4 plays / 4,5 players (2.5h=5p)

LIKE: The role selection and money cap really help balance the game out to prevent some players snowballing money. Players need to accept that battling for worker placements and land will add chaos, but makes for an interesting game. Good game arc: the game options change as the map portion builds out.

DISLIKE: Can be confrontational, but guns can be used defensively as much as offensively. The building income can be fiddly, rotating the houses is awkward and sometimes some house indicators can be overlooked.

OVERALL: Fun with a slight thematic edge. There are interesting strategies to explore, but I would like to try using the tiles for dueling over the dice rolling duels.

UPDATE: Played with the dueling tiles, and it was much more deterministic, but having low-numbers was painful.

Vendido al club.

I haven't quite landed on what I think this is. Very much could be knife fight in a phone booth kind of game.

However the lack of clarity around buildings holds this back, I'd love for the tiles to actually say exactly what they do and what the require. It also might be one round too short.

The 8 is temporary, but it's between 7.5 and 8.5.

Absolutely one of the best euro games, with an original twist for worker placement. Even better with all the expansions.

2-6 players

(2, 6) #players

Played twice, not with the expansions. A good worker placement game with a communal tile-placement element that determines how everyone makes money. The money can be very tight and it's also how you earn points in the game since you have to convert money to points. It's an interesting friction. The player conflict in the game isn't too bad and there are way to mitigate the luck of the dice. It definitely makes the later rounds more spicy and allows for a lot of good table talk and interaction. The game is only 4 rounds and worker placement is pretty quick. The resolution phase and bookkeeping can be a little bit tedious, but nothing too bad. Overall a very enjoyable game.

Base game 3-6 players 3.2 weight 180 min

• Superb game that is easy to teach with tons of replayability; the Big Box comes with so many goodies that were nearly impossible to track down prior, it's great!

• No matter how well I teach it, new players always struggle with how buildings generate income.

Carson City (Big Box, second edition 2018) is an highly interactive worker (cowboy) placement game in the Wild West. Workers duel each other when two or more workers share the same spot until only one is left.

[b]What makes it special?[/b]

• Worker placement is evaluated in a sequence
• Plenty of player interaction for a worker placement game (duels)
• Semi-cooperative city-building on the main board
• Multi-used character card selection that provides special abilities for a round

[b]Pros:[/b]

• Wild West theme integration

• Good artwork (sturdy main box, character cards, building tiles, clear layout)

• Components (many custom wooden pieces, thick tiles except for land tiles and river tiles, big main board, nice table presence)

• A lot of character cards with special abilities. Only 7 are used each game. Each new combination changes the game immensely

• Multi-used character cards create more depth: each player chooses one of seven character cards each round. The chosen character determines the special ability, the new player order, and how much money the player can take over to the next round (exceeding money should be exchanged with victory points but at a bad price performance ratio)

• Finding the right balance between buying victory points and keeping money for the next round

• Modular map to create a tighter map for lower player counts wit mountain pieces and river tiles

• Random map and random city center affect the general feel of the game (tight vs loose areas)

• Different types of buildings with special placement and income conditions. Some buildings also increase the firepower for duels.

• Six variants available that can be used in any combination. The rules book contains a neat table and describes the impact of each variant on the game - I wish other games would do this too (e. g., Anachrony)

• Semi-cooperative city building: all players add buildings, houses, and roads to the city. Houses and some buildings benefit multiple players, roads are neutral and shared by all players.

• Spatial puzzle when placing buildings plus houses to maximize a building's income: they usually need to be connected to the road system and usually effect other adjacent buildings.

• Building tiles are rotated to show their current income which eases calculation of one's total income at the end of a round. Moreover, high profit buildings (cashcows) are easily visible for all players.

• Opposed cost for land tiles: cheap in empty regions and expensive in populated regions

• Land tiles show the ownership of a parcel, house, or building. The ownership affects all other adjacent buildings and may either increase or reduce the income (depending on the ownership)

• Sequential order of action activation at the end of a round (similar to Caylus) creates additional depth for worker placement: left-over money, updated firepower, and pending duels have to be taken into account.

• Anticipating other player's plans: actions are resolved after all players have passed which creates uncertainty and a subtle stalling element to the worker placement because players do not know where and if other players will duel them. Pass early to increase firepower (higher defense) or go for another worker placement spot / duel?

• Passing early has benefits: passing changes the player order and tie-breaker for duels, moreover, unused workers increase one's firepower for duels and they can be used additionally in the next round.

• Nice escalation over time: more workers are handed out each round, buying victory points gets more expensive each round, and income of players grows with the city.

• Tense, uncertain outcome of duels. Players can improve their luck by increasing their firepower, however, die rolls can be very swingy. A variant exists that replaces the die rolls with duels tiles which adds a bluffing element.

• At least some compensation for lost duels: the worker is returned who may help in future duels (increased firepower) and can be used as additional worker in the next round.

• Deep but not too deep: players have a lot of different paths available and there are many decisions to be made. However, since there is uncertainty, players also have to just try, see what happens, and trust their gut instincts.

• Supports high player counts and scales well with all player counts (because of the modular board)

• Player aids for each player in DIN A4

• Rules are well written

[b]Neutrals:[/b]

No hidden information (except for Might is Right variant)

Can be quite thinky when calculating the best spot for a building (analysis paralysis) and when planing what building to (potentially) buy in the current round.

High variability: modular map, available character cards, randomly drawn building tiles, and variants

Luck: random die rolls for duels (except for Might is Right variant), available buildings, gambling for money

Very competitive, mean game due to high player interaction: duel workers to claim an action spot or a land tile, stealing income from other players' buildings

[b]Cons:[/b]

• Duels in a worker placement game is too much confrontation and uncertainty for some people

• Math (calculating sums): total income of one's buildings and estimating potential cost of buildings and land tiles to buy - players sometimes miscalculate and get annoyed when they cannot buy a wanted building

• Clear iconography on character tiles, building tiles, main board, and player aids. However, the iconography is hard to decrypt for beginners, especially on the player aids.

• Placement rules for buildings makes the game difficult for beginners: each building type has different placement and income conditions. Moreover, beginners usually forget to place an additional house or to connect it to the road system.

• Artwork of river tiles and the main board (the desert) has a low detailed, low resolution image :-(

• Set-up takes some time (creating the random map with dice)

[b]Thoughts:[/b]

Carson City integrates the rough Wild West theme into a worker placement game very well. The variability is superb: each combination of the modular game board, special characters, and particular variations creates a very different feeling each game. Carson City is quite deep but still accessible: it offers many paths and actions may have side effects to consider but not in an overwhelming way. However, there is math involved. :-) Dueling other workers creates tension and uncertainty. I sometimes wish there would be no duels so I can just focus on making cash and building the city with the other players. The tile laying is the most fun part for me. On the other hand, I like that duels exist, otherwise, Carson City would be one of many worker placement games - but still a very good one!

[b]Related games:[/b]

• Caylus (sequential action selection where players add buildings to a path as additional worker placement spots, no spatial city building, players collect resources to buy buildings, no duels between workers, mean element via provost)
• Sons of Anarchy: Men of Mayhem (worker placement, bidding, shoot-outs, variability)
• Argent: The Consortium (magical school theme, competitive worker placement with combat and different types of workers, very high variability)
• Dwellings of Eldervale (fantasy theme, blends worker placement, area control, engine building, and unique worker units. Units can battle each other and NPC monsters)

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[b]Variants:[/b]

1. A New Beginning Instead of having the same start conditions, each player buys one's starting resources and keeps the leftover money. This variant makes the game more strategical and asymmetric but takes additional set-up time. Not for beginners.

2. Carson River The main board has a back side with a River. River tiles can be used instead to create a custom river. Very useful to tighten the map for lower player counts. However, the rivers adds three more little special rules for some buildings and scoring.

3. Might is Right Instead of using dice to resolve duels, each player gets six secret duel tiles according to a particular algorithm. The values on the duel tiles range from 0 to 5. This variant adds an additional layer to duels (bluffing and tile management: should I play my best duel tile first or keep it for later?), removes most of the randomness, and still keeps uncertainty. I really like it.

4. Kit Carson Workers are placed simultaneously. A player can place or move all his available workers until he has passed. This accelerates the playing time. I think the playing time is already okay, but this variant still sounds interesting. I want to try it. Quick players may benefit more because they pass early? It may create a back and forth situation where one player wants to duel while the other players do not want to duel? It may also get chaotic when all players try to place their workers simultaneously.

5. Outlaw Outlaws are randomly placed on the map each round (except for the first round). Outlaws steal income or block land tiles. Players can duel Outlaws to remove them and gain victory points. This variant has some flaws:

• The random placement can create a big disadvantage when mostly one player is affected (reduced income, blocked land).
• Blocked land: duels with Outlaws are resolved after buildings are placed so that the Outlaw blocks a land until the next round which may suck for the player who really needs to build there. Some character cards can fix this problem (The Heroes), but these characters have to be in the game and the player has to get them. My house-rule: Allow players to duel Outlaws when placing a building.
• There are three types of Outlaws with different strength. Which Outlaw is used each round is determined by die roll. In the worst case, the strongest Outlaws come most early into play (in the second round). These Outlaws are nearly unbeatable and may be a big disadvantage for affected players. Some characters cards can fix this problem, but these characters have to be in the game and the player has to get them. My house-rule: 2nd round: randomly select Outlaw #1 or #2 (one of the two weakest). 3rd round: randomly select Outlaw #3 or #4. 4th round: randomly select Outlaw #5 or #6 (one of the two strongest). (I use the die roll for determining how many Outlaws are placed. If it is even I pick the weaker version, if odd I pick the stronger version for the particular round)

6. Horses Each player receives an additional board with five spots where he can place his horses. The five spots mostly provide more flexibility like moving a placed worker, pass immediately, increase firepower or income for ranches. Additionally, each spot increases the player's rodeo value. The player with the highest rodeo value at the end of the round gets the rodeo token which increases the victory points for all of his horses. This variant increases the complexity (more actions, more to think about, competing for rodeo) but also provides more flexibility (income, worker placement). It may create back and forth situations where player A moves his worker to avoid a duel, player B follows with his worker to duel. Not for beginners. I kind of like this variant but would not mind to play without it.