Smaug's Treasure Hunt July 12, 2020

Welcome to Smaug’s treasure hunt.

Each month, for the next ten months, Smaug will publish clues. The first and the tenth person to text/email with the correct answer will win a prize. Over the months, the clues will build into a master clue for the location of a final grand treasure. The final prize may involve some of Smaug’s gold!

This is month one of the hunts.

This Months Game: Western Legends

Do you have what it takes to half-inch some of the Magnificent treasure?

We will also talk about a game each month that may help with solving the clue.

Do you have the true grit to play “Stagecoach Mary” Fields? Not heard of her? How about Billy the Kit? Grab yer horse or stubborn mule and head for town to rob the bank but end up in a shoot out with Wyatt Earp. OK your not the gun-slinging kind? Then prospecting in them their hills may be your thing. It’s the Wild West! There ain’t no rules. At the end of it all, only the most notorious cowgirl will be remembered as a Western Legend.

2 – 6 Player
Contains Minis 

Medium Wight Game

Category: Adventure, American West

Mechanics: Action Points, Area Movement, Betting and Bluffing, Dice Rolling, Hand Management, Pick-up and Delivery, Take That, Variable Player Powers

Designed by: Hervé Lemaître. Published By: Kolossal Games. Art Work By: Roland MacDonald. Clue By: Williams

The Poker Deck

GamePlay:

Western Legends is a sandbox-style game and is enhanced by some role play by you. Players pursue various options for gaining Legendary Points, in an effort to become the most legendary name in the west. Players start the game with a character card that determines the starting location and items. Each character has a special ability which can help shape the way you play the game, for example: “Discard 1 poker card to move up to 3 spaces”

The game takes place on a map of the wild west that contains two towns and several locations. There are several avenues that can lead to gaining points, with the core methods boiling down to being a good guy (marshal), being a bad guy (wanted), or being a delivery guy (either or neither). Being good or bad is formalized by ‘marshal points’ and ‘wanted points’ which are recorded on two tracks. There’s the main deck of ‘poker’ cards that are multi-use – they can provide actions, they are used to determine the outcomes of fights, and they are used to play poker.

Players take turns moving around the board and gathering points in different ways. Players can then perform certain actions based on their location on the board. Possible actions include: move on the map (how far depends on whether they have a mount), doing a location-specific action. Fight other players at the same location (either duel them, rob them, or arrest them if they're wanted), play poker cards that have action abilities. Mines allow players to gather golden nuggets, the General Store lets players buy and upgrade items such as guns and mounts. You can pick up cattle at the ranches and ferry them to various locations for rewards. The Bank allows for the deposit of gold for points or can be held up for money and wanted points. There are NPC bandits scattered around the board that players can fight for points, as well as options for player vs player quick draw fights. Marshal players can arrest wanted players, players can duel for points, or players can even rob other players! Fights are resolved using the poker cards, so there is no randomness in fighting (apart from drawing from the deck).

Legendary Points (LPs) are earned based on the outcomes of many of these actions, and the winner is whoever has the most LPs at the end of the game. 

Players do their thing until someone reaches a pre-determined point threshold (15 – 25 depending on game length). At this point, the game is wrapped up and final scores are determined. 

Players add bonus points from items and goals to their accumulated points, as well as bonuses from the Marshal and Wanted tracks. Whoever ends up with the most Legendary Points is deemed the greatest Outlaw/Marshal that ever lived!

The Western Legends Gang

The Good, the Bad, and the …….

What do I think? This is a great sandbox game where you can do just about whatever you want as, I presume, they did in the real wild west. Switch from outlaw to marshal (just as Wyatt Earp did!). The artwork is beautiful and adds to the Wild West feel. Optional roll playing adds to the fun for all players and really makes this game pop. I have now played 3 times and not won, but I do tend to explore a game when first playing and forget about winning. I have taken on the role of the gold miner and tried to stay out of everyone’s way, only to get robbed by an outlaw, Billy The Kid I think his name was, but you can pick up some great cards that allow you to get your own back and I arrested him and got to throw away the keys, sweet justice. In another game, I put some gold in the bank for safekeeping, then decided on my next turn to rob the bank and become an outlaw only to get arrested myself, a lot of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed this game and look forward to actually winning my fourth game. Jon

Every western town has one, The General Store

Some useful links BGG Link. 3D print file to bring the map to life and a 2nd one A play though