Carson City

This game has been staring at me from the game shelf since Essen begging to be played. I don't know why it has taken 4 months to get it to table; maybe some unfavourable reports from my games group, maybe the plethora of new games that have grabbed my attention.

Well i regret the wait because i really enjoyed my first play. The first round or two were a bit odd because it is a worker placement game (with guns) I and my opponenets were playing it Agricola style i.e not contesting the action spots. Then half way through all hell broke loose and colts were drawn at every opportunity. We played with the Indian expansion, and first and second place went to the players who had chosen him twice as their role. The biggest cowboy in town came last. In the analysis afterwards (all new to the game) we felt that the game is going to take a few plays to fathom the strategies. The dominant cowboy did not bully the other players enough by nicking their income from buildings and the land grabbers did not change gear by using their income effectively. I keep thinking about the game, i particularly like the cash limits on the characters, the progressive cost of buying VPs and the interactions between the building types. I think the next time i try it it will be with the 'might is right' variant to eliminate the luck of the die rolls.