For a bunch of meeples – review, test and critique

For a bunch of meeples. Anyone who doesn’t think of Clint Eastwood here is… very young. Thematically appropriate, the game is set in a Wild West town with a saloon, a sheriff, bandits, and gold diggers. Naturally, the obligatory duel cannot be missed. Additionally, the board game (Final Frontier Games/Asmoee) has no connection to the movie.

Game principle combination

Author Jonathan “Johnny Buck” Cantin himself correctly names two principles of the game Treat: Classic protractor And placement of workers.

In Western City, four different types of meeples (Deputy, Bandit, Gold Digger, and Artisan) are randomly distributed across dozens of buildings. On your turn, you have to take all the small beats from the building and thus get a bunch of balustrades. They are distributed one by one to the houses on the right or left. Depending on Meeple’s profession, you can then perform the appropriate action there. This results in revenue in the form of raw materials taken from the bag. The deployed barriers are then moved to the buildings. There is also a saloon and a prison. Both terminals offer slight differences in train options. The occasional prison break, of course with dynamite, once again supplies the city with bandits who had previously been locked up by the sheriff’s deputy.

When the opportunity arises, barricades are placed at the end of the street for dueling. A duel is conducted using a simple throw of the dice, with a slight advantage if the better shooter is chosen. The winner celebrates in the salon and gets a reward.

The resources are then used to purchase buildings and gold bullion from the bank. Whoever has the most victory points through buildings and gold at the end wins. So far all this is consistent.

Opportunity and planning in a handful of Meeples

The random placement of maps at the beginning of the game makes each round different. Each player then changes the position of the guardrails on their turn. Due to the constant reassembly of barriers, other possibilities arise again and again. For players who are clearly inclined to plan, this sometimes delays the wait time of others. Depending on the flow of the game, the houses with the most buildings are often the best.

It is important for all players to understand the process of determining who can draw resources and on what occasions (blue for red, red for yellow, yellow for signals. Purple for grey). The overview on the back of the instructions also helps.

Chances of victory? -More for one person

Unfortunately, in most Test matches, it turns out that it is the main spinner who wins. All game options are open, challenging planners to find the best move. This is usually present. The reason why the starting player gets an immediate advantage. So the next two to four players tend to be the worst pick in the first round. Whoever can then buy the first buildings creates more opportunities for resources. At the same time, the building blocks of all competitors, depending on the meble used, the owner receives additional moves outside the turn. If the main player wins another duel, these additional resources will give you additional progress. This wave of advantages takes the novice player to the end.

For upcoming games, I’m considering giving players 2-4 resource bonuses at the start of the game. Otherwise I always need a new round of the game.