Review: Great Western Trail – El Paso

Introduction & Overview

El Paso, late 19th century. Five railway companies have incorporated the “Sun City” into their networks, transforming it into the nerve center of the cattle trade. Ranchers from the surrounding areas, both from Texas and Mexico, bring their herds to the city to ship them anywhere across the United States. Take on the role of one of these ranchers and bring your cattle to El Paso to earn money and victory points. Hire cowboys, craftsmen, and engineers to achieve your goals.

This is the premise behind Great Western Trail: El Paso, designed by Johannes Krenner (Challengers!, Age of Dirt) and Alexander Pfister (Maracaibo, Mombasa). It was first published in 2025 by Lookout Games in an English and German edition. Chris Quilliams (Reef, Azul) was in charge of the illustrations.

It is published in Spanish by Ediciones MasQueOca (though the game is completely language-independent, except for the rulebook). It accommodates 1 to 4 players, with a suggested minimum age of 12 years and an approximate playing time of 60 to 90 minutes. The MSRP is €34.99. For this review, a Spanish review copy kindly provided by Ediciones MasQueOca was used.

Important: if you already know the game and/or are only interested in my opinion about it, you can go directly to the Opinion section. The Content and Mechanics sections are especially intended for those who do not know the game and prefer to get a general idea of how it works.

Go to Personal Opinion

Components

Inside a two-piece cardboard box (lid and bottom) measuring 27.5×19.1×6.7 cm (a medium rectangular box, Saint Petersburg or Santiago de Cuba style), we find the following items:

• Game Board (fabric mat)
• 4 Player Boards (cardstock)
• Cattle Market Board (cardboard)
• Building Board (cardboard)
• 4 Pawns (1 in each player color) (wood)
• 55 Coins (cardboard):
  • 30 Value $1 Coins
  • 25 Value $5 Coins
• 8 Ownership Markers (2 in each color) (cardboard)
• 4 Certificate Markers (1 in each color) (cardboard)
• 28 Player Discs (7 in each color) (cardboard)
• 16 Exchange Tokens (cardboard)
• 20 Objective Tokens (cardboard)
• 20 Bonus Tiles (cardboard)
• Scorepad (paper)
• 154 Cards (44×68 mm):
  • 4 Train Cards
  • 11 Sue Cards (solo mode)
  • 91 Cattle Cards:
  • 40 Starting Cattle Cards
  • 32 Cattle Market Cards
  • 19 El Paso Cattle Cards
  • 48 Worker Cards (12 of each type)
• 6 Neutral Building Tiles (cardboard)
• 12 Double-Sided Craftable Building Tiles (cardboard)
• El Paso Tile (cardboard)
• Rulebook

How to Play

Great Western Trail: El Paso is a streamlined version of Great Western Trail. Just as in the base game, players try to assemble the best possible hand of cattle cards by the time their pawn reaches the delivery location, in this case, El Paso. To achieve this, on each turn, a player must move their pawn clockwise along the building circuit a number of steps within a certain range (they must take at least one step). At the location where their movement ends, they may perform the corresponding action or, alternatively, take an auxiliary action available on their player board. Every time they reach El Paso, they reveal their hand of cards and add up the breeding values of each distinct breed of cattle to place a delivery marker and unlock new options. Players will manage three types of workers: engineers (who allow them to obtain certain benefits according to a row of cards, usually related to objective and bonus tokens), craftsmen (who allow them to construct buildings), and cowboys (who allow them to purchase new cattle cards to add to their deck). The main difference compared to Great Western Trail is that these workers are also cards; once used, they go to the discard pile and will not be available again until they are drawn back into the player’s hand when refilling it at the end of their turn. The game ends once a certain number of deliveries have been completed across all players.

Key Concepts

Let’s begin with the Game Board. It features a circular circuit where, at certain points, there are branching paths that later merge back together. Along this trail, we find a series of spaces where buildings can be erected. At the start of the game, a set of Neutral Building Tiles is placed on the designated spaces. The remaining spaces will be available for players to construct buildings (some spaces have an additional cost in coins). The top space is reserved for the El Paso delivery tile, where players are required to stop. Inside the circuit, we have the delivery spaces, showing the minimum herd value at the top and the reward at the bottom. These spaces also feature a white or black border, determining which type of discs from the player board can be placed on them. Building tiles display a band along their bottom area with various actions that the player can resolve in any order. Resolving all actions is not mandatory.

The Player Board is essentially a large, variable reference sheet that summarizes what the player can do and with what strength. The core concept is that most elements show white or black spaces where discs are placed. When these discs are removed from the board upon making a delivery in El Paso (the ability to remove a disc from a white or black space depends on the delivery space chosen), they unlock an upgrade (some carry an additional cost in coins, while others grant a coin bonus). On the left side, we find the auxiliary actions (marked with a 2-cogs icon). There are four of them, which can be executed as single or double actions depending on the number of discs removed. Next to these are the effects related to permanent certificates, hand size, and movement limit. Finally, the certificate track is located along the right strip.

Each player will have a Certificate Marker that they can advance along the certificate track on their player board. Whenever they make a delivery in El Paso, these can be spent to increase the total herd value. Players cannot accumulate more than four certificates, although they can acquire permanent certificates that will automatically boost their herd value.

Each player begins the game with a deck of Starting Cattle Cards consisting of ten cards distributed across four types (three types of value 2 with 2 cards each, and a fourth type with four value 1 cards). Players manage a hand (initially four cards, which can be upgraded to five) representing the herd they are currently driving. The goal is to reach the El Paso tile with as diverse a hand of cards as possible, since only one card of each cattle breed is counted (therefore, duplicate cards in hand do not increase the herd value).

Throughout the game, players will acquire new Cattle Cards through cattle market actions. There are four types of cards, each with a color, a value (between 3 and 5), and an associated amount of victory points. Each of these types requires a specific number of cowboys to be purchased. At the end of the game, each of these cards will provide the indicated amount of victory points. To organize the cattle supply, a market board is provided showing the cowboy requirements and the coin costs.

There is a third type of Cattle Card: the El Paso Cattle Cards. Every time a player makes a delivery in El Paso, they receive one of these cards to add to their discard pile. Furthermore, these cards serve as a game timer, since running out of this deck will trigger the end of the game.

Players may construct new Building Tiles. These are double-sided, and at the start of the game, it is determined which side of each tile will be used. Each tile displays a craftsman requirement and an action band at the bottom. At the end of the game, each building tile grants a specific number of victory points.

Each player can only have two buildings built on the board. To mark them, they have two Ownership Markers that they place onto their buildings. Even if both markers are already on the board, a player can demolish a previous building to construct a new one, keeping in mind that the old building provides a discount toward the new one.

Each player has a Pawn that marks their position on the board. On their turn, a player may move up to a maximum number of steps, always counting every tile they encounter along their chosen path (neutral buildings, their own, or those of other players). Players may stop on any tile; however, if it belongs to an opponent, they can only perform an auxiliary action, whereas on neutral or personal tiles, they can alternately execute the tile’s action. Whenever a pawn reaches El Paso, it must stop immediately and resolve a delivery phase.

Players will manage a single resource during the game: Coins. These are used to pay the costs of constructing buildings, purchasing cattle cards, or activating the train. Players earn coins by making deliveries in El Paso, through certain bonuses, and by resolving actions on buildings (usually by discarding cattle cards of specific types). At the end of the game, players will earn victory points for their remaining coins.

Each player has a set of Discs used to track their progress. These are initially placed on the ability spaces of the player board. When a player delivers in El Paso, they must take a disc from their board from a space that matches the type of delivery space on the main board. Once placed, an upgrade is unlocked on the player board (auxiliary actions, movement limit, hand size, or permanent certificate).

During the game, players will acquire Exchange Tokens. These tokens allow players to draw a card into their hand and then discard a card from their hand. They can be triggered at any time, even outside the player’s turn or in the middle of resolving an action.

We also have the Train, represented by four Train Cards. These are double-sided, and at the start of the game, the train is assembled in a row using one side of each card. Players can activate this action via certain buildings to obtain, mainly, objective tokens and/or bonus tiles, in addition to other benefits.

Objective Tokens establish end-game scoring criteria that players must satisfy. Components used to satisfy the requirements of one token cannot be reused for another.

On the other hand, Bonus Tiles provide an immediate, on-demand, or permanent effect. In addition, each of these tiles will provide a certain number of points at the end of the game.

Last but not least, we have the Worker Cards. There are three types of workers: craftsmen (required to build buildings), cowboys (required to acquire new cattle cards), and engineers (required to activate the train). These cards are placed faceup in the player’s play area, and when used, they go to the discard pile. When drawn into the player’s hand, they are immediately placed into their play area, drawing replacement cards (the hand can only hold cattle cards). Furthermore, these cards allow players to resolve a free auxiliary action instead of their main associated action (which is activated via a building). These auxiliary actions can be triggered during the turn by discarding the card. A fourth card type acts as a wild worker, usable for any of the three main actions. Players can purchase additional cards of each type, including wild workers (which have an extra cost). At the end of the game, each worker card provides victory points.

That is enough to get started.

Setup

1. Place the game board in the center of the table.
2. Place the El Paso tile on the designated space. Shuffle the remaining neutral building tiles and place them randomly on either side on the neutral building spaces.
3. Arrange the train cards in a row in order, using either side.
4. Shuffle the objective tokens and bonus tiles into two separate facedown draw piles. Then reveal 3 tiles from each pile to form a display.
5. Form a general supply with the coins and exchange tokens.
6. Set the cattle market board to one side and sort the market cattle cards by type.
7. Place the building board to one side and arrange the craftable buildings on whichever side is chosen.
8. Form a general supply with the worker cards.
9. Form an El Paso cattle deck with 9/14/19 cards in a 2/3/4-player game and place them on the corresponding space.
10. Each player chooses a color and receives:
    • A player board to place in their play area.
    • 7 Discs to place on the marked spaces of their player board.
    • 1 Certificate Marker to place on the top space of the certificate track.
    • A pawn to keep in their play area.
    • 2 Ownership markers to set aside.
    • A deck of 10 starting cattle cards, shuffled and placed facedown.
    • 4 Worker Cards (one of each type).
11. Randomly choose the starting player.
12. Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player drafts an objective token from the display, immediately refilling it.
13. Based on turn order position, players receive:
    • First Player: $4 and 1 exchange token.
    • Second Player: $4 and 2 exchange tokens.
    • Third Player: $5 and 1 exchange token.
    • Fourth Player: $5 and 2 exchange tokens.

We are ready to begin!

Game Flow

A game of Great Western Trail: El Paso takes place over a series of turns alternating between players until the end of the game is triggered.

A player’s turn consists of 3 steps:

1. Move Pawn. The player advances their pawn up to the maximum number of steps allowed by their player board. Each tile traversed costs one movement point. On their very first turn, the player simply places their pawn directly onto any neutral building.
2. Perform Action. The player executes an action, choosing among the following possibilities:
   • Execute the action of a Neutral Building or a Personal Building. The player performs one, some, or all of the building’s actions in whatever order they choose. The available options depend on the building, but represent a combination of the following:
     • Discard Cards of a specific breed to gain a benefit. Simply place the corresponding cards into the discard pile to receive the reward.
     • Hire Workers. Pay the required amount of coins to the supply, take the chosen worker card, and place it in the play area. Hiring a wild worker costs 4 additional coins above the base cost.
     • Construct/Upgrade a Building. Pay 2 coins to the supply for each craftsman required by the building. The player must have at least that many available craftsmen in their play area and discard them to the discard pile. To place a new building, the full craftsman requirement must be met; to upgrade an existing building, only the difference in craftsmen between the old and new building must be paid (it must be placed on the same space as the original building).
     • Activate the Train. The player may activate one of the train levels by using 1 to 4 engineers (paying 2 coins to the supply and discarding the card for each engineer used). Then, the player resolves the effects of the chosen card.
     • Buy Cattle. The player chooses one of the available cattle cards if they have enough cowboys in their play area. For each cowboy required, pay 2 coins to the supply and discard the card. The acquired card is placed into the discard pile.
   • Perform a Single/Double Auxiliary Action (mandatory if stopping on an opponent’s building). The player performs an auxiliary action as a single action (if they have only uncovered 1 disc) or as a double action (if both discs have been uncovered). The options are:
     • Gain 1-2 Coins.
     • Gain 1 Certificate.
     • Draw 1-2 cards and then discard 1-2 cards from hand.
     • Trash a card from hand (the card must be placed in a personal column, as each player may trash no more than five cards from their deck over the course of the game).
   • Deliver Cattle in El Paso. When reaching El Paso, the player proceeds as follows:
     1. Receive 5 coins.
     2. Add one El Paso cattle card to the discard pile.
     3. Reveal their hand of cards and sum the breeding values of distinct cattle breeds. The player may boost the total herd value using certificates (single-use certificates move the marker back up the track). Then, place one disc from their player board onto an unoccupied delivery space (any disc can be placed on a black space, while discs on black spaces on the player board cannot be placed on white delivery spaces).
3. Refill Hand. The player refills their hand of cards up to their hand limit (which can be increased via upgrades). If the draw deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile.

Turn passes to the player on the left.

Game End

The end of the game is triggered when a player makes a delivery in El Paso and no El Paso cattle cards remain. This player places their pawn on the El Paso supply space, and all other players take one final turn. The game concludes once all players have completed this final turn. Each player then gathers all their cards, sorts them by type, and proceeds to final scoring, where each player scores:

• 1 Point for every 5 dollars returned to the supply.
• Points for constructed buildings.
• Points for delivery spaces where the player placed discs.
• Points from worker cards.
• Points from cattle cards.
• 5 Points if the player’s pawn is on the El Paso cattle supply space.
• Points from bonus tiles.
• Points from completed objective tokens (each component can only satisfy one objective).

The player with the most victory points is the winner. In case of a tie, the tied player with the most remaining coins wins. If the tie persists, victory is shared.

Variants

Solo Mode: Set up the game for two players; the human player competes against Sue (an automated bot) who uses only discs and a pawn, without managing her own cattle cards. An 18-card bot deck is created for Sue. She starts with a disc on delivery space 5 and her herder in El Paso, with no starting money or objectives. During the game, Sue moves and acts according to her bot cards, ignoring location actions (except El Paso) and prioritizing actions such as drafting high-scoring objectives/bonuses, constructing buildings, or delivering cattle. During scoring, Sue does not score points for money, and all her objectives are considered completed. The goal is to defeat Sue.

Personal Opinion

The board game industry is experiencing a peculiar moment. Market saturation has driven publishers to seek proven formulas, and one of the most prominent trends is the reimplementation of designs already established among the public. Designers such as Reiner Knizia, Uwe Rosenberg, and Stefan Feld have embraced this practice, taking their own games and refining them to deliver more accessible, streamlined, and tight experiences while preserving the core identity that made them stand out.

This approach not only maximizes commercial viability, but also allows designers to iron out flaws, reduce conceptual overhead, and tailor games to a broader audience. Alexander Pfister was not about to stay behind. After turning one of his biggest hits, Great Western Trail (here is its tocho-review), into a full-fledged trilogy (with Great Western Trail: Argentina and Great Western Trail: New Zealand), it is now time to streamline concepts.

Following the success of Pirates of Maracaibo (here is its tocho-review) compared to Maracaibo (here is its tocho-review), we now get Great Western Trail: El Paso, a condensed version of the original design infused with elements from its expansion, Rails to the North (here is its tocho-review), alongside a reduced rules overhead. Let’s see how these changes hold up, though not before thanking Ediciones MasQueOca for the review copy that makes this lengthy write-up possible.

As I did in my tocho-review of Pirates of Maracaibo, I will assume you are familiar with Great Western Trail, since my critique will be comparative; it might be useful to check out the corresponding tocho-review beforehand. Still, here is a quick recap of how it worked.

Great Western Trail is a medium-heavy eurogame featuring an action selection mechanism that functions as a large rondel with branching paths along which players move their pawn clockwise. The objective? To complete laps around this circuit, reaching a mandatory stop where the player must deliver their herd of cattle.

This herd is represented by cards forming a personal deck, with the goal of reaching that final stage with as diverse a hand of cattle breeds as possible, since duplicate cards are ignored. In this manner, the design blends an engaging deck-building mechanism with set collection, as cards generally do not resolve actions directly.

These actions are represented on the buildings where players can stop as they progress along the track, offering various options such as hiring workers (necessary to perform the game’s core actions), constructing buildings, advancing the train engine to build stations, and acquiring cattle. At the start of the game, only neutral buildings are on the board; over time, the board fills up with player building tiles offering a variety of actions, which crucially slows down pawn movement (since pawns have a limited movement speed and must spend more points to cover the same distance).

Great Western Trail: El Paso retains these core pillars, but reconfigures them to offer a snappier experience, enhancing turn flow and addressing what I consider the biggest flaw of the original game: pacing drag and repetitive loops.

The most obvious change at first glance is the reduced board size. In the original game, each lap around the circuit required many more steps. Even though players could upgrade their movement capacity, the pace of the game inevitably slowed down. Here we have a much more compact circuit with less convoluted routes, featuring only buildings (hazards and Native American tipis are gone) and no movement penalties for passing through opponents’ buildings. As long as no additional buildings are built, players can complete a full loop in two or three turns (depending on movement upgrades and/or bonuses used).

Players can certainly continue constructing buildings, but the maximum circuit length caps out at thirteen spaces. Thus, if a player upgrades their movement limit (moving up to four spaces), they could complete a loop in four turns even if the board is completely packed with buildings. It can be done even faster thanks to the design’s main innovation, which I will cover in just a moment.

Naturally, managing your hand of cattle cards remains the beating heart of the game. To enhance this aspect, Great Western Trail: El Paso integrates a key element introduced in Rails to the North: exchange tokens. These allow players to draw a card from their deck into their hand and then discard a card, tuning their hand to maximize the herd’s value. This mechanism accelerates deck cycling, prevents dead hands, and mitigates luck of the draw (even though tracking upcoming cards is fairly straightforward).

The most significant departure from the rest of the franchise is the implementation of workers. In the original, workers were tiles hired from a labor market and slotted onto the player board, unlocking stronger action thresholds. In Great Western Trail: El Paso, workers are converted into dual-use cards. On one hand, they can be spent to perform their associated core action (craftsmen build buildings, cowboys buy cattle, and engineers activate the train); on the other hand, they can be played as an additional action on a turn to trigger specific effects printed on the card, such as gaining coins, extra movement steps, or bankable certificates.

What makes this system so compelling is that once these cards are used, they go straight into the player’s discard pile, mixing in with the cattle cards. They only become available again once drawn into the player’s hand, at which point they are immediately placed into the play area to be used on that very turn (since the hand itself can only hold cattle cards). This is a fantastic concept that enriches decision-making, turning each card into a tactical opportunity that must be balanced against immediate needs.

Another major adjustment is replacing the railroad track with a four-card train display. Here, the design loses a bit of its bite, as progressing on the train track used to be mandatory to avoid hefty delivery penalties on high-value shipments. Now, we have a row of card effects that essentially grant bonus tiles (similar to station master tiles) and/or end-game scoring objective tokens (similar to objective cards, but without negative points for unfulfilled requirements).

All things considered, it remains an interesting change that balances strategic paths. In Great Western Trail, among the three avenues of development (buildings, cattle, and trains), the train felt almost mandatory because falling behind on the track was economically crippling. Now it functions as an optional path to exploit without bottlenecking delivery rewards. Furthermore, it injects sharper player interaction through a shared market of bonus and objective tiles, heightening competition whenever high-value tiles appear.

Interaction is further elevated by the limited building supply. In the original game, each player had their own set of buildings to tailor specific strategies. Here, there is a shared building pool with limited copies of each type, coupled with the rule that each player may only maintain two constructed buildings at a time. This forces players to be deliberate about what to build and when.

The result is a design with a much tighter gameplay arc. Players who found Great Western Trail somewhat repetitive or bogged down by diminishing momentum will find an alternative here that plays at a brisk pace; while some slowdown still occurs as the board fills, it is barely noticeable because the game ends quickly.

On a personal level, I really enjoy how clean a game of Great Western Trail: El Paso feels, and I think I will consistently reach for this version over any of the previous three big-box entries in the franchise. That does not necessarily make it a superior game, however.

Unlike what happened with Pirates of Maracaibo regarding Maracaibo, here there is a noticeable reduction in the engine-building arc that players experience throughout the game. Those who loved the sprawling depth of Great Western Trail may find this entry somewhat watered down, offering less room to execute long-term strategies.

In terms of scaling, the game holds up just as well as the original across all player counts. At four players, board congestion and competition over the limited building stock increase. At two players, that tightness softens since running out of specific buildings is less of a concern, but the game runs at lightning speed, maximizing the design’s strongest virtue.

Variability naturally takes a hit compared to the original. While there are modular setups and a solid pool of objective and bonus tiles, the reduced number of decision paths makes itself felt over repeated plays. For that reason, even though it hits the table very easily, it is the kind of game that needs room to breathe between sessions—a feeling reminiscent of Martin Wallace’s London (here is its tocho-review).

Moving on to production quality, this is perhaps the game’s most contentious aspect. Transitioning from the high-end productions under the eggertspiele imprint to Lookout Games comes with a few questionable choices. The biggest culprit is the printed fabric mat for the board, which lacks crisp definition (and should really be stored rolled up to avoid stubborn creases). The cardboard components have decent thickness and punch cleanly, though downgrading the discs and markers from wood to cardboard feels like a step backward. The cards are mini European size, a sensible change given how little text they carry (sleeving is recommended to prevent wear and facilitate shuffling). The pawns are the only wooden components remaining, and they have literally gained weight (presumably to keep the cloth mat pinned down). The rulebook is well organized, though a general erratum is worth mentioning (not the fault of the Spanish edition): the original publisher omitted the critical rule stating that a player cannot trash more than five cards from their deck (clarified in an official appendix on Lookout Games’ website).

Visually, Chris Quilliams delivers once again after steering the visual identity of the franchise since the eggertspiele second editions. As usual, his work is top-notch, particularly on the cattle and worker illustrations. The iconography is crystal clear, leaving no ambiguity during play.

And let’s wrap this up. Great Western Trail: El Paso successfully delivers a leaner, snappier experience, keeping the strategic core of the original intact while adopting an accessible, dynamic flow that fixes the pacing issues of its predecessor. However, this streamlining comes at the expense of strategic breadth and long-term development, which might leave die-hard fans of the original craving more depth. Personally, I find it a great design, perfect for anyone seeking a mid-weight eurogame with quick turns and meaningful choices, even if it sits a notch below the original due to that narrower strategic scope. The production, while functional, falls short of the standards set by current editions of the rest of the series. For all these reasons, I give it a…