I’m overdue to post about my Dead Man’s Hand and my esteem for it (my current state is “this is as close to The Perfect Game as it gets”), but: later.
Instead, I’m going to post some draft house rules I wrote up to put the Dracula’s America Red Hand Posse models I just finished painting. I’m underwhelmed by the Dracula’s America system, but I like these models: they’re cool, slouching, sinister. I’m also compelled to Weird Up any normal game, so here we are.
The Red Hand Posse
Faction Abilities
“He have always the strength in his hand of twenty men”
Characters labeled (V) are Vampires. They gain +1 HtH (included in the statline). Face cards may only be used in relation to Vampires. If a Vampire wins a Hand to Hand contest, they may take a free Recover action for each point of difference.
“Being stronger, have yet more power to work evil”
As Cowboys – Tough as Old Boots
Characters
| # | Character | Weapon | Hits | Nerve | Shoot | HtH | Rep |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Broodsire (Boss) (V) | Pistol | 5 | 2+ | +1 | +1 | 6 |
| 0-1 | Carpathian Guard | Pistol, Handweapon | 4 | 3+ | +1 | 0 | 4 |
| 0-2 | Broodkin (V) | Pistol | 4 | 2+ | 0 | +1 | 3 |
| 2+ | Fledgelings (V) | Pistol, Rifle, or Repeater | 4 | 4+ | 0 | +1 | 2 |
| 0-6 | Thralls | Pistol; up to 1 may have Rifle or Repeater | 3 | 6+ | -1 | -1 | 1 |
Action Cards
J♠ – “He can be as bat” – Play at the beginning of the activation of one of your Vampires. Each Move action allows them to move 20cm and ignore any intervening terrain or vertical movement.
Q♠ – “…and man is weak” – Play during the activation of one of your Vampires on an opposing character in LOS of that Vampire. Move the opposing character 10cm as if it were your own. The Move may not be made to fall off a roof or other piece of terrain or move off the gaming area. OR this may also be used to cancel an opposing character’s Duck Back Reaction if made in LOS of a Vampire (activation is still used).
K♠ – “…of cunning more than mortal” – Play when one of your Vampires declares an Interruption. Your Vampire may react as if their Initiative card were the Joker; there are no restrictions or limits on their Duck Back movement during this interruption.
A♠ – “Multiplying the evils of the world” – Play at the end of the turn if you still have a Vampire in play and an opposing non-Vampire’s character has been taken Out of Action earlier in the game. Place a new Thrall under your control as close to the location of the OoA character’s location as possible.
Commentary
- These haven’t seen the table yet, so they’re all theoretical.
- I don’t know how I feel about just lifting the Cowboy Tough as Old Boots rule – it’s kind of exactly what I’d like them to have, though. Might want to make it somewhat better, but limit use to Vampires.
- Obviously, I want to tie as much as I can to Vampires because they’re cool.
- Stats are all lifted from the Desperado faction: trading the ability to take Shotguns for the +1 HtH bonus for Vampires. The thought being that these guys shouldn’t be running up to you and blasting with both barrels… they should be running up and snacking on people.
- That +1 HtH bonus is probably not high enough. HtH is extremely swingy and maybe they need more to tilt it to make up for pushing engaging in it.
- Actually pretty satisfied with the face card abilities. Won’t know if they skew stronger or weaker than other face cards without getting them on the table, but they feel flavorful and right.
- The only reason that Carpathian Guard option is in there is because one comes in the box for these guys