Bang!Howdy is an online strategy game with a “Wild West” theme. From the makers of Puzzle Pirates comes this multiplayer online tactical strategy game for the PC. Players face off in the steam-powered Wild West, using traditional strategy game mechanics in a variety of gameplay modes like Claim Jumping, Cattle Herding and Steam Mustang Hockey!

Introducing a hybrid between turn-based and realtime strategy gameplay, Bang! Howdy is played in short fast-paced rounds. The players use winnings earned as they play, along with a micro-currency system, to purchase and customize persistent Big Shot units, which influence their play-style and strategies in future games. As the player progresses through five unique Wild West settings, new units, gameplay scenarios, arenas, customizations and game features are introduced.

Bang! Howdy has little in common with its piratey cousin except Three Ring’s polish, great design, and wonderful quirkiness. Unlike a traditional strategy title, Bang! Howdy is played in 5-20 minute segments. Instead of a trekking through a series of campaigns managing enormous armies with the goal of vanquishing your enemy to reach an ultimate goal, the game is played on a series of unique maps using different game types and a series of… special units.

Units have a set distance they can move during their turn, and a set range at which they can attack. However, for purposes of playing against other players, a real-time element was added: Units can only move every four “ticks”, each tick roughly equivalent to five seconds, and all players’ units move in tandem. The result is that gameplay moves a lot faster than it would if each player had to wait for the others to decide to move.

In addition to the set number of base units (varied by map and game mode), players also may bring into play one more powerful “Big Shot” unit with special abilities, as well as cards that can be played at any time to achieve various effects. If a unit is killed, it will respawn at the owning player’s base some time later.

At the end of each game, players earn scrip (currency) based on how well they placed. In addition, players are able to use real money to purchase a separate in-game currency, “gold”. Scrip can also be exchanged for gold in-game. These currencies can be used to buy cards, unlock additional units, or change the players’ in-game avatar. Badges are earned for completing particular tasks, and may also unlock units, customization options, duds, or other things. In all modes, play continues until time is up, and the winner is determined by the points they have at the end of the round, mostly determined by the objective, but also by the player’s kills or other bonuses. Except for the objective, all game modes follow the same base rules.

There are currently eight different game modes.

The first four are available in Frontier Town. In “Gold Rush”, players send their units out to collect gold, and bring it back to their mine. “Claim Jumpin’” further allows players to steal gold from opposing players’ mines. In “Cattle Branding”, players’ units brand cattle, while keeping their opponents from stealing their cows. “Land Grab” has homesteads to claim around the board, which are vulnerable to attack just like any unit.

The other four modes are available in the newly released Indian Trading Post. In “Wendigo Attack”, players must move to safe zones or get items to protect their units from a periodic attack by demons. In “Totem Building”, players get points for stacking totem elements on a base. In “Forest Guardians”, the players cooperate to fight off logging robots and protect seeds as they grow into trees. In “War Path” players fight to get their Big Shot on top and gain the most levels by killing opponent’s units.

Feature
Multiplayer online tactical strategy game in a 3D Wild West setting, yee haw!
Fast-paced hybrid of turn-based and realtime strategy gameplay with a healthy helpin’ of rootin’ tootin’ antics!
Dozens of unique units, hundreds of special playfields and over ten wild and crazy gameplay scenarios!
Customizable avatars and collectable badges let you show them city folk that you know how to handle yer dogies!
Collect and customize Big Shot units that complement your play style whether ya like to take yer sweet time or go in guns ablazin’!