About the game:
Welcome to Doomtown, where you try to gain control of a western town set in the Weird West of Deadlands. In this world, cowpokes good and bad wield guns, steampunk gadgets, and spells of all sorts, and death is sometimes just a minor inconvenience.
In Deadwood, South Dakota, Eagle woman That All Look At tries to enforce a fragile treaty. Hao-Te Zui’s Anarchists fight for the townsfolk that E.B Farnum’s consortium of Entrepreneurs are trying to drive out of business. Bass Reeves, the West’s most persistent Marshal, arrives in pursuit of the notorious outlaw, Jessica Patchett, who’s trying to escape her bloody past. And out in the Badlands, Ursula’s cult prepares to summon the power of the great Worm.
Doomtown: Weird West Edition is a poker-driven, territory control card game, updated from (and fully compatible with) the 2014 release of Doomtown: Reloaded, which was based on the 1998 Origins Awards Best Trading Card Game, Deadlands: Doomtown by Alderac Entertainment Group!
All aspects of the game that require randomization are controlled via a poker mechanism as every card has a suit and value. Preparing for the hands you want to draw is as much a part of deck building as choosing the actions and dudes you’ll want to play. Your deck is built around an Outfit, one of the six main groups attempting to control Deadwood.
Combat is resolved via poker hands. Deciding who goes first is decided by drawing the top five cards from your deck and the lowest poker hands go first.
Players take one action each, in turn which can include:
- Hiring a new dude (getting you influence in town)
- Purchasing a new deed (getting you control in town)
- Shopping for gear for your dudes
- Start a shootout with your opponents to try to remove their influence.
When each player passes, you reach “Sundown” for the day. If any player has more control in town than anyone else has influence, you win.
