Desperado is a set of Wild West miniature rules published by Tom Kelly in 1992. Desperado Two was a supplement that expanded the original rules, added flavor and more options. I have been an avid player and game master of Desperado since 1992. Tom Kelly has not made any rule changes to Desperado since Desperado Two appeared in 1993. When I read in the Herald that the third edition had been published, I picked up a copy at the Soldiery. For a month I have read through the new rules. I have also run a game at the recent Buckeye Game Fest convention. The following are my notes and impressions.

Physically, the rules are more colorful. The covers of the previous two rules sets were black and white with simple ink drawings. This edition is more eye appealing and has very colorful covers. The new rules are credited to William Thompson and Dale Doane, who give credit to the creators of the two previous editions.

The rules are more professionally laid out in this edition. Several sections from the first two editions are unaltered, though. A noticeable change is that there are many more tables in this edition. These tables appear throughout the rules. They also appear in a handy centerfold section of the rules that can be removed from the book.

One of the biggest changes in this edition is the inclusion of character Advantages and Disadvantages. Players choose an advantage for each of their characters. The character could be ambidextrous, a fast runner or have any of seven other advantages. Each player may choose to add an additional, random advantage for any of his characters. Eight other advantages combine with the previous seven to form a list. The down side of the random advantage, though, is that you must also roll a Disadvantage. There are 14 disadvantages.

The result is that each character can be unique. It is possible to have a nimble deadeye that is consumptive. You could also have an expert rider who is a crack shot but who is a slowpoke. The players in my game and I enjoyed this change. A down side is this process slows the game down.

A second significant change is that each character is limited to the number of weapons that he or she can carry. Each weapon is assigned a load value and each character can only carry so many load points. The rules say that the players may choose their own weapons. I decided that I would choose the load points for the characters in my game. I did this to speed up the process and to assure that the players did not choose a set of weapons that I could not represent with miniature figures.

Generally, Movement rules remains the same. There are more modifiers that apply to movement, but these changes are manageable.

A key feature of Desperado are the Action Cards. The game master creates a deck of these action cards with so many cards assigned to each character. The deck is shuffled and actions card are pulled one at a time. When the game master pulls his card, a character may run or shoot or do another action. Locally, one of our modifications permitted a character to hold a card. This held card could be combined with a subsequent action card to allow the character to move on one card and shoot with the other.

The third edition contains something similar. An action card now permits a character to declare an opportunity fire, which allows a character to hold his shot until another enters within his 180-degree arc of fire. So, where opportunity fire had been optional under Desperado Two, it is now part of the main rules. Opportunity fire is more restricted than the local held card rule, but it is a needed addition.

Rifles have been limited to only two shots per action card in this edition. When I read that rule, I immediately made a note to ignore it. I changed my mind when I saw the Third Edition Weapon Range table. Most of the weapon ranges stayed the same or were slightly altered, except for one major change. The maximum range of a rifle had been 40", but is now 120". The limit of two shots per card now seemed reasonable. A rifle uses the same base hit table at 24-48" that a pistol does at 10-16". This is a huge advantage to someone with a rifle. I can understand this rule change in that there is now a better representation of the ranges of these weapons. But during the game, it did not play well. I saw characters with rifles settle into a safe spot with a clear view and dominate sections of the table. I saw too many characters get nailed by a rifle shot from beyond a range of three feet. This will leave the game master with two options. Either clutter up the board, so that a long distance shot is difficult, or severely limit the number of rifles in a scenario. The authors of the Third Edition may wish to reconsider rifle ranges.

The next major change is in the process of resolving weapon damage. The new process involves more steps, and some of the steps are more complicated. The Firing chart is the most important in this process. It has been altered so that there are a greater number of sub-ranges, with some hits carrying a modifier on the new Severity of Hit table. The Hit Location chart is pretty much the same, though, except a second chart has been added for targets in cover. The final chart, Effects of Hit, has been fleshed out more than in the original rules. There are fewer unanswered questions to this updated chart.

My general impression is that the process for this central part of the game has been made much more difficult. Initially, it will be harder for game masters to run a Desperado game. There as so many modifiers and other parts of the weapons damage process that running a Desperado game will take more focus and experience. However, with practice, the game masters should become more adept at the process. It will be harder for players, especially new players, to understand the process of combat.

There are other changes in the rules. Among these are rules for characters going unconscious. Also, there are changes to the rules covering dynamite and fires. None of these rules should have a major impact on running a game.

My impression of Desperado Third Edition is generally favorable. The addition of the character advantages and disadvantages is a big plus. I am concerned about the new rifle ranges and their impact on the flow of the game, but will continue to monitor this. The weapon damage changes will require more practice by the game master. This should result in better game masters, though. In all, the Third Edition should be a plus to the playing of Desperado.

I hope to be shooting...sorry, playing with all of you soon.