High Stakes Round.
This concept appeals because it's a more tame narrative, with little action or conflict. The conflict is mostly implied, as the characters will spend the meat of the film cooperating and trying their best to get along, attempting to remain civilised. But the high stakes and subtle suspicions of the characters and their situation will hopefully help to build a lot of tension over the course of the plot.
Some Real Cards.
Hamish Black.
The most rugged and jaded of the soldiers. Hamish Black came out of the war with the worst memories and the worst shell-shock. He's gruff, he's not personable, and he's the only one of the group who isn't afraid to make it clear just how badly he wishes he could kill the others and take the money.
Kent Scarlet.
Kent Scarlet was a coward in the war and has been a coward ever since. The rest of the group grew apart from him when Kent moved south to fight for the Confederates, as the rest of the group were Union soldiers. He's crass, he's selfish, and he'll take any opportunity to cheat in the poker game.
Colby Monarch.
Colby Monarch came out of the war a better man than he went in. He's strong, he's honourable, and he's considered a hero by many who fought alongside him. Colby should be written and played to be witty, sharp, and very laissez-faire, and doesn't care so much about winning as the others do. Unlike the rest, whose war experiences are comprised of horror stories, Colby has tales to tell of his heroic exploits and revered deeds.
Samuel Raillery.
Samuel Raillery lost just about everything in the war, including his mind. He's erratic and jumpy, and he's not all there, and the others spend a lot of the film grappling with whether or not they should take advantage of it.
After some deliberation motivated by the necessity to reduce my pursued options down to only three concepts for the Specialist Study presentation, I've had to eliminate three of my six concept candidates.
I think it's clear that the Tontine was the weakest of my six favourite ideas, and after struggling to develop the concept beyond a simple bottle-style characters study I've elected to eliminate it from the running, and won't be moving ahead with pre-production on this project.