Character Guide: Calamity Janet

Name: Calamity Janet.

Inspired by: Calamity Jane, famous frontierswoman and professional scout known for fighting against Native Americans.

Life Points: 4.

Ability: She can play BANG! cards as Missed! cards and vice versa. If she plays a Missed! as a BANG!, she cannot play another BANG! card that turn (unless she has a Volcanic in play).

Activation: On her turn when Calamity Janet chooses to attack another character and has the appropriate cards in hand, or when she is attacked on other player's turn and she has the appropriate cards in hand.

Cards Enhanced for Use for Calamity Janet: Missed!, BANG!, Volcanic, Duel (The BANG! FAQ explains, "Q20. Can Calamity Janet play Missed! cards during a Duel as if they were BANG! cards? A. Yes.").

Cards Less Powerful when Played Against Calamity Janet: Duel, Indians!, Volcanic, BANG!, Gatling.

Cards More Powerful when Played Against Calamity Janet: Panic!, Cat Balou (when targeting her hand).

Ideal role: Sheriff.

Good roles: Outlaw, Renegade, Deputy.

Characters Calamity Janet counters well: Willy the Kid, Slab the Killer (although she must be careful not to expend all her cards).

Characters who counter Calamity Janet well: Jesse Jones, El Gringo.

Outlaw Distance Consideration: With Calamity Janet's ability to dodge more shots, she can afford to be only 1 distance away from the Sheriff. Other outlaw characters can really suffer to be right next to the Sheriff.

2-Player Value: Excellent. With Beer no longer efficacious, Calamity Janet has both great defensive and offensive abilities to keep her alive and eliminate her opponent.

General Strategy as Calamity Janet: It is tempting as Calamity Janet to expend too many cards as BANG! Don't overextend Calamity Janet in duels and with playing a BANG! every turn. Be defensive and then at opportune moments (like when you get a Volcanic) have Calamity Janet unload on her target. This works a lot better as a Sheriff/Deputy/Renegade, but Calamity Janet still need to be somewhat conservative as an Outlaw, unless she has incredible Outlaw support. When General Emporium cards are played, Calamity Janet should pay close attention to her role and those of other players. If Calamity Janet is a Sheriff trying to defend herself, she may choose to pick up the BANG! cards to use as Missed! cards. It depletes her opponents' BANG! supply while simultaneously protecting herself. Conversely, if Calamity Janet is an outlaw, she may choose to pick the Missed! cards to deplete the Sheriff's Missed! supply while simultaneously giving herself ammo. Of course, there may be better cards to pick up, but always keep this in mind.

Playing against Calamity Janet: Often with Cat Balous and Panics, we forget that it can be very powerful to steal from their hand. This can be useful in knocking out Calamity Janet's supply of BANG! and Missed!, or even a handy beer. Having multiple attack cards (Duel, Indians!, Gatling) to punish Calamity Janet is also useful. While Calamity Janet will generally win duels, it is not necessarily a bad idea to try to drain her cards with a Duel and then slam her with the other attack cards. Calamity Janet will take some serious damage, not to mention that other players will be able to easily target her until her next turn. If you are desperate, a chaotic Dynamite can always be worth a shot, since she cannot dodge it if it explodes on her.

Dodge City cards enhanced by Calamity Janet's ability: the extra BANG! and Missed!.

Dodge City cards more effective when played against Calamity Janet: Can Can, Conestoga, Brawl, Rag Time (when targeting her hand).

Dodge City cards less effective when played against Calamity Janet: All attack cards.

Dodge City Characters that Calamity Janet Counters Well: Belle Star (her ability does not work against the BANG! in Calamity Janet's hand), Apache Kid (Almost all Missed! cards are non-diamonds and they can be used as BANG! by Calamity Janet against Apache Kid), Sean Mallory (She can avoid most damage from his offensive onslaught if he stores up, and she can dish out damage to this 3 lifepoint character)

General Strategy Adjustments for Calamity Janet: There are not many new strategy adjustments for Calamity Janet with Dodge City. There are many new offensive cards and a few new defensive cards with Dodge City, and this is both a blessing and a curse for Calamity Janet. While the green cards allow her to store up more defense/offense, and the discard a card to play this card types provide more powerful attacks/defenses, they are not compatible with Calamity Janet's ability. In other words, Calamity Janet cannot play a Buffalo Rifle as a Missed!, or a Dodge/Iron Plate as a BANG! Her ability only works with the specific BANG! and Missed! cards. Thus, Calamity Janet will have a harder time with the Dodge City expansion drawing cards during her draw phase/general store/playing drawing cards that will activate her ability. This weakens the effectiveness of her possessing a Volcanic or Duel, for their effectiveness is dependent on having BANG! However, with the new green cards Calamity Janet can provide herself with defenses that make it less problematic for her to deplete the cards in her hand during a Volcanic burst or Duel (or by simply being more agressive), so things do balance out somewhat.

General Strategy Adjustments against Calamity Janet: Dodge City provides you with some new tools for your arsenal. You can use the new discard and steal cards (Can Can, Conestoga, Brawl, Rag Time) to deplete cards from Calamity Janet's hand and remove any pesky Volcanic she might have in play. You can also gather some offensive/defensive green cards to play in front of you, which should help you collect a good offensive combo. Then, you can monitor Calamity Janet's hand, and when she expends some cards below her card limit, you can use the card depleters and offensive combo to deal out some damage.

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