Knowing how to play Great Western Trail (even the now dowdy first edition) is definitely an asset when approaching the second game in the trilogy, which is set in South America and features a new strength mechanic that enables you to help (and perhaps hire) granjeros, a fourth type of worker. The train track provides new shortcuts to Buenos Aires, where you ship your cows to Europe — potentially picking up bonus points if you have enough grain to keep them fed on the voyage!

Addenda

We made a few errors while playing! We caught most of them later on, but here are some biggies:

At 28:37, i try helping a farmer with my strength for the first time. i knew that successfully aiding a farmer netted you any coins that had piled up beside him (accumulated from those green and black hand tolls), but i missed the fact that you also collect the number of pesos printed next to the farmer on the board. So in that first instance, i actually could have afforded to hire the farmer, because he was worth 4 pesos, and i had 2 pesos in my supply.

At 1:02:17 and 1:11:51,  i mistakenly put the granjeros on the hiring board. They’re supposed to go directly onto the trail, in the lowest numbered space matching the farmer’s colour!  We eventually figured this one out, but the error triggered some events earlier than necessary.

 

 

Get Your Own Copy of Great Western Trail

At the time of writing, Argentina was still on a slow boat from China, but its Second Edition predecessor was widely available at last! Use the Amazon link below to buy your own copy, and we’ll receive a small commission.