RED DEAD REDEMPTION, circa 1982 (GUNSLINGER G.F.T.C)

It's tough to pay attention to board games this week when RED DEAD REDEMPTION is out, an easy contender for Game of the Year and a title that is very, very close to letting me completely fall helplessly in love with it. But I do still love the board games, regardless, although it's a shame that Western themes are usually reserved for crappy games. Or they're silly. It's very telling that most of the semi-decent Western games have been made by Europeans.

But in this week's timely and topical Games from the Crypt, we have GUNSLINGER. It's one of the great Richard Hamblen designs, and another argument why you need to put down playing all those pretty, new, and very expensive games and play something that's going on 30 years old. It's a little rusty, but there is no other design like it. Unlike designers today who are content to cherry pick game concepts from past successes, GUNSLINGER is one of those sets of mechanics that was practically out of nowhere. It remains one of the most narratively detailed games ever published- and there ain't a lick of flavor text.