It's pretty good, but not the best.

This gun looks good, with 3 damage and +3, then it looks bad, with that and effect.

Another thing that's easy to miss, this thing is -ridiculously- cheap for a 3-shot weapon with a large bonus and 3 damage. You can easily play this in an asset heavy deck full of 3 cost assets (of which there is a lot in ) or some out of faction options.

That much damage and bonus is great, also the great price, but isn't the gun just completely kneecapped by that effect? Not quite.

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Old Hunting Rifle is a weapon the rewards a flexible playstyle combining and , ideally when the gun jams you evade and fix it, the missed shot can be recursed with cards like Oops! or Live and Learn so the gun does get good support from the faction. Will to Survive is nice but not always needed (although recommended if you intend to kill a boss). Edit: Eucatastrophe circumvents the autofails pretty beautifully.

The two stat reliance means that a classical combat specialist like William Yorick probably wont want one unless he's got all the support cards too (also Bandolier and Act of Desperation), characters like Silas Marsh and Rita Young however love them some Rifles.

One problem for 3 damage weapons is 4 health foes, in this instance it's good to have a high base and perhaps a Lucky! and/or skill cards handy to try and land a basic punch, Rita Young has a little advantage here thanks to her ability, which lets her simultaneously get distance to fix a broken rifle and damages the enemy.

"But random person on the internet," You might say, "dont Silas Marsh and Rita Young prefer Ornate Bow?!" Yes, the bow has more ammo in the end, and it might very well be more dependable, but the reliance on reloading seriously dampens what you can accomplish in a round, it's much easier to get the rifle to do 6 or 9 damage in a round. Rita in particular has no access to bonus actions outside Ace in the Hole and even that's just a one off, so despite her higher she actually might prefer the Old Hunting Rifle a bit. The big difference between the Rifle and Bow boils down to a lot of splitting hairs, the really fun thing is that you can take them both!

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Old Hunting Rifle isn't the best weapon in the game, it's risky, but it is very destructive and extremely cheap.

(Edit: Added thoughts about Enchanted Blade and viable characters)

I was a big fan of this card.

Was.

For a brief time during Carcosa this card was alone in its niche, as a medium/high ammo gun with a respectable bonus to . You could really smack around some basic enemies and deliver Vicious Blow with this thing. It was an arguable upgrade over just a Machete but this thing shot up in stock upon the release of the taboo list.

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Since those barbaric times, Timeworn Brand has been released, literally taking over the niche of 1-handed minion slaying weapon that surpasses .45 Automatic via infinite use and that brutal 1 / scenario special attack. Sure the XP cost is more then doubled but the effect also booms exponentially.

To make matters worse there's also .45 Thompson which does the minion killing specialist role even better than Timeworn Brand. While Timeworn Brand is a stronger all around combat tool, .45 Thompson can be used to blow up minions and then immediately pay for a Lightning Gun to blow up a boss. .45 Automatic does just the minion killing thing and much less efficiently then Timeworn Brand.

Finally, Enchanted Blade is a thing that exists now, and it completely takes over the niche of "sidearm / backup weapon". 1 Charge less is easily made up for by the infinite use +2 usage and the combined horror heal and card draw makes it so that Enchanted Blade totally overwrites .45 Automatic for anybody who can field 3-xp weapons.

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To be more particular about what .45 Automatic brings to the table, gaining +1 to hit and Retaliation immunity is relatively fine for 2 xp, and getting 2 of them for 4 Xp isn't bad, semi- characters like "Skids" O'Toole and Diana Stanley actually ought to consider it (And I know I had fun with it in William Yorick before Timeworn Brand came out). The real issue is the card slot. Why spend 2 card slots on this weapon, when you could go big and get Timeworn Brand? Especially if you're trying to be the squad's fighter, in which case 4 shots from .45 Automatic will last little time indeed, but then if you're trying to be the fighter then why not .45 Thompson? It takes 2 hands? Then there's Timeworn Brand again! See the problem here?

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.45 Automatic is not a bad card. If you want to fight and can take XP weapons, and don't want to overspend XP on the combat role and/or want to have a hand free, then thats the exact current niche that .45 Automatic fills. It's the main combat weapon for someone who doesnt intend to fight a lot. It's not bad, especially in solo, but it's kind of too-balanced to really shine.

Right now the current folk who might want to try it:

• A Roland Banks who is trying to balance clues and combat, this would be a 3rd weapon after Enchanted Blade.
• A "Skids" O'Toole who is using Lockpicks, this would be his go-to alongside Lupara.
• A Diana Stanley deck, this one is legit not bad as a main weapon, especially if you can tuck it under Diana Stanley by shooting a retaliate enemy when you have no (or perhaps just 1) ammo left.
• William Yorick might want one to tide him over until he can afford XP to swap a different weapon for Timeworn Brand. The way William Yorick interacts with Knife however undercuts this point.
• Joe Diamond has few options for upgraded weapons and he rather likes guns.

Note that only one of those decks is a .

If i have St. Hubert's Key in play and would be defeated by horror, can i choose to use only this card, the key or both to heal up to 4 horror?

Filler for 200 characters. Filler for 200 characters. Filler for 200 characters.

Does this card work with Lola Hayes, when she's not in guardian? This cards ability has no so i think it's a constant effect and works.

If it works, could be a combo with Otherworldly Compass, Lantern or Lockpicks.

In the mythos phases where this is good, I foresee it being amazing. Sometimes you'll get three draws that your seeker/mystic could easily handle and will just have to make do, but if there is a round where your seeker cannot be bogged down with enemies because they need all their actions to win the scenario, this is insane. Give yourself all the enemies (are you roland or Zoey?), avoid all the horror (have fun, agnes), and give your allies the breathing room they need to win. Much like ward of protection, I think this will go in every deck that can take it as a safety against defeat late in the scenario.