Sioux Never Die
By Ken Kurpiel
Dudes:
Singing Feather
Sir Whitmore
Tioga Joe
Cassidy Greene
Joe Eye-Like-Rain
Crazy Quilt
John Bloody Knife
Walks in Footsteps
Little Running Bear
Moses Whateley
Wise Cloud
Red Crow
Saul Whateley
Spells:
Helpin' Hands x4
Curse x4
Medicine x4
Strength of the Bear x2
Goods:
Bow and Arrow x2
Deeds:
Clock Tower
Henry's Hole
Wishing Well
Thunder Gulch
Spirit of Kentucky
1st Bank
Lord Grimleys Manor
Red Hill Hotel
Actions:
Ignore 'em x2
Yellow Belly x1
Take You With Me x4
Get a Rope x2
Stray Lead x4
Snakebite x2
This deck has only been played a few times in polite company. I think you can see why. Charlotte, the spousal type won last week with a similar deck. Hers has a few more little strikes, no bow and arrow, no ignore 'em, she adds a few rumors too. This deck is big, it's bad, it goes out and dies horribly, takes you with them, and the stray lead gets you in trouble. Then to add insult to injury it saves the little dude in the shootout. Red crow becomes a real terror. Nothing like Joseph plucking a Take You with Me from the low-ball hand and then Red Crow has Blackjack running away from him. I personally think this design is broken, not only design wise, but it destroys the spirit of the game.
Urban Sprawl
By Marko, posted November 26th 1998 - Episode 7
Type: Tournament
Dudes:
Eagle Rock
Billy Iron Horse
Cassidy Greene
Charlie Landers
Tioga Joe
Benjamin Nightsinger
Feather In His Hair
Little Mountian
John Bloody Knife
Xiong "Wendy" Cheng (Law Dogs)
Little Running Bear
Joseph Eyes Like Rain
Walks in Footprints
Deeds:
Old Moon Saloon
Golden Mare Hotel
Miss Coutreau's
The Bathhouse
Den of Eastern Delights
Gomorra Gazette
Hell's End Mine
Tent City
King Willy's Mother Lode
The Mission House
Schoolhouse
Flophouse
Casino Morongo
Graveyard
The Barber's Shop
LAD Saloon
Thunder Gulch Strike
Fu Leng's Laundy & Tailoring
Pony Express
Henry's Hole
Sunnyside Hotel
The Tree
Town Well
Barkum & Barkum Attorneys
St. Martin's Chapel
Actions:
Take You With Me x 3
Yellow Traitor x 4
Pistol Whip x 3
Forclosure x 2
Run Outta Town x 2
Joker
Death's Head Joker
This deck is simple to play. Keep your dudes OUT of shootouts at all costs. Keep dudes unbooted when possible so you can refuse a shootout. Spread dudes out at the bathhouse, your home, the tree, or the casino morongo to avoid a total wipe out of your dudes from massacre at high noon. Finally if you get in a shootout use pistol whips and if that doesn't work then pray you win the shootout. The second thing is play deeds as many as possible. There are 24 contol points in the deck so if your opponent takes one don't worry unless it could cost you the game. I haven't lost yet and i'm playing about to tournament test it but I have absolute confidence in this deck.
Curses!
By Geoff Smith, posted November 26th 1998 -
Episode 7
Type: Tournament
Dudes:
Joseph-Eyes-Like-Rain
Tioga Joe
Little Mountain
Walks-In-Footprints
Billy Iron Horse
Deeds:
Weaponsmith
St. Martin's Chapel
Old Moon Saloon
The Lucky Dog Lode
Schoolhouse
Drop in the Ocean
Desert Rose Lode
Henry's Hole
Harlot's Haven
The Clock Tower
Pharmacy
Wishing Well
Town Well
Actions:
Forgery
Claim Jumper
Run Outta Town x 4
Ignore 'Im x 3
Yer All Chicken! x 4
Events:
The 1st Bank is Robbed
A Coach Comes to Town x 4
Goods:
Quick Draw Holster
Unholy Symbol x 2
Spells:
Curse x 4
Strength of the Bear x 3
Medicine x 2
Spirit Warrior x 2
Speed of the Wolf x 2
This deck is brutal in a two player game. It can consistantly win in the third or forth turn. The object is simple--between Joseph's ability and your home card's ability you can quickly fish the Curses out of your deck. An important note--Do not! do any pulls, get in any shootouts, or do anything else that may cause you to discard your Curses before you get them in your play hand.
Once the Curses are on Joseph, use the ten pull Curse to wipe out your opponents influence. Then play a control point deed. Tioga Joe can defend against just about anything, so use the Coaches and the Yer All Chickens to get some cashflow and maybe take some of your opponents influence as well. Other than the Curses and Walks in Footprints every card in the deck is a 7, Q, or K so your shootout hand are great (but Lowball does stink). Being that the lowest value card in the deck is a 7, Joseph will always make the ten pull Curse (pretty comforting Huh?).
The best part about the deck is that it works so well with so many cards. If you don't have the same cards I do you can substitute just about anything and the deck works just a well (just remember that all of the cards have to be 7's, Q's, or K's). Try Bad Tequila, Raid, Yellow Belly, Gremlins, Heavy Rain, War Paint, ect. How about a Framed and Clean Up The Town Combo to really harrass your opponent? This deck is as much fun the build as it is to play. I hope you give it a try.
War Path
By Wolf Who Walks, posted October 28th 1998 -
Episode 6
Dudes:
Benjamin Nightsinger
Cassidy Greene
Eagle Rock
Feather-In-His-Hair
Elizabeth King
Ian Spencer-Whitney
Joseph Eyes-Like-Rain
Little Mountain
Red Crow
Singing Feather
Whiskey Nick
Wise Cloud
Deeds:
The Alright Corral
Barkum & Barkum Attorneys
Casino Morongo
Grenn-Eye Saloon
Hideout
Icehouse
Ignacio's Exotics
Miss Coutreau's
Old Moon Saloon
One Eyed Ike's Weapons Locker
Perry's Pawnshop
Pony Express
Red Hill Hotel
Actions:
Burn 'Em Down
Fanning The Hammer
His Back Was To Me x2
Hot Lead Flyin'
Refuse To Fall
Shortcut
Snakebite x2
Take Ya With Me x2
Tattoo x2
Events:
Earthquake
Eureka!
Goods:
Bow and Arrow
Mustang
Roan
Sacred Tomahawk x3
Shotgun
Winchester Rifle
Spells:
Medicine x2
Strength Of The Bear
This is a basic starting shootout deck, pulled together from a Sioux Union starter and a few saddlebags. It reflects my current play environment, which is somewhat heavy with Maze Rats. In general this deck should play favorably, with added performance against Maze Rats and Terror-heavy decks, but it is not tournament quality.
Your starting Gang is set up with three influence and a three stud for early defense. Your starting money, even if you lose lowball, is enough to bring out all but one of your deeds. There are no strikes in this deck, which is helpful against the Rats, but can slow it down a bit. Luckily, a third of your cards are zero cost, with another third costing less than your home's production. Between the corral and Ignacio's, most of your goods are free or cost only one. The deck has a total of nine control (all close to home) and nine influence, which should be sufficient for victory.
Eureka will give you a hand size that will favor holding shootout actions and reactions for later. Earthquake is also handy for slowing down most decks, especially Sweetrock and the Rats. Most of the actions and goods focus on getting you to the fight unbooted and winning once your there, one way or the other. The Sioux have been lambasted quite a bit as not the best shooters, but this deck should clear the street fairly well. With an emphasis on winning even when you lose, most opponents will think twice before throwin' down. Your outfit ability, and that of Joseph Eyes-Like-Rain, make it easier to manipulate your deck for the cards you will need to succeed.
If you are having trouble with your shootouts, consider replacing the Snakebites with Pearl-Handled Revolvers to make your shooters more potent. Also, replacing Fanning The Hammer with another Burn 'Em Down will make all of your actions zero cost and increase your odds of winning.
Ghost Dancers
By Gerry Crowe, posted October 7th 1998 - Episode 6
This one won a tournament organised in the U.K. by
SELWG
Dudes:
Benjamin Nightsinger
Wise Cloud
Singing Feather
Cassidy Greene
Charlie Landers
Joseph Eyes-Like-Rain
Walks-in Footprints
Eagle Rock x 2
Tioga Joe x 2
Wise Cloud
Deeds:
1st Bank of Gomorra x 2
Orphanage
Green Eye Saloon
Graveyard
Foales Folly
Waters Edge Strike
Top of the World Lode
Scrapyard
Pony Express
Wishing Well
Actions:
Run Outta Town x 4
Snake Eyes x 4
Warpaint x 3
Tattoo
Friends in Low Places
Hells Fury
Rumours
Events:
It was a Mountain Lion x 4
Spells:
Curse x 4
Medicine x 3
Strength of the Bear x 2
Speed of the Wolf x 1
First turn use the outfit ability to get a Medicine from your deck if you've not drawn one, just in case a Lion backfires. After that, unless you're short of rock, get Curses. The Lion kills your opponents high value dudes, the Run Outta Towns get the low value ones. Anybody that's left, reduce their influence with the Curses and drop a coupla Control Point deeds. Ideally, you can reduce their influence to 1 each and then drop the Bank, which is why there's 2 of them.
Although not ideally suited for shootouts, Benjamin with a Warpaint can usually draw a Full House, often non-cheatin'. Eagle Rock & Tioga are in there to defend against strong Shootout decks, and it's quite easy to harrow them with the Hells Fury. Course, they then become Lion food, but they're so cheap you can often afford it.
How to stop it. It cheats often enough that Run Outta Town is a big problem, particularly on the main dude...Wise Cloud. Kidnapping is also a big danger, because if you won lowball and Ben hasn't applied his Warpaint, its difficult to stop a shootout deck discarding your dudes. No Funny Stuff cheatin' decks murder it, so long as you've got ways of calling out dudes at home.
Crazy Injuns
By Matthew Hill, posted October 7th 1998 - Episode 6
Dudes:
Joseph Eyes-Like-Rain
Eagle Rock
Little Mountain
Wise Cloud
Tioga Joe
Feather-In-His-Hair
John Bloody Knife
Cassidy Greene
Little Running Bear
Benjamin Nightsinger
Deeds:
San Simeon Mine
St. Martin's Chapel
Old Moon Saloon
Thunder Gulch Strike
The Desert Rose Lode
Drop in the Ocean Strike
Exchange Office
The Tree
Fish Ridge Mine
The 1st Bank of Gomorra
The Lucky Dog Lode
Golden Mare Hotel
Schoolhouse
Red Hill Hotel
Actions:
Tattoo
Claim Jumper x 2
Snakebite x 3
Raid x 2
Pistol Whip x 4
Luck of the Draw x 2
Events:
The 1st Bank is Robbed x 2
A Coach Comes to Town x 2
Spells:
Speed of the Wolf x 3
Medicine x 4
Strength of the Bear x 3
The Starting Dudes make Ghost Rock a little hard to come by, by a well timed Coach or Raid with Eagle Rock as the shooter will deter most folks from shooting out with you. The main stategy is to stay mobile with the SotW and the Tree, pound the heck out of people in shootouts (12 sevens and 19 queens), and drop some CP with PLENTY of muscle to back them up. Most of the spirits will work, especially on Joe and Wise Cloud, and LRB with Strength of the Bear on him and Medicine on the other two means that even if you lose a shootour to a non-cheater, you shouldn't ever lose LRB. Collegium decks give it fits sometimes, the deck is a little slow, and it does take a little while to beat the 'Rats. Overall a very fun group deck, and it is always great to shout, "No pickum fight with Crazy Injun!!!"
