Hair of the Dog

Waking up in the alley next to a speakeasy isn't the most dignified start to the morning, but since it was 2 in the afternoon, Tony reasoned, it didn't count. Anyway. Somewhere between the five shots of rye whiskey and the half-bottle of hooch that was definitely at least mostly liquid... He peeled himself slowly off the flagstones and patted his pockets in search of a matchbook and retrieved a battered 12-pack he'd bought from a particularly flirtatious cigarette girl ...there had been a brawl.

Damn! That explained why his pocketbook was so light and why his knuckles were so sore. More fuzzy memories smacked him in the face like the Sheldon gang triggerman he'd somehow riled up, and Tony winced from the recollection as much as from the headache. Still, he hadn't been so tough after Tony'd broken a stool over his head - and his buddy's laughter had been cut short by a bottle shattering in his face. Heh...no wait, that wasn't it.

Tony shook his head and immediately regretted doing so, waiting for his brain to finish rattling around before salvaging the train of thought. That wasn't what he'd been so proud of. Uh...he'd retrieved the thug's piece from his shoulder holster as payback for the extra cost of replacing the barman's furniture...that wasn't it either, and nor was the sneaky kick to the ribs he got in on the other prone goon before the bouncer came along. Drinking the bouncer under the table entirely? Explained the fuzzy taste in his mouth but not what he wanted to...ah!

His eyes focused on the matchbook he was still struggling to strike a match from. A lead! He'd met with his contact and gotten an address before everything went south! Tony staggered to his feet and brushed himself down slowly, planning out the rest of the afternoon in his mind. Call his designated driver. Get some extra kit for the raid. Drag the scumbag back to the O'Bannions for whatever they had in mind. And then collect his reward. Like the consummate professional he was!

But first... Tony's jaw set in determined resolve ...he needed to get another drink.

Placing your order - Deck concept

You know, it's a tough life hunting bounties. It really gets to you, even when they're not gilled monsters from below the waves. So who can really blame Tony Morgan if he turns to the bottle from time to time?

This is a theme deck, designed around dealing with Tony's low willpower and sanity by means of judicious application of alcohol, and bringing scumbags in for the price on their head with dirty fighting learned in taprooms and speakeasies.

Down the hatch - Playstyle and piloting

Chuck Fergus lets us play Improvised Weapon and Winging It without using an action, and then do it again next round from the discard pile. Usually, the Improvised cards are pretty weak unless you can get them into the discard pile directly, but playing them for no actions with an extra bonus (or no resource cost) changes their valuation substantially - attacking for 1 damage or investigating for 1 clue without using an action is solid by itself. Of course, if we do happen to discard a card from Liquid Courage, we can make that shot a double right away by choosing an Improvised card to toss.

The rest of the deck is about dirty tricks and solving problems. Evade enemies even when engaged with other players by slipping them a Mickey with Cheap Shot and Stunning Blow, get the Coup de Grâce on marks with ease using Chuck Fergus, and keep the drinks - and bullets - flowing with Fence.

A taste of the good stuff - Mulligan priority

Since this deck uses both weapons and events to handle enemies, it's a little less reliant on a specific starting draw. I would keep any weapon, Chuck Fergus, Fence and Lucky Cigarette Case and mulligan anything else - unless I had Chuck in hand to begin with, at which point I would also keep Improvised Weapon and Winging It.

Propping up the bar - Upgrade priority

The deck shown here is with its core components in place. For the level 0 deck, I'd use Lonnie Ritter and Leather Jacket in place of Chuck Fergus and Fence. From here, upgrade in more or less whatever order suits you. Pay Day (replacing Emergency Cache) and Contraband (replacing Coup de Grâce or Cheap Shot) are extra solid thanks to Fence, and the other upgrades are simple incremental improvements - Brute Force replaces Stunning Blow, Relic Hunter for 2x Lucky Cigarette Case, and everything else is upgrades to existing cards.

Mixing a cocktail - Variants

While this deck is designed to be fun and effective, the primary goal is the theme, so major changes are a little outside of the scope of this guide. That said, there are a few ways it can be tweaked while staying true to the theme. Fence is not a bad card but if you're rolling in exp, you may find Charisma + Joey "The Rat" Vigil (3) to be a better route to go - this would also allow you to forego Act of Desperation. Mauser C96 is a solid all-rounder weapon, but you can go for Colt Vest Pocket into Lupara with Sleight of Hand if you prefer burst damage, or pick up a Beretta M1918 if you have more exp to spend and really want to kill things dead. Sneak Attack (2) is a good option for campaigns with troublesome Aloof enemies, or if you have to cover for a big team.

Chaser - Conclusion

I hope you've enjoyed reading this slightly silly Tony deck. If you do try it out, I'd love to hear how it went! And just so we're clear, I absolutely insist that if you drink, you do so responsibly.