Tony Morgan
The Bounty Hunter

Rogue
Investigator

Criminal. Hunter.

Willpower: 2. Intellect: 3. Combat: 5. Agility: 2.
Health: 9. Sanity: 5.

You may take an additional action during your turn, which can only be used to engage or fight an enemy with 1 or more bounties on it.

effect: +2. Place 1 bounty on Bounty Contracts.

"When I find that beast, I'll put it down for good."
Tony Foti
The Dream-Eaters #3.
Tony Morgan

Tony Morgan - Back

Investigator

Deck Size: 30.

Secondary Class Choice: At deck creation, choose Guardian (), Seeker (), or Survivor ().

Deckbuilding Options: Rogue cards () level 0-5, Neutral cards level 0-5, up to 10 level 0-1 events and/or skills of your chosen secondary class.

Deckbuilding Requirements (do not count toward deck size): Bounty Contracts, 2 copies of Tony's .38 Long Colt, Tony's Quarry, 1 random basic weakness.

Tony's tracked down low-life scum in every lousy corner of the world, but nothing could have prepared him for the thing he killed in Innsmouth. It had the form of a man, more or less, but it was covered in loathsome scales and slime, like some horrid creature of the deep. It stank of salt water, rotten fish, and blood. He should've let it go when it dove into the river, but he'd never let a bounty escape before, and he wasn't about to start then. Ever since, he's found a new kind of dirtbag to hunt. Ordinary mobster or otherworldly monster, Tony will take it down... if someone is willing to pay him for it.
Tony Morgan
Reviews

TONY MORGAN:

A JOB'S A JOB: BOUNTIES

Tony's permanent, Bounty Contracts, starts with 6 bounties up to 3 of which you can place on a spawned enemy of 3 HP or higher with its trigger. Enemy HP will limit how many bounties you can place on an enemy HP 1 = 1 bounty limit, HP 2 = 2 bounty limit, etc.

What do bounties do?: , $$$,

  • They give Tony's .38 Long Colt +1 for each bounty on an enemy that Tony fights with his Signature .38 Long Colts.
  • They also get moved to Tony's resource pool when an enemy with a bounty is defeated by Tony. (The enemy does not have to be defeated with Tony's Colts for this to trigger.)
  • Additionally they give Tony an extra action which can only be used to either engage or fight the enemy with the bounty.

How do you get more bounties after using them?

  • Tony's effect allows him to place another bounty on Bounty Contracts when revealed.
  • Tony's signature weapon Tony's .38 Long Colt allows Tony to place 1 bounty on Bounty Contracts after an enemy is defeated with the Long Colts. You may be able to double this effect with Double or Nothing, but that may or may not be optimal.
  • Alternatively since this is a co-operative game you could have a team mate Seal of the Elder Sign and Double or Nothing that effect. But again you can still only place 3 bounties on enemies with 3 HP or more, so that may not be that useful.

Combat: Getting Tony to Base 7

Without Teamwork or "You Owe Me One", Tony cannot reach a base of 7 like a typical Guardian can with Charisma, 2x Beat Cop, and Ace of Swords. Note that if you plan on playing "You Owe Me One" to pluck a Beat Cop or Tarot from a , you can return it with Teamwork, but if you did that then what kind of Rogue would you be really?

Getting Tony to 6/7 seems to be most consistent using Tony's .38 Long Colts for 6 fight actions by fighting an enemy with 1 bounty on them with Long Colts. Gaining that bounty back when that enemy is defeated with his Long Colts is also beneficial if you can add to your ammo with Contrabands, or Extra Ammunition.

Tony’s other increasing options are hired goons, and a handful of talents. The best option, however, is that Rogue staple: resources.

  • Two Hired Muscle out and Charisma. Costs him 2 resources each round. Install Cost: , 2 resources and 2 resources each round. Perhaps more useful as a set-up before a boss fight.

  • Well Connected certainly makes Tony's stats bloom. "Watch this!" + Double or Nothing, Dario El-Amin, and Lone Wolf. Tony really has excellent resource generation using typical rogue tricks along with his Bounties. His stats can go from normal to 7/8/9/6 for two tests with 20+ resources in your pool. This makes weapons like Switchblade and Knuckledusters useable in Tony's offhand to allow kills with his Long Colts without wasting ammo/Bounties.

  • Another Day, Another Dollar is probably the go-to permanent for a fighter build for Tony. As it makes getting to 7 quicker with Well Connected. Even faster with two of them. Going this route you may want to use your Colts to strategically earn yourself money for your pool to boost your and spend a portion of it on a weapons like the .45 Thompson, and/or Chicago Typewriter.

GUARDIAN EVENTS/SKILLS

apotropaic · 34
„Well Connected“ is „Limit 1 per investigator.“ If you don‘t have an effect to ready the card, you can only use it once a turn. — Astrophil · 1
Wow, I completely missed that. Thanks for the correction. It definitely makes a difference, but having one in play is still extremely helpful with treacheries. — apotropaic · 34
Unfortunately DoN doesn’t help either his elder sign or guns add bounties. DoN only doubles ‘effects of a successful test’. His elder sign is success independent, triggering when the token is drawn and not caring whether the test is successful. The guns are as well, the extra bounty clause says it happens ‘if the attack defeats an enemy’ - technically not an effect of the test being successful. — Death by Chocolate · 1275
That's correct, about DoN. And now it's 3XP. Anyhow High Roller is an obvious replacement for a second Well Connected. Thanks for the correction, Chocolate. — apotropaic · 34
How does he got a Mystic card? — AquaDrehz · 189
Lonnie the mechanic gets him to a +7. And she heals horror, it’s a completely amazing duo. — MrGoldbee · 1338
I've played through the first 3 scenarios of the Return to Dunwich with Tony, twice in a 2-player team. Both times, Tony got pounded by the encounter deck and our team struggled. We scraped by with approximately 10-12xp after 3 scenarios. I realize that Dunwich has very stingy on xp. Is it possible that Rogues just don't do very well in Dunwich because of the low xp? I enjoy playing Rogues, but man are they hungry for xp! Everything costs so much, and they need their xp to be able to perform properly. — VanyelAshke · 173

Tony Morgan is a very exciting Rogue. Not a single Rogue until now has has a higher than 3, which is strange when you consider than the class has had combat support since the core set (.41 Derringer, Hard Knocks). Before Tony, the most consistent way to build a combat Rogue was to take either "Skids" O'Toole or Jenny Barnes, upgrading into Chicago Typewriter and investing tons of resources into actions for the Typewriter or directly into Hard Knocks. Even more interestingly, Tony is the first Rogue with a stat of 5 in anything. This means the "succeed by X" suite of cards (Lucky Cigarette Case, Switchblade, "Watch this!", Quick Thinking) can trigger way more consistently in his Fight tests. And as if that weren't enough, Tony's an action economy Rogue. He gets a bonus action for fighting or engaging an enemy with a Bounty on it, which if you're conservative with your bounties will not be hard to keep up all game. Not only does that directly help with Chicago Typewriter, but it gives him the opportunity to run Colt Vest Pocket or Lupara even without holding Sleight of Hand all the time.

All of this is to say that Tony's suite of Rogue cards is fairly unique compared to his friends. There's a few Rogue staples that still work well with him, but you're not trying to turn your into damage. No Backstab, no Sneak Attack, no Ornate Bow, you get the idea. He might not be as versatile stat/test wise as Mark Harrigan, the other 5 investigator, but if you build him right, he can take incredibly long turns, fight really well, and get massively paid doing it. So with that, let me draw your attention to a few cards worth considering when building any version of Tony:

  • Kukri, Switchblade, Colt Vest Pocket, .41 Derringer, .45 Thompson - These are probably the top starting weapons for Tony. Kukri is my first choice level 0 melee weapon for him. Tony doesn't mind spamming actions at his opponent until it dies, and Kukri can let you do that in less tests. Combat boosts are generally more important than damage for him, both because of "succeed by X" cards and because closing out damage is not as critical if you have spare actions. Switchblade has the advantage of being fast and cheap, and is a good way to kill something with low fight and high health while saving ammo for important fights. The blade also acts as a good sacrifice to Crypt Chill while you have another weapon out. Colt Vest Pocket is sort of like a half as expensive .45 Automatic, and even if you only get half as many shots out of it before it leaves, it'll still save you in a pinch. .41 Derringer can be used on enemies with only 1 Bounty on them that don't benefit as much from Tony's .38 Long Colt, or to set up damage for a final Long Colt shot. Finally, if you're playing at higher counts and need to more reliably have bullets ready to go, the .45 Thompson is an easy 7 and unconditional 2 damage for 5 shots. It's harder to afford on initial set up, but it gives your deck longevity it otherwise might not have.

As a caveat here, I don't personally recommend Knuckleduster. It offers 0 boost and the consequences for failure are quite high. Extra damage, as I said above, is not as valuable for Tony since he's fine spamming actions with his melee weapon until the monster dies. You simply can't do that with Knuckleduster without heavily paying for it in health or sanity, and there may be worse consequences than even horror in certain campaigns.

Phew! That's a lot to go through. But wait, there's more! Tony gets to pick between Guardian , Seeker , or Survivor as an off class, from which he can take up to 10 level 0-1 Skills or Events. The temptation of course is to go straight to Guardian and maximize his combat potential. The trick however is to understand that he's a fairly capable fighter even just as a pure Rogue. What you really want from this suite of cards is defense and versatility. Again, let's go through a few cards for each subclass that I think are worth looking at (note any double icon card also benefits well from Crystallizer of Dreams):

With so many choices, the hardest thing about Tony is pinning down a direction. If you're playing in a group, it'll be easier as you'll just take the path most open to you. One final tip: bring some way to track your remaining actions. You will very easily lose track otherwise.

StyxTBeuford · 12787
We finally get a Rogue who can viably run knuckle duster and no mention of it? I take it over switchblade easily as I’d much rather risk retaliate at his native 5 than use switchblade to functionally swing at 3 for the bonus damage. And I’m still fine with the knuckles taking a chill to spare my guns. — Death by Chocolate · 1275
Knuckleduster is solid also, probably a stronger choice than Switchblade on higher difficulties. Thompson is also a solid choice, especially with Act of Desperation. I had to narrow in on a few options. — StyxTBeuford · 12787
I was considering doing an analysis of Tony but this review hits all the key points. I really think that seeker Tony is the best build by quite a margin, between that and some Lola Santiago / The Skeleton Key and he can be useful in any scenario under any conditions. You should mention Drawing Thin in the survivor pool because its the best red card in the game and has synergy with Well Connected and Streetwise; plus you'd want Resourceful to fish back your skill redo cards. Even with the possibly of the Chicago Typwriter I still think that he is yet another investigator who just rushes straight for Timeworn Brand as his first upgrade. — The_Wall · 265
Ah yes I’ll update and mention Drawing Thin, you’re absolutely right. I forgot about it because of the recent taboo, but I should still call it out. Timeworn is also a great Tony upgrade, you’re right. — StyxTBeuford · 12787
Please don’t update to mention Drawing Thin. It’s an asset. — Death by Chocolate · 1275
Jeez, yes you are right. This is why I shouldn't react to comments right as I wake up. — StyxTBeuford · 12787
I'm not expecting it to be an optimal build or anything, but I'm really excited to use the upgraded .41 Derringer with this guy. That is a pretty cool card that has been waiting a really long time for a suitable investigator. — CaiusDrewart · 2869
It's a fun time. Borrowed Time, Quick Thinking, Ace in the Hole, Leo de Luca, Derringer, and then Pay Day just because. You'll never have to worry about chasing your Quarry again! — StyxTBeuford · 12787
Yeah. As others have said don't knock Knuckleduster. IMO it's the #1 companion weapon to his own guns when you have no xp. His default fight value is so high that the retaliate represents fairly minimal risk. And you can use it to take care of or soften up pesky enemies before finishing them off with his own gun. And the ones really tough he can load up with bounties to take care of. — puert · 48

There seems to be 2 approaches to building a Tony fighting deck:

OPTION 1: 1-handed weapons
Tony's special ability is extra actions when fighting enemies with a bounty on them. And his Tony's .38 Long Colt give you a bounty when you kill an enemy. So this deck type focuses on milking Tony's ability for extra actions (and extra resources, since bounties also give you a resource). One hand has the Long Colts, and the other has Switchblade, Lupara, or .41 Derringer, or Timeworn Brand. The argument given by builders in this camp is "Why play with 2-handed weapons, which minimize your ability to get more than 6 free actions" which come from the starting Bounty Contracts.

I plan to try this build, using Switchblade and Reliable stacked together to basically get "Timeworn Brand" level attacks, without having to pay 10xp for 2 copies (this build saves you 4xp, with current Taboo list).

OPTION 2: 2-handed weapons
This build seems to go all-in on Tony's 5 . .45 Thompson is a common starter weapon, which gets upgraded into a Chicago Typewriter. The Typewrite is paired with Borrowed Time, which can give Tony huge turns near the end of a scenario when fighting a boss.

To those who have played with Tony, please share your experiences and insights here on the pros and cons of both of these deck types. With the current card pool, which do you think is the "better" build?

VanyelAshke · 173
One handed no contest. It’s actually become a bit of a meme how much better Tony is with one handed weapons. For starters, his signature guns are almost always better played one at a time and not at once, due to not wanting to stack your bounties all at once. Sleight of Hand is also just a super valuable Tony card (even with taboo not allowing you to sleight his signs anymore) because it gives you extra burst with Lupara or even gives you the opportunity to get clues with Flashlight. Most importantly, your guns tend to go farther when you pair them with a melee, and Tony is incredibly consistent at using Switchblade 2. You can use it to fight odd health enemies, and then if you dont succeed by enough and want the 2 damage to finish them off, then you can use a gun. One handed is so vastly superior it’s not even close in my mind. — StyxTBeuford · 12787
If your group needs a dedicated fighter, 2h weapons generally fight more effectively. In duo or solo, you might need your offhand for flashlights and lockpicks. That's generally how I think about it. — SGPrometheus · 698
That was my assessment too. Glad to hear that it's been tested and confirmed. :) What do you mean "you can't Sleight of hand his signs anymore"? Signs.....? — VanyelAshke · 173
That was supposed to be sigs. His signature guns. — StyxTBeuford · 12787
Also fwiw you would not ever take Lockpicks in Tony. — StyxTBeuford · 12787
OH! I didn't catch that without you mentioning it.... the new Sleight of Hand Taboo says only level 0-3. Because signature cards don't have a level, they can't be Sleighted, right? — VanyelAshke · 173
Correct. But yeah, another +1 for 1-handed weapons. The upgraded .41 Derringer is awesome with him and Swift Reload is fantastic for functionally another 2 copies of your signature guns. You can blast things to pieces and still do some investigating with Lola or Skeleton Key or whatever. He's also the second best investigator for Knuckleduster (after Wendy). — Death by Chocolate · 1275
So even within the 1-handed weapon deck choice, there are 2 directions: A) guns, which would play Sleight of Hand and Swift Reloads. And B) melee, which would play Switchblade lvl 2. Death by Chocolate, it seems you're on the guns bandwagon, ya? — VanyelAshke · 173
I haven't played him with 2 handed weapons but his signature guns are awesome and you get to recover the bounties for the big bad at the end of the scenario. My preference would be to upgrade to Switchblade (2) for his off hand. It is an ammoless weapon that can take out enemies without bounties or the first attack on 3+ HP enemies. I think Guardian of the Crystallizer is a prime target for him getting clues. He can include Intel Report and each of his available classes has a double Int event card. It competes with LCC but you can take Relic Hunter. Haste was also awesome with him. Haste also combo nicely with Decorated Skull. 2 Fight actions with a weapon (kill and place a charge on the Skull) and then activate the Skull. He can draw so many cards that you can even take Versatile with him and it isn't an issue. — TWWaterfalls · 893
I've been wondering about that combo... LCC + Crystallizer (with Relic Hunter). How's been your experience? Is it worth it? Do they synergize? And how do you afford all the events? I played 2-3 scenarios with Crystallizer Tony to try, and it was expensive on resources! — VanyelAshke · 173
Borrowed Time is a great Tony card regardless of 1-h or 2-h. You don't need to use the deferred action on the next turn, you can keep clicking Borrowed Time until you need them. 1-h Tony will have .41 Derringer as another way to get extra actions, but you can definitely abuse his free action to load up Borrowed Time one per turn so you've got six+ when you need them. 1-h Tony with .41 Derringer, Quick Thinking, and Borrowed Time in the second half of a scenario can go nuts. Also like Ever Vigilant to cheat a few more "actions" out of a turn, works for either 1-h or 2-h. — Time4Tiddy · 215
The Crystallizer is decent if you want to build an all around investigator. It is probably better to add after a few scenarios once you have built up your economy. It can be expensive but I am running it in Leo in TFA right now and the results are decent right now. Not great but once a few more support cards are added I think it will really work well. — TWWaterfalls · 893
After a few scenarios of the Crystallizer with Tony, that's been my experience too. It's expensive, and didn't seem to provide much extra value compared to Lucky Cigarette Case. I'm now playing LCC in a Tony deck with Switchblade (Lv 2) and Reliables and Opportunists (lv 2). I'm getting better results and am no longer having money problems. — VanyelAshke · 173