DV Games' Bang! first burst into our lives back in 2002. Designed by Emiliano Sciarra, it was a Spaghetti Western-themed deduction card game for 4-7 players where one player takes on the revealed role of Sheriff but other players' roles (Deputy, Outlaw, Renegade) are hidden. The Outlaws win by killing the Sheriff, the Sheriff and Deputies win by eliminating the Outlaws and Renegade, and the Renegade wins by being the last player standing. There are likely to be some feints from the Outlaws and Renegade to sew confusion but over the course of the game players should be able to deduce who has what role. And in addition to their hidden roles, players all have an openly displayed individual character card that gives them a special ability.
Over the years there have been several expansions for the game and in 2013 a version was designed by Michael Palm and Lukas Zach that replaced the cards with dice. Bang! The Dice Game has proven especially popular as a fun filler, to the extent that it has largely eclipsed the original game. That's a pity because the card play in Bang!, and particularly the 'draw' function (a 'shootout' determined by comparing the symbol on your card with the next card flipped from the top of the draw deck) offered an excitement that could never quite be replicated with dice.
Bang! Legends is a new expansion for the original card game designed by Emiliano Sciarra, with art by Cristiana Leone. It adds another layer to the game. Along with a set of Fame tokens - five for each player, each representing a Western trope - the expansion introduces a deck of Feat cards into the mix. On your turn, in addition to your regular card play, you can perform the feat on a revealed Feat card, meeting its requirement and placing out on it two of your five Fame tokens. If you don't 'perform' a feat on your turn then you can instead 'boast' about one: reveal a new Feat card and place just one of your Fame tokens on any card that doesn't already have any of your tokens on it.
There are Tarot-sized character cards to replace the character cards in the original game. These each have a 'Legendary' version on their reverse side, extending their basic special ability, and you pivot to your Legendary character when you have placed out all five of your Fame tokens.
Bang! Legends extends the card game's playing time but only by around 10-15 minutes. For members of the Board's Eye View team it's helped to give the card game a new lease of life. We've recently only been playing the dice game so it's been great to rediscover the Bang! in its original form. And for those wholly committed to Bang! The Dice Game we reckon it wouldn't take much ingenuity to adapt the Feat and Legendary character cards for use with the dice game...
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