Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article on Wild West Exodus. Today we’re going to break down the Wild West Exodus Starter Set Gunfight at Red Oak. Now this is a two player starter set with two Lawmen specific models, (Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday) and two Outlaw specific models (Frank and Jesse James). The rest of the models in the box can be used for either faction. Also included are a pair of K-9 Gun Dogs, a pair of K-9 Attack Dogs, a Ranger Interceptor, and a Frontier Outrider. Also included are all of the dice, templates, tokens and other things you need to play the game, and of course a copy of the rule book. If you want to check out our unboxing video, check out the link HERE.
Now there are two unique posse cards in this set, The Tombstone Posse and The Honour Among Thieves Posse.
Honour Among Thieves
This is an interesting Posse, because you can use it in either Outlaws, Hex, or Enlightened forces, representing Jesse’s willingness to work with just about anybody for the right price.
Boss Restriction: Jesse James
Special Benefit: If all six slots are filled, then Jesse James and all Face units in the Posse gain the Prodigious common rule. Prodigious means that when those units take Focused actions, they gain a +3 bonus (or a +3’) instead of the regular bonuses for focusing. This makes them a little bit more capable of either getting around the table or accomplishing the action they are attempting.
Slot 1: Frank James or an Outlaw Mercenary Hands unit
Slot 2: An Outlaw Mercenary Hands and/or an Outlaw Mercenary Face unit
Slot 3: An Outlaw Mercenary Hands and/or an Outlaw Mercenary Face unit
Slot 4: An Outlaw Mercenary Hands and/or an Outlaw Mercenary Face unit
Slot 5: An Outlaw Mercenary Hands and/or an Outlaw Mercenary Support unit
Slot 6: An Outlaw Mercenary Face and/or an Outlaw Mercenary Support unit
Discussion: Now this is an interesting Posse with a lot of Options. Being able to take Hands and Face units on 3 of the Cylinders can give you bodies to fill the table and specialists to handle things. Adding Support units can give you some variety of choices, but this posse gives you an advantage when you fill all the slots, so it’s possible to take 5 Face units, a Support or Hands unit, and Jesse. At larger points you can filter in other Hands units to give you bodies on the table and it’s a very versatile force.
Tombstone
This is a very different Posse from Honour Among Thieves.
Boss Restriction: Wyatt Earp
Special Benefit: Faces and Bosses in this Posse have the Teamwork common rule. Teamwork let’s you chain activate when one of your Faces or Bosses in this posse finishes activating. (Though you can include both Morgan and Wyatt in this set, you can’t use Morgan’s legendary version).
Slot 1: A Lawmen Face unit with the Tombstone Trait
Slot 2: A Lawmen Face unit with the Tombstone Trait
Slot 3: A Lawmen Face unit with the Tombstone Trait
Slot 4: A Lawmen Face and/or Lawmen Hands unit
Slot 5: A Lawmen unit with the Tombstone Trait (including a Boss)
Slot 6: A Lawmen Face and/or Lawmen Support unit
Discussion: This posse doesn’t have quite the range of options that Honour Among Thieves has, but it makes up for that range with a depth of interesting options. You can take 4 Tombstone specific units (Conveniently, the four available are Doc Holliday, Warren Earp, Virgil Earp, and Morgan Earp). You can also take some additional Faces and/or a Hands unit/Support unit. The Face/Boss Teamwork buff lets you chain activate everyone at once and that means you can have very swingy turns where your people all go off at once and take huge chunks out of your opponent’s force.
Outlaws
Jesse James
Jesse is a very solid Boss at 230 points. Limit of 3, Quickness 6 and Mind 6 are fairly standard for a Boss, but his Fight of 6, Grit 6, and Aim 7 are very very good, especially when you take his other traits into consideration. Quick Draw is an amazingly solid ability that lets you take your second shoot action for 1 AP instead of the usual 2. Gunfighter lets Jesse target different units with his Hyper-V Pistols and lets him activate Revolver Fan without spending an AP. Combined with his high Aim stat, and if you are using him as part of Honour Among Thieves Posse, Jesse is very likely to hit and drop targets. Gambler gives Jesse the ability to roll the dice for more APs when he activates, and with Dying Breath Jesse is still very, very dangerous when he dies, getting one last chance to kill something. His weapons are fairly standard, with 2 attacks on his Bionic Arms. The -3 Pierce on the Hyper-V pistols means he probably ends up dropping whatever he shot at.
Frank James
Frank is a reliable Hand at 125 points with 1 Fortune of his own. Solid stats, but nothing amazing. Frank is a dependable Sniper, with the Gun Down rule (letting him shoot at engaged targets at no penalty). He also can be upgraded to serve as a Boss for lower point games. His guns are amazingly handy however. The Juiced Pistol’s Overcharged on criticals trait gives the weapon Disrupt and Hazardous when it crits. The Sophie Rifle has a 20 inch range, meaning you can shoot from downtown with it and still have a solid chance of hitting the target. The Brutal critical means that when you critically hit, your opponent has to survive two hits from the rifle.
Bandit Outriders/Iron Horse Deputies
Now the Outrider can be taken as either a Bandit Outrider or an Iron Horse Deputies. The Cards are listed together so you can see the differences. The primary differences between the two are the Iron Horse Deputies cost an additional 5 points, (ostensibly for the Tin Man rule) and that the Deputies have to be taken in minimum groups of 2, and can go as high as 6, while the Outriders come in groups of 1 to 3.
The stock version comes with Gatling Guns, but the Special issue rule lets you switch that out for either flame throwers, grenade launchers, or electrocarbines. Each of these weapons gives you a different way to engage the opponent. The stock Gatling Gun is a neat weapon. Linked lets it re-roll failed hits, and Brutal means it gets to score an automatic second hit after the first is resolved. With a range of 15 inches, -2 PRC, and ROA 4, The flamethrower has the torrent rule, meaning it can hit everyone under the template. Engulf ignores the target’s obscured bonuses to grit checks, and Hazardous gives the Hazard Condition.
The Grenade Launcher has Range 12, it covers a decent amount of table space and with PRC -2 it can go through lightly armored targets. Blast hits an area of effect around the target, meaning you can bring down an entire unit of bunched up hands or a group of characters hanging out. Indirect means you won’t need LOS to shoot at the target. Now because it’s Heavy, it could be restricted to move or firing, but because the Outrider is a machine, it ignored this hindrance. Finally, critical Shred ignores the first piece of terrain in the way of the shot. This makes it significantly easier to bring down a target if Shred goes off. The Electrocarbines have the critical Stun ability, making it a lot easier to incapacitate enemy targets.
Bandit Interceptor/Frontier Interceptor
The Interceptors come as either Bandit or Frontier versions. The Frontier version is 5 points more expensive, again to account for the Tin Man rule. Unlike the Outriders, they come in 1 to 3 groups for both factions. They don’t have the gun options of the Outriders either, but the Hyper-Volley Guns are nasty weapons on both. The Outlaw version has the Overcharged crit effect, handing out Disrupt and Hazardous, while the Lawmen version just has Lethal. The Lawmen version also has the Iron Asp Baton, which gives the Interceptor the ability to force a successful hit to be rerolled in a melee attack. It also has the Stun property, which gives you another way to hand out Stunned tokens.
K-9 Gun Dogs
The box comes with a pair of K-9 gun dogs, and these cost 60 points each. For the pair it comes out at 120 points, pus the optional costs of the special issue guns. The Gun Dogs are Q6, allowing them to keep pace with any of the other characters. They have similar stats to the other not named characters. They have the Steel Jaws weapon, which is a fairly typical melee weapon but the Dog gets to bite twice with each activation. The stock version comes with a Flamethrower, but the Special issue rule lets you switch that out for either a Liberty/Juiced Gatling gun or a grenade launcher
Each of these weapons gives you a different way to engage the opponent. The stock flamethrower has the torrent rule, meaning it can hit everyone under the template. Engulf ignores the target’s obscured bonuses to grit checks, and Hazardous gives the Hazard Condition. The grenade launcher works exactly like the one on the Outriders above.
The Liberty/Juiced Gatling Gun is a neat weapon. The Liberty version has Refined which lets it score critical hits on 9s and 10s, Linked lets it re-roll failed hits, and Brutal means it gets to score an automatic second hit after the first is resolved. It also has critical Shred. With a range of 15 inches, -2 PRC, and ROA 3, the Liberty Gatling Gun can blow holes in lots of targets. The Juiced version has Overcharge on Critical hits, and doesn’t have the Refined trait. However, when it does hit critically, it does hand out Disrupt and Hazardous.
K-9 Attack Dogs
The K-9 Attack Dogs are usable by either faction, and provide additional bodies for the fight. At 50 points each, with squads of up to 6, you can have a lot of fun with the Dogs. With a similar stat line to the Gun Dogs, (minus the Aim, which makes sense since they don’t pack a ranged weapon), the K-9s are very quick on the table. They have the same Steel Jaws weapon that the Gun Dog has.
Lawmen
Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp is a very solid character for Wild West Exodus. Fortune of 4, with very solid stats compared to his counterpart in the Outlaws faction, Wyatt has a variety of weapons and tools to deal with the world. He’s 285 points of Lawmen, and let’s take a closer look at his special rules. He’s got the Tin Man special rule like all of the Lawmen, giving him +1 Grit when he’s in base contact with another friendly model with this rule. The re-rolling Yeller checks isn’t bad either.
Form Up On Me works very well with a friendly Hands unit, as it lets Wyatt and that unit make a free move action before the game starts. Bunker also makes Wyatt very survivable, as long as he’s not moving he has +2 Grit. If he’s standing in base contact with another friendly Lawmen unit, that’s Grit of 9.
Wyatt’s equipment is another area of consideration. He’s got the stock and trade Iron Asp baton that most Lawmen carry. The Tombstone Shield gives him another way to force your opponent to re-roll successful hits in close combat. The Manreaper Shotgun has the Torrent ability, giving Wyatt a way to clear out a crowd, and he has the Magnum Peacemaker to deal with singular hard targets. Brutal means your opponent gets to resist it twice, and Critical Shred means it ignores an additional point of Grit (total of -5) when you roll the 10s to hit. Also, keep an eye on its 12 inch range, compared to the 10 inches on most pistols.
Doc Holliday
Doc Holliday is 175 points for a 1 Fortune character who is built to shoot people to death. Aim 8 is one of the best shooters in the game, and Doc has decent stats in every other category. His special rules are rock solid as well.
He has the obligatory Tin Man, like almost all of the Lawmen. He’s got Dead or Alive, making his Baton lethal against stunned or disordered targets. His Masked lets him ignore the Disordered condition from smokescreen weapons. Then he has Gambler, Quickdraw, and Gunfighter, just like Jesse James does above, except he has a higher base Aim.
For Ranged Weapons, he has both Blaster Pistols and Razor Sharp Cards. The Pistols are fairly standard weapons, with a Range of 10, Pierce of -1 and 2 shots, but Doc can target separate targets with both shots. The Razor Sharp Cards are more interesting with a shorter range but 3 shots. Critical Decapitate means they’re Lethal as well.
Points per side:
As the box indicates you should assign the models the following way:
Outlaw: Jesse James, Frank James, Bandit Outrider, K-9 Gun Dog, K-9 Attack Dog. Points: 560 (most expensive legal options).
Lawmen: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Frontier Interceptor, K-9 Gun Dog, K-9 Attack Dog. Points: 675 (most expensive options)
If you want to make this fairer, give the Outlaws both K-9 Attack Dogs (shift the points 50, to 610/625).
What to add next?
Well, that’s an interesting question. If you are wanting to expand the Tombstone Posse, I would consider picking up a few more of the Earp Brothers (or the Armoured Justice Posse itself). The Earp Brothers make use of the Teamwork special ability well, and Armoured Justice gives you access to Morgan and a pair of Gun Dogs to flesh out your Tombstone Posse.
Honour Among Thieves Posse is a little more interesting because in order to take advantage of its ability, you need to fill the slots. This means you are probably going to want to look through the superb catalog of Faces available to the Mercenary Outlaws, and figure out which way you want to expand. The Mercenaries are a broad faction and you can build them to go a lot of different directions.
Final Thoughts
That’s our look at Gunfight at Red Oak, the 2 player starter set for Wild West Exodus. If you want to see them unboxed, check out our video at the link in the header. Keep an eye out for another one of these soon. Thanks for reading, Game on, Game Fans.
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