Bang!

[Dragon]

Late session report here, but twice this year we played Bang!, the card game where you try to stay alive in a wild west shootout game with hidden roles.

I wrote a review about this game years ago, and still think this review is fitting today:

"Bang! You Missed!" This game never gets boring for me… even if I'm killed off. I didn't win a single time until about my fifth or sixth time playing, but I still loved the game.

First of all, anyone who is interested in a little combative excitement should check out this game. I love combat related games. I wasn't sure at first that I'd be able to get into the Western theme of things since I didn't get into Western movies much. (Maybe I just didn't watch the right ones as a kid. I recently watch an old Clint Eastwood movie and it was pretty cool.) For less than $8 though you can't beat the price for the amount of fun.

Each player has a specific character and role, which are on two separate cards. There are about 16 different characters and 4 different roles. This is great for replay value because the characters give special abilities (like having better vision or the ability to shoot multiple times in a turn) and the roles give special goals (like "Kill all the Outlaw" or "Be the last man standing".) One game you might have Slab The Killer (one of the most feared at our table) as an Outlaw, ready to take down Paul Regret - a weak Sheriff, but the next game, the tide could turn and Slab The Killer is now the Sheriff… or maybe he doesn't show up at all.

There is always lots of action in the game; bullets fly, dynamite blows up (sometimes in your hand before you can throw it), horses and barrels come and go. Sometimes players will get stuck in jail, causing the player to lose a turn. Indians and Gatlin guns can hurt a group of people, so you'd better be prepared for the worst. If you do get hurt in a shootout, limp into the Saloon and have a few drinks to feel better. Maybe someone else will even buy you a round.

This is practically a MUST-HAVE game in my opinion, but if possible, I'd definitely suggest playing with five or more players. Four players still make a fun game, but the range is a little short to make many of the better weapons really better. One other suggestion, if you do play with 4 players, either take out the 3-bullet characters or bump them up to 4 bullets. With 5 or more players these two characters seem ok, but with only 4 at the table they don't really have a strong enough special ability to make up for their lack of a bullet.

On January 31st, we played Bang! for the first time in over a year. Isaac picked it as his selection for our family fun time. Isaac was the Sheriff, Anna was to the left of him, followed by Janai, Beth, me, then Grace. I was the first to be killed off, and revealed that I was an Outlaw. Then Janai, another Outlaw, was killed, followed by Grace, the 3rd Outlaw. Anna was killed off next and was the Renegade, so Beth, and Isaac as the Deputy, won the game.

About 2 weeks later, on February 12th, Isaac picked the game again for our family fun time. This time, Beth was the Sheriff, with Grace next to her, followed by Isaac, me, and Anna. (Janai didn't want to play this time.) l started getting hurt early, due to Indians attacking, and with multiple Bang cards and a Duel in hand, I decided to go for the Sheriff while I was still alive. Unfortunately, that made it quite obvious that I was an Outlaw, so I was killed soon after. Isaac was killed soon after, and he was also an Outlaw. Much to the horror of Sheriff Beth, we were playing with the High Noon cards, and just after Isaac was killed, the Ghost Town card came up, so Isaac and I both had another round to try to come back from the grave and try to finish what we started. Unfortunately, we didn't get enough to win the game that round and Beth soon eliminated Anna, who was the Renegade again. Grace was the Deputy, so Beth and Grace won the game.

[Dragon]

Bang! was tonight's game that Isaac chose again, which I believe is a good choice for the family as a fun way to interact with everyone. Tonight, we got Janai to join us, even though she did spend most of the game practically refusing to heal her wounds.

Starting off the game, I was the Sheriff, and clockwise around the table was Grace, Beth, Janai, Isaac, and Anna. I didn't have any good clues of who was who the first round because no one shot at me, at least not directly. I think Indians came out and did hurt a couple people, but nothing to me. Also, Isaac's character gave him the ability to draw extra cards from being wounded, so he was happy to take some damage at first in order to grab a bunch of cards at the beginning of his next turn. Anna was the first to show her true colors, and shot me, with Isaac targeting me in the next round. Since we were using A Fistful Of Cards expansion for events, we had Abandoned Mine come up during a round when the Dynamite was being passed around the table, so it was interesting watching what was coming up for the next players and looking for opportunities to shift the next card to something more desirable for the person following you. At that point of the game, Grace seemed like she was doing everything to help me out, so I thought she was my Deputy, and some of Beth's plays made me think she was the Renegade. However, I found out that I was quite wrong when Grace played Indians at a time when I had only one card left in my hand and only one bullet (life point). I looked at Grace thinking, she must not realize what she's doing... and actually, she admitted afterward that she didn't think it was going to kill me. Resolving the Indians attack, Isaac was killed and revealed as an Outlaw, then I was killed and said, "We lost." Then she smiled and laughed and said, "But, I'm an Outlaw." ... "WHAT?" ... I couldn't believe it. Beth was my Deputy, and Janai was the Renegade. I had 3 of them completely mixed up since Grace had never attacked me directly. Well played, Grace. So, Grace, Anna, and Isaac (posthumously)  won the game as the Outlaws.

[Dragon]

It's been a couple weeks since having "Family Fun" time and it has been Isaac's choice this evening. Once again, he picked Bang! This time he chose A Fistful Of Cards expansion to play with.

Once again, I was Sheriff. Clockwise around the table was Anna, Grace, Isaac, and Beth. I shot at Beth during the first turn, just to get things going, odds being in my favor that she'd be my enemy. She didn't shoot back right away, trying to keep a low profile for a few rounds, but finally she shot at me. Grace had been cautious, saying that she was trying to help me, but wasn't really doing much - I'm guessing she just didn't get very many Bang cards. Isaac started shooting everyone at the table, but mostly focused on Grace. I figured it was quite likely that he was the Renegade but wasn't sure yet if Grace was my Deputy. Roles could have been reversed and I wasn't sure, but it didn't really matter because I never had the range to shoot anyone other than Anna or Beth anyway. Isaac killed off Grace, revealing that she was the Deputy, and I knew at that point that Isaac was definitely the Renegade. He did a great job helping me by getting a Volcanic and firing off 3 shots in one turn, killing off Beth. Anna was still alive, but running low on health, so, once I got a Volcanic, I finished her off, hoping to get the cards I needed to get Isaac. However, before I could do that, he managed to make a slight come back. Just then the Dead Man card came up on A Fistful Of Cards, bringing Grace back into the game. Grace help me whittle down Isaac, taking away his last cards that he could have used for defense. And that was the end of Isaac. He did a great job as the Renegade, even though he didn't win. 

After the game, we talked about all the different character cards in the set, but I'll talk about what we came up as far as ranking the characters another time.

[Dragon]

After a couple games of Power grid, we got out the wild west card game called Bang! Justice got the Sheriff card, so he got ready with his badge and the High Noon deck. Chris was to his immediate left, but didn't do anything to threaten the Sheriff, so he was left alive for a while even though Justice had a Volcanic. We got tripped up a little, forgetting some restrictions that were in play, which may have affected the outcome at least of one duel between Chris and Isaac. Isaac was between Chris and me, but Isaac was a Deputy and therefore knew that Chris was not, so he went after Chris. I thought that Chris was the Deputy and Isaac was the Renegade, but we found out soon enough that Anna was the Renegade. Janai, Chris, and I had been the Outlaws, but Justice mowed us down with one after another with his Volcanic, so Justice and Isaac won.