Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West Review
In these first few sentences I want to level with you. I have mixed feelings about legacy games. I like the idea of them, I like the excitement of them evolving. However, as I play a lot of different games with lots of different people it’s difficult to commit to playing the same game as frequently as a legacy game requires. That did not stop me from embarking on Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West. Mainly because I decided to only play it two player.
After all that do you want to know what I think? If the answer is yes, read on…
Please note: it is very difficult to review and photograph a legacy game without there being minor spoilers. I have tried to keep them to a minimum, but some of the images and words hereafter may reveal minor secret elements of the board game. Consider that your spoiler alert!
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Setup
Set up is okay. Build the board with the map sections available. Shuffle the various decks of cards. Give each player their company box, trains, five money, four tickets and four train cards. As per the original game, players will need to choose at least two tickets to keep.
Obviously the further you are through the campaign, the more to set up there is, and a rules refresh of some elements may be required.
Packing away is also okay, but the step-by-step instructions in the rulebook are very useful to follow so you don’t miss anything. This in turn, makes set up for future games a little bit easier.
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Gameplay
The gameplay is very similar to the original Ticket To Ride. Certainly the core turns of drawing train cards, getting more tickets (routes) to fulfil, or claiming track will all feel very familiar if you have played any games in the series. If you want to find out more, you can check out my review of the original game here.
Points come throughout the game, predominantly from completing tickets by the end of the game, but along the way other things will score too. The one core change from its predecessors is the introduction of event cards. You can definitely see the influence of Matt Leacock (of Pandemic fame) with these. These newspaper cards are scattered throughout the train deck and when revealed, an Event card is drawn which temporarily mixes up scoring, or twists a rule slightly until the next Event occurs.
Another addition in this legacy version is the introduction of staff which offer rule-bending abilities or additional point scoring opportunities.
Each game the player with the most points wins and gets to choose where the map expands to, and the loser gets to be the first player of the next game, and also often gets to stick some stickers on the board.
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What it’s like
At first it is very much like any other Ticket to Ride, albeit a bit shorter. That’s because the first couple of play throughs are aimed at those people who have never played a game in the series before. It eases you into the mechanics and gently moves you into the legacy aspect of the game. So some might find the first few plays a bit of a plod.
After that, the game ramps up and takes you on all sorts of twists and turns as it adds new elements to the game, as well as, new sections to the map. With each play, new cards, rules and stickers get added to the game, changing all future plays.
Scoresheets, completed bonuses and some legacy elements, when completed, get stored in your “vault” box, to tally after the final game.
I thought the legacy elements, including how easy it was to pick up the rule changes was very well done. In fact, I thought they were considerably smoother than how Pandemic Legacy Season One was handled. The difference of a decade of board game evolution. This made Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West much easier to dive back in after a little time away from it.
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I’ve tried to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible, but there is a part of the game that sees you searching for treasure. We found this very tricky, completing it only once over the course of the campaign. The reward was quite big, and didn’t quite win the game for the player who completed it, but it very nearly did.
The overall game has a couple of fun catch up mechanics, the main one being the loser of the previous game gaining an additional worker card that allows them to take one more turn after everyone else has taken their last turn. That can be really beneficial in the next game, later they also can put stickers on the board, as can the winner sometimes too.
I am super impressed that you can play it and skip a player, I’m guessing it is unlikely that you would, but this is an option. We decided to play this at two player so that we weren’t dependent on other people’s availability, and decided to not include the kids as they found that the legacy game My City dragged a little – especially as I was crushing them with my scores mwahahaha! I do however think it would be great to play at three or four if you have a table big enough!
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Table Presence
Firstly, and the most exciting moment for me was realising there was an actual fricking metal ticket punch in the box. My excitement for this did not waiver throughout the whole campaign. It is probably one of my favourite gimmicky board game components ever and was such a joy to use!
Otherwise, all the components are very much like any ticket to ride game. The storage solution and how things are packed away between games was a highlight and excellently executed.
By the end of the campaign, this board game is an absolute table hog. At that point I was glad I didn’t have to fit three more players around the board! Despite it being a big ol’ game board, it looks pretty good with different regions having different unique twists. I would’ve liked it if when a new element was introduced it had space for the cards or unique items to have a place on the board as often these were placed nearby, increasing the footprint sprawl.
I can commend the rulebook overall, especially with the quick reminders that get built up on the back page over the course of the game. This really helped offer a memory jog if a bit of time elapsed between plays. One thing that wasn’t clear was whether incomplete tickets caused negative points, as per the normal ticket to ride. There were hints that they did, however, I couldn’t see this point clarified in the rulebook explicitly. We house-ruled they did have a negative impact, as per other versions and Rodney Smith’s How To Play video.
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Final thoughts on Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West
One thing I hear about Legacy games is that they are one and done and then you have to throw it away. Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West does allow players to continue playing the game, not as a campaign but like any other version of Ticket to Ride. I’m not sure I can justify the space for the box and would probably reach for another version ahead of this one, but it is an option.
In justification of the price tag though, I have played this game twelve times. The eight sessions have provided an afternoon or evening’s entertainment, with us playing two games back-to-back. If I were to have gone to the pub for drinks, or perhaps the cinema on these evenings, I would have spent more, with that in mind it actually seems like good value to me. You sure do get a lot of content in the box!
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Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West is the first legacy game I have played where I haven’t been relieved to have finished it. It’s given me renewed interest in this style of game that had been dwindling after others have dragged due to player availability. I think a lot of that is down to me playing at two player rather than having to wait for others to all be available and in the mood for it.
The game was super close, with us both scoring over 1500 points and at the end of the of the campaign there was less than 50 points between us! Just for the record, I won.
It has been a really positive experience and I do recommend this legacy board game to anyone who has enjoyed another game in the Ticket to Ride series. Ultimately though, if you don’t like Ticket to Ride, and I know plenty of people who feel that way, this won’t change your mind!
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Key Facts
Number of players: 2 to 5
Board Game Review Recommended Age: 12+
Publisher’s Recommended Age: 10+
Playing Time: 50 minutes per session on average
Setting Up and Take Down Time: 10 minutes
Designers: Rob Daviau, Matt Leacock and Alan R. Moon
Publisher: Days of Wonder
RRP: £99.00
Summary
Fans of Ticket to Ride will not be disappointed by this legacy version of the game. My interest in an old favourite has been refreshed! It’s been an excellent campaign for me at two player, and I am really pleased I have got to experience it.
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Artwork and Components
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Complexity
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Instructions
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Interaction
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Value for Money
Overall
Pros
- Breathes new life into an old favourite
- Easy to pick back up
- Excitement of new additions
- It has a ticket punch!
Cons
- Occasional lack of detail
- Searching for treasure
- It is still Ticket to Ride
- Takes up a lot of table space at the end
Need more games?
If you already own Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West and enjoy it, or are looking for other inspiration, you might also like these similar games:
- Ticket to Ride
- Whistle Stop
- Brass Birmingham
- Mycellia
Buy Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West
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Reviewer’s Note
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