Western Legends Stories

Summary

👥 a game for 1 to 5 players
⏳ Play time is 90 minutes
🏢 Publisher is Kolossal Games

Introduction

Western Legends Stories is a standalone, competitive and narrative open-world campaign game set in the Wild West.

In connected and fully replayable scenarios, you explore the region and create your own legend through your glorious (or infamous) deeds, as your decisions have a lasting impact on your surroundings. In this vast environment, you will encounter a wide variety of characters, wild animals and locations. Develop your skills as you see fit, collect items, interact with various non-player characters and fight your way out of dangerous situations.

We won’t spoil anything about the game’s story, but through the prologue, we’ll guide you on how to play and what actions you can take during your turn.

Story cards are at the heart of the Western Legends Stories experience. They drive the game, narrate the adventure, assist with setup, and determine the end of the game. Each adventure can include one or more episodes. Every episode is made up of a set of story cards, organized into different piles identified by their name in the top-right corner of each card. For example, the main adventure includes 7 episodes, each with its own set of story cards. You can play a single set as a standalone game. An episode ends when its draw pile is empty. At that point, players finish the current round to ensure everyone has had an equal number of turns.

Setup:
The first story card of an episode displays the episode name on the front and an introduction on the back. Read this introduction aloud before proceeding to the second card. The second card will guide you through the setup steps, allowing you to prepare the first pile. The pile’s name, often referred to as “days,” is shown in the top-right corner. Usually, there are multiple cards per pile. If symbols appear in the top-left corner, divide the pile evenly into as many stacks as there are symbols.

When one pile is empty, place the remaining piles onto the discard pile without looking at them, then continue with the next pile in order of “days.”

If a pile runs out of cards, remove all story cards associated with that period, even if they weren’t all played. Then, prepare the next period’s pile to continue the adventure.

A player’s turn consists of 3 phases: the beginning phase, the action phase and the end phase (these phases are detailed on the player tool). We skip the beginning phase (optional) because there are no NPCs (non-player characters) in the game.

The game proceeds clockwise. Each player performs the following steps during their turn:

Action 1: Beginning Phase (optional)

Move a non-player character up to 2 spaces within his movement limit.

Action 2: Action Phase In this phase, you must choose 2 actions from the four available options. You may perform the actions in any order and repeat the same action multiple times.

A. Move: If you have a riding animal (check the value at the top right of your riding animal’s card), you can move on in one action, you don’t have to use all your movement points.

B. Rest: Draw the top 2 cards from the Poker deck, choose one and discard the other.

C. Play an Action Card: Cards with the word “Action” you can use in this phase to perform a specific action. Place the card face up on the table and perform the instructions written on the card. In the case of a Poker card, you then place it on the discard pile.

D. Interact with a location, a character or fight with another player on your field:

Interact with a location: When you are on a field with a location icon, you can perform the specific actions associated with that location. These actions are listed in red capital letters on the corresponding location card in the exploration journal. For details on each location action, please refer to the corresponding section.

Interacting with a character: If you are in the same location as an NPC, you can consult their character map. If this shows an action in red capital letters, you can perform this action. Follow the instructions on the card.

Fight with another player: If your miniature is on the same field as another player, you can use an action to start a fight. Battles with other players can earn you Legendary Points and disadvantage your opponent. The rules for battles are explained in the “Battles” section.

Action 3: Final Phase

The next player becomes the active player and begins their turn.

Poker cards have multiple uses: they trigger special actions, provide bonuses, and determine the outcome of fights or poker games. There are three types of poker cards, identified by the color of their name:

• Action (red): Playable during your action phase for unique effects.
• Bonus (green): Grants specific benefits in certain situations.
• Reaction (blue/grey): Lets you respond to actions taken by others.

Each card also has a value, symbol, and color in the top left corner. These details are used to resolve fights, determine poker game winners, and more.

There are three types of non-player characters (NPCs):

• Bandits: Interacting with bandits always leads to a fight. Defeating them is a great way to earn Legendary Points, but it comes with constant risk.
• Animals: Animals appear, often during forest actions. Some are easy prey, while others are dangerous and could threaten your survival.
• Personalities: These NPCs represent key characters in the game. They can be friendly, neutral, or hostile, making every encounter unpredictable and exciting.

Each NPC has a die indicated on their card, representing their combat strength. The die’s color reflects their power level.

Equipment & Inventory

Equipment comes in two forms: resource tokens and equipment cards.

Other Items (white banner): Do not require board space and cannot be stolen.

Resource Tokens:
These include items like gold nuggets, skins, or food, earned during gameplay. They must be placed in available spaces on your player board. Resources can be sold for money or used (e.g., food for healing). If your board is full, you cannot collect more resources.

Equipment Cards:
These offer various benefits:
–Money ($10 or $20): Used to buy items in shops.
–Weapons (red banner): Enhance your abilities in fights.
–Mounts (dark brown banner): Improve movement and sometimes increase equipment capacity.
–Objects (brown banner): Provide additional benefits and occupy a player board space.

Fights

Combat comes in two forms: player fights and NPC fights.

When you take damage, move your injury marker to the right on your character board. Injuries impact you as follows:

• Hand Size Reduction: Injuries reduce your hand size during the end-of-turn phase. Discard excess cards if needed.
• Serious Injury (3rd injury): Draw a Serious Injury card and follow its instructions.
• Death (5th injury): Your character dies, but the game continues. Draw a Succession card to start with a new character.
• Endgame Penalty: Each injury reduces your final score.

You can heal injuries in several ways, such as eating food (discard a food token), drinking whiskey, or visiting the doctor.

Game ends

When one of the stacks of story cards is empty and no new stack can be placed, it means the end of the game. Players finish the current round so that everyone has had the same number of turns. This is followed by the final score.

Final score:
-The player(s) who participated in the most story cards receive 1 LP

-If you have the highest Wanted or Marshal status, you receive 1 LP

-For each card that scores points at the end of the game (for example, a tamed riding animal), you receive the number of LP indicated on the card

-For each set of 3 skill tokens, you receive 1 LP (regardless of skill type)

-For every $60 you have, you receive 1 LP

-If you are the player with the most total resources, you receive 1 LP

-Subtract 1 LP for each wound you have

Conclusion & final score

Our score: 8 out of 10 dice

We have unfortunately never played Western Legends but this game is really cool. You get a lot of play material with this Kickstarter, you won’t use everything right away but it looks really impressive. The game board alone, if you put it all the way down on the table it really makes a cool landscape.

Do not worry, we will not reveal anything about what happens during the game ;-). But we can say that the first 2 scenarios we got to play we got very excited. In the beginning it was a bit of a search for exactly how to start up but with the tutorial sheet in which you play the prologue, it describes exactly what actions to do and what to do to help you through the first steps. This one you play regardless of the number of players, with 1 character of your choice, this was a bit uncomfortable but you have 4 turns so if you play with 4 players then everyone has a turn.

After this you can start with Episode 1, which also indicates what you are playing with and what will happen in this scenario as a start. The actions you perform during the game are clearly described and after a few turns you know exactly what you can do. What will happen remains a surprise! Please note; this is not a Legacy game! So you will keep playing the game over and over again.

The game really takes you into the theme and what is cool, you can choose during the game if you want to be the bad guy or just the Marshall and if you are the latter you can even switch during the game. The artwork, miniatures etc look great, yes it is a prototype but one that looks great.

In the pictures you can see some deluxe items but also Add Ons that you can purchase extra. One of the Deluxe items is the Dice Tray but also the cloth bags for the stones. The Add Ons like the colored wooden tokens do complete the game. Do you need all this? No, I don’t! Just make a good choice for yourself. Several Stretch Goals have also been achieved during the campaign. The game has already been funded, will you be one of the backers?

Thanks to Kolossal Games & Matagot for this preview copy. Interested to back this game, go to their Kickstarter campaign