Doomtown

…and the day after they announce they’re killing it, to the chagrin of their player base, they choose to put out a spoiler of a card called Open Wound .

Nice.

3 Likes

Really sad about this, Doomtown is a fantastic game. Especially sad though because I feel like the Eagle Wardens and 108 Righteous Bandits are just starting to come into their own.

Unfortunate, but understandable. I bought the core box and a couple saddlebags when it first came out but no one at my FLGS was interested. Thus I stopped buying. Now I wait for L5R.

2 Likes

Great game. I have to fulfill my collection now.

1 Like

I have a massive collection of the original Doomtown which I played loads, and I got bought the core set for this as a gift. I was really excited for it, hoping that they’d ironed out some of the kinks and streamlined it some. However, I was pretty disappointed in that it felt just as clunky as it did before, perhaps more so in some ways (or perhaps I’m less tolerant now). As I tried to get my Netrunner buddy into it I was forced to confront how inelegant the rules were and it just didn’t really click. As a result it has sat on my shelf waiting for another proper few sessions hoping that “this time I’ll get them into it”,however it has never really come back down off that shelf, which is a real shame.

The backstory and characterisation are the real strength of this game, and they really make me want to like it more than I actually do, and if I’m honest the idea of collecting more cards for it and making decks just left a bad taste in my mouth. Compare that with Netrunner where I couldn’t enough of new cards and deck-building. My feeling about Doomtown was that while the game felt and appeared like it was about shootouts and poker hands, really it was about area control and denial. So many of the rules and complexity were centred around shootouts, much like making runs in Netrunner, but in Doomtown this makes it feel clunky and unwarranted as often you’re trying to avoid shootouts. Perhaps it would be like Psi-games in Netrunner having really complicated rules. Compare this with Netrunner in that complexity is aligned with the importance - runs are the most complex and also the most important and central aspect of the game and so it feels justified and warranted.

I dunno, maybe I needed to give it another go, but then if it can’t catch me enough to keep trying then it’s already failed. Or maybe Netrunner just spoilt me. Either way RIP Doomtown. I’d like to say I’d miss it, but the reality is I doubt I will, I will simply miss what I hoped it could’ve been.

2 Likes

Runs are “Click: You may pay the trash cost of a rezzed card to trash that card.” right now, though >_<

You’re not wrong @OctopusRex. The game is much more about board control and movement than shootouts. It’s funny how intricate and dense the rules regarding shootouts and jobs are when most games end like, “dang, I can’t catch you and you have more control than I have influence! Good game.”

The learning curve for this game is steep as hell, unfortunately a bit too much for a modern LCG style game. I still love the game, but it definitely has its flaws.

You could argue that MtG has a similar dynamic that it’s most complex mechanic, that seems to be core, often gets negated. The attacking and blocking rules are the most complex part of the game, but at high levels of play, especially in older constructed formats, decks that don’t use creatures at all or make it impossible for the blocking mechanic to be relevant are very popular and powerful. The game still does well and older constructed formats are still super popular, though. They’ve fought to make creature combat as relevant as possible in Standard, though.

1 Like

Duh!?, little timmy doesn’t like to get countered :wink: