Red Dead Redemption (EP)

1 - Buy Tomahawks from Manzanita Post, $10 each, for a max of 20. I recommend buying 20 just in case.
2 - Get 1 kill by throwing, 1 kill by melee, and 1 kill on horseback. This can be done on civilians.
3 - Kill a flying bird with a Tomahawk without dead eye. Don't try to throw a Tomahawk at a bird when it's really high in the air. There are some places where birds are perched such as right outside Manzanita Post or at the docks in Blackwater. As soon as you get close to the bird it will start to fly, aim and kill. Alternatively, if you kill a bunch of people Vultures will start to fly low overhead, so if you can get on top of a building, or aim well enough from the ground, you can pick one off easily. (Thanks to Guugley for pointing this out.)
4 - 5 kills in a row without missing. You can apparently do this on civilians (Thanks to Fluorisfun for pointing this out, and donut77 for confirmation) or combine it with #5
5 - Complete a hideout using just Tomahawks. Load up on them and choose your favourite hideout, I did Twin Rocks. Only about 10 enemies in total. Use dead eye to kill enemies on the rocks, and stay in cover.

The easiest way to complete the last part of the challenge is to put on the Treasure Hunter gang outfit and go to Gaptooth Breach. Provided you don't do anything hostile, you can go all the way down the mine to get the treasure without being bothered. On the way out, you only have to fight 3 enemies near the mouth of the cave. Kill each with a thrown tomahawk and exit the cave. At that point, you win the hideout and the challenge, and most importantly, the achievement will unlock.

Note that this guide was written from the perspective of someone that already completed the main story line and hideouts in the game. You can work on these challenges while going through the story, if you haven't finished yet, and you probably should, as it's a little less boring.

Throughout these challenges you should also remember to loot the body of every enemy to retrieve your tomahawks. It's also a good idea to save after each completed rank. I chose the safehouse in Armadillo since the Twin Rocks Hideout was my main base of operations.

Similar to the ambient challenges in the base game, there are a few tomahawk challenges included in this new DLC. Unfortunately there are only five ranks for you to complete this time. You can see what your next challenge is by pausing the game and selecting your journal.


Rank 1: Purchase a tomahawk at the general store in Manzanita Post.
It doesn't get any easier than this. Call your horse, set a waypoint for the general store in Manzanita Post (located in the top right corner of the map south of the Tall Trees area), and ride. Each tomahawk costs $30 and your limit is twenty. I would recommend buying the limit, if you can afford it.


Rank 2: Kill one enemy with a thrown tomahawk, one with a tomahawk melee, and one while on horseback.
While on horseback, throwing the tomahawk is pretty much your only option. For some reason that does not stack with the throwing tomahawk kill though, you have to do one on foot and one on horseback.
I went to the Twin Rocks Hideout for this one. It's very simple and only has a few enemies. Ride up to the low wall out front, and whip a tomahawk at the closest enemy. Jump off your horse, target another enemy, and hit him with a tomahawk. To melee an enemy, get up close to them, hold left trigger and then hit right trigger. It will automatically melee instead of throwing. You'll also continue to hold on to the tomahawk.


Rank 3: Kill a flying bird with a thrown tomahawk and no dead eye.
I thought this was going to be a lot tougher than it was. Birds typically fly too high for you to throw your tomahawk at. I started looking around for birds that were sitting on a post, and was going to wait for them to fly away and nail them, but that was taking too long. Luckily i found a spot that works well for this. There is a wooden bridge that extends between two dirt hills, over a path. It's right above the first "n" in Macfarlane's Ranch in the normal view of the map. If you're by your safehouse in Macfarlane's Ranch, and set a waypoint to tall trees, it will take you right under it. Climb up one of the hills and get on the bridge. The birds fly right by you, at about eye level. Just wait for one to get close, lock on, and throw.
Pictures: http://img266.imageshack.us/i/img0011sv.jpg/
http://img203.imageshack.us/i/img0012uj.jpg/


Rank 4: Kill five enemies in a row with the tomahawk without missing.
Head to the Twin Rocks Hideout again. Take out the gang members on the tall rocks first with a normal gun. Now there should be four enemies left outside (one on the roof and three on the ground). Take them one at a time. Get at a good angle to an enemy (no obstructions/cover in the way) go into dead eye and mark him. The tomahawk is pretty much an instant kill, so don't worry. Once you eliminate the four members outside, at least one will run out of the front door of the house. Do the same to him.


Rank 5: Clear a gang hideout using only tomahawks.
This is not too hard. I had to do it three times though due to uncontrollable circumstances, which I will post for you to avoid.
My first attempt was at Twin Peaks because there's only a dozen enemies. There seemed to be some sort of glitch that would not allow me to kill the gang member on the rock to the left with a tomahawk, no matter how many times I hit him.
My second attempt was at Fort Mercer. I completed the hideout using only my trusty tomahawk, but the rank did not complete. I believe this is because i let Leone in and he uses a gun. I didn't retry without letting him in.
Instead I went to Tumbleweed. There are a good number of gang members to take out, but the buildings in the town and the low walls around the mansion offer good cover. Take it slow and don't run out in the open if there's a lot of enemies. On this rank it's more important than ever to loot the bodies and get your tomahawks back so you don't run out.

This is fairly easy to complete, just do the following:

1) Goto Manzanita Post, here you can buy upto 20 Tomahawks at $10 each..

2) Get 1 kill by each of the following, throwing, melee and while on horseback. This can be done outside Manzinita post, (put the bandana on if worried about honor)

3) Kill a flying bird with a Tomahawk without dead eye.
Done this on the Great Plain when I came across a bird on the ground, just walk upto it and it will take off, just try and aim above it so that when it flies off you'll hit it.

4) Get 5 kills in a row without missing. (this can be done while doing #5) I actually completed this at Nosilada before doing #5 below.

5) Complete a hideout using just Tomahawks, again easy, a lot of people don't realise that if you loot the enemy you've just killed you'll get you're tomahawk back (See vid)

(Only done Nosilida as it was closest)

In addition to the solutions already listed, I wanted to share a couple of quick tips that might help those that aren't quite comfortable with their tomahawk throwing abilities get this achievement and, at the same time, improve their throwing.

The first part of the challenge is easy. Buy 20 tomahawks though and be prepared to return to the store.

Second part can be done anywhere and really requires very little skill. I actually did it outside and around the store where I bought the hatchets ... often in the woods a short distance from the store there are a couple of people either on the trail on horses or a couple of outlaws shooting at anything that goes past. These are good people to get this achievement with - ride up to one, dismount and throw your tomahawk, then remount your steed and throw another. The tomahawk as melee weapon can be done on anyone and is easy. The three "kills" don't have to be in the order listed in the game either.

For the third part, the previous suggestion of going to the old wooden bridge near McFairlane's Ranch is a winner. The birds fly very low and are easily hatcheted. Took me 3 tries and 30 seconds to do.

There is a sneaky way to do the fourth part if you don't mind killing innocents (and if you are not confident in your axe throwing). Go to McFairlane's Ranch and ride around to the horseshoe game pit. There will be someone there waiting to play - simply walk up (or ride up) and throw the tomahawk at close range with dead eye. A witness will see you - now, you can kill the witness as well for your second kill if you wish, or just ride off to avoid the authorities. Then, when your wanted rating fades, ride back to the horseshoe pit - another person will automatically spwan there!

Kill them, ride off, return. Rinse and repeat.

For the fifth part there are a number of options. Tumbleweed is a really good option,but I have to admit I did Twin Rocks, mainly because of the low number of enemies there (8-9). Make sure you have 20 tomahawks, some tonic/chewing tobacco and about 4-6 medicines when you ride down the path and into the hideout. Your first kill should be the first sniper on the tall rock. He can be killed by axe in dead-eye from your horse.

Dismount, run around the back of the rock away from the hideout and dash over to the low wall and crouch. You should be safe from 95% of gunfire here, and can quickly take out the couple of gang members at ground level. From there, work your way around towards the house and the gang member atop it. Get in cover behind the tall narrow structure nearby and simply take aim - wait till he stands up and throw (dead eye helps). At this stage, take some medicine if you wish.

Now you need to kill the sniper atop the other tall rock. Go around the back of the hideout and structures and make a quick dash to the base of the rock. If you stand at the base of the rock the sniper has no firing line so you can relax for a second (or take out the other ground level gang member if you haven't done so originally). Work your way around to the back of the rock and carefully step backwards till there is a line of sight between you and the sniper. He may hit you with a gunshot, but you should be able to quickly dead eye and tomahawk toss to hit him without too much trouble.

If you struggle you can easily duck back closer to the rock out of his line of fire before popping out and having another go. At this stage you can again take some medicine or whatever to increase your health and dead eye.

Three more gang members will spawn once you kill the guy atop the rock.

Work your way around the rock so it is between you and the hideout, then quickly dash over and crouch down behind the nearby stone wall. Simply bide your time till you have a good shot at hitting the two gang members outside the building and throw.

The final gang member will be inside the building - enter cautiously, find cover near the doorway and quickly pop out and throw your tomahawk to take him out, rescue the girl and finish the hideout.

If, before you go into the building you are short of tomahawks, retrieve a couple by looting the bodies of those you've already killed.

The key is, with any of the hideouts, to be patient and take your time. You can't go in quickly because you'll easily exhaust your supply of tomahawks and find yourself shot down.

The first 4 ranks are simple enough and pretty self explanatory, however rank 5 can be quite difficult. I have found an easy way to do this, but you need the WAR horse (can set zombies on fire). Equip your tomahawk then kill a few zombies with it then proceed to ride into the rest with your horse burning them up, this doesnt count as a weapon kill so as soon as you have burnt the last one it should pop, did for me first time, hope this helps!

PS this solution is for the Undead Nightmare single player if you didn't gather that

For everyone that is having problems with this, just clear your system cache and play offline. the title update broke the game so the explosive rifle challenge and tomahawk challenge wont show up otherwise.