Roland Banks - Shoot First, Investigate Later

A straightforward Roland deck built for true solo. The idea is simple: fight efficiently, grab clues while doing it, and avoid wasting actions on unnecessary setup.

Mulligan

Priority:

Weapon: .45 Automatic, Enchanted Blade or Roland's .38 Special Magnifying Glass Dr. Milan Christopher or Emergency Cache

One weapon is enough. Don't keep several unless the rest of the hand is already strong.

Clues

Roland has several ways to progress without relying only on normal investigations:

Roland's ability turns enemy kills into clues Deduction clears clue-heavy locations faster Working a Hunch gives a clue without a test or action Scene of the Crime is excellent when an enemy is present Evidence! rewards something Roland already wants to do: kill enemies Magnifying Glass makes normal investigations much more reliable

Whenever possible, fight enemies at locations that still have clues.

Combat

The deck has five weapons, so Roland should rarely be stuck without one.

Vicious Blow is especially valuable against 3-health enemies, letting a 2-damage weapon kill them in a single attack.

Dynamite Blast is situational, but can rescue games where several enemies pile up.

Staying Alive

Roland's biggest weakness is his 5 sanity.

Guts protects important Willpower tests Logical Reasoning handles horror and troublesome Terror cards Hallowed Mirror provides flexible healing Allies can and should absorb horror when necessary

Don't get too attached to Dr. Milan.

General Play

You usually only need:

one weapon one clue tool maybe one ally

Then start moving.

Don't spend several turns building a perfect board. Arkham rewards tempo.

Shortcut helps enormously here by turning movement into free actions.

The deck wants to play fast:

Move. Kill. Take clues. Keep moving.

Sometimes the shortest route to solving a mystery is a .45 Automatic.