The American Wild West has been a popular theme for tabletop games. However, many were often abstract games with a western theme. then in 2018, Western Legends rode onto the scene. This sandbox adventure game let players take on the roles of historical outlaws, law persons, miners, gamblers, and more and compete to become the most legendary. Several expansions added more characters, territory, items, and stories to the game. Now a new game is coming with more stories and exploration set in a time period immediately before the original game. Western Legends: Stories lets player’s create a story for their own character as they explore and tame the wilderness.
What Is Western Legends: Stories?
Western Legends: Stories is an adventure and exploration game set in the Wild West of the 1800s United States for 1-5 players, ages 14 and up, and takes about 90 to 180 minutes to play. It was fully funded on Kickstarter and late pledges are now available. It is $75 for a copy of the core game or $120 for the Deluxe game.
Western Legends: Stories was designed by Hervé Lemaître and published by Kolossal Games, with illustrations by Kenan Anselme, Maxime Erceau, Tony Gimazane and Xin Jun as well as 3D artist Chiara Billo.
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Western Legends: Stories Components
Note: My review is based on a prototype copy, so it is subject to change and may not reflect final component quality.
Here is what you get in the retail pledge:
- 23 Miniatures
- 10 Bullet player markers
- 1 General store
- 5 Player boards
- 1 Scoring board
- 15 Player markers
- 7 Map tiles
- 6 Player cards
- 4 NPS fight dice
- 192 Story cards
- 490 Other cards
- 50 Stones (gold nuggets and pebbles)
- 1 Gold bag
- 20 Place tiles
- 70 Skill tokens
- 38 Other tokens
- 5 Player aids
- 1 Tutorial sheet
The Deluxe pledge also includes:
- 3 Minis (for Automata characters)
- 1 Saloon dice tower
- 1 Exploration notebook
- 5 Cloth save bags
- Story cards for Prologue and Episode 6
- 10 Wooden bullet markers
- 108 Poker chip upgraded tokens
The game comes with 23 miniatures. Six represent the six different characters the players use. Others are for non-player characters you come across during the game as well as bandits. The deluxe version of the game includes 3 additional miniatures for the Automata characters.
Each player gets a player board. There is a space for the player card of their character as well as spaces for health markers. There are also spaces for injury cards, weapons, mounts, items, money, and resources you collect such as skins, meat, and gold nuggets.
The game includes six player cards that fit into the player boards that match the six character miniatures. They feature artwork of the characters.
The scoring board is used by all character to keep track of the legendary points they have earned as well as their progress along either the marshal or wanted tracks. There are also spaces on the board for money and injury cards as well as other cards. It is placed at the top of the player area.
There are seven map tiles that fit together like a puzzle to create the playing area. Players begin with just one map tile for the first episode and as the players progress through the episodes, additional map tiles are added as called for by the game. Each tile is divided into areas and spaces with symbols showing actions that might be taken in those spaces.
Story cards are divided into five episodes. The deluxe version includes two additional episodes. The first cards for each episode include setup instructions for that episode and the rest are used during the game. On one side are tasks which players can complete. Once it has been completed, the player who completed it turns over the card and follows the directions. These cards move along the story of the game. Since only about half of the story cards are used when playing each episode, each time you play the story will be a bit different.
Western Legend: Stories comes with lots of cards. Four of the main types are Places, Animals, Exploration, and Personality. Place cards explain what actions can be taken at places on the map. When hunting in the forest, players draw two animals cards and then decide which animal they will hunt. The card lists what dice the animal rolls and the results of success or failure for the player. Animals can provide meat and skins or other rewards. Spaces with a ‘?’ on the map tiles can be explored by players. When they perform this action, they draw an Exploration card and follow the directions. They often have two or thee choices for the player to choose from. Finally, Personality cards are used to control the actions of non-player characters which are usually brought into the game through story cards.
Poker cards not only have that same markings as a deck of cards, but also actions which players can use. These cards are also used for fighting and hunting. Of course, they can also be used when players choose to play a game of poker at the saloon.
There are different types of item cards in the game. As you play the first episode, only a few items are available at the trading post. Then as you continue through the other episodes, more items are unlocked. In addition, there are several different types of mounts for getting around the map quicker. In addition to the regular items, players can find unique items as they explore and interact with non-player characters or complete story cards.
As players progress through the episodes, more types of cards come into play. Law cards provide rules for the current episode such as what happens if a wanted character is arrested. Later on there are banks and stagecoaches, wanted murderers to go after, and even special tasks that come in by telegram.
Players can also develop skills can as they perform certain actions. They collect skill tokens for these actions such as mining for gold, gambling, hunting, and so forth. Earning a skill token also gives a player 2 legendary points which they need to win the game.
Players’ health decreases by taking injuries. Once they have three injuries, they take a serious injury card which inflicts a negative condition on them. When they have collected 3 tokens of the same skill, they become legendary and take a legendary skill card which provides benefits as long as they hold it. However if another player earns three skill tokens, they get the card for that skill and the original holder of the card loses a skill token of that type, dropping them back down to two.
Money can be earned by selling resources, completing actions, robbing people, and so forth. Money is needed to purchase items, mounts, and weapons as well as to complete some tasks. Money cards come in two denominations: $10 and $20.
There are four different colors of six-sided dice, each with different numbers on them. As players fight against bandits, non-player characters, and even animals while hunting, a specific color of dice is rolled for the whatever the player is fighting. This provides four different levels of difficulty with the colors from stronger to weak being black, red, yellow, and then green as the weakest.
As players explore the maps, they may find new places or even build new places. These are represented on the maps by place tiles. One side is an unconstructed side while the other represents a structure that has been built and is active.
When players mine for gold, they reach into the gold bag and draw out a number of rocks depending on the action. There are both gold nuggets in the bag as well as pebbles. Gold is kept and can be sold while the pebbles are returned to the bag.
There are several types of markers used during the game. Bullet markers are placed on the score board to represent players’ progress on both the legendary points track as well as the wanted/marshall track. Small cubes are used on the player boards to show health. Plastic rings are placed around the base of miniatures to represent whether they are players, bandits or other people. Finally, a first player marker designates which player started the game so that once the end of the stories has been reached, every player gets the same number of turns. Wooden bullet markers are included in the deluxe version instead of carboard markers.
The deluxe version of the game comes with the exploration notebook. It contains pages with pockets for cards. Since many of the rules for a game are contained on the cards, players can insert place, personality, and other cards into this notebook for quick reference. It keeps them organized rather than just placing them on the table. When a player wants to look at the cards, just pass the notebook to them.
A saloon dice tower also comes with the deluxe version. There is an opening in the back where dice can be inserted and then rolled.
Western Legends: Stories really needs at least three players for a game. If you have less than that, the game comes with three automata characters that compete against the players. You can even play solo against two automata characters. Each character comes with their own deck of cards. One card explains how the character plays while the rest are drawn one card per turn to instruct the players how to move them and what actions they will take.
How to Play Western Legends: Stories
The Goal
The goal of the game is to have the most legendary points at the end of the game.
Setup
Start off by placing the scoring board on one edge of the table with the money and serious injury cards on it. Each player then takes a player board of their choice along with bullet markers, a health marker, and a mini base matching the color of their board. Each player also takes a player card and matching miniature as well as a player aid sheet. They place their bullet markers on the scoring board and health marker on their player board. Food, skin, and skill tokens are placed near the board along with the fight dice. Pebbles and nuggets are placed in the gold bag. Shuffle the Poker cards, Bandit cards, Animal cards, and Exploration cards into separate decks placed near the scoring. Finally, select an episode of story cards and follow the instructions contained on the first card to finish setup for the current episode. It will tell players which map tiles to use, where their characters begin, and what they begin the game with. You are now ready to play.
Gameplay
Western Legends: Stories is played in rounds in which each player takes a turn. Turns are divided into three phases. The first phase is optional and lets a player move a non-player character (NPC) up to 2 spaces. The Action Phase comes next and let’s players perform two actions. Finally, the end of turn phase has the player check for end-of-turn rewards, rest where they draw two poker cards, keeping one and then returning one to the discard pile, discarding poker cards down to their hand limit, and then ending their turn.
During the action phase, players can perform a total of 2 actions. There are four possible actions. A player can move their character a number of spaces equal to their movement points. They can choose to rest to add a poker card to their hand. They can play an action from one of their poker cards. Finally, they can interact with a place, a character, or fight a player on their space. Place and character cards contain actions which players may take. For example, you can mine for gold at a gold deposit or play poker at a saloon.
Game End
The game ends when one of the story decks is empty and there are no new story card decks to place. Players finish the current round so everyone has an equal number of turns and then score to see who has the most legendary points.
Why You Should Play Western Legends: Stories
I did not receive a prototype of Western Legends: Stories until the Kickstarter campaign was completed. However, I followed the campaign closely and pledged for the Deluxe version of the game. Western Legends is one of my favorite games and I really enjoy it every time I play it. I have all of the expansions and love introducing it to new players. Therefore, I was excited when I learned that Western Legends: Stories was coming. Now that I have had a chance to examine the prototype and play a few games, let me share my experience.
First off, there was only one prototype making its rounds across the country. By the time I received it, some of the components were worn. Luckily, it stopped at Kolossal Games before it came to me and they printed out some cards that had gone missing. The rules are still a work in progress, but Kolossal released a video of a playthrough of a single player game that helped me fill in some of the missing rules. The prototype only included two episodes but they were enough to get a good feel of the game. When players start out in the first episode, they only have a small amount of money and nothing else. The story cards help give them some direction as they can explore the woods, head to the trading post, or move to the stream and look for gold. Once you complete the task on the story card and turn it over, new things are introduced. I really like how the story system works. The cards within an episode have days on the front. All of the cards with the same days are shuffled and then divided into two or three piles. Once one pile is exhausted, the remainder of the story cards for those days are retuned to the box and the cards for the next set of days are spread out. Therefore, you never use all of the story cards during an episode so when you play it again, it is somewhat different. For example, in one play through we met certain NPCs while in a second play through, we found a different NPC. Some of these NPCs have more than one personality card so as you interact with them, you may cause them to change cards and literally their personality and the way they interact with the players.
The original Western Legends had a lot of things going right from the start. As expansions were added, there were a lot of possibilities of what to do in this sandbox style game. Eventually the designers wrote a hardcover rulebook with all of the rules organized in one place which really made it easier to play the game. But you had to flip through lots of pages to find what you needed. Western Legends: Stories has the feel of a legacy game in that you don’t start off with everything. Instead, it starts on one map tile with only one or two places. As you find new places or meet new personalities, these cards are added and contain rules for interaction right on them. For example, when you find and build the saloon, the saloon place card explains how to play poker. The Gold Site place card tells you how to look for gold. I really like the exploration notebook in that it keeps all of those cards in one place, so you kind of create the rulebook as you go with only the rules you need at that time. This concept of just-in-time rules really makes this game great for new players and learning as you go. It also provides a great feel of exploring the unknown wilderness.
While the game still has the feel of Western Legends, it also has some new features that improve on the original. In the past, when a player fought against an NPC such as a bandit, another player drew cards from a fight deck to play against them. Western Legends: Stories now uses the dice which come in four levels of difficulty. This makes it easier for playing solo and also removes the other players from these NPC fights. Depending on the color of dice, you have an idea of what poker card you need to play in order to give you a good chance of winning. The inclusion of skills also adds a new element to the game. Players will want to focus on a few skills so they can earn the legendary skills card. These are great ways to earn legendary points and also customize your characters as you play. For example, by getting the mining skills card, you increase your chances of finding gold.
I also had the opportunity to try out the two automata characters that came with the prototype and play through the first episode solo. While I did not have the rules for the automata cards, after watching the video, I learned how they play and was very impressed. These characters are quite competitive and they were challenging to beat. Sometimes I want to play Western Legends but don’t have anyone to play against. With the well-designed automata characters, I will be able to play Western Legends: Stories whenever I want. The deluxe version of the game will actually include miniatures for these characters so you can also play as them or against them.
As I mentioned, the prototype only came with two episodes. Therefore, many of the items and personalities never came into play and I was not able to use most of the map tiles. However, I am glad so I can explore them when the game is complete and delivered later this year. Though I was not able to experience all of the game, I am very impressed with what I did get to play. The game is well-designed, the cards and artwork are incredible, and the components really add to the game. The final game will come with lots more miniatures and non-player characters and from what I have seen in the Kickstarter campaign, they will add a lot to the game. In fact, when playing the game, sometimes you can forget you are in a competition as you just want to explore and progress through the stories. While the original did have elements of stories as you played as historical characters, Western Legends: Stories really focuses on the stories that players create as they develop their characters into their own western legends. I had so much fun playing the prototype with rules that were still in development, I can’t wait to receive the final game when it ships around August of 2025. If you are a fan of the original Western Legends or really enjoy stories set in the old west, then I highly recommend this game to you. I suggest getting the deluxe version of the game since it includes some more episodes, wooden markers, the saloon dice tower, and the exploration notebook which is a great addition to the game. Even though the Kickstarter campaign is over, you can still make a late pledge and preorder the game.
For more information or to make a pledge, visit the Western Legends: Stories Kickstarter page!
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Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of this game for review purposes.
