A lot of fun very replayable. Takes a wild to get the swing of things, but an absolute hoot once you get into it. Read more

Had been really looking forward to this game, and it did not disappoint! It has a bit of a learning curve, but once you get rolling, the turns are pretty quick, there's loads of paths to maneuver through the game, and the gameplay is never short on action! Definitely a blast, and highly recommend to anyone wanting to try out a new game, especially a sandbox game. Read more

Great game, purchases this awhile ago. Love playing it, great fun be and outlaw or the kind of folk country towns love. Many different ways to play with a story line. Read more

Amazing game. Easy to learn. Many different approaches. A lot of fun. Highly recommend it! Worth every penny. We play the Mythos games (Arkham and Eldrich horror) and this is a little more str8 forward. Love this game! Read more

OVERVIEW: Western Legends is a 2-6 player competitive sandbox game set in the American Wild West. Players take on the roles of historic characters of the period competing to become a living legend. The sandbox nature of this game allows players the freedom to accomplish this by robbing the bank, arresting outlaws, rustling cattle, gambling, prospecting for gold, and robbing each other for a little notoriety in the pages of history. This notoriety is translated into Legendary points that establish the goal of the game as a race against the other players to the finish line. You may choose to become a Marshal charged with hunting down Outlaw players, or an Outlaw on the run from Marshal players. Then again sometimes you might decide it makes sense to switch sides, as they each involve specific benefits and liabilities. The innovative aspect of this game is that players have complete agency over these decisions and therefore greater control over their own destiny. POKER MECHANICS: Most aspects of Western Legends are driven by a specialized deck of poker cards (with the exception of mining for gold and managing cattle, which uses a die and tokens respectively). Fighting and gambling involve more simplified versions of poker, but cards can also be used for their special abilities on the face of the card instead. This presents the issue of using a card for an advantage, or saving it for defense. These decisions can be further influenced by special abilities afforded to each character and abilities from equipped items. All of these options allow players to mitigate the random nature of game mechanics and encourage the satisfaction of clever game play instead. SANDBOX MECHANICS: The 'sandbox' nature of the game is truly the most unique part about it. There are very few board games out there that tell you up front everything you can possibly do, then get out of the way and let you handle it your way. The biggest obstacles you have to face are the other players, because in Western Legends you only really get hurt by the ones you love. It becomes a matter of understanding the rules in order to find the quickest path to victory. However, the game only moves as fast as the players involved, and the system itself easily lends to modifications and house rules to suit individual groups. SCALABILITY: This game allows for two to six players, but the best count in my experience seems to be four players. I base this on weighing the length of turns against the impact of more characters in the sandbox environment. High player counts can leave players disengaged waiting for their turns, while low player counts puts more responsibility on players to keep up with the pack and eliminate players who pull ahead. The two player variant offers a deck driven A.I. character, called the Man in Black, to mitigate players in the lead, and could be modified for a three player game in a pinch. PROS: Western Legends is a beautiful game with outstanding artwork that draws you right into the theme. It offers a diverse selection of characters, each with a unique special ability to impact the game. The components are all very good quality, and the storefront card holder is both practical and a thematic addition to the game. The rule book is clear, well written, and organized for easy reference. Every part of the game oozes the wild west theme immersing players into the backdrop while simultaneously coaxing them into exploring the many paths leading to legendary status. The storytelling aspect of the game has an incredible impact on players as they recount being shot by best friends and robbed by loved ones. Western Legends offers a great deal of variety and replayability because of all of the freedom of choice it offers players. CONS: Western Legends is a little more difficult to teach because of all of the freedom of choice it offers players. New players will not be able to make informed choices unless they understand the options, and there are a number of options. Once they get the concepts they can move forward, but there is a learning curve involved. Knowledge of the game can be a huge advantage, giving experienced players an edge, so it is best when learned together. Ideally, someone should familiarize themselves with the rules and everyone else should watch a few YouTube videos on the game before playing. Many of the concepts are similar to poker but are different enough that even experienced players will need to reference the rules often. The board itself is beautiful, but the spaces are weakly defined and can be difficult to identify. Finally, the estimated game length of 60 to 90 minutes is more realistically a measurement of a two player game involving experienced players. Western Legends is going to take a few hours (we average an hour per player). You can expect to add some time referring back to the rule book until everyone gets dialed in as well. The game can be arbitrarily shortened by lowering the required Legendary Points if desired. CONCLUSION: I absolutely love this game, but I also understand that this is taylor made for my group, and it is definitely not for everyone. Western Legends requires players to make informed choices and aggressively take action in order to out-maneuver each other or they will be left in the dust. This is what I would consider a medium weight game for intermediate to experienced gamers, with an interest in the western theme, the poker mechanics, and the sandbox mechanics. The game is absolutely stunning on the table, yet leaves a great deal of room to be further tricked out by a crafty gamer. There are two full sized expansions and a few other add ons, but everything you really need is already inside this one box (nothing against the expansions or add ons). It is a unique and entertaining addition to any collection that will have players coming back to rob and arrest each other to prove once and for all, who is the greatest legend of the old west. Read more