Just some quick off the cuff thoughts:
Its been mentioned that there's an underlying priority system, a la Shadowrun, underneath the basic books and presumably the LE books. From my best guess, everyone gets Secondary everything by default. To do better at one thing, you have to do worse somewhere else.

Breaking it down, its something like this:
Statline primary: total of all stats is +5 with one at +3
secondary: total of all stats is +3
Tertiary: total of all stats is +2
In all cases, a second +2 stat costs as +3. However, a character with stats primary can have a single +3 at a cost of +3. No stat below -1.

Moves:
This is really sticky since its difficult to work out the balance. My best guess is like this.
Primary: You start with three moves. Most of your moves either use your primary stat, allow you to make some basic move with your primary stat or provide a general bonus to your character's focus. (Quarantine, Touchstone, Hocus but see below)
Secondary: Is the default. You start with two moves, they largely give you options with your primary stat, allow use of a basic move with your primary stat or provide a non-roll bonus to your focus.
Tertiary: Either you have a full complement of moves but they largely don't revolve around your high stat or you have only a few moves which revolve around your high stat and exist mostly for the benefit of your crap. Whichever it is, you get 2 to start.
The Death clock exception: If either A) You can not take your own moves as an advance or B) You can lose advances permanently through certain behavior then you can raise your Moves by one rank.

Crap: This is not just gear but any starting non-move ability. The Angel Kit, the Touchstone's "go among the people", gangs, holdings, followers, workshops, Gigs and Juggling etc.
Primary: You have crazy cool stuff and you can improve it in play. The Chopper and the Hardholder get it at the expense of Moves. The Driver gets it at the expense of stats.
Secondary: Either you have kinda-crazy cool stuff or you have a few neat things. If you have kinda-crazy cool stuff, one or two of your moves are tied to it (Maestro'D). Otherwise you have kinda normal crap (a couple of weapons, some armor, some barter) plus something really neat (the Gunlugger's big gun, Touchstone's token, Savvyhead's workshop, Angel kit etc).
Tertiary: Pick one of the two from secondary - either you have one big thing with a move tied to it or you have normal stuff plus one neat thing but not both. (Hocus)

Ad the Savvyhead move (don't have it in front of me) where they can show up for something with the appropriate tools. "Oh, just found it laying around."

Edit: I think its a bit harder to play a straight-up thief in AW, archetypes aside, because its simply not much of a "stuff" game. Characters' crap is so ephemeral it strikes me as a bit silly to have someone who acquires more than he needs by guile. I can see a big heist type thing but not so much picking pockets.

Now that sounds like a plan. Fabulous Lost Vegas, here I come.

Thanks for the links, both to the thread and by dropping the Hatchett City name for me to track down. I think I may do a single slot game this time, probably Hatchett City, because I have other commitments that day. Next month, though, I'll definitely look into a double-slot format with a break. First slot=first session, go get dinner and do prep, 2nd slot=session 2 with fronts and threats.

Well, honestly, if "by the book" works, I'll just try that the first time around. Could be great fun. AW's nicely designed to provide its own bangs even if it doesn't necessarily have a single overarching plot.

In my experience, cultural reference humor winds up being funny to the players but quickly turns creepy. I mean, picture the Fast Food Hocus from the outside. . .

You've heard about this guy, The King, and his cult before but you've never seen them. Supposedly they all eat some sort of sacramental meat. Maybe its some animal they raise, maybe its the people who give them shit. Before they come over the rise you can already hear them doing this weird chant. Its slow, low tone and seems to carry for ever. Just over and over.
"Magic makes is speeeeeeeeecial. When you're with Burger Kiiiiiiiiing."
When they come over the hill there's like twenty of so of them, all glassy eyed and in worn but identical blue shirts, grey slacks, little cardboard crowns and a motley assortment of weapons. looks like they don't have any animals with them. The leader, though, he's the real scary one. He's got this long, blood red coat trimmed in fur and a giant plastic head with a psychotic smile and a big version of the crowns his cult wears. The thing's cracked and the paint is peeling off of it. When he sees the Hold he raises a hand and all of the guys behind him stop dead and go silent.

What do you do?

So. . .yeah.

There's plenty of that type of thing in the source material, after all. Look at the kids in Thunderdome or Adam Ant in World Gone Wild. Its really just an extension of the cultural reference without referents in the character names. For a Hocus especially, the cargo cult mentality makes a lot of sense.

I have to say that while there's some great Lord of the Flies and Thunderdome potential in a gang of kids, in your average AW game the idea is right at the line of too disturbing for me. Not so much the idea of feral children who hunt rats and/or kill people (that's just real world kids to me). More that I'd never be able to properly put them in the crosshairs like the NPC's would. Picture your last gang vs gang battle, now picture it with all the casualties on one side being under 12.