“Tend to your sheep on the South Island of New Zealand.”
Link: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/380607/great-western-trail-new-zealand
Playing Time: 75-150 minutes
Weight: Heavy
Genre: Deckbuilding & Rondel
Designer: Alexander Pfister
Players: 1-4
Be a shit-kicking cowboy, and drive your herd along the range, looking to upgrade your livestock along the way. You’ll need high-points livestock to really push your scores, but your lower, entry-level cows are cows you can exchange earlier on the path for much-needed resources or other cows. Along the way, you’ll be traversing a rondel (a circular series of stops) and you can add your own stops to the rondel in the form of constructing new buildings, which both act as powerful enablers for your own game and irritating obstacles for your opponents.
The Great Western Trail series has always been a big hit for those favoring heavier board games. The combination of deck collection and creating your own custom rondel has always attracted would-be cowboys, and you can’t go wrong with any of the three versions (the base, Argentina or New Zealand). And while I feel like a counterfeit Texan for saying you should abandon your cows for the sheep-shearing of New Zealand, I still think it’s the best of the three, as it smoothens some of the rough edges of the base game, adds a second scoring path (shearing vs meat) and better explores the deck construction aspect of the game.
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