Western Legends

The good news is that by reputation this game is better with more players and fewer copies, right?

I've just received the Ante Up expansion but haven't had an opportunity to get the game out since then. It's a great fun game but has one issue - with 4+ players if just the one player takes the Outlaw role then they will not win, it is so easy for the other players (and the Sheriff as Story cards start firing off) to take them out of the game, and waiting until on the second row of the outlaw track so that they lose all their progress mid-way through the game is usually when it happens.
So a great thematic game but disappointing that the Outlaw mechanic only works if you all agree the starting role mix beforehand.
Oh, and the quality control on Ante Up is very poor - the rulebook was printed with a very early version of the rules and has many ommissions, most of the tokens in the KSer Wild Bunch box are badly punched meaning you can easily tell them from the Ante Up ones (they all have different text on the backs), and there are dark red tokens with black text that has resulted in some of them being unreadable.
Apparently this isn't that uncommon for Kollossal and may be due to them having so many KSers running concurrently that their people resources are stretched.

Haven't played, so take this FWIW, but this sounds a lot like the concerns about Merchants and Marauders, where it's far easier to win as a merchant than it is to take the risks as a pirate, given that the rewards are sometimes questionable and the downside is being knocked out of the game and having to start over. Similar?

I'm super looking forward to playing my copy now that I passed the entrance exam of assembling the General Store. Hopefully tonight. Might do a review down the road if I feel I can add anything to what It Came From The Tabletop said.

ubarose wrote: ... Whereas the Outlaw players always have the threat of the Sheriff (like the Pirates always have the threat of running into the navy patrols in M&M), which can knock them completely off the Wanted Track (the primary way they rack up points each turn) and result in losing half their wealth..

It's not just the Sheriff, if you're the only Outlaw then it means that most if not all of the others have Marshall points so they take you out as well. The new board may (hopefully) give the Outlaw player a bit more space so not all the Marshalls are within movement points (normal and bonus) of him/her at the same time.

I remember a few years ago (possibly quite a few years ago) there was a discussion here at the site on what themes hadn't been covered in boardgames very well or at all and the Cowboy/Western theme was pretty near the top. Well this game does a damn good job of producing a great boardgame covering various themes/activities of the wild west, and the 'sandbox' format gives you a lot of freedom/choice to try any of them. My only comment is that eurogamers can get a bit lost and look for an optimum play or end up playing multi-player solitaire.

Totally agree that Western themes have been covered sparingly, if at all. Strangely, that was what first inspired me to look at the Tiny Epic line. I saw "Tiny Epic Western" and I was all: "Ooooo!" It has theme, but it's kind of an abstract (as you might expect from a game that small), so it doesn't really push all the buttons, as much as I like it. I was hoping that Western Legends would do that, too. I'm not in the market for anything at the moment (all I do is trade), but I'm hoping someone around here managed to snag themselves a copy.

Wasn't there a game in the last few years that was kind of a Western/horror/steampunk fusion thing? Not Cthulhian horror, but approaching those boundaries. Kind of like Malifaux, but in the Old West?

Played it 4 player last night. All new players and everyone absolutely loved it. I was Billy the Kid and broke out to an early lead after robbing the bank but Wyatt Earp rode into town and arrested me before I could make my escape. I swore off my life of crime and he headed across the map to apprehend some desperados... and I promptly robbed the bank again. Annie Oakley had her Mule loaded with nuggets and headed toward town. I planned to ambush her but things went awry and I robbed the fourth player instead and netted a whopping ten bucks. WYATT threw an epic party gaining 5 LP to trigger the end game and I thought he had the win but Annie passed him in final scoring, as did I only to have us both lose to 4th player who had stocked up on upgraded items with end game LP. Lots of talk of " I should have .." post game. We played with most of the first game suggested rules, so plenty to add later in regards to personal goals, etc...

Jackwraith wrote: ... Wasn't there a game in the last few years that was kind of a Western/horror/steampunk fusion thing? Not Cthulhian horror, but approaching those boundaries. Kind of like Malifaux, but in the Old West?

Shadows of Brimstone ?

Yes! That's it. Thanks, southernman. I've never played, but somewhat recall feelings on it being rather mixed here.

Disappointed in the quality control issues but yes, this is becoming a common occurrence with Kolossal.

Still, excited to try Ante Up here.