Westward Expansion

Add western stockyards, new buildings, labor choices, futures, rents, and up to two years.

Short tag: [Westward]

What it adds

Westward Expansion adds the Exchange Building board, ten Stockyards sideboards, five extra workers, ten small slaughterhouses, twelve Building cards, nine Year cards, rent and futures tokens, and a neutral grey building. Its new rules here follow the expansion’s v1.3 rulebook.

Setup changes

Replace the base 1927 card with the expansion replacement. Choose one B and one C sideboard per player and add the same number of matching Slaughterhouse cards to their building decks. Put the D building at the bottom of the face-up deck. Choose one Year 7 and one Year 8 card; the resulting game lasts eight years unless the H.R. Department ends it earlier. Add a gray building to its specified space, and give each player two small slaughterhouses, two Rent tokens, one Futures token, and the expansion worker as directed.

New actions

Reduce Wages

Take $5 from the bank, gain one Low Morale token, and raise Union Spirit by one. This action does not trigger a strike immediately; check for a strike only during Phase I.

Futures

Place your Futures marker beneath one livestock price to lock that price. It stays through market changes and can be used for one regular or Omaha slaughter; then return it. If it remains at game end, you may use it for a final margin, except for the doubled margin at South St Paul. You cannot place it again while it is on a price.

Rent a Building

Place a Rent token on another player’s Building other than a Slaughterhouse and pay half its size, rounded down, to the bank. Gain its immediate benefits and specialist icons, but not its end-game value. Each building can hold one rent marker; each player may have at most two in use. Each token in your area is worth two savings at game end.

New stockyards and buildings

You may build at most one B and one C Slaughterhouse per player. Buy land as usual. A new slaughterhouse costs $6. The B stockyards include Omaha, Kansas City, and Fort Worth; the C stockyards include South St Paul, Sioux City, St Joseph, Saint Louis, and Denver. Resolve each board’s entry effect and end-game value as printed in the expansion rulebook. Omaha gives a private Slaughter action with end value 2; it pays the selected margin in cash without removing an animal, even if that type is absent from the Yard. A normal main-board slaughter of that type is still allowed that year. Kansas City grants one extra worker from the following year and has end value 2. Fort Worth adds one animal before year-end price adjustment and has end value 2. South St Paul pays $3 when built and scores the highest profit margin a second time; Futures cannot affect that extra margin. Its end value is one times the highest margin. Sioux City scores two per Building card built, including B/C Slaughterhouses but excluding Specialists. St Joseph pays $10 and has end value 2. Saint Louis raises Brand Reputation once for each main-board Branch House already built and has end value 1. Denver raises Lamb Value by four and has end value 2.

Year cards

The replacement 1927 card raises Beef Value by two. Year 7 cards are 1929 (all Meat Value tracks down one), 1930 (all up one), 1932 (Reduce Wages pays $4), and 1935 (a Trucking Line counts as another connection in one market, up to three). Year 8 cards are 1941 (Beef +2, Pork and Lamb +1), 1942 (livestock prices −2 and all Meat Values −1), 1943 (pay $4, lose a worker to the Picket Line, or take Low Morale), and 1945 (gain $1 per Branch House).

Game end

The H.R. Department can trigger the end in its current year. Otherwise play through Year 8. Score the base game and add the expansion end values and two savings per Rent token. For rented buildings, only the owner scores its end-game value.

Two-player game

For two players, an optional variant sets up four companies and gives each player control of two. The companies act separately in turn order and do not share buildings or Specialist icons. The controller shares cash and Savings between their companies; each starts with $1 (so each controller starts with $2 total) and uses one Savings tracker. The First Player marker belongs to a company. Follow the expansion rulebook’s setup and turn order.