Tabletop Thursday Review - Bang!

A stand off -guns drawn- under the hot desert sun. A sheriff and deputies fend off an onslaught of outlaws, with the renegade watching the ebb and flow of battle, ready to steal victory for themself.

Eyes shift, not knowing if the one beside you is friend or foe. The sheriff's badge shines bright, but even they don't know who wants them safe, or who wants them six feet under.

In Bang! by Italian game designer, Emiliano Sciarra, the goal is to outwit your opponents and defeat them in a player vs. player Mexican standoff, set in the Old West.

Set up is easy in Bang! but can be tough to get used to the first time you play; if you follow the instructions you'll be golden. Players are assigned a specified role to play in the fray, but only one -the sheriff- is known to the other players. The others are hidden. The deputy's goal is to protect the sheriff. The outlaws want to defeat the sheriff. And the renegade plays both sides until they can betray their "allies" and win on their own.

Each turn begins by drawing two cards, which have a variety of effects, but the most important are the "Bang" which allows you to damage another player, and the "Missed" and "Dodge" cards which cause a played "Bang" to be ineffective.

Players have a varying amount of health points, and each successful "Bang" lowers that by one. Run out of health and you're out of the game.

The game ends when the sheriff is killed. If the only remaining player is a renegade, they are the winner. Otherwise the outlaws win as a team. If all outlaws and renegades are killed, the sheriff and deputy win.

What's to stop all the outlaws from immediately shooting the sheriff and winning the game? Distance. Each player can initially only shoot a person to their immediate left or right, however by drawing various gun cards and equipping them, they can increase the distance they are able to shoot.

With the set up out of the way...

Bang! is a game that is best played with all seven players, although it can be played with as few as four. Expansions are available for the game, but the base game allows for quite a bit of fun and replay value. As an added benefit, each card is printed with both Italian and English, so you may learn a little something as you play.

That said, the player requirements make it sometimes difficult to set up play sessions. But when you do get a chance to play, it is always fun to Bang! your friends. You'll quickly learn who you can trust, who is a good guy, and who is out to claim glory for themself.

For that, Bang! gets a Board of Dice rating of: 3/5 - Shooter!


Just as the spaghetti westerns have their influences from samurai movies, Bang! has a samurai-themed version of the game called Samurai Sword that is played in a similar way, but with enough differences to make it worth checking out if that is your jam.






Bang! can be purchased on Amazon or at your local game store.

Stay tuned to Board of Dice, where next Thursday Tabletop Review will be: Star Fluxx.