Got Yourself a Gun | Chapter 2 Starter Guide

Got Yourself a Gun

This series provides 10 playtested decks using the Chapter 2 Core and new Starters, with each deck compatible for two player with at least 7 others (and working well at high player counts). Here, Tommy uses Winchester Model 12 with plenty of bullets from Stock Ammo Reload to blast away enemies, dealing up to 17 damage with two Vicious Blows. Did you expect anything else?!

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At a Glance

Stats
Clue-finding:	★★★☆☆
Consistency:	★★★★☆
Enemy Management:	★★★★★+
Encounter Defense:	★★★☆☆
Survivability:	★★★★☆
Simplicity:	★★★★★

Overview

• Loves guns more than Revolver Ocelot: With Tommy's ability you can bring Winchester Model 12 into play with 5 ammo, and then use Stock Ammo Reload to increase this to 10. As each shot can deal up to 5 damage, that's a hell of a lot of efficiency! With two Vicious Blows, it's possible to deal 17 damage - enough to kill the Brethren of Ash big baddie in one round on two player. M1911 and Becky provide suitable +1 damage backup weapons. Love your guns, and they'll love you back!

• Police? Cops? PoliceCops: Like any policeman worth his salt, Tommy goes On the Beat and will Stakeout devious cultists. This puts his 3 to good use, allowing him to find clues passably well on standard difficulty - particularly with Perception and Unexpected Courage.

• Goes nuts for doughnuts: Just as doughnuts give our boys in blue a boost, so does Endurance and skills here (I do not apologize for the segue). Winchester Model 12 needs boosts to hit over-successes, so aside from Endurance then Armed to the Teeth provides a whopping +3 boost, and Overpower or Unexpected Courage provide +2s. With Logan and the Winchester itself, you test at a respectable 8 before before boosting. To fund Endurance, then on top of Logan there's Bounty and Emergency Cache - which make dealing with Loose Cannon easier too.

• Consistency: There's a 97% chance of drawing either a gun or a tutor card (Right Tool for the Job or Protective Vest) in a hard mulligan, and the odds of any of tutors working if you didn't get a gun are greater than 70%. This gives you respectable odds of getting a piece out early.

• Soak and encounter deck: There's 9 and 7 icons in this deck to assist with Willpower treacheries. Meanwhile Endurance supports with Agility treacheries, so you're somewhat covered on both sides. Protective Vest gives damage soak to preserve Logan. Stakeout provides some limited horror healing, and Logan himself is emergency soak.

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Campaign starter and planned progression

If playing without Daniela, you can consider removing an Unexpected Courage and replacing with the second copy of Right Tool for the Job. 0 XP deck is below (and link here):

A recommended order of purchases/upgrades is:

• Scene of the Crime → On the Beat

• 1 x Service Revolver → 1 x Winchester Model 12

• 1 x Service Revolver → 1 x Stock Ammo Reload

• 1 x Guts → 1 x Stock Ammo Reload

• 1 x Endurance → 1 x Endurance •••

• 1 x Endurance → 1 x Winchester Model 12

Post-19 XP suggestions are:

• M1911 → Thompson Submachine Gun

Explain Yourself!

It's Tommy. He has guns. /section

In seriousness, there's no way you're not taking a big gun on Tommy. Apart from the second copy of Right Tool for the Job which is Daniela's deck, there's nothing else I'd change here. For me even Extended Barrel is not worth the XP if you have upgraded Endurance to boost when you need to. Winchester Model 12 already bakes in a very similar effect to upgraded Vicious Blow so it's less worthwhile.

For the luxury post-19 XP purchases, I genuinely think Thompson Submachine Gun is a good pick. This way, you're even more certain to have a big weapon at your fingertips. The Thompson deals up to 12 damage in a round compared to the Winchester Model 12's maximum of 15. While you have to boost and over-succeed to get that damage, I still think the better maximum plus lower resource cost makes the Winchester your first choice for a big gun.

Compatability Matrix

Everyone likes a good matrix! Below are all the decks that are compatible at two player using one Chapter 2 Core and one 2026 Starter Deck set:

For higher player counts I've not 'compatabilized' the basic skills (Overpower, Manual Dexterity, Guts, Perception and Unexpected Courage). There are only 4 copies of each in the Chapter 2 core, enough for any two decks. If playing 3+ players and there's a clash, you can either:

• Swap with an appropriate level 0 class skill which that deck can use (e.g. On the Brink for Unexpected Courage).

• Swap with a class event or asset with matching or similar symbols (e.g. Working a Hunch for Perception).

• Swap with a different underused basic skill you still believe would be useful for the deck (e.g. Guts for Unexpected Courage).

• Proxy however you see fit (especially if you own Chapter 1 cards, just use the old school versions and remember the slight difference around who draws the card).

I empower you to do sensible things!

Final thoughts

I do like that Chapter 2 has taken efforts to solidify guns as S tier weapon assets, it's a move in the right direction and makes the card pool more interesting. I'm sure some people will find Tommy and this deck vanilla, and maybe that's true - but if so it's Ben & Jerry's Vanilla Pecan Blondie ice cream rather than some cheap, off-brand trash! I guess ultimately what's more pulpy - using a melee weapon against a Great Old One, or blowing a space hopper-sized hole out of them with a shotgun? I know which one I'm picking every time...

Any thoughts - drop them below!