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A Night of Dead Man's Hand Down Under

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Last night I and a few sturdy lads from the local club played the first three scenes of the Dead Man’s Hand ‘Down Under’ using the Kelly gang and the State Police gang…sorry but the Bush Rangers (pictured above) did not make the table. This was the first time any of us had played the Down Under variant of DMH and we were all pleasantly surprised at not only how fun it was but also how hard it was to shot down one of the Kelly gang. They are very tough and if Ned is on the table they do not have to roll a nerve test…..I guess it helps to wear armour?

However, we soon learned that the only way to do some damage to the Kelly’s was to concentrate as much fire on one member of the gang at anyone time. Hopefully with multiple hits in a turn you can kill one of them…bloody tough though. They are however slowed to only two actions a turn because of the weight of their armour, which does help a little.
The buildings for both tables were the great 4Ground buildings and all figures were from Great Escape Games and painted by Leroy Simpson, here in Townsville.
Scene one was a trooper vs one member of the Kelly gang. I scored three hits on this fellow before he even got a shot at me. However on his next move to withdrew back into the bar behind him and did not move for the rest of the game.
All but one of the State Police gang, hanging out on top of one of the town buildings and watch the show below.
Scene Two and there were now two members of the Kelly gang on the table vs the State Police SGT (he has a +2 when shooting and better nerves).
The good Sargent of the State Police
Graeme and Harrison planning their next moves on the top DMH’s table
Tommo and Jeff
Finally, the third scene, which saw all members of the Kelly gang (including Ned – two pistols) and the State Police battle it out for dominance of the town.
Easier said than done. Graeme learned the hard way when taking on the Kelly’s and lost both his Captain and Sgt in the first few turns of the game. He had his men to spread out and good not concentrate his fire.
However, on Jeff’s and Tommo’s table, it was a different story. Jeff managed to force the Kelly gang into an alleyway where he slowly picked the gang off one at a time.
The State Police tracker engages the Kelly gang from one of the safest places on the table….high ground and with good cover.
Shoot guns proved very poor against the Kelly gangs armour.
Forced into an alley there was nowhere else to hide.
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0 thoughts on “A Night of Dead Man's Hand Down Under”

  6. Vinnie

    Thanks for the fantastic and encouraging comments everyone. The old DMH is a great beer and pretzels game and I would have top agree Gordon it is a great game and loads of fun. The Kelly gang however, if very tough so make sure you bring plenty of firepower to table and concentrate your shots on one figures at a time…otherwise you will hit the dirt.

    Regards

    Nathan

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