Six Gun Saga is a turn-based strategy game that takes place in the Old
West, the wild American frontier where cowboys, outlaws, law enforcers, army
troops, Apache and other mooks fight each other for money and glory. The game
is card-based and the most important cards, the Dudes, have different stats
such as gunfight, wound points, leadership, upkeep, VP value and a special
ability. They are used primarily to fight the opponents’ dudes. Additionally
there are Deed cards, which usually give bonuses to income, and Ambush cards,
used to ambush opponents as they move on the game board. Most cards have their
own blue-colored “actions”. They can give bonuses or penalties to other cards,
steal money or remove cards from other hands.

Before starting the game, the player needs to select a boss out of seven
fictional or historical figures: Augustine Chacon, Boss Snead, Dirty Dave
Rudabaugh, El Indio, General George Crook, Lucien Maxwell, and Wyatt Earp. The
boss gives bonuses to certain types of cards and imposes limitations on the
number of posses a player can employ, but also on the number of dudes sitting
in the bunkhouse, among others. Up to three AI-controlled opponents can join
in the fun. The main goal is to collect the most victory points, either by
occupying the center story cards or by defeating enemy dudes. During their
turn players receive a new hand of cards. A card can be bought, exchanged for
cash, played at its poker value, or used as a special ability. Acquired dudes
are moved to the bunkhouse, organized into posses and sent to fight for
victory points. A card of any type played as an action card goes directly to
the discard pile, while playing it at its poker value will add it to a
selected posse as a simple poker card. This may augment the posse’s chances in
a battle, since combat is resolved by a session of Texas Hold’em poker.
Because of this, luck is also a significant part of the gameplay, besides the
dudes’ gunfight and wound points. Every turn, the game calculates the dudes’
upkeep costs. If the books are not balanced, the players need to sell some of
the cards from the new hand before making any moves.

The main areas of interest on the game board are the story cards. They hold a
significant amount of victory points (VPs) and all battles take place there,
with the exception of ambushes. To capture a story card the player needs to
move a posse on it. Victory points are awarded for every turn the player is in
control of the card. Once depleted of all VPs, it is replaced by another
random story card. A story card can only be entered by a posse containing the
required type of dude. For example, the Stagecoach Robbery card can only be
entered by an outlaw first, so a posse with two gunfighters can’t enter it
unless it’s already occupied by the enemy. Opponents can capture an already
occupied card by defeating the resident posse. At the start of the game, the
player can activate an option that will bring four Weird West story cards into
play. They are worth more victory points per turn, but have powerful guardians
like vampires, aliens, dinosaurs and so on.

There are three ways to win the game: kill all the other bosses, gather a
determined amount of victory points before the opponents, or have the most VPs
at the end of the last turn. In case of a tie, the one with the most cash is
the winner. If the latter is also a tie, then it’s down to who has the most
dudes.

Six Gun Saga