Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Character Guide: Julie Cutter

 

Character Name: Julie Cutter.

Inspired by: Unknown for now.

Life Points: 4.

Ability Type: Neutral (Defensive trigger, but offensive effect).

Ability: "Each time a player makes you lose at least 1 life point, 'draw!': On reds (hearts or diamonds) they are the target of a BANG!"

Thus, if a player makes you lose more than 1 (i.e. Aim) it doesn't trigger twice. Dynamite/Rattlesnake would not trigger a BANG! at the player, because they didn't force you to lose a life point.

NOTE: Her retaliatory BANG! reaches target regardless of distance. I equate this BANG! with a BANG! card.

Activation: When any card is played that directly forces Julie to lose a life point: not Dynamite, Rattlesnake, other indirect form of losing a life point. It would apply to Indians!, Gatling, etc.

Cards enhanced by Julie Cutter's ability: Saved! (she takes the hit for another player, gets the card bonus, and bangs! the attacker), Shotgun/Buntline Special (retaliatory BANG! can cause them to discard a card if hit/cancelled), Bounty (play on a player, if they shoot you, you have a chance to not only BANG! them but also draw a card), Beer family cards (take hits to trigger your retaliatory infinite distance BANG! with less worry)

Controversy: Can Big Fifty's special ability be used out of turn with her retaliatory BANG!?

Cards weakened by Julie Cutter's ability: Her retaliatory BANG! makes the need for Missed! effect cards less relevant (as well as gun cards); they're definitely still valuable, just less so for her than for many other characters

Cards less effective when played against Julie Cutter:

Any cards potentially causing immediate loss of life directly (BANG!, Springfield, etc.) or indirectly (Gatling, Indians!, etc.)

Cards removing BANG! from her hand (Bandidos, Indians!, Panic!, Cat Balou, etc.) as her ability requires no BANG!

Volcanic (you need a lot of BANG! in your hand to make the Volcanic meaningful, but then this also means you lack defensive cards in your hand -- if you happen to hit Julie, you're giving yourself a 50% chance of getting hit yourself too)

Jail (she can still bang! you out of turn)

Cards more effective when played against Julie Cutter: Few cards truly weaken Julie Cutter (versus just being more relevant to play against her, such as Dynamite or Rattlesnake), but The Big Fifty does stand out, as it cancels the target player's character ability and cards in play (so it can cancel out her ability to retaliatory BANG!; the Armed and Dangerous rules clearly spell this out), Barrel (as she will more frequently be banging! you when you attack)

Ideal Roles: Sheriff, but decent at other roles.

Characters Julie Cutter counters:

Characters proficient at dealing damage: Slab the Killer, Willy the Kid, Bloody Mary, Colorado Bill (she doesn't need to avoid the shot as much as others, as she can punish him back), Jackie Murieta/Mexicali Kid/Doc Holyday (BANG! conversion can be retaliated against), Evelyn Shebang, Black Flower, Der Sport-Burst Ringer

Distance manipulators: Rose Doolan/Paul Regret (she can hit them anyway with her retaliatory BANG!)

Card thiefs: Pat Brennan/Jesse Jones/Flint Westwood

Risky card converters: Chuck Wengam

"Draw!" driven: John Pain (she is less likely to feed him cards)

Big Spencer (his inability to play Missed!, and inability to use distance to protect himself from Julie's retaliatory BANG! makes her "cuts" really hurt)

Subset of Other Defenders: Mick Defender (his ability doesn't protect from BANG!), Elena Fuente (makes Elena think twice when attacking her, as it can quickly deplete her hand), Molly Stark (defending herself against a retaliatory BANG! occurs during her turn, which keeps her from gaining the benefit of her ability -- she will not get to draw a card), Immunity driven characters (her retaliatory BANG! lacks values) for Apache Kid/Ms. Abigail

Characters who counter Julie Cutter well:

Mid-Position Offense/Defense: Calamity Janet (easier time giving and receiving fire back), Don Bell (extra turn makes his hand management easier to counter her on), Sean Mallory (if he gets enough cards, he'll be a beast), Jose Delgado (extra cards can help him have the right hand mix)

Defenders: Jourdonnais (can more easily defend himself against her retaliatory BANG!), Teren Kill (survivability against her BANG!)

2-Player Value: Great. Retaliatory attacks in a 2-player situation really helps.

Armed and Dangerous value: The retaliatory BANG! defense might prevent you from discarding a Missed!, enabling you to more easily discard from hand at end of your turn, and thus gain load tokens.

Gold Rush Value: Solid. Whenever your ability causes another to lose a life point, you'll draw a gold nugget.

General Strategy: Julie Cutter is the last of the 3 lasses included in Armed and Dangerous which has universal value outside of the expansion. Whenever she takes damage, she has the guaranteed opportunity of inflicting payback. This ability provides Julie with some choices -- there may be times in which she wishes to take a hit, to create the potential for the attacker to also take a hit, especially if the attacker is her target and they are out of the range of her gun. In that case, she might choose not to play a card with a missed! effect. If the attacker is not her target, the value is substantially less, and the value of foregoing playing the card with the missed! effect is unlikely to occur. If she has Beer (or another means of increasing her life points), and is already at full health, Julie might also willingly take the hit and replenish her life point after the exchange.

Bounty can be useful on player characters targetting Julie, even if they are not her direct target. Her retaliatory BANG!, when successful, will cause her to draw a card from the Bounty.

Since you know characters will be looking to nab your gun card to keep you out of distance until they want or can deal with you, Julie will want to choose carefully when to play her gun card. Ideally, she would not do so unless he can also make use of that gun on a desired target. There's no reason to just put it into play for the sake of it, if it can be avoided (especially if you can discard over to gain some load tokens instead). 

Playing against Julie: Unless you must initially deal with Julie (she is your definite target, say the Sheriff and you are an Outlaw), you might choose to save Julie for later to deal with other threats. This can be done if you are able to restrict her gun cards and keep her out of range. As long as you do not attack her, she will not be reactively attacking you.

Once she is your target, you will need to manage your cards with missed! effects appropriately so you can avoid taken damage. While the chance is only 50% that she will retaliate, it's still likely to get you soon enough. A Barrel will be particularly helpful in providing defenses against her. You don't want to have to deplete your missed! effect cards during your turn as you deal with her, as you'll then have no defenses outside of your turn when she (or another player character) attacks you. You can predict this somewhat through the restriction of her gun cards again. You'll know she can reach you when you attack, and most likely not when it is on her turn (unless she should draw a gun card or have cleverly hid it). The same here can be said of Jail, of managing when she can attack you.

Of course, if you can get your hands upon and use the Big Fifty, this will be of big help in cancelling out her retaliations. Indians!, while causing retaliation, are nonetheless useful in depleting attacks she might otherwise initiate on her turn. Then, "indirect damage" cards such as Rattlesnake or Dynamite can also be very potent against Julie Cutter, as their initial player will not trigger any retaliation should those cards end up damaging Julie Cutter.

2 comments:

  1. There is a similar one in 'Boot Hill', isn't there?

    ReplyDelete
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