This card is better than it looks, competing with some of the better weapons available at level 0. As pointed out in another review, in easier fight tests the damage the Winchester deals per action is close to other weapons such as the .45 Thompson and .45 Automatic, though slightly inferior for easier tests. However, it actually deals more damage than any other level 0 weapon when you are facing tough fight tests, such as when your final skill value is equal to the test, when it deals about 3 times more average damage than the .45 automatic (try out the math to see it's true). This happens more often when you are using an investigator with relatively lower fight (such as 3 combat with Skids), so the Winchester has more value for these investigators if you need to have a way to deal damage. Conversely, investigators with 5 base combat benefit less from the Winchester.

The other things to consider when deciding to use the Winchester are that it takes up 2 hands slots, and that the damage it deals comes in packages of 1 and 3. The 2 hand slots might be less of a problem compared to the Thompson, for example, since the Winchester is cheaper to play, so you can potentially use it quickly and replace it with other hand assets more easily than playing the more expensive thompson. The damage dealt is definitely something to consider. I think doing 1 or 3 damage might not cause overkill more often than 2 damage attacks, since 1 and 3 health enemies are pretty common. But you could in theory deal 1 damage twice, miss, then deal 3 damage to a 3 health enemy, which would be far from ideal. So it's definitely best to use the Winchester when the 3 damage is needed. In the same way, being able to adapt your plan depending on how much damage you deal after each attack can be very effective. This works best if you have alternate ways of dealing with enemies that don't take hand slots, like evading or allies that damage such as Alice Luxley or Beat Cop.

Not to mention, it is really fun using the Winchester! You look forward to seeing whether the revealed token will give you a critical hit, unlike other weapons where the token can only have a negative effect.

Tony Morgan's best mate. You need money? Cards? Money for cards? Apply Decorated Skull to the problem and watch as your hand goes from 2 cards to 5 after you went BRRRRRRRRRRRRRAP BRRRRRRRAP BRRR BRR BRR with your pieces against whatever poor bastard is in your way!

Bonus points if you use Joey "The Rat" Vigil to play out the cards you got without using actions.

I think this is a much better card than Blood Eclipse (3). At level 1 it can fit into many more decks and doesn't require such a large investment to add in. And really, what are the drawbacks? It locks you in at 2 damage for +2 damage? That's probably what most people will be using level 3 for anyway.

I'd consider this an auto-include in any Tommy Muldoon deck. The ability to trigger the destruction of virtually any of your damage soak assets can be very useful if you're strapped for cash or trying to empty an asset slot or trigger a death rattle.

Really excited to see this card.

Tried the card in our recently finished Dunwich Legacy campaign in a relic-heavy Jim Culver deck with Chthonian Stone, Key of Ys and a few other relics. Sure helped a few times, albeit being rather expensive from three resource. As a side note, have you noticed the woman in the picture looks like Lara Flynn Boyle from 1990s TV show Twin Peaks? :-)

This upgrade definitely thematically and mechanically sets in stone what style of deck you're going to play, but I don't think I quite realized just how powerful this card is over it's predecessor until recently. The lvl 3 version forces you to discard if you end up with an ally under your control, while this version technically allows you to have allies under your control if they are cheated in with tech like A Chance Encounter and Flare. Allies are often some of the best cards in the game so it's worth considering. The only problem of course is this'll only work in multiplayer.

As an aside, any word on whether or not story allies can be taken? I think it's clear they can be put under your control during a scenario, but the modified deck-building restrictions seem to indicate that you cannot include story allies from scenario to scenario because they are usually described as "does not count towards that investigator's deck size" as is the case with Lita in Night of the Zealot. The key phrasing is "deck size" as opposed to "deck parameters" or something similar.