2025 · Animals
Great Western Trail: El Paso
Players act as 19th-century ranchers driving cattle into a booming rail hub and send the best herds onward for money and victory points. During play, players buy cattle to improve herd value, hire cowboys, builders, and engineers to expand capabilities, and construct buildings that unlock new actions. A shared track represents the expanding railroad; players compete for lucrative contracts and route advantages while managing hand and resources to optimize deliveries. The game condenses the trilogy’s core mechanics into a shorter session, making it suitable as an entry point or a quicker alternative to longer entries in the series.
- Players
- 1–4 best 3
- Playing time
- 60–90 min
- Age
- 12+
- Complexity
- 2.8 / 5
About the game
- Publisher
Expansions
See them in Ludoya
Photos from Ludoya tables
All photos in Ludoya
Where to buy it
Shop prices and second-hand copies, checked every day.
On Ludoya's tables
Full stats in Ludoya- 55
- Plays logged
- 74
- Players
- 1h 9m
- Average play
- 29
- In collections
- 6
- On wishlists
7.2/10
from 12 Ludoya reviews
- Base -
Rules questions
Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.
If I pass a building but don't stop on it, can I take its action?
No — you only take the action of the location your herder ends on; spaces without a building tile are ignored during movement and passing a location does not grant its action. (pages 6–7).
Can I use Cowboys or extra steps to move past El Paso?
No — you are not allowed to move past El Paso; your herder must stop there and resolve all three El Paso actions, and Cowboys cannot be used to move past El Paso. (pages 6, 9, 12).
What happens if I draw a worker card during the Draw Phase?
When you draw a worker card from your draw stack, immediately place it in your worker area; a worker card is never added to your hand and does not count toward your hand size. (page 7).
When I deliver at El Paso, do duplicate cattle count more than once toward my breeding total?
No — for the delivery you total the breeding values of each different cattle type in hand, counting each type only once; duplicates only count if a specific bonus tile allows one duplicate, and you may add permanent or spent certificates to raise the total. (page 12).
If I discard workers to buy cattle, use the train, or place buildings, do I get their worker bonuses?
No — discarding workers as part of the cost for those actions does not grant their worker bonuses (discarding as an extra separate action can still give bonuses). (pages 11, 9).
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Free, on web, Android and iOS
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Game facts (players, playing time, age, credits) from BoardGameGeek.