The spoilers are coming out so fast that I couldn’t fit them in one post any more! Team Covenant and Run4games just dropped spoilers this weekend. That makes nearly half the pack. Hopefully we will see the saddlebag before Christmas! My first spoiler article already has seven cards for you to see from the next saddlebag expansion and the next spoilers will be added here.
Angelica Espinosa
(from Strange Assembly)
Angelica is another good, cheap gun for Sloane. The great part is, she has no influence, so using her in another faction doesn’t cost any extra. Her skill makes her helpful to any posse. She has a built in Buffalo Rifle. As a shootout action, she can join a posse that is at an adjacent location without moving or booting to that location. Her ability to shoot far away will get interesting with deeds such as the Surveyor’s Office.
Ballot Counter
(From AEG)
The Ballot Counter makes for the first Gadget easily built with an ace. Any Mad Scientist with a 2 skill or with the help of the Morgan Research Institute can build this Gadget with no issues. Because of its low invention cost, you can put it in a deck not built around mad science. As long as you have one scientist, you’ll be able to build it.
The applications are already endless. In a Law Dogs deck, it can be used so that one dude, even your low influence one like Philip Swinford can eventually put a bounty on Lillian Morgan all by himself. It can make Make the Smart Choice into a devestatingly powerful Shootout penalty. The Ballot Counter is a great way to stay in the game longer as you reform for a counter attack. Losing by 1? Just pay 1 Ghost Rock to tie up the game again. If you run a Telegraph Office and the Ballot Counter is on the dude that entered play, you can gain the influence, then earn it all back! It can be used to give your zero influence dudes the power to start taking control of deeds.
This card does cost you Ghost Rock every time you use it, but it can keep you in the game while you aren’t drawing dudes that can fight back.
It’s Not What You Know…
(From Gomorra Gazette)
This new action card gives players who want high numbers in their deck an opportunity to still have good Cheatin’ Resolutions as well. It does cost 2 Ghost Rock, but it can bring a high rank Cheatin’ hand down into a reasonable level or be used to cause plenty of casualties against an opponent if you were already winning in the first place.
An additional upside to this card is that it has a regular resolution ability just like Cheatin’ Varmint. If your opponent doesn’t cheat, you’ll still have the option to use this card. It would also allow you to play both cards in the same shootout, one as a Cheatin’ response and the other as a normal resolution response. If you add Hex Slingin’ or a Force Field, you might be able to win the fight even if you revealed a legal three of a kind!
Leonardo “Leon” Cavallo
(From Run4Games)
Leon is another Huckster that will likely compete for the starting spot in Fourth Ring posses. He is comparable to Steele Archer with the addition of an ability and the loss of one point of Huckster skill. His ability is virtually the same as having a built in Paralysis Mark. Leon can stay safe longer by himself by booting the first dude that comes along before he gets called out.
Combined with a Pharmacy, he can boot the first dude that comes for him and then run away after unbooting from the Pharmacy.
Holy Wheel Gun
(From Team Covenant)
The Holy Wheel Gun is immediately interesting as one of the few items with a static +2 bullet bonus for only 2 Ghost Rock. It is a difficulty 5 to build which means that its own rank of 6 can pass with no modifiers needed. It also has a shootout ability built in. A -1 bullet penalty doesn’t really feel like much when compared to cards like Pinned Down or Sun in Yer Eyes, but forcing an Abomination to be the first casualty can keep those crazy clowns of the Fourth Ring in check. The Ghostly Gun is the perfect target for this weapon as he will be forced to use his resolution ability or go to the discard anyway on the turn you choose.
Even if your opponent isn’t playing abominations, you still have the +2 bullets on your dude and a -1 on an opposing dude. This can make any natural stud into a fearsome shooter.
Mortimer Parsons 
(previewed on Gomorra Gazette)
Mortimer has some pretty impressive stats. Law Dogs would easily be able to start several studs with only 1 upkeep each. Mortimer will be one of the better starting choices in order to get that posse up to a respectable influence. Mortimer’s trait continues the trend for Law Dogs to play non-cheatin’ hands.
If you reveal a cheatin’ hand, Mortimer goes home booted and his influence drops to zero. This could be quite disastrous in a close game, but it also means that Parsons can form a cheatin’ hand whenever you need to get out of a dangerous situation. Think your opponent is going to hit him with a Point Blank? Form a cheatin’ hand to get Mortimer out of there. When his influence hits zero and he’s booted at home, he won’t be much better than he would have been as a casualty, but if he lives to see another day, he will be back to full force.
Mortimer can also be used to go to an opponent’s important deed that he will want to defend. Once he’s booted a bunch of his dudes to get there, use Mortimer’s trait to move home. Meanwhile the rest of your dudes should have free reign over the town. He’s a mad scientist, so if you’re worried about his loss of influence, make sure to give him a Plasma Drill to knock out some of your opponent’s control points to keep things even.
Check back for more!
This will be the new home for additional spoilers as they are released. While you wait, don’t forget to check out some of my other strategy articles focusing on deck-building or the other dudes Law Dogs can bring to the table.
Published: Dec 11, 2014 08:45 am