Mine is the elusive “Sackman” — same as original

The Gunslinger – a gang doesn’t have to have a Gunslinger but can take upto 1, who is then armed with a pistol. — same as original

The Fugitive — a new role in the gang, a 4 rep character who can have a pistol or repeater — new to redux

Thugs – renamed Dudes – the gang must have at least 2 of these, they can be armed with a rifle, pistol or repeater and 2 may have shotguns. These are the unnamed majority of the gang who are hoping to make a name for themselves. — Same as original just new name and now can take rifles

Varmints – the gang can include upto 6 of these and they can only have pistols. This is a change from the original rules where the gang was limited to 2 – but they have lost the ability to have any shotguns. — Increased number allowed but removed option for 50% with shotguns

So weapon wise Max 2 shotguns now has the ability to take rifles and the boss can take a repeater.

Their 2 special rules are

• ABOVE SNAKES – once per turn a character in the gang may take a duck back interruption, if they do they then MUST take a nerve test, if they pass this then they don’t burn their activation, but lose an action to a move and gain a move marker. However if the opponent plays the 7 card the duck back is wasted for the turn. — No change to Original just written more clearly
• CHEATIN’ – this is a lovely themed rule. Once per game, after all initiative cards have been revealed the Outlaw play can activate this rule. Once activated the player can then swap on of the cards in their hand for one of their initiative cards on the table. The card picked up from the table then can be played as any other card in the players hand – Now this sounds familiar to me – a similar ability is available to the Bucks via their ACE card, but this one is much more flexible. — No Change from Original

Their Jack, Queen, King and Aces cards also bring some interesting options

• ACE – “With a gun in his hand, nothing stands in his way” – unlike a lot of the cards we’ve looked at so far – this one is played on one of the Outlaws characters when they are activated. It then makes all shots fired this turn by the model count as if they were aimed and they also ignore any negative modifiers for movement or cover. — Redux removed the exception for shotguns which can now be included
• KING – “You should have killed me when you had the chance” – this can be played when one of the Outlaws takes a hit from shooting that puts them out of action. The model may take upto 2 move actions straight away, it burns their turn if they had not been activated yet. After the move, so long as the character has reached cover or got out of sight of all opponents, the model is left on table with 3 under fire markers. If the character cannot get out of line of sight or into cover then dont bother playing this card as it will have no effect. — No Change from Original
• QUEEN – “Hostage” – another great on theme card, when you play this card one of the outlaws uses an action to “magic up” a bystander and use them as a shield. Whilst the hostage is held, the character may not move more than once a turn, but may still use 3 actions a turn. All opposing characters must pass a nerve test to shoot at the model with the hostage. Under fire results kill the hostage, If the outlaw is hit the hostage escapes, If the hostage is killed the Outlaw player immediately draws a bonus card to their hand. — Similar to original but significantly simpler implementation making this card more usable
• JACK – “Dying Shot” – this can be played as soon as one of the Outlaws goes out of action due to enemy shooting. The outlaw takes a single unmodified shot against the opposing model that just shot them, the only limit is that the opponent must be in range. — No Change from original

Summary of changes in Redux vs Original

• Removal of certain limitations when using the Factions Cards.
• No change to the Factions special rules – just written more clearly.
• Gang can now take more 1pt characters and has a new 4pt character available, but loses a shotgun.

Thats The Lawmen, The Outlaws and The Cowboys done. Leaving the Desperados.