Tips & Strategy

How to teach Great Western Trail, first-game advice, running the trail fast, cowboy, builder and engineer plans, hazards and objectives, player counts — with the videos they come from.

Advice, not rules: where a video and the rulebook differ, the rulebook wins. Two of the strategy videos below play the 2021 second edition; their general advice carries over, but its board and buildings differ.

How to teach

• Start from the loop: trail → Kansas City → back to the start, five to seven times; then the three phases of a turn and the five Kansas City subphases (Great Western Trail 1e: How to Play and Tips, Before You Play).
• Stress the first turn: everyone starts on a neutral building of their choice.
• Explain the income early — only different breeds count — so players see why they discard cattle along the way.
• Use the first-game setup: buildings A–G on their letters, private buildings on their a-side.

First game

• Don’t stop everywhere. Skipping weak stops to reach Kansas City sooner usually pays more than one more small action (Shut Up & Sit Down, A Beginner’s guide to Great Western Trail).
• Pick one kind of worker and lean into it rather than hiring a little of everything (World Series of Board Gaming, Up Ur Play).
• The step-limit disc is usually the best first upgrade: it lets you jump past tolls and weak stops (Up Ur Play).
• A turn spent fixing your hand just before Kansas City often costs more than delivering a little lower and moving on (Up Ur Play).
• Save enough to hire two workers on one visit to building A (Phoenicks).

Strategy

• Cowboys. Buy better cattle, deliver, repeat; a value-3 cow bought before your first reshuffle pays off quickly. Cowboy players can often leave their engine near the start and simply pay transport (Up Ur Play, World Series of Board Gaming).
• Builders. Your buildings are stops only you can use and tolls for everyone else; builders need cash early, so make two or three quick deliveries first. A big building (10a, 10b) placed early is very strong (Shut Up & Sit Down, Phoenicks).
• Engineers. Either upgrade stations and collect station masters, or race the engine to the end of the track; station discs unlock many auxiliary actions (Up Ur Play).
• Read the setup. Many hazards early mean a slow, cash-poor trail where toll buildings matter more; look at where the hiring, building and cattle buildings landed (Phoenicks).
• Teepees and objectives. Green-and-blue teepee pairs feed objectives, building 7a and a station master; an objective kept in your deck costs nothing until you decide at the end (Before You Play).

Player counts

• At 4 players the trail fills with private buildings: more tolls, but also more locations to land on (Before You Play).
• Hand fees, step limit and market size change with the player count (setup).

Sources

• Great Western Trail 1e: How to Play and Tips — Games Made Easy
• Great Western Trail - Playthrough & Review (Pfister Series) — Before You Play
• Great Western Trail - Shut Up & Sit Down Review — Shut Up & Sit Down
• How To Win Great Western Trail | Strategy Tips | World Series of Board Gaming — World Series of Board Gaming (second edition)
• A Beginner’s guide to Great Western Trail: How to Win — Up Ur Play (second edition)
• Great Western Trail Strategy Guide: Buildings & Initial Set up — Phoenicks