Tabletop_Gaming__Issue_27__February_2019

tabletopgaming.co.uk 71

Western Legends is so keen to push

the edges of its world horizontally

that it often avoids the opportunity to

dig a little deeper into each separate

part, leaving it a little shallow under

the impressively broad surface. While

the universal nature of LP means you

can hypothetically focus on a single

part of the game, the simple nature of

each action – roll two dice to prospect,

collect then deliver a token to herd

cattle, play poker just with the three-

card op and so on – means you’ll

likely nd yourself sampling a little bit

of each portion rather than feasting

on just one, to avoid becoming bored

if nothing else. While the player

characters that populate its world

are a diverse wild bunch of real-life

heroes and villains, they too feel a little

underserved by a few random story

cards that oer only licks of generic

avour and individual goals that

are simply additional ways to score

LP rather than anything especially

character-driven or narrative-focused.

Fortunately, this all feels like a

missed opportunity rather than a

critical aw; the lightness of the

rules means things move swiftly and

everyone has the opportunity to see

everything, making the experience an

enjoyable western romp rather than

a heavy simulation of the real-life

drudgery of prospecting or cattle

herding. ere’s plenty of opportunity

for a spot of roleplaying your

particular spin on Jesse James or Bass

Reeves, too – though that’ll depend on

whom you’re playing with.

Western Legends succeeds

because it’s willing to sacrice a bit

of depth for the straightforward fun

of galloping around the Wild West,

taking in the breadth – if not the depth

• of its expansive world. It’s a hugely
  entertaining way to spend an hour or
  two in the company of cowpokes; just
  don’t look too hard, otherwise you’ll
  notice that the bullets are blanks and
  that breathtaking sunset is little more
  than a painted screen.
  MATT JARVIS

TRY THIS IF

YOU LIKED...

XIA: LEGENDS

OF A DRIFT

SYSTEM

Looking to expand

your legend from a

far-flung galaxy to

the dusty plains?

The sandbox of

Western Legends

will give you plenty

to play around with.

M

ost western board games

lack the sweeping scope of

the epic genre. You can duel

in Bang!, rob trains in Colt Express and

herd cattle in Great Western Trail – but

rarely has a single game attempted to

paint the entire canvas of life in the

Wild West.

Stepping in through those swinging

saloon doors with its spurs jangling and

a cocktail stick stuck rmly between its

teeth is Western Legends, a sandbox take

on being a rootin’-tootin’ cowpoke that

ambitiously tries to widen the lens to

cover everything from prospecting for

gold to reveling at the local cabaret.

Its kitchen sink approach to

gunslinging adventures is given

a dependable throughline by the

legendary points that players score,

and which are awarded for almost

every notable action in the game.

Win a game of poker, get LP. Sell gold

nuggets at the bank, get LP. Defeat a

rival in a duel, get LP. It’s a tidy way

of letting a player who wants to avoid

combat completely and spend their

time amassing money to upgrade

items (more LP) or completing their

character’s specic goals (you guessed

it: LP) stay neck-and-neck with an

anarchic outlaw robbing other players

of their nuggets, cash and cattle.

Adding to the feeling of open-world

freedom are the wanted and marshal

tracks, which layer in an aspect of

morality and reward (or punishment)

to players’ exploits. Players that

indulge in bank heists and cattle

rustling can earn regular LP each turn

while wanted by the law, but risk being

arrested by the sheri or ‘good’ players,

losing some of their fortune, LP and

possibly giving an upper hand to their

opponents. Staying on the straight

and narrow by arresting outlaws,

dispatching bandits and wrangling

cattle, meanwhile, awards bonus LP at

the end of the game, making it more of

a long-term commitment but a path

that can swing the nal standings.

e more immediate gains of being a

fugitive – and the risk-reward feeling

of being constantly on the run it

brings – versus the slower burn and

delayed gratication of the marshal

gives the game a satisfying level of

variety, interaction and player impact

on the world without saddling it with

convoluted rules.

Card Fight at the O.K. Corral

WESTERN LEGENDS

Designer: Hervé Lemaître | Artist: Roland Macdonald 60-90m 2-6 14+ £60

WHAT’S IN

THE BOX?

◗ Game board

◗ Six player mats

◗ 12 scoring cubes

◗ 12 story discs

◗ Two prospecting dice

◗ 36 gold nuggets

◗ Six wound tokens

◗ End of game marker

◗ 16 cattle tokens

◗ 18 legendary tokens

◗ First Player token

◗ Six player aids

◗ 12 character cards

◗ 40 story cards

◗ 52 poker cards

◗ 11 Man in Black cards

◗ 48 goal cards

◗ 54 money cards

◗ 13 fight cards

◗ 54 item cards

◗ Six player miniatures

(with coloured

plastic rings)

◗ Sheriff miniature

◗ Six bandit miniatures

◗ General Store stand

to play around with.

PLAY IT? YES

Western Legends is a massively

fun romp through the Wild West

that chucks almost every cliché

you can think of into a single box to

serve up a shallow but satisfying

feast of cowpoke exploits.

WHAT’S IN