Revolver: The Wild West Gunfighting Game
2
12+
45
The year is 1892. The bank at Repentance Springs has been robbed. Many good citizens, including Sheriff Anton Dreyfus and school-marm Sue Daggett, were brutally slain as the gang shot its way, whooping and hollering, out of town. Colonel Ned McReady and his men are tasked with bringing Jack Colty - a man so mean he'd steal a fly from a blind spider, or a coin off a dead man's eyes - and his gang to justice.
- Perfectly thematically balanced card game set in the Wild West.
- Each player has their own unique deck of cards with unique possibilities.
- Several winning conditions for each player: requires different tactics and different methods of play.
- Short texts and clear symbols on the cards make the game easy and clear to play.
- Cards feature beautiful illustrations and have titles that could have been lifted directly from a western movie, such as : "Let's shoot our way outta here" and "Chew on this, gringo!".
- A lot of direct player interaction and high replayability.
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Revolver is a two player card game produced by Stronghold Games. In it, you play either the forces of law and order led by Colonel Jack McReady or the bank robbing, evil gang of Jack “The Crow” Colty. Each player gets their own deck of cards which they will play on a shared battlefields as The Crow and his gang attempt to escape on the 3:15 train or to Mexico. In addition to their deck, the player controlling The Crow also has 16 cards laid out in front of him representing Jack Colty and each member of his villainous gang (including his dog bullet). As play proceeds, the forces of law order methodically eliminate the gang while Jack Colty attempts to stay alive long enough to escape. If Colonel Jack McReady eliminates the gang before Colty escapes, he wins, but if not, the Crow flies off with the loot and victory.
Pros:
1) Absolutely dripping with a great theme.
2) Real tension is generated for both players as they attempt to accomplish their goal despite the best efforts of their opponent. Games are truly not determined until the end as each games typically comes with enjoyable swings of momentum.
3) The play is pretty intuitive and quick. Games are typically under a half of an hour allowing you to play multiple games or squeeze in a game with limited time.
4) The asymmetrical play decks are extremely well designed and balanced and provide high replayability especially since the winning conditions and style of the decks are different.
5) Quality of the components is high. Cards are of nice stock and the artwork is fantastic. Game comes in a well organized tin.
Cons:
1) For a simple game the rulebook is heinous and the FAQ document available on line is not much better. Some of the explanations I have seen on line from the designer seem like he is making it up as he goes. As it turns out, a key rule in the instructions was simply printed incorrectly. The explanations of the iconography and how the cards are used is byzantine at best.
2) The biographies printed in the rulebook of the various characters in the game could not be worse. I wish I had never read that section and try to forget what I saw. The art for the theme is fantastic but the write-ups for the characters totally undermines it. You are much better off just making up your own story to fit with the drawing of the characters. The biographies provided basically just say the bad guys are actually good and the good guys are actually bad. Please.
3) A strong argument can and has been made that the game is playing you rather than you playing the game. In other words, while the decks are balanced it does make quite a bit of difference which cards you draw in the game (and you are not going to draw all of the cards in your deck). Both decks have powerful cards, but if one side draws them and one side doesn’t, the game may seem determined by luck rather than skill. Now, many card games are determined by draws, but since in Revolver you are not actually constructing your own deck it will frustrate some. Is there skill involved and significant choices to be made as to which cards to play and when? I would argue yes, so this problem is certainly mitigated. Nevertheless, it is going to bother some folks.
Conclusion:
Revolver is somewhat difficult to assign a fair grade to as there are real positives and real negatives to the game. Ultimately, the majority of the negatives can be easily overcome (you can find explanations on the rules and if you avoid reading the biographies you will be set with theme). If you are not one that is insistent on designing your own deck, you are going to enjoy this game. It ultimately is a lot of light fun with plenty of action that begs for hamming up the results as you perpetually gun down your opponent. Therefore, despite its flaws, Revolver is a great game for two when something fast, easy, and entertaining is called for.