A Fistful of Yankees rides onto Steam with comic-book grit and cavalry chaos

Why this caught my eye

Real-time tactics in the Wild West is a lane I’ll always check out. With Mimimi Games gone and Desperados fans hungry, A Fistful of Yankees rides in at $12.99 promising lethal gunfights, squad composition that actually matters, and a retro comic-book look that isn’t just sepia filters. It’s a two-person project from France backed by indie.io, and that combo-ambitious scope, tight price, small team-makes this one worth a closer look.

• High-lethality, cover-first real-time combat-overconfidence gets you buried.
• Five roles including a revolver-fanning captain plus four squad classes that meaningfully change your plan.
• Siege missions with player-chosen fortifications hint at varied objectives, not just “move from A to B.”
• Six chapters with a European spin on classic Westerns, wrapped in bold comic-book art.

Breaking down the announcement

A Fistful of Yankees puts you in the boots of a Union captain leading a small unit through sand, scrub, and ambushes. The pitch leans hard into “you’re dead if you’re dumb”: march down an open trail and you’ll get flanked; linger in a clearing and you’ll hear the bad kind of ringing in your ears. It’s the kind of design where your best friend is cover and your worst enemy is tunnel vision.

The squad roles are clear and old-school tactical: riflemen as flexible backbone, brutes with scatterguns and dynamite for close-quarters chaos, fragile snipers who delete problems from across the map, and cavalry to break lines or break your run if misused. The captain’s unique revolver “fan the hammer” ability sounds like a clutch skill for turning a botched firefight into a highlight reel—if the cooldowns and risk/reward are tuned right.

The part that stands out beyond the skirmishes is the fort defense layer. Picking barricades and artillery for a siege scenario is a smart way to mix pacing and push players to think about angles, line-of-fire, and timing. Turtling up behind makeshift cover or baiting into a mobile counterattack should make those missions feel different from the traveling gunfights.

Industry context: filling a real-time tactics gap

Since Desperados III reminded everyone how good this setting can be, we haven’t had many smaller teams take a swing at real-time tactics. Big RTS names still do combined-arms spectacle, but few games double down on small-squad lethality where one bad move costs you the map. At this price point, Yankees is positioning itself as a lean, focused campaign rather than a sprawling sandbox—and that’s fine if the mission design pulls its weight.

Six chapters will raise eyebrows. Are we talking six mega-missions with sub-ops and optional challenges, or a short campaign you’ll burn through in a weekend? If each chapter introduces new enemy types, environmental twists, or siege variants, there’s room for replay with different squad builds: cavalry-first shock tactics versus slow sniper-led methodical pushes.

What matters for players

Real-time tactics sink or swim on a few things, and this is where I’ll be paying attention:

• Readability and UI: The comic-book style looks striking, but can you clearly parse cover, sightlines, and incoming arcs when bullets start flying? Style can’t get in the way of split-second decisions.
• Controls and pathfinding: Nothing kills a clutch plan like a unit deciding a scenic route is better. Snappy orders, clean formation behavior, and reliable stop/hold-fire commands are a must.
• Difficulty curve: High lethality is great; unfair spikes aren’t. The best missions reward cautious scouting, flanking, and staggered advances—reward me for thinking, not for save-scumming every five steps.
• Mission variety: The promise of sieges plus open-field skirmishes is strong. Sprinkle in convoy ambushes, timed extractions, or multi-phase assaults and this could punch above its budget.

One big question the announcement doesn’t answer: is there a tactical pause or slow-mo? Not every real-time tactics game needs one, but with cavalry charges, dynamite, and artillery in the mix, giving players a half-second to stack actions can separate “satisfying” from “scramble.” If there’s no pause, the readability and controls become even more critical.

Style points: the Euro-Western comic vibe

The team cites classic Westerns with a European twist, and you can feel the Spaghetti Western DNA in the pitch: larger-than-life gunplay, operatic stakes, and that pulpy, panelized presentation. If the soundtrack leans into twangy, dusty motifs and the UI embraces bold framing without obscuring info, this could be the rare indie tactics game that feels as good to watch as it is to play.

Also worth noting: this is a debut “fully professional” release from a two-man studio. That can mean sharper focus, but it can also mean thinner QA. Post-launch support will matter. The $12.99 tag (with a 20% launch discount) is a smart, no-nonsense ask—as long as the six chapters deliver distinct tactical puzzles rather than remixed skirmishes.

The gamer’s verdict (for now)

This hits a niche I care about: compact, tense squad tactics where positioning, timing, and unit roles actually matter. The cavalry and fortification angles give A Fistful of Yankees its own identity instead of just chasing Desperados’ stealth puzzles. I’m cautiously optimistic—if Pulsar Creation nails readability and unit behavior, this could be a punchy, memorable ride well worth the asking price.

TL;DR

A Fistful of Yankees brings lethal, cover-first real-time tactics to the Wild West with squad roles, sieges, and a bold comic-book look. The $12.99 price is right—now it’s on mission variety, controls, and readability to seal the deal.