Strategy: Possible for Outlaw to Openly Team Up with Sheriff?

While it seems incredibly unlikely, I was curious if it is possible for the Outlaw to openly solicit the help of the Sheriff. When would this happen? Perhaps when there are only 3 roles left: Outlaw, Sheriff, Renegade. The Renegade has full health and the Sheriff/Outlaw are down to 3/2 health. The Outlaw knows he could be teamed up on for the 3 card bonus. But perhaps he could convince the Sheriff that the Renegade is enough of a threat that he ought to help him lower the Renegade's health first. After all, no Beer works once there are only 2 players left. The issue is that it is not clear why once the Renegade's health was down that the Sheriff would not return to gunning the Outlaw (3 card bonus). And then the Outlaw would be wasting his ammo on the Renegade. So I don't think this would work. It could work as a 1 time juke move--convince the Sheriff to gang up, let the Sheriff take a turn against the Renegade and then turn on the Sheriff right away. That way you get 1 turn without the Sheriff gunning at you. Of course, don't expect it to work again. Can anyone else think of a situation where an Outlaw might team up with a Sheriff?

Strategy: Outlaw Shot Early on by Sheriff

Many aggressive Sheriffs will shoot on their first turn. They likely will not have a gun, so they will shoot either to their immediate left or right. Shooting the one to the immediate right can be devastating for that player. If they weren't dealt a card that allows them to avoid his attack, taking the hit summons all other players to shoot at him like a pack of bloodthirsty wolves. First blood is vicious. Even if you are the left player, getting shot at at the beginning of the game can be difficult as you haven't had times to build a good hand, and if you are an outlaw, neither have your team mates. How to deal with this situation?

I think one of the big things an Outlaw can do when he is shot so quickly is NOT to declare his role right away by shooting back at the Sheriff, but giving some time for his team mate(s) to prepare by shooting the player he is next to (or another player that is not the Sheriff who is in range). If you have a gun, it can be a good idea to shoot at a player that the Sheriff cannot reach, so that if you do shoot a team mate, they Sheriff cannot gang up on him. Why is this in general a good idea? The Sheriff knows that he has a Renegade/Deputies out there who he should not kill, and so by acting as they would to divert the Sheriff's suspicion (shooting other characters besides the Sheriff), the Sheriff could be convinced you are not a threat. This can work especially well if the Sheriff does not have a gun, since he will not be able to hit the player you shot at. Thus, even if you shot an ally, it is not as problematic as the Sheriff will not be joining arms with you yet. The aggressive Sheriff's only choices are then either to shoot the other player who is next to him, or wait for a gun. I think salvaging your life in the first round is very important for the Outlaws, so do what you can to convince the Sheriff he has made a mistake. This is crucial if your character is someone who packs fire power, like Slab or Willy.

Strategy: Dealing with a Renegade that Pretends to be Deputy

One of my friends has a strategy he always plays when he is Renegade, and I know many others employ this strategy too. I am, however, convinced that on the whole it is a failing strategy. I will describe its counter here. The general Renegade strategy that I will be portraying as poor is where the Renegade tries to completely mirror a Deputy (This, of course, only applies in 5+ player BANG!). In other words, they think of any possible move that a Deputy would do in their situation and they do it. They follow it through, if they survive, until all Outlaws are eliminated and then they shoot the real Deputy, claiming the whole time that they are the real Deputy. They hope to either get the Sheriff to kill off his own Deputy(ies), or knock off the Deputy(ies) and then go after the Sheriff. I think this is a poor strategy, whether there is 1 or 2 deputies or not. The deputies are unlikely to have low health as the Outlaws were likely directing their gunfire almost exclusively at the Sheriff. Of course, the Renegade would not have poor health either, but the issue is that the Sheriff can always play it safe. He can just weaken each of the characters down to 1 health and let them kill each other off and reveal who they are. With 2 deputies still around, the Renegade will most likely be gunned down in the crossfire. With 1, the Renegade may survive, but will become very weak in the process. The deputy still wins as long as the Sheriff lives, so it is not a big deal if he dies. With the Renegade down to one health, and getting no card bonus for killing the Deputy(ies), the higher health Sheriff is almost guaranteed to be able to finish him off. Hence, I don't think the complete pseudo-Deputy Renegade strategy works. He will have to gun at lawmen at sometime if he is going to win the game most of the time. If someone has some reason why this strategy should work, and can point at something I have neglected, please chime in.

I will discuss the Renegade strategy that I prefer soon.

Alternate Gameplay: Renegade can become Sheriff

This is a recent idea that I have tossed on my mind that can change the gameplay for both the Renegade(s) and Deputies. The Renegade, if he wishes, can choose to kill the Sheriff before he kills off all the other players. If he personally is the one that kills the Sheriff, he becomes the new Sheriff, has the new health limit bonus and gains 1 health. His mission is of course to survive like the deceased sheriff's mission was. If he only damages the Sheriff and the Outlaws or something else like Dynamite kills the Sheriff, game over and the Outlaws win. So it is a very risky move on his part, but it can be a way for him to shift the balance of the game and do something different. Imagine if a Sheriff is getting blown away and he will not be able to fend off the outlaws before the Sheriff dies. He can now kill the Sheriff and resume this role, so the Outlaws don't immediately win. But he wouldn't want the Sheriff to be overwhelmed every time because if he did, then he has no Renegade of his own to back him, and so might get overpowered himself. Think of how stupid this would be on his part in a 4-player game. I think this is a fascinating change to the Renegade role. It might be worth specifying a certain amount of players that need to be killed before he can do this, but it could be good on its own too.

As for the deputies, I think there is two things that could happen here. One, they could have to defend the Renegade who has become the new Sheriff. I think a more interesting variant is that they were loyal to their old Sheriff and won't side with the new Sheriff. They become Renegades themselves! Now, they might have the opportunity to become the new Sheriff as well if they depose the prior Renegade, or it could be that only the original Renegade has the capacity. Anyway, I think this could be an interesting way to switch things up.