Berkeley, California - Doomtown Round Up

Monthy Multiplayer (April)

On Saturday, April 13th, at High Noon, four Factions squared off for control of Tombstone: The Outlaws (Tom) vs the Fearmongers (Stefan) vs the Entrepreneurs (Eitan) vs the Anarchists (me). We played using the “Victory Point” + “Sequential Plays” + “Mind Yer Own Business” multiplayer table rules (Hello, please test these multiplayer rules). Of these, I strongly prefer Victory Point as it plays like Elimination without actually eliminating that player (no fun) without being as long a game as Total Control, and I strongly prefer Mind Yer Own Business over By The Book because it incentivizes players who want to make plays to actually collaborate, which, is in my opinion the best part about multiplayer. I normally would prefer Turnabout over Sequential Plays, because it builds upon an unwritten understanding that making plays is an alternating process between posses, but chose the latter for simplicity’s sake; after we get more multiplayer games under our belt, I will probably make the switch, but not today.

I will tell the story from my perspective: Xui Yin Chen stepped into the Townsquare after her troupe won lowball, and her initial plan was to callout anyone who dared step foot, but immediately following, the Oddities of Nature player (Stefan) followed suite leading with an Abomination into Townsquare, and she took the implicit threat of booting (and thus turning off her ability) as a warning to instead occupy the Undertakers (ultimatly, a wise choice what with three other players), bringing some of her gang along. The Fearmongers challenged her there, but were not only shot down, but Xui, by virtue of her ability (“…and get +1 influence…”), also buried their abominable corpses into unremarkable pineboxes, collecting a fistful of ghostrock in the process. This not only stalled the Fearmongers engine (see linked deck), but allowed Xui and the 108 Righteous Bandits to hire not one, not two, but three additional dudes (combined with the lowball win) over the first couple days, and two deeds, cocking the eyes of her other opponents, who camped the Mausoleum and Attorney’s and proceeded to collaborate in shootouts against the Anarchists, taking casualties on both sides, all of which in turn filling the coffers as the other half of the gang still camped the Haunted (Ol’ Howard) Undertakers.

Soon enough, the Oddities found themselves with 0 influence, netting the Racket (Tom) and the Regulators (Eiten), who spent a turn squabbling with one-another (alternating between friend and foe this game), one Victory Point each. Xui and the gang were saved by a pair of timely Sunday Best, allowing them to not forfeit on the wages of Longwei Fu and Natalya, who were beat back again as they tried to reclaim the deeds (especially the Mausoleum ramping to 3 control points): But in the the master’s retreat (Fu), he imbued his comrades with knowledge of warfare, as a second round of reinforcements returned to retake the Mausoleum, and, deploying tricks of the light (Sun in yer Eyes), were able to beat back the occupiers. Thus it was that Xui’s Anarchists suddenly placed the entire game in check (“Total Control” style aka 3 Victory Points), such that those precious 0-bullet 1- or 2- influence dudes emerged from their homes to mount desperate last-ditch efforts (hoping to “topdeck” a legal 4-of-a-kind?), but succumbed in succession to the mathematical probabilities of such reckless folly.

Prizes were distributed (old Sherrif kit) and afterwards, the Berkeley playgroup’s founding members (Tom and myself) headed to the local pub to discuss business…

Tom (@MadPip) Played “The Establishment of Respectable Gentlemen” (The Establishment of Respectable Gentlemen · DoomtownDB)
Stefan (@stefan667) Played “Clown Grinder” (Clown grinder · DoomtownDB)
Eiten played “No Funny Stuff” (No Funny Stuff · DoomtownDB)
I played “Honey Dagger” (Honey Dagger (Multiplayer) · DoomtownDB)

4 Likes