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Great Western Trail box art

Base game

Great Western Trail

Kritiku rating

Not rated

Published
2016
Reach
Widely known
Players
2–4
Play time
75–150 min
Weight
Not enough ratings yet
Ratings
0

How it plays

Score the most points by delivering valuable cattle to Kansas City while developing your herd, staff, buildings, and railway. On your turn, move along the trail and use the building where you stop to buy cattle, hire workers, construct buildings, advance your train, or manage your hand. The game ends when the worker market empties; points come from deliveries, cattle, buildings, stations, objectives, and money.

Main mechanics

  • Trading & negotiation
  • Deck / bag building
  • Hand management
  • Engine building
  • Set collection
  • Trading & negotiation: Deals between players move the game forward.
  • Deck / bag building: You shape your own deck or bag of resources as you play.
  • Hand management: Timing which card to spend is the core puzzle.
  • Engine building: Small early moves compound into a machine that does the work later.
Full publisher description

America in the 19th century: You are a rancher and repeatedly herd your cattle from Texas to Kansas City, where you send them off by train. This earns you money and victory points. Needless to say, each time you arrive in Kansas City, you want to have your most valuable cattle in tow. However, the Great Western Trail not only requires that you keep your herd in good shape, but also that you wisely use the various buildings along the trail. Also, it might be a good idea to hire capable staff: cowboys to improve your herd, craftsmen to build your very own buildings, or engineers for the important railroad line. If you cleverly manage your herd and navigate the opportunities and pitfalls of Great Western Trail , you surely will gain the most victory points and win the game. description from the publisher

Criterion breakdown

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