Tabletop Tuesday - Bang!

Welcome to another edition of Tabletop Tuesday - Your weekly exploration into games of dice, cards, luck and more of the Tabletop world.

This week's game...the game of dynamite and gun fights that is Bang!

Players: 4-7
Time: 20-40 minutes
Genre: Casual Card / Deduction Game



Bullets are life in the game of Bang, quite literally.  Each player is given a western themed character in which has a certain amount of bullets as their max health / hand size as well as a unique ability.  They are also given a role which is kept secret other than the Sheriff who must reveal their role (Note: The Sheriff is given an extra bullet).  The Sheriff must dispose of all outlaws and the renegade (any Deputies share this duty).  The Outlaws must gun down the Sheriff.  And the Renegade must be the last man standing, which means the Sheriff would have to be the last one to die less the Outlaws win.  In this way, the Renegade is sort of on the Sheriff's team for the first half of the game.  However, with most everyone's identities hidden, it's up to the players to try and figure out who is friend and foe.  Should the Sheriff accidentally eliminate a Deputy, they must discard their entire hand.  Should an Outlaw be taken down, the eliminator gets all their gear, even if they themselves were an Outlaw, which adds a bit of greed to ease any uncertainty of loyalties.

To make matters more interesting, player's positions in the real world dictate their range of fire in the game.  Each player starts the game with a pistol range of one, meaning they can only shoot the players to their immediate left or right.  As the game progresses, players will find better guns, horses, and other cards that can alter these dynamics and allow players to attack others further to their left or right.  I recommend this game for those who enjoy light strategy and western role playing.  There are also many expansions and variations of this game, though I don't have any personal experience with them at this time to share more input on such.  Stay tuned in the future for such.

If you have any questions about Bang (the card game), let me know in the comments.  Otherwise, look forward to future installments of Tabletop Tuesday!