Review: Great Western Trail

Introduction & Overview

America in the 19th century. You are a rancher herding cattle from Texas to Kansas City, where they are shipped by rail transport to the most important cities, providing significant profits—especially the more valuable and varied the cattle lot is. To achieve this, it won’t be enough just to manage your herd; you will also have to establish certain businesses that will allow you to develop your enterprise, as well as extend the communication lines for more efficient and effective transport. Will you become the most important livestock entrepreneur in the West?

This is how Great Western Trail is presented to us, the latest design from the designer of the moment, Alexander Pfister, responsible for other titles such as Port Royal, Mombasa, Isle of Skye, or Broom Service (together with Andreas Pelikan). The game was published in 2016 by eggertspiele. The illustrations are handled by Andreas Resch, who already proved his talent in games like The Great Fire of London 1666, Istanbul, or Rialto.

In our country, it is published in Spanish by MasQueOca, although the game is completely language-independent. It allows for games of 2 to 4 players, with a suggested minimum age of 12 years and an approximate duration of 75-120 minutes. The recommended retail price is €39.95. For this review, a review copy of the first edition from Pegasus Spiele has been 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 31×31×7 cm (standard square box like Ticket to Ride or Catan), we find the following components:

• Main Board (cardboard)
• 4 Player Boards (cardstock)
• 47 Building Tiles (cardboard)
• 40 Double-Sided Player Buildings (10 for each color: white, blue, red, and yellow)
• 7 Neutral Buildings
• Cards (57×89 mm.):
  • 36 Market Cattle Cards
  • 56 Starting Cattle Cards (14 for each color: white, blue, red, and yellow)
  • 24 Objective Cards
  • 4 Starting Objective Cards
• 99 Small Tiles (cardboard):
  • 54 Worker Tiles
  • 18 Hazard Tiles
  • 22 Teepee Tiles
  • 5 Station Tiles
• 55 Coins (cardboard):
  • 35 Value 1 Coins
  • 20 Value 5 Coins
• 4 Cowboys (1 for each color: white, blue, red, and yellow) (wooden)
• 4 Locomotives (1 for each color: white, blue, red, and yellow) (wooden)
• 56 Discs (14 for each color: white, blue, red, and yellow) (wooden)
• 4 Certificate Markers (1 for each color: white, blue, red, and yellow) (wooden)
• Labor Market Marker (cardboard)
• Score Pad (paper)
• Rulebook

How to Play

Great Western Trail is a game set in 19th-century America, where each player takes on the role of a rancher who must repeatedly herd their cattle from Texas to Kansas City to send them by train. At the start of the game, players have a personal board and an identical, low-value starting deck of cattle cards. After this, players alternate turns following the phases on their board. On each turn, the active player must move their cowboy forward along the trail locations, use the actions of the location they have reached—such as constructing their own buildings, hiring skilled staff (cowboys, craftsmen, and engineers), trading with Indians, or buying more valuable cattle in the market—and, finally, replenish their hand of cards according to their hand limit. Hand management is crucial because every time a rancher reaches the destination in Kansas City, they must reveal their cards to calculate the breeding value of their cattle, receive income in dollars, and make a delivery by train to a city along the rail line, which allows them to remove discs from their board and unlock upgrades. The game heads toward its end when a player pushes the labor market marker off the board by hiring workers, triggering a final round. Upon concluding the game, the victory points accumulated in eleven different categories are summed up, including buildings constructed, upgraded stations, the value of the cattle in the deck, and completed objectives, with the player with the highest score being proclaimed the winner.

Key Concepts

The Main Board is where all the game’s action takes place:

• Most of the board is occupied by a sort of map with a series of routes that converge and branch out at certain points. Along these routes (which are one-way paths), we find a series of spaces to place square and rectangular tiles (hazards and teepees). Each of these spaces shows a symbol of the type of tile that can be placed on top of it.
• The building spaces that appear on the routes and coincide with small tile spaces are riskier, as they are hazardous routes that can entail an additional cost. This is why these spaces apply a bonus in the form of an additional action on top of those already possessed by the building.
• On the left margin, we find the labor market. This is a space with 12 rows and 4 columns (although only as many columns as there are players in the game will be used). Each row shows a certain value, corresponding to the hiring cost of a worker located on that row.
• Above the labor market, we find the delivery space in Kansas City, which shows a summary of the 5 steps that must be executed when a player reaches this position. The first 3 consist of adding new hazard and worker tiles to the board, chosen from those available in a small space located in this same area.
• The top and left margins represent the rail journey to the different cities. It is a track of numbered spaces that shows forks for the stations.
• The first stations, in addition to spaces for placing discs, show a space for a tile that will provide a certain bonus.
• At the top of the track, we find the different cities where the cattle can be delivered. Each city has an associated value that must be equal to or lower than the value of the lot to be delivered. With the exception of the first and last city, a player can only deliver once to each city.
• Between each pair of cities, there is a certain benefit/penalty in the form of victory points (gained or lost) and objective cards that must be taken.
• Finally, the bottom margin shows a summary of the cattle market options and how the cowboys hired by a player can be employed. A small legend is also shown on how to set up the cattle market based on the number of players.

The Player Board is basically a large, variable reference sheet that summarizes what the player can do and with what strength. The main concept is that most elements show white or black spaces on which discs will be placed. When these discs are removed from the board, they unlock an upgrade:

• On the right side, we find the auxiliary actions (with a 2-cog symbol). There are five actions that can be executed as a single or double action, depending on the number of discs we have cleared.
• In the upper section, we find the turn order summary, with the 3 steps that comprise it. Certain upgrades apply to the first step (movement speed) and the last step (hand size). The first step indicates the basic number of movement steps based on the number of players (there is a tile to configure the game for 2/3/4 players), while the last step determines the number of cards that must be held in hand at the end of the turn.
• On the right side, the certificate track is shown, which allows players to increase the value of their cattle lot. It is a track with 6 positions, where the last two are initially locked.
• Finally, in the central area, we find the worker track. For each type of worker, there is a row with 6 positions, with the first one already occupied. Some of these spaces allow a bonus to be triggered the moment they are covered (players will place workers from left to right). The last two columns provide victory points at the end of the game if they are occupied by tiles.

Discs are used to track player progress. These are basically placed in two locations: cities (to mark that a delivery has already been made there) and stations (to mark that the player has contributed to their upgrade). The important concept to master is the color of the space that the disc occupies on the player board. There are two types of spaces: white and black. When a player makes a delivery to a city or upgrades a station, they must take a disc from their board from a space that matches the color of the space they are going to occupy. Once the disc is placed, an upgrade is enabled on the player board (auxiliary actions, movement capacity, hand size, or certificate capacity).

Worker Tiles represent the crew of different types of employees we can have under our charge. There are three types: Cowboys (who allow a greater margin of maneuver when buying new cattle), Builders (who allow better buildings to be constructed), and Engineers (who allow players to develop rail connections more powerfully). Each player begins the game with one worker of each type.

These workers can be hired in a labor market represented on the main board. Each row of this market determines the hiring cost, to which discounts or surcharges may apply. The limit of the market (available tiles) is set by the labor market marker, which, in turn, serves to limit the game length. This marker will shift as the spaces in the worker supply are refilled, so that when it leaves the board, the final round is triggered. Whoever forces this situation will receive this marker, which provides points at the end of the game.

Indians are represented by small tiles with a blue or green background. For movement purposes, Indians function just like hazards—that is, they slow down a marker’s progress and apply a financial penalty. However, there is an action that allows players to acquire these tiles along with a certain financial transaction, so that, depending on the position the tile is taken from, the player will receive coins or must pay them.

Hazard Tiles represent different obstacles that players will encounter on various routes along the journey. Each tile of this type on a route will slow down the player’s progress, in addition to applying a financial penalty. The anatomy of all tiles is the same: a sign with a green or black hand (for the value of the penalty), a victory point value, and the type of hazard, which determines the route on which it is placed (flood-blue, drought-yellow, and rockslide-grey). Through certain actions, players can remove these hazards, receiving the corresponding tile which provides points at the end of the game.

Locomotives mark the players’ progress in rail infrastructure. The advancement of these markers will reduce costs when delivering cattle to various cities, as well as allow stations to be upgraded. The main concept to keep clear is that a space on the track can only be occupied by a single marker, so if, when moving forward or backward, an occupied position must be entered, it is not counted when tallying movement points. For example, if four locomotives are consecutive (there are no spaces between them) and the last one moves 1 space, it will be placed at the front of all of them.

Cowboys represent the player’s position on the different routes of the board. On their turn, a player will have the option to advance up to a maximum number of steps, counting any tile they find on the chosen route, whether they are buildings (neutral, their own, or other players’), hazards, or Indians. Whenever a player passes through one of these tiles that is not their property and shows a hand symbol, they must pay—either to the bank if it is a hazard, or to the owner if it is a building—the coins indicated on the player board based on the type of symbol (green or black). Whenever a cowboy reaches Kansas, a delivery phase will be triggered, and on their next turn, they will start a new route from the starting point.

Cattle Cards represent the different breeds of cattle we will transport throughout the game. These cards have a very simple anatomy, with a representation of the type of cow and its name on wooden planks of a color associated with the breed (grey, black, white, green for the starting ones; red, yellow, blue, brown, and purple for those that can be acquired during the game), a numerical value in the corners (1 and 2 for the starting ones, 3-4-5 for those that can be acquired during the game), and a victory point value (a star in the player’s color for starting cattle).

Objective Cards allow players to score points according to a certain condition, usually related to the main sources of victory points (Indians, hazards, buildings, cattle, or stations). These cards show, in addition to the condition, a positive amount of victory points to be obtained if the condition is met at the end of the game, and a negative amount in case of failure to meet it. The quirk of these objective cards is that they have an associated action, represented symbolically in the upper left corner. These objective cards are found in a common supply and are obtained during the game, becoming part of the deck. Once the card appears in hand, the player can put it into play, benefiting from the action, although by doing so they commit to fulfilling the objective. If they do not activate the associated action, they can always discard the objective at the end of the game without penalty.

 

Players begin the game with a Starting Objective Card, which is already in play and does not apply any action. As compensation, this starting objective does not apply a point loss if it is not fulfilled at the end of the game.

Stations are one of the three main avenues of development in Great Western Trail. A player, as they progress with their locomotive, can stop at stations that allow them to place a disc from their player board in exchange for a certain amount of coins. This disc provides a certain amount of victory points. Additionally, the first stations provide the opportunity to obtain a Station Tile that gives an instant benefit (top half) and a benefit in the form of points at the end of the game according to a certain condition (bottom half) in exchange for a hired worker.

On the routes that players take to transport cattle, they will find a series of Neutral Buildings that allow them to execute various actions. Players can execute all the actions shown on the tile in the order they wish, although it is not necessary to execute them all.

Players can also construct Buildings (another of the most important avenues of development in Great Western Trail). With them, players deploy stages on the board that affect all players who traverse the route where they are located, although their action, unlike neutral buildings, can only be activated by the building’s owner. Furthermore, some of them apply a financial penalty to other players. The anatomy of these buildings is identical to that of neutral buildings, with the exception that the frame is in the player’s color, the upper left corner shows the number of workers needed to build it or upgrade an existing one (the workers indicated on those buildings would be added to the player’s), and the upper right corner shows the amount of victory points it provides. It will be necessary to have the amount of workers indicated on the building or the difference between the one to be built and the one to be replaced.

Money is the key to the game, represented here by Coins. Everything that can be developed in Great Western Trail has an economic cost. There are three income streams: selling cattle, deals with Indians, and activating certain buildings.

 

Certificates are a way to raise the total value of the cattle lot we deliver at the end of the route. There will be single-use certificates (the player’s certificate track) and recurring-use certificates (represented on certain tiles).

Finally, it is worth noting that the card deck follows the basic principles of deckbuilding—that is, the player has a hand of cards with which they can perform certain actions as they advance across the board. The cards they use are placed in a discard pile, and, at the end of their turn, they refill their hand up to a certain number of cards. If the draw deck runs out, the discard pile is shuffled to form a new draw deck, making the newly acquired cards available to be drawn.

That is enough to get started.

Preparación de la Partida

1. The main board is deployed in the center of the table.
2. The 5 station upgrade tiles are placed on the first 5 spaces of the rail track.
3. The neutral building tiles are shuffled and placed on the specific spaces of the board routes.
4. Type 1, 2, and 3 tiles of workers, Indians, and hazards are shuffled separately. A pile is formed for each type of tile.
5. From each type of tile, 2 are revealed and placed in the reserve spaces of the Kansas section.
6. 7 type 1 tiles are revealed and placed in the corresponding spaces (Indians or hazards) starting from the lowest-value space onward.
7. The labor market marker is placed on the first circular space (second row).
8. Type 2 tiles are revealed to fill the labor market. The first 2 lines are filled except for the space occupied by the labor market marker, and the columns depend on the number of players.
9. A starting objective card is dealt to each player. The remaining starting objectives in games with fewer players are left in the box.
10. The deck of objective cards is shuffled, and 4 of them are revealed.
11. The cattle deck is shuffled, and a number of cards depending on the player count is revealed (7/10/13 cards for 2/3/4 players).
12. A general supply is created with the coins.
13. Each player receives all components of one color: Player Board, discs, locomotive, cowboy, certificate marker, 10 building tiles, and a starting cattle deck.
14. Each player places the discs on their board, as well as the certificate marker on the zero-value space.
15. In 3/4 player games, the corresponding tile is placed to modulate movement capacity and the cost of crossing tiles with a penalty.
16. Players place their locomotives on the Kansas space.
17. The starting player is chosen and receives 6 coins. The remaining players receive one more coin each, continuing clockwise.

We are ready to begin!

Game Flow

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

A player’s turn consists of 3 steps:

1. Move Cowboy. The player advances their Cowboy up to a maximum number of steps according to the player board. Each tile they pass through consumes one of these movement points.
   • If a tile shows a hand symbol (green or black), the player must pay to cross. If the tile is neutral (Indians or hazards), the player pays to the supply, whereas if the tile is a player’s building, the player pays the owner.
   • On the very first turn, the player directly places their cowboy on any neutral building.
2. Use Action. The player executes an action, having the following possibilities:
   • Execute the action of a Neutral Building or a Personal Building: the player executes one, some, or all actions of the building in the order they deem appropriate. If the building is located on a hazardous route, the action printed on the board is considered part of the building’s actions. The options will depend on each building but will be a combination of the following:
   • Discard Cards of a certain type to obtain a benefit (coins, certificates, or locomotive advancements). The corresponding cards are simply placed in the discard pile, and the benefit is received.
   • Hire Workers (with a discount or penalty). The player pays the corresponding amount of coins to the supply, takes the worker tile, and places it in the leftmost free space of the corresponding row. If covering it triggers a bonus action, it is resolved immediately.
   • Build/Replace a Building. The player must pay coins to the supply based on the number of builders required to erect the building (indicated in the action). This number of builders must also be equal to or lower than the number of builders hired by the player. To place a new building, the number of builders must be covered by those hired, whereas to replace it, the difference between the building to be replaced and the one to be placed must be covered.
   • Advance Locomotive. Based on certain elements, the player advances their locomotive (usually based on the number of Engineers). The player can always advance fewer spaces than the maximum allowed. They can also pull off into one of the stations to make an upgrade (paying the coins indicated on the space and placing one of their discs). If there is a station tile at the station, the first to make the upgrade can take it, replacing it with one of their hired workers (who will cease to apply their effect), obtaining the benefit of the upper part immediately.
   • Buy Cattle. Depending on the number of Cowboys the player has hired, they will have access to various types of cattle at a certain price. Each cowboy is assigned to a purchase action. There is the option to assign a cowboy to reveal 2 new cattle cards. Acquired cattle are placed in the discard pile.
   • Remove a Hazard. The player returns the indicated amount of coins to the supply and takes one of the hazards from the routes.
   • Make Deals with Indians. The player removes one of the tiles from the board and receives or returns the amount of coins indicated in that position.
   • Take Objective Card. The player takes an objective card from the supply and places it in their discard pile.
   • Perform Single/Double Auxiliary Action. The player executes an auxiliary action as a single action (if they only have 1 disc cleared) or as a double action (if they have both discs cleared). The options are:
     • Gain 1-2 Coins.
     • Draw 1-2 cards and then discard 1-2 from hand.
     • Pay 1-2 coins and move the locomotive back 1-2 spaces to obtain 1-2 certificates.
     • Pay 1-2 coins to advance the locomotive 1-2 spaces.
     • Move the locomotive back 1-2 positions and remove 1-2 cards from hand (returned to the box).
     • Advance Cowboy. Allows the cowboy to be moved instantly, being able to execute an action from those available at the next stop.
   • Execute a Single Auxiliary Action (mandatory if it is not a neutral building or a building owned by the player). The player applies the single effect of one of the available auxiliary actions.
   • Deliver Cattle in Kansas City. If the player reaches Kansas City, they proceed as follows:
     1. The player chooses one type 1 tile and places it in the appropriate space on the board.
     2. The player chooses one type 2 tile and places it in the appropriate space on the board.
     3. The player chooses one type 3 tile and places it in the appropriate space on the board.
     4. The player reveals their hand of cards and sums the value of the unique cattle cards. The player can raise the value of the lot using certificates (if they are single-use, they shift the marker upward). The player receives as many coins as the lot value and discards all cards.
     5. The player must deliver the lot to a city where they have not delivered yet (with the exception of Kansas City or San Francisco, which can be repeated). The player must pay the supply as many coins as there are red crosses between the position of the player’s locomotive and the city where the delivery is made. To mark the delivery, the player places one of the discs from their board (depending on whether the space is white or black). After this, the player places their cowboy on the starting space of the routes.
        • When placing a disc in a city adjacent to another where we already have a disc, it is possible that an objective-drawing action is triggered, which must be carried out immediately.
3. Replenish Hand. The player refills their hand of cards up to the corresponding hand size (depending on possible upgrades). If the deck runs out, the discard pile is shuffled.

After this, the turn passes to the player on the left.

If a player has objective cards in their hand at the beginning or during a turn, they can put them into play and carry out the additional action indicated on them:

• Advance Cowboy up to 3 spaces without paying tolls.
• Draw 3 cards and discard 3 cards.
• Advance locomotive 2 or 3 spaces.
• Obtain 2 coins.
• Execute a single or double auxiliary action.

After putting it into play, we commit to fulfilling the objective at the end of the game. Otherwise, we will lose points.

Game End

The end of the game is triggered when, after a delivery, the labor market marker is shifted off the board. This marker is kept by the player who made the delivery, and their game ends (it is no longer necessary to replenish worker, Indian, and hazard tiles). The remaining players enjoy one final turn.

Once all players have completed their final turn, they must first look through their deck for objective cards that they have not put into play. At this moment, they decide whether to put them into play (without receiving the bonus) or discard them.

Victory points are then tallied. Each player sums:

• 1 Victory Point for every 5 Coins.
• The Victory Points indicated on constructed buildings under their ownership.
• The Victory Points indicated on delivered cities.
• The Victory Points from station upgrades.
• The Victory Points from Hazard Tiles.
• The Victory Points from Cattle Cards in the Deck (regardless of whether they are in the hand, discard pile, or draw deck).
• The Points from Objective Cards, added or subtracted depending on whether the condition is met.
• The Points from Station Tiles.
• Points for Workers placed in the last two columns of the player board.
• 3 Victory Points if the second disc on the player board relating to movement capacity has been cleared.
• 2 Victory Points if the player triggered the end of the game.

The player with the most victory points will be the winner. In case of a tie, the victory is shared.

Personal Opinion

Alexander Pfister is the designer of the moment, the Midas of board games in recent years. Every title he publishes becomes a bestseller, with reprints and licensing deals everywhere. It seems that this Great Western Trail has taken the same path. But, as has already been made clear in a few other tocho-reviews, not all that glitters is gold. Let’s see what one of the winners of the 2016 Essen Fair has to offer.

Great board game designers—or, at least, those who have a relatively extensive track record and from whom you can highlight more games than you could count on one hand—possess certain hallmarks that allow one to describe the vast majority of their work fairly accurately. For example, in Knizia’s designs, you can sense the PhD in mathematics behind them; Uwe Rosenberg is the lord and master of worker placement with instant resolution; or Feld is a master watchmaker, capable of interlocking elements that nonetheless feel cold and too calculating to most players.

It is still too early to find these hallmarks in Pfister, but if we put together what, to date, seem to be his heaviest designs—namely, Mombasa (here is its tocho-review) and the game that concerns us today—a certain pattern can be found. Both are point salads in which practically everything developable in the game provides points, regardless of whether it is a means or an end. He manages to mesh various mechanics in a relatively original way, or, at least, in a way that hadn’t been seen working well together until now. With that said, some might think we are looking at a Feld 2.0, where the main difference would lie in the fact that the chosen theme actually anchors the game, unlike the titles of the Eurogamer God, where the setting exists solely and exclusively for the illustrator of the moment to have something to cling to.

This, which for a cold and soulless Eurogamer like myself is irrelevant, is a differentiating factor for a large group of players. Pfister, along with Lacerda, are probably the designers who have managed to take their designs to a level where the theme is not a mere ornament, but functions as a driving thread, so that the mechanics and the decisions players must make acquire a certain meaning.

And that happens in this Great Western Trail. We are livestock entrepreneurs. Our goal in life (the game) is to acquire prestige by doing what we do best—that is, breeding cattle and shipping them to the most important cities of the American West. As good entrepreneurs, we won’t settle for just raising cows; we will have to invest our earnings into improving our production process, for example, expanding the communication network, erecting buildings that boost the transit of our cattle herds, or facilitating transit through routes that are slightly more dangerous but equally beneficial.

Many will tell you that the game consists of carrying cows from one end of the trail to the other. And, in a way, they are right. The primary axis of the game is delivering cattle. Arriving in Kansas City with a cattle lot that is as varied and valuable as possible will allow us to have higher revenues to invest. This is the true key: money. Everything that awards points substantially requires a heavy investment (hiring workers, acquiring new cattle, upgrading stations, constructing buildings, or removing hazards). Players cannot ignore this axis and will find themselves immersed in cycles consisting of improving, as much as possible, their hand of cards to get money, investing it, and starting all over again.

But where the fate of the game is truly decided is in how players invest. And this is when Pfister’s design shows its greatness and why it is hooking so many people.

To start with, we encounter three powerful development paths (a bit like Russian Railroads with each of its tracks): cattle, stations, and buildings—coincidentally, the elements we can boost by hiring workers. I’ve played a few games now, and so far, it seems clear that half-measures don’t work (although you can’t leave a branch completely aside either). But it does feel like you have to bet heavily on one of these three aspects.

At their core, the basic buildings allow progress in each of the main aspects, as well as some secondary ones (Indians, objectives, or hazards). But, as I said, we won’t be able to leave any of the three branches completely aside. Let’s look at some examples.

The game proposes a progressive development regarding cattle lot deliveries (unless we want to accumulate negative points left and right). For this, it is imperative that, with each delivery, our cattle lot is more valuable than the previous one. This can only be achieved by acquiring cattle or accumulating certificates, though this has a limit. Thus, ignoring the cattle market entirely is not an option.

Buildings can’t be ignored either, though it might be the most “expendable” development branch. Buildings allow us to place locations for the exclusive use of the owning player. These buildings provide benefits similar to neutral ones. As the building becomes more expensive, its action becomes more powerful. In this way, the interesting thing is to at least place a couple of tiles that boost the strategy we have decided to follow.

Finally, progress in rail transport. We have already said that the game proposes a progressive increase in lot value to earn the right to deliver to more distant cities. But of course, if we don’t improve our connections, transporting the cattle from Kansas to the destination point will mean a reduction in profits that could prove crucial. So, if we don’t want to see most of our coins vanish into hiring external delivery companies, we must advance our locomotive marker.

We could summarize Great Western Trail as a game in which we seek to accumulate the largest amount of points possible while striving to fulfill deliveries in the most optimal way. But deliveries are mandatory.

And this is where the theme deflates a bit for me (just a little). As you know, the pick-up & deliver mechanic is, by far, the one I like the least because it tends to lead to repetition and monotony. I usually enjoy those where the routes are in constant variation, but that is not the case with Great Western Trail.

Here, the routes are fixed, although we have 6 forks where we can slightly alter the path traveled during a delivery. But this is not enough to prevent us from feeling like, more or less, we are doing the same thing turn after turn. Some will tell me that this is what the game proposes, just as Agricola proposes making farms, and that there is no reason to complain. But the feeling of repetition will be there.

However, I detect a more important issue, and that is the lack of interaction, which causes this monotony to increase. Players only come into conflict when acquiring the finite elements available in the various markets: cattle, workers, objectives, and station bonuses. But it is a weaker interaction than usual, since we won’t be able to take one of these elements whenever we want, as it will depend on our position on the board and how far or near we are from a building where we can activate the corresponding action.

In this way, one has the feeling of dedicating oneself entirely to one’s own plan without paying much attention to others, since little can be done in the short term to react to a specific move, short of holding an ideal position at the right moment. True, each of these iterations requires meticulous planning and is not trivial, but not because rivals significantly influence these decisions.

If the game had introduced some mechanism that significantly altered a player’s plans, I think it would have gained points and taken the necessary step to become an essential title, since that sort of script we plan for each delivery cycle at the beginning of the trip could be cut short at the least opportune moment. As the design stands, our game will consist of, after having made a delivery, planning at which point along the journey we are going to invest the profits and how we maneuver through the remaining stages to optimize our hand.

I don’t want to give the impression that I think it’s a bad game. I’m simply being very strict because, for my taste, it misses small details that would have made it a great title. It lacks what, for instance, we did find in Mombasa, with an original programming system and a more than interesting interaction. This time, Pfister stops at a remarkable design with great replayability. This is where the game shines. The room for maneuver is not particularly wide. The number of deliveries is “more or less” limited (give or take a delivery), so the game does not allow for intensive exploration of multiple scoring paths in a single sitting. We will have to do that across games.

Here, the game offers entertainment for a good while, as it looks exactly like the type of game where slight variations in global decisions can lead to significant changes in the final score. And, once mastered, the game flows at a great pace, also thanks to that encasement we talked about earlier regarding development within a delivery cycle.

I do find the use made of the deckbuilding mechanic noteworthy. It is subtle and interesting, moving away from games that base themselves almost exclusively on it. Shaping the deck and hand so that, with each iteration over the course, we arrive at the destination with a more powerful lot fits very well and is highly engaging.

If you enjoyed games like The Voyages of Marco Polo (here is its tocho-review), Grand Austria Hotel (here is its tocho-review), or La Granja (here is its tocho-review)—designs that stand out especially for their replayability and for forcing you to rethink your strategy at the start of the game—this Great Western Trail will fit into your collection beautifully, though in this case, the replayability is found within the development paths themselves, in the purest style of Russian Railroads (here is its tocho-review), and not due to a highly variable setup.

A problem derived from the low interaction between players is that the scalability suffers. Not because the game works better or worse. It is of little relevance whether there are 2, 3, or 4 players in the game. It simply changes the size of the cattle and worker markets, the fact that it is possible to leap somewhat higher steps on the rail track if a “train of trains” has formed (pun intended), and that the game can drag out with the appearance of a larger number of buildings on the routes. In short: more downtime without raising the interest level of the game in a particularly relevant way. There will be more options, yes; we will have more deliveries, also; but not much more. It remains to be seen if any of the strategies are boosted or diminished, but we will check that over the course of future games (I suspect that going for buildings in 4-player games might be more interesting than in 2-player games, where the labor market marker doesn’t run, it flies).

I also dislike some design choices that “force” the player to make certain decisions. For example, the issue with the station tiles, which require having obtained a worker beforehand to leave them in the space. Obviously, it implies carefully weighing which tiles to take, since a worker is not cheap and money is scarce. I also don’t like the “mandatory” objectives when delivering to certain adjacent cities. Along with this, the activation system for the objectives also seems a bit strange to me. The fact that they function as a card in hand and players decide whether to use their action or not feels very artificial.

Let’s move on to the edition. As I have been commenting lately regarding Pegasus Spiele games, the finishes are correct and without frills. Just enough to be functional without being annoying. Cardboard of an acceptable thickness, at least for the tiles, since the main board feels somewhat flimsy. But hey, just enough. The individual boards are made of cardstock. It’s true they are a mere support for components, but hey, it wouldn’t have hurt if they were cardboard. The cards have a barely adequate weight, with a smooth texture and a decent enough snap. Since it incorporates a deckbuilding mechanic, sleeving is mandatory if we want it to last. The wooden elements are mostly standard, with the typical irregular cuts on some cubes and discs. The locomotives and, especially, the cowboys stand out, being larger than usual. The rulebook, as is customary with Pegasus, is well put together, though the game is full of small details that, in some cases, should have been better highlighted, but nothing particularly major.

You already know that when game setup is somewhat tedious, I usually mention it. And this is one of those cases. Simply preparing the small worker, Indian, and hazard tiles is already a hassle, and if we don’t have components separated into zip bags, setup can be slightly infernal. But we also have to shuffle 2 decks of cards and arrange several tiles in a random order. In addition, you have to get tired of placing discs on the board and be careful not to bump it and displace everything.

Let’s move on to the illustrations. Mr. Resch achieves something difficult, which is making one miss covers by Lohausen or Franz. He wanted to implement the three main axes of development on the cover by representing the three types of workers. And he opted to use a sort of three-dimensional style that clashes tremendously. One of the ugliest covers in recent times. Luckily, the game deployed on the table does look good, with a generally quite attractive view offered by the main board. Perhaps the only thing that can be criticized is that the routes are not clear in the first few games. Once you assimilate them, you no longer notice. But it’s easy to get lost in the maze of dashed lines.

And let’s wrap this up. Great Western Trail is a Eurogame where hand management and deckbuilding mesh with a constant advancement along routes to make mandatory deliveries throughout a fairly wide rondel. The tension of the design lies in knowing how to squeeze the income obtained to reinvest it efficiently on the board, offering a rewarding intellectual challenge when planning each trip. However, this proposal suffers from a palpable lack of interaction which, added to the rigidity of its paths, promotes an inevitable feeling of monotony and repetition turn after turn, where each player seems to execute their script in isolation. Despite certain somewhat artificial and rigid decisions that force player choices, the title convinces thanks to the subtle and elegant integration of its main mechanics. A remarkable and demanding design that, while staying on the doorstep of genius due to its excessive automatism and isolation, will highly satisfy lovers of the most meticulous calculation. For all this, I give it a…