Shoot First, Questions Later | Chapter 2 Starter Guide

Shoot First, Questions Later

This series provides 10 playtested decks using the Chapter 2 Core and new Starters, with each deck compatible for two player with at least 7 others (and working well at high player counts). Here, Joe has had enough of your crap! Rather than quietly investigating, he's whipping out his M1911 and going pow-pow-pow! He may do some sleuthing on the side, with Sharp Rhetoric or whatever, but really this PI is all about the DIY - and by DIY I mean DIY vigilantism...

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Series Decks

At a Glance

Stats
Clue-finding:	★★★★☆
Consistency:	★★★★☆
Enemy Management:	★★★★☆
Encounter Defense:	★★★★☆
Survivability:	★★★★☆
Simplicity:	★★★★★

Overview

• So anyway, I started blastin': Tommy's starter deck gave us the upgraded M1911 with its juicy +2 boost. With this and Logan, Joe can now attack consistently at a 7 value (higher with Extended Barrel). Meanwhile he retains respectable for clue-finding, allowing you to trigger his ability. If you attack twice with Insidious Truths, once with the M1911 and commit both upgraded Vicious Blows, it's possible to deal up to 12 damage in a single turn - that's Guardian levels of damage!

• Dusting for prints, pried up the floorboards: Even with the combat focus, Joe is still relatively strong at investigating. The key is upgraded Sharp Rhetoric, which starts in your opening hand and allows trivial boosting of when needed. Coupled to Fingerprint Kit, this provides clue compression. On top of this there's On the Beat, which provides a +3 boost for a whole turn, as well as Stakeout which heals horror from you.

• Cash and consistency: By running Logan, Bounty and Emergency Cache alongside your Detective's Intuition, this is a richer deck than most - bankrolling your assets but also boosts (e.g. On the Beat and Sharp Rhetoric). Right Tool for the Job helps with tutoring, able to locate Fingerprint Kit or your M1911. For card draw, just use Joe's ability and the occasional pull. It's easy enough to get in an investigate most turns, and unlike most Joe decks your goal here isn't to cycle - just to maintain good card advantage. Machete is a back-up weapon, only play it if M1911 very stubbornly won't come out of your deck.

• Encounter management and healing: Sharp Rhetoric allows you to boost for treacheries. There's less coverage for targeting treacheries, but Logan provides a little soak on the physical side. Physical Fitness, Stakeout and Detective's Intuition all provide healing should you need it. The upgraded M1911 also blocks Retaliate - preventing the relevant attacks.

• Weakness management: With the aforementioned riches, Dead Ends is fairly manageable. Further, with Joe's deck typically not cycling, then once it's in your discard pile it should stay gone. Right Tool for the Job may draw Dead Ends, however if you play Right Tool turn 1 (i.e. when you'll most often play it if you don't have a weapon) there's a 68% you'll avoid Dead Ends anyway - and as discussed it isn't overly worrisome.

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Explain Yourself!

With the new and improved M1911, you can now hit a good enough effective score for Joe to be a competent fighter. This very much puts you in a have your cake and eat it situation, as you can deal with enemies fairly well but your is still strong enough to be viable and so draw you cards. The card draw gives the means to better find Stock Ammo Reload, which Joe therefore has an innately easier time locating than investigators like Daniela. Overall, there's a real synergy here which makes a Guardian-leaning deck not just a cheap gimmick.

I did originally forgo a Machete on this deck. However, on playtesting I did get the nightmare situation - no M1911 in my opening hand, or after drawing 10 or so cards. I did get Right Tool for the Job, but it hit Dead Ends and the search was cancelled. As such, I never got M1911 played (but I did just about get by with Insidious Truths and Vicious Blow). While this was a severe case of bad luck, I think avoiding situations like this still makes including a single Machete worthwhile (if you're feeling conservative, you could swap a Physical Fitness for a second copy).

You might wonder why Autopsy Report isn't here. While it leverages killing enemies with a boosted investigate, for me Fingerprint Kit is more generalizable despite it having limited uses. If Autopsy Report was slotless I would consider it, but as it goes there's just too much goodness Joe wants in his hands. Regarding Custom Grip, it's a good way to replay an out-of-ammo M1911 (without an attack of opportunity, no less). However, in the level 0 deck I simply take another Machete instead as it's less combo dependent (e.g. need a gun out and have Custom Grip in hand) - also the strategy is on the expensive here side given Fingerprint Kit and Sharp Rhetoric compete for resources. Stock Ammo Reload serves a similar purpose in the fully upgraded deck (and it's better here specifically because it's cheaper!).

Campaign starter and planned progression

Working a Hunch can be used in place of "Make 'em sing" in the starting deck if you choose (though I like the extra enemy management of "Make 'em sing", and Working a Hunch is also used in my Trish deck so it's nice to have the two non-overlapping). 0 XP deck is as follows (and link here):

A recommended order of purchases/upgrades is:

• 1 x Sharp Rhetoric → 1 x Sharp Rhetoric •••

• 1 x Sharp Rhetoric → 1 x Stock Ammo Reload

• 1 x Machete → 1 x Stock Ammo Reload

• M1911 → M1911 ••

• Armed to the Teeth → Extended Barrel

• "Make 'em sing" → On the Beat

• Vicious Blow → Vicious Blow ••

Post-19 XP suggestions are:

• Stakeout → Psychoanalysis •••

• Physical Fitness → Physical Fitness ••

• Alternatively you can upgrade into Deduction •• if it's not used by another investigator

Compatability Matrix

Everyone likes a good matrix! Below are all the decks that are compatible at two player using one Chapter 2 Core and one 2026 Starter Deck set:

For higher player counts I've not 'compatabilized' the basic skills (Overpower, Manual Dexterity, Guts, Perception and Unexpected Courage). There are only 4 copies of each in the Chapter 2 core, enough for any two decks. If playing 3+ players and there's a clash, you can either:

• Swap with an appropriate level 0 class skill which that deck can use (e.g. On the Brink for Unexpected Courage).

• Swap with a class event or asset with matching or similar symbols (e.g. Working a Hunch for Perception).

• Swap with a different underused basic skill you still believe would be useful for the deck (e.g. Guts for Unexpected Courage).

• Proxy however you see fit (especially if you own Chapter 1 cards, just use the old school versions and remember the slight difference around who draws the card).

I empower you to do sensible things!

Final thoughts

This is the deck Joe's been waiting for, like he's stepped straight out of a noir movie! It's in stark contrast to Joe deck I built with just the Chapter 2 core box - i.e. investigating with a little bit of combat there, compared to mostly combat with alright investigating here - which is neat. I think this will be one of the decks I'll take through Children of Blood, something about a PI with a gun hunting down vampires just feels right. If you're not already listening to Private Eye by Alkaline Trio, then you should be!

Any thoughts - drop them below!