Saddle up your horses, grab your guns, and play your poker hands as we review Western Legends
Western Legends is a 2-6 player sandbox game set in the American West with a variable length set in advance by the players. For those not familiar with the term “sandbox,” it’s all about freedom and variety. Imagine all the things you could do in a sandbox: Build a sand castle, bury your feet in the sand, throw some sand in your older brother’s face while he shoves your head into a plastic bucket, etc.
In Western Legends players have the freedom to head out into the wild, dusty yonder to do pretty much whatever they want to do. Want to be an outlaw? Well then, Annie, get your gun and go rob somebody. Want to be on the side of the law instead and go catch them varmints? Saddle up, sheriff. Maybe you want to live your inner cowboy and herd cattle down the great western trail, or be your best prospector, panning for gold in them thar’ hills. Gamble away your hard-earned bucks at the saloon or entertain yourself at the cabaret. Western Legends lets you do every one of those things and more, all in the pursuit of the all-important Legendary Points.
Once upon a Game in the West
The basic gameplay of Western Legends is pretty simple. A turn structure boils down to three phases: get stuff, do stuff, check stuff.
Start of Turn Phase:
Get either $20, draw two poker cards, or get $10 and 1 card. Money is important in the game as you’ll have the option throughout to buy items and upgrades from the general store that can improve your character, give special abilities, even score endgame points. I’ll touch on poker cards a bit later, but suffice to say, they’re good to have.
Action Phase:
Take three actions. This is where the bulk of the game takes place. The primary actions are to move, interact with a location, or fight. When moving, you can mosey up to two spaces if on foot, or saddle up and ride as many spaces as your current mount allows, as depicted in the top right corner.
While moving is pretty straightforward, location interactions are where the sandbox starts to take shape. The map is filled with a number of different locations to visit, each with a corresponding location action. At the General Store, you can purchase items that give you special abilities, upgrade your current mount or buy a new one, or get yourself some cold steel personal protection to help you in the shootouts you may find yourself in by choice or by chance.
At a Ranch location, you can pick up some cattle (in the form of a facedown cattle token) and either wrangle them down to one of the rail stations for a legitimate sale, or take the more disreputable approach of rustling them to another ranch. Either way, once the cattle are delivered, you’ll flip over the token and get the rewards printed on the back.
There are a few other locations worth mentioning: the Mine lets you pan for gold via a die roll; the Bank lets you sell that gold for cash money. You can revel away that money at the Cabaret, doing some unmentioned but very likely unsavory things, or play a stripped-down version of Texas Hold’em Poker at the Saloon.
End of Turn Phase:
Resolve any end of turn abilities or bonuses, discard down to five cards, check for endgame triggers. There is also a story deck that will resolve if the conditions on the top card are met, represented by filling the available spots with player discs.
A Fistful of Fight Cards
At this point, it’s worth mentioning the poker cards. In addition to using them to actually play poker at the Saloon, these cards are also used in combat. Whenever you enter a space with a Bandit Hideout, you can try to bring those no-good varmints to justice. You can also engage another player in your space to rob, duel, or even arrest them. Combat is simple. When fighting bandits, players will select a poker card from their hand, then flip over the two cards from the fight deck. Fighting other players takes a similar approach: each picks one card from their hand and simultaneously reveals. High card wins, although cards also have special abilities.
The Good, the Bad, and the Upside
One of the most fun elements of Western Legends is that you can choose which path you go down morally. You can don that black hat and do villainous things like rustle cattle or rob other players. You can even try to pull off a bank heist, if you can get past the heavily armed guards that draw three fight cards instead of two. Doing any of these lawless actions earns you Wanted Points and takes you down the Wanted track. The further you go down the Wanted track, the more rewards you can get. Some are immediate bonuses, and others are end-of-turn. In this wild west, crime does pay.
Alternatively, you can do good deeds like wrangle cattle, defeat bandits, or put on your deputy’s badge and arrest other players who are on the wrong side of the law. Doing any of these will earn you Marshall Points and put you on the Marshall track. Going further down the Marshall track can also earn you various rewards, both immediate and end-game.
Have Gun – Will Track the Score
Most of the actions you take throughout the game will give you Legendary Points. Beating up the baddies, selling off your gold, rustling or wrangling cattle, and even partying at the cabaret will earn you points. After all, there’s more than one way to become legendary. Once any player reaches the points threshold set at the beginning of the game, players take one more round and then end the game. Count up any applicable end-game bonuses and the most legendary player takes the victory.
How the West was Fun
Western Legends is a great game that I always enjoy playing. I love how many legitimate paths to victory there are. Putting on my goody two-boots and going for Marshall Points is just as fun as trying to outrun the long arm of the law by being a villain. You can even pivot mid-game and change your ways, turning Wanted or Marshall at will. The mini vignettes on the story deck add some additional thematic flair that further helps the immersion.
I also like how you can set the length of the game from the start by establishing the end game points threshold. I usually play the shorter game, but sometimes when I’m in the mood for an epic experience I opt for the longest one. Whether or not the game outstays its welcome may depend on player count. I’ve found that Western Legends is best at 4 or 5 players. At max player count, downtime can be an issue. Conversely, at the lowest player counts, you run the risk of reduced player interaction because this board is indeed big enough for the two or three of us.
Western Legends’ sandbox nature makes it ripe for expanding. There are currently five separate expansions that add all kinds of goodies, including my personal favorite: the train. I mean, come on: who doesn’t want to rob a train? If you’re looking for the quintessential tabletop western experience, Western Legends is the game for you. 5/5
Western Legends details
- Designer: Hervé Lemaître
- Artists: Roland MacDonald
- Publishers: Board Game Box, Conclave Editora, Corax Games, Funiverse, Gém Klub Kft., Kolossal Games, Lavka Games, Maldito Games, Matagot, MINDOK, MS Edizioni, Surfin' Meeple China, WoodCat
- Release Date: 2018
- Player count : 2 - 6
- Age range : 14+
- Time range : 60 - 90 minutes
- Mechanism(s): Action Points, Area Movement, Betting and Bluffing, Card Play Conflict Resolution, Dice Rolling, End Game Bonuses, Hand Management, Pick-up and Deliver, Take That, Variable Player Powers
- BGG Geek Rating: 7.60741 - converted to Meeple Mountain scale: 4.0.
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