Howdy there, Pard’ners, and welcome to another Doomtown Reloaded Preview!

This week we have a preview out of the next saddlebag, Frontier Justice: The Winchester Model 1873. Now everyone knows Winchester made some fine guns back in the day, and this one’s no exception. For 1 rock you get a guaranteed bullet bonus. Then in a shootout you can boot your dude to stud them up and gain another bullet. So, if we compare it to the most direct analog, pearl-handled revolver, we’ve booted our dude for +2 bullets, which given that the dude is a stud is a big swing. Put on a dude like Mongwau or The Fixer who already have a large chunk of bullets to their name and you’re now looking at one of the biggest stacks of card draw off one dude.

That said, the penalty does mean this isn’t for every deck. Booting your dude is definitely a cost to this card, as it effectively means the dude involved is likely done for the turn. Further, they can no longer pay the cost of the Winchester itself, meaning while they are a big ol’ stud for one shootout, even if they show up again they’re not going to be a stud again, unlike the dudes wieldin’ pearl handles. To spell it out, this card gives you power at the cost of versatility. That said I’d imagine there are a number of decks that could benefit from its use of uplifting a draw into a main shooter. One of the most dangerous might just be running both this and the pearl, all but guaranteeing you can make one of your starting dudes into a stud turn one.

Lastly are the trick plays this card lets you have. I’ve not seen many concealed weapons, but that card would let both this or the pearl handled turn a sudden ambush into a much riskier proposition, letting you wait to know which draw got jumped before you stud them up. Next up is the trick of tossing this on your already large stud as insurance against effects like Sun in Your Eyes, Mirror Mirror, or similar make draw effects should they start becoming overly popular. Give your stud +1 bullets, and then if they get dropped to a draw turn their studliness back on. While neither of these are likely plays, they do add some interesting versatility to the card.

In total, this adds an interesting option to the “make my not shooters into shooters” pool. Studs are expensive propositions, while large bullet draws are not – this lets you turn a cheap high bullet draw into a stud for dirt cheap. I would not be surprised to see a number of decks trying this out over – or in addition to – the pearl-handled.

Happy trails!