Tommy² | Ch2 Starters Revisited

Tommy²

In this mini-series I'm focusing on powerful decks built from the Chapter 2 starters. Here, Tommy uses the Thompson Submachine Gun as a big gun. With it and upgraded Vicious Blow, you can deal up to 16 damage in a turn - toasty!

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Series Decks

At a Glance

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

Overview

• "Is that standard issue?": By running an otherwise cheap deck Tommy can afford the Thompson Submachine Gun. The Tommy Gun allows you to test at a 7 fight value, further boostable by Extended Barrel (which assists the unboosted attacks - great for picking off weak enemies). With a Thompson in play, there are 12 other cards that can be commited for a +2 boost (or more) on tests. Custom Grip allows you to swap guns mid-combat, favored over Stock Ammo Reload as Tommy's own ability can provide more ammo and there's plenty on the Thompson already.

• Stakeouts on the beat: Rather than situational cards such as "Make 'em sing" or Scene of the Crime, the deck favors investigation boosters such as Stakeout and On the Beat. Overall there's 16 icons in this deck, making clue-finding reasonable if a little modest.

• The elephant in the interrogation room: No allies? No ALLIES?!? No - there's no allies!! Logan Hastings is the only ally I would consider, and his upfront cost is too expensive when your key asset is the Thompson Submachine Gun. As such, he's just in the level 0 deck before you get your big gun - and then phased out quickly afterwards. In a lot of ways this helps with tempo, as you only need to play a single asset and you're ready to roll. Protective Vest can provide health soak, but only play it if you need it. Stakeout conveniently heals horror while aiding with investigation. Extra cash from not playing an ally can be spent on events, extra ammo or new guns, and Loose Cannon will likely gobble cash too.

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Starting deck and planned progression

0 XP starting deck is below (and link here):

A recommended order of purchases/upgrades is:

• 1 x Machete → 1 x Thompson Submachine Gun

• Logan Hastings → Extended Barrel

• Scene of the Crime* → On the Beat

• 1 x Machete → 1 x Thompson Submachine Gun

• Vicious Blow → Vicious Blow ••

_{* You may want to keep Scene of the Crime in your deck specifically for Children of Blood, as it tends to have a lot of Aloof enemies. You can sub in Stakeout ••• or M1911 •• upgrades as a consequence.}

Post-18 XP suggestions are:

• Stakeout → Stakeout •••

• M1911 → M1911 ••

Playtesting Notes

I played this through Children of Blood on two-player at standard difficulty. Personally I'd recommend starting on hard with the 5 bonus XP, so that you can take Thompson Submachine Gun (likely being a little easier). I did find my first draft of a level 0 deck to be weak vs. the challenge required, and so I put Logan back in to help you hit higher test values with M1911 (previously Logan was "Make 'em sing"). You'll likely want to try and find Becky, play with 4 ammo and get Logan out to have a chance at the first scenario on standard (easy should be fine). There is a damage-dealing treachery which tests in River of Blood too, Logan provides more of a buffer vs. that (I drew it and received 3 damage!).

Once you get the Tommy Gun (even a single copy) then you're set. Tommy is challenging as his card draw stinks, but your big gun with an Extended Barrel means you test at an 8 (and most bosses have a fight value of 4, while standard difficulty bags usually cap at -4 tokens - so you pass on anything but ). Your boosts can then be used on the attack of Tommy Gun to rack up more damage (testing at a 7 with Extended Barrel with something like Overpower). Usually playing Becky early and transitioning to a 8 ammo Tommy Gun will see you through the majority of a scenario (which is exactly what I did scenario 2 of Children of Blood). The Tommy Gun isn't the best for the scenario 3 boss, but is workable so long as you keep healthy during the scenario (Winchester Model 12 would instead be better, please see the other Tommy deck if you want to give that a go).

Final thoughts

I think the Thompson Submachine Gun is a lot of fun. There's something about successive tests which really mount up tension in an exciting way. The hidden detail with this deck is just how cheap it is outside of the Tommy Gun - your other guns are back-up assets and then the rest of your 2 resource cards are situational.

I remember I wrote a deck guide a a few years ago that didn't include an ally, and I didn't mention it in the write up. The first comment was basically, "Dude WTF where's your ally?!". This time around I wanted to explain it's definitely a feature and not a bug haha! I do like that this deck feels like a thematic progression from his Chapter 1 counterpart: Ch1 Tommy got people killed, so Ch2 Tommy is going it alone. Hope you enjoy!