GUN DECK PEW PEW PEW PEW

GUN DECK GUN DECK PEW PEW PEW

===POINT OF THE DECK===

I know what you're thinking,

you think in your best impoverished little English boy accent, "Why? Why bother with a fighter cluever flex deck when you can't be the best at either?"

well little Timmy from down the lane, there's only one true reason for this:

Chaos.

Because for every scenario you start with Bandolier, .45 automatic, magnifying glass, arcane enlightenment, emergency cache you'll draw 5 event cards, mulligan all 5, into all 3 of your allies and 2 skill cards turn 1. Followed by -3 actions to boot so you can sit there and think about how much of a bad boy you've been.

Realistically, guns in the game are pretty strong (more so now that I've discovered you can reload them...), and as far as fighter cluever flex goes, it probably doesn't get better than Roland here. Roland wants to be fighting enemies on locations with clues, and he wants to wrap up combat quick. So, he wants to spend few clicks dispatching enemies whilst getting maximum value from doing so. Guns in this game enable him to do bonus damage and hit value with a cool flair. You may be thinking sledgehammer, survival knife, crowbar, other weapons that don't have finite uses may be simply better than guns. And you'd have fair point, sledgehammer -> cyclopean hammer is basically BiS for fighters. BUT, when you're trying to work a crime scene post dispatched enemy, you don't want to be investigating a pulpy mess. Therefore, my boy Roland here prefers a gentleman's weapon.

===UPGRADE TIME===

POTENTIAL WEAK LINKS

So, you've got your first lousy experience points and want to make the deck betta'. Here's the planiel Staniel.

Let's identify the weak links of the level 0 deck so you know what can generally be shifted out, whether for upgrade cards or 1:1 for other level 0 cards for your own flavor:

Arcane Enlightenment x Old Book of Lore - These can be worked out of your deck at level 0 no problem. This is purely in the deck for meme flex, seeker abuse, book reading. The deck simply doesn't need them, I need them.

.45 Thompson - It's just not amazing as far as guns go, especially at level 0. At level 3 the guardian version get's some resource bounce back which isn't bad, but for 3xp you'll definitely never want two copies imo.

Alice Luxley - Alice is good. I just like Milan better. This being said, Alice's ability activates off Roland's investigator ability for the niche situation where you have 2 enemies engaged with you, kill one, hoover a clue, and then you can damage the other enemy. In my experience, if you're killing things properly you shouldn't ever have more than 1 enemy engaged with you ESPECIALLY since you can't evade.

Geared up - This is such a gamble when combined with Forced learning, it's almost unnecessary for the limited value it gives you. As written above, dudding out in your opening hand -> 5 card mulligan into 0 item cards nets you negative 3 actions and -3 resources basically. Which is really bad, like, scenario ruining bad almost. When this goes right however, you're gaining A LOT of tempo and getting your engine online VERY effectively at level 0. How do we rectify this? I'll show you, let's get into the upgrade cards. EDIT: THIS BACKPACK MANEUVER WILL WORK WHEN SCARLET KEYS COMES OUT WITH THE NEW TABOO LIST TO ERRATA GEARED UP, TRUST AND HAVE FAITH MY FELLOW DISCIPLES OF YOG.

Warning shot - if hunter curl up in ball and cry.

Knife (x2) - You generally want to get rid of knives asap as they're pretty much dead cards after you get literally any gun out. Level up card replacement fodder.

Charisma - This ended up dudding, as another big problem the deck has is money. Getting two allies, especially the two in the level 0 deck out was nearly impossible. The 3xp from in the thick of it is better used on hallowed mirror 3, emergency cache level 3, or a different reload.

POTENTIAL REPLACEMENTS

First Aid (x2) - Most Roland decks you'll see have 2 first aids in them. While it's simply better to just not get hit, it's usually an inevitability. When playing without other support/heal cards, you may want to consider a second copy of this. EDIT: I'd probably just recommend hallowed mirror level 0/3 as it's bis guardian healing

Evidence! - if you have this in hand when you defeat an enemy and choose to play it you'll essentially gain 2 clues from the location you're on. This is very strong and Evidence! is generally a flex staple. I opted not to include this initially due to not having much experience with the game personally; I don't know if I'll need to clue that hard, you feel me? Idk I may throw this in when I actually play don't sue me.

.32 Colt - If this was a 2 coster it would probably make it in the deck. The main reason is to try and get it out early and spam eat lead to ensure some good damage gets out there. Otherwise it's just kinda meh.

Get over here (x2) - A good card, always worth the second copy, and potentially the upgrades.

Astounding Revelation (xX) - So if you for sure want to add Stick to the Plan into your deck then definitely pick up atleast one copy of this for the extra 2x supply to start. I'll talk about stick to the plan later but the tradeoffs is generally -X potentially more useful cards in your deck +X dead draws until stick to the plan gets added which can be ~3 scenarios deep in your 8 scenario campaign. Since I want to spend xp on guns and gun related activites I may forego stick to the plan personally. Also, xX in the title because you can potentially add upto 3 of them in your deck.

Enyclopedia >< Old Book of Lore - You can 1:1 tome for tome. Get crazy.

Guts (x2) - Okay so willpower might be a bit of a problem (Edit: It was a huge problem.) Those pesky action or brain destroying treacherous events will be a real problem, especially since Roland isn't known for his gigantic cranium. So slotting in Guts is simply good, and card draw is good. Could at the VERY least go 1:1 with overpower.

Prepared for the worst (x2) - Finding guns is kind of important. Or, maybe you really could do with a magnifying glass like, RIGHT NOW.

Strange Solution (xX) - upgraded version of strange solution is very good and could be a cool lil side quest considering you could be clueing super hard.

Versatile - Charisma is included in the level 0 deck because allys are cool and soak is good and it seemed like a generally harmless good card. BUT versatile is an equally 'generally harmless good card' and it costs one less xp. Idk, could be some cool fun in the sun there.

UPGRADE CARDS

[2xp] Backpack - Imagine, it's turn one scenario 2, you've just added backpack into your deck, your opening hand is drawn thus;

Warning shot, Eat lead, Eat lead, Emergency cache,

you pause.

you're sitting there sweating, worried you're going to lose your first turn, thinking about the trauma your character will endure when you ultimately fail this scenario.

you put your pointer and middle finger on your 5th card for your hand and slide it off the top of the deck:

Level 2 Backpack.

You weep, tears of joy, as you immediately play it for 0 resources and search the top 12 cards of your deck for 3 item cards to attach to backpack that you can then play 2 more of with geared up from backpack as if it was in your starting hand. You tilt your head back in exultation and thank rngesus for his blessing on this day.

Need I say anything more?

[6xp] Stick to the Plan - This is a guardian STAPLE. This is what allows most guardian decks to really get consistent and it's a very good card. 6xp is spendy but the ability to guarantee some REALLY good guardian cards and activate cards on starting hand draw (I.E. Astounding Revelation) is really good. Furthermore, it kind of decreases your deck size on startup as those 3 cards are out of the pool before you draw your starting hand so you can guarantee a higher likely hood to draw into your item assets early for geared up. HOWEVER, 6xp is a lot a lot for Arkham campaigns and most of the cooler guns we want are very expensive XP wise. Because of this, I will personally do everything in my power to avoid acquiring stick to the plan in this deck.

[1xp] Hiking Boots - Mobility is good and filling the foot slot is better. Synergizes well, this may be a must get.

[Xxp] Eon Chart - I mean, probably BiS accessory slot in game. Gr8 action compression, great value. If you go this route with hallowed mirror you're likely cranking relic hunter as well.

[1xp] Ever Vigilant - May not be a gr8 choice for this deck because of how you REALLY want to hit your stride with geared up. Furthermore, if you don't really want to grab Stick to the Plan like I don't this loses a bit more guaranteed utility. I will say, this can be a decent fallback plan maybe but at that point the tempo loss may hit too hard to bounce back from.

[2xp] Bandolier - Staple of the deck, conflicts with the backpack slot. Shrug emoji, this is a must acquire in my eyes.

[3xp] Emergency Cache - We want level 0 emergency cache in the deck anyway, so the upgrades providing resources / ammo flex is great for us and an easy decision to make. Ideally, we want both copies, but even just 1 is great.

[1xp] Extra Ammunition - A staple of the gun deck, absolutely crucial piece. This is really what enables single big gun decks and when I built this deck I built it without knowing that cards like this, swift reload, emergency cache level 3, exsisted. I was mistakenly under the impression that you couldn't resupply your weapons with ammo. With that being said, this card is extremely important whether you're using multiple guns (like this deck), or one big gun you're fishing for/starting with each scenario (your flamethrowers, lightning guns).

[1xp] Marksmanship - Cool flavor firearm utility. This is a fast action (yummy) which enables you to take a fight action and do a bonus damage to an enemy at a conjoined location, not the one you're currently on.

[1xp] Snipe - Cool flavor firearm utility. This is for consistency/smoothing out rng and ensuring you hit, and since the guns have finite resources to use this is a good thing.

[3xp] On the Hunt - Gives you an enemy and money when you destroy it, in place of a potential bad event during the bad stuff phase. Issa great card.

[6xp] Flamethrower - Flamethrower is a beast of a firearm, but simply isn't great for this deck because it requires the chest slot and both hands. We need the chest slot for other things ideally. So, the flamethrower probably ain't your best pick chief.

[5xp] Lightning Gun - The wunderwaffe is a very strong contender for immediate acquisition. +5 fight +2 damage is real good, but only having 3 ammo is less good. Furthermore, 6 cost to play can be real spendy for this clunker of a deck if it whiffs the initial draw. That said, this can be made to work if you ensure you have your extra ammunition copies and level 3 emergency caches in your deck. BUT, thassa lotta xp amigo, and I don't know about you, but I'm lucky to see 14 xp total per campaign.

[4xp] M1918 BAR - This is your boring but safe and potentially best weapon upgrade pick. Without ammo resupply it's basically a 4 supply +2 fight +2 damage if success that can be flexxed to hit harder or softer depending on your need. For 4 xp 5 cost to play it's a solid pick for the gun deck.

[4xp] Shotgun - Really cool scalability. Only 2 ammo, which is real small, but +damage for every success above the opponents fight threshold can get pretty wacky if you're building around increasing your base fight stat. Still, a solid gun and a decent weapon to consider.

Honorable mention:

[3xp] .45 Thompson Guardian upgrade - Not really a hard hitter, but there's some cool money synergies since this thing shoots money and you can pay 2 to give it 3 ammo which will make you break even on the initial cost to play the gun (6) if you can get 8 shots off during the scenario. Of course, if you can get the price to play it lower the more efficient your money will be, but this deck isn't about efficiency, it's about tenacity, elasticity, and a whole lot of guns.

===Closing Remarks===

This deck was built before I learned of the mystical concept that is reloading. That being said, the best way to build a gun deck would likely be to build around a guardian/rogue deck around a single powerful gun, use a 30-25 card deck using stick to the plan, ever vigilant, and prepared for the worst to ensure you get it. This was a crucial learning deck for me, and as a final consensus you want thin decks in this game. If you were to do a single gun deck that would likely be a flamethrower deck. This deck performed quite poorly. The flavor events that consume ammo to do things were almost always not useful. During the campaign my m8 was also clueing (much harder than I, might I add) and thus it disabled the functionality of the cards that say 'if there's a clue on this location then x' as most locations were wiped clean with a swiftness. This combined with the too large deck size and piloting error made for a cool deck in theory but ineffective deck in practice.

personal upgrade plan: probably need ~14xp and it'll be: Backpack 2xp, bandolier 2xp, Extra Ammunition x2 for 2xp, m1918 bar 4xp, eon chart 1xp, hiking boots 1xp, marksmanship 1xp, snipe 1xp, and that's 14xp. We build out from there. After the BAR everything after is less important. [went for lightning gun instead lol.]

9/15/22: This deck was played through Path to Carcosa and it was without a seeker, rogue, or mystic investigator. We lost in the final scenario and it wasn't even close.