Way Out West Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
• Gameplay
  • 1. Turn Order
  • 2. Action Phase
    • Cattle
    • Cowboy
    • Building and Transport Counters
    • Move Cowboys
    • Move Cattle
    • Gunfight
      • Jail Control
      • Robbing a Bank
      • Gunfight Example
    • Farmer
  • 3. End of Turn
  • 4. Income
• Special Rules
• Winning the Game

Components

• Rulebook
• Game board
• Black wooden pawns
• Player counters
• Farmer counters
• Wanted counters
• Gold counters
• Dice

Game Setup

Each player chooses a set of counters, a wooden pawn of the same colour, and two black wooden pawns. If there are three or four players, each starts with $20. With five players each starts with $25. The remaining money forms the reserve. Each player starts with one Farmer counter.

Roll a die to decide who is the first player. The playing order is clockwise, starting from the first player. The coloured pawns indicate the playing order and are placed correctly on the spaces of the Turn Order Track on the map, so as to show the current playing order. Following the playing order, each player places one of his cowboy counters in the town box of one of the five cities (the town box is the space containing the city name). Repeat this procedure three times until all players have three cowboys on the map.

The length of the game depends on the number of players. With three players the turn marker (use one of the black pawns) starts on space 1 of the Turn Track. With four or five players the turn marker starts on space 4.

Gameplay

During each turn the following phases take place:

1. Bidding for the turn order.
2. Action phase.
3. Move the turn marker one space.

At the end of the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th turns the players collect their income. The game ends at the end of the turn in which the marker has reached space 12.

1. Turn Order

An auction system is used to determine the playing order. All turn markers are taken back into their owners' hands. The player who was first in the last turn starts the auction. In playing order the players must raise the current bid or drop out of the auction. When a player places a bid he puts the corresponding amount of money in front of himself (a player may always exchange money with the reserve to reach the correct sum). If a player drops out of the auction he places his pawn in the lowest available space of the Turn Order Track (remember that certain positions will not be in play depending on the number of players). Example: In a four-player game, the first player to drop out becomes the fourth player and places his pawn in the 4th space of the Turn Order Track. When a player drops out, all the money he has bid up to that point is paid and put into the reserve. If a player does not drop out he may increase his bid the next time the auction turn comes back to him. A bid must always be higher than the previous player's bid. The auction continues until all but one have dropped out; the last remaining player will be the first player. The last player also pays the sum he bid into the reserve.

2. Action Phase

The Action phase is the most important part of the game. At the start of a new Action phase each player must make sure he has two black pawns. All the action boxes at the top of the map must be empty. In turn order, as shown on the Turn Order Track, each player chooses and performs one action. When all players have completed one action, they choose a second action, again in turn order. To choose an action a player places one of his black pawns in the desired action box. He then performs the action, which may involve the payment of money if the box has a cost. A player may never place his pawn in a box that already contains one, so there is a limit to the actions that can be selected during a turn. A player may always choose to pass instead of performing an action, which means discarding a black pawn.

The various actions are as follows:

Cattle

Placing a pawn in a cattle box lets the player buy one or two of his cattle counters and place them on the map. Each counter will cost $1. With five players an extra cattle box is available. A cattle counter must be placed in a pen box (surrounded by fences). The first cattle placed must be put in the lowest city on the map. Cattle may be placed in the next city up only if more than half of the pen boxes have been filled in the previous city. A player may put cattle in a city only if at least one of his own cowboys is already in that city. However, if a player later moves all his cowboys out of that city, the cattle remain there. Only one counter may occupy a pen box.

Cowboy

This action lets the player buy and place one or two of his own cowboy counters. A cowboy counter may be placed in any city (put it in the box with the city name). If another player owns the stagecoach in that city, he receives $1 from the reserve. If a player places two cowboys he may put them in the same city or in different cities. There is no limit to the number of cowboys that may be placed in a city.

Building and Transport Counters

There are six building and transport action boxes. Choosing one of these boxes lets you place the respective building/transport in a city. The cost to do so is shown in the action box. Each city has a certain number of empty building boxes (below the pen boxes). The building/transport counter must be put in one of these boxes. A player may normally build in any city (for example, it is not necessary to have a cowboy present in that city). However, when a player owns two or more counters of this type in a city, he may not pay to build any other building/transport in that same city. It is possible to exceed this limit, but only by taking over other players' buildings/transports through the use of cowboys. Another limit on building/transport counters is that there may be only one building of each type in a single city, so once a player has built the jail in a city, no other player may place the same type of counter in that city.

Move Cowboys

By selecting this action the player may move a certain number of cowboys (up to the value shown in the box) from any city to any other city. The cowboys do not have to start from the same city, nor do they have to end their move in the same city. A cowboy may be moved between any of the five cities on the map. The owner of the stagecoach in the city being moved from earns $1 for each cowboy that moves from that city, taken from the reserve. If, however, there is no stagecoach in that city, or it belongs to the active player, then the money is earned by each player who has a stagecoach in the cowboys' destination city.

Move Cattle

Selecting this action lets the player move a cattle counter from any pen box to any other empty pen box, even if the pens of the lower cities are not half filled.

Gunfight

There are several reasons why a player may wish to start a gunfight, for example to take over a property of another player, to steal cattle, to rob a bank, or to get rid of a farmer.

The active player is the attacker. He decides which player he wants to attack and indicates the target of the attack. This may be any building or transport counter in the city, or one or two cattle counters (they must belong to the same player and be in the same city). The remaining players may not take part in the gunfight. However, the owner of the jail in the city may choose to join the defender (see below for further details). A farmer may be attacked instead of another player, and defends as a single cowboy.

The player with fewer cowboys (only those in the city count) shoots first. The chance to shoot will alternate between the two players (for example: you decide only the order of fire at the start of the gunfight). If both sides have the same number of cowboys the combat is simultaneous, and remains so until the end of the gunfight. When a player shoots he rolls a number of dice equal to the number of cowboys he has in the city. Each roll of 5 or more kills an enemy cowboy. Losses are removed immediately, unless the fire is simultaneous, in which case each dead cowboy has the chance to return fire. The owner of the dead cowboys removes the corresponding number of cowboy counters and puts them back in his supply. Each side shoots until one has lost all his cowboys or a player decides to retreat.

The cowboys represented by counters must always be killed before those represented by jails, banks or trains.

A player may retreat instead of shooting. He immediately loses the gunfight and moves his cowboys to another city. He may move only one cowboy to a city, so he will have to spread them out. No stagecoach is used in a retreat.

Banks and trains have an internal defence of one cowboy, which is added to the number of defending cowboys. If a player has no cowboys in the city, he will defend as if he had one (he will always roll one die in defence).

If the attacker wins he takes control of the target of the attack, replacing it with a counter, or more counters, of his colour (except for banks and jails). The jail is removed from the game if successfully attacked. The bank is robbed if successfully attacked (see below for more details). If the target of an attack was a farmer, the farmer counter is removed. It is not returned to the owning player.

Every time a player wins a gunfight he takes a Wanted counter. If there are no more, he takes one from a player of his choice.

Jail Control

The defender in a gunfight may ask the owner of the jail in the same city (if one exists) to help him defend. This adds a cowboy (who would be the sheriff) to the defence. A player may also use his own "sheriff" as an extra cowboy if he attacks another player in the same city (an example of a "bad" sheriff). The sheriff is always killed last, unless he is defending a farmer, in which case it is the farmer who is killed last. If the sheriff is killed the jail remains in play (another sheriff will be elected to replace him, which means the jail will still have effect in the next turn). A jail is removed from the game only if it is the target of an attack.

Robbing a Bank

The attacker may target a bank (but not one of his own colour). If he wins, instead of taking control of it, he gains money. Roll 3d6 and take this amount in money from the owner of the bank. If the owner cannot pay the whole amount, the bank is removed from the city, after paying the attacker with all the money it has. If there is a jail belonging to another player in the city, then the attacking player must immediately leave the city after robbing the bank. The cowboys may be moved together or separately to any other city on the map. The stagecoach movement is not used. Note that the player may remain in the same city if he controls the jail, or if there is none.

Gunfight Example

Jesse has decided to attack Frank's bank. Jesse has four cowboys in the city, while Frank has two. The jail belongs to Roy, whom Frank asks for help. Roy decides not to help him. Frank has a defence of three: two cowboys and the bank's internal defence. Jesse has an attack of four cowboys, which means Frank will shoot first. Frank rolls three dice and gets one hit. Jesse immediately loses a cowboy. He returns fire with the three remaining cowboys and gets two hits. Frank must remove both cowboy counters, leaving only the bank guard on defence. He rolls one die and fails. Jesse rolls three dice and gets one hit, killing the bank guard. Jesse has won and so robs the bank. He rolls 3d6 and takes that amount of money from Frank. He must then move his three remaining cowboys out of the city, because the jail belongs to Roy. If Roy had decided to help Frank there would have been four cowboys per side, engaged in simultaneous combat. Both sides would roll the dice for their cowboys at the same time and then the dead would be determined.

Farmer

If a player chooses this action he places his Farmer counter on the map. A farmer may be placed in any pen box, even one already occupied by a cattle counter. If there is a cattle counter it is returned to its owner. There may be only one farmer in a city at the same time. A farmer halves the cattle income. A farmer can be removed only if attacked and defeated by another player in a gunfight. The farmer fights as a single cowboy. The sheriff may help the farmer, in which case the farmer will be the last to be killed. Each player may place only one farmer during the whole game.

3. End of Turn

The turn ends when every player has used both black pawns. The turn marker moves one space, except when it is in the 3rd, 6th, 9th or 12th turn, in which case income is calculated before the marker advances. The game ends at the end of the turn in which the marker has reached space 12.

4. Income

Income is normally collected at the end of every three turns (stagecoach income is collected during the action phase). Players collect income by taking it from the reserve according to the type of counters they have on the map, as described below.

Cattle. Each cattle counter earns its owner $2 unless it is in a city that also contains a farmer, in which case he earns only $1. If there is a train in the city, no matter who owns it, the cattle income is doubled.

Bank. A bank earns its owner $2 for each other building or transport counter in the same city, excluding any counter belonging to the bank's owner (a player may never receive money from his own counters).

Store. A store earns its owner $1 for each cattle counter present in the city, except those belonging to the store's owner. He also earns $2 for a farmer counter present in the city.

Hotel. A hotel earns $1 for each cowboy present in the city, except those belonging to the hotel's owner.

Special Rules

Each building or transport counter has special effects, described below.

Stagecoach. Stagecoaches earn income when cowboys move or are placed on the map. If a cowboy is placed in a city after a purchase, or moves from that city, the owner of the stagecoach takes $1 from the reserve. However, a player may never earn money by moving or placing his own cowboys. If a cowboy moves from a city then every stagecoach in the city will normally earn its income. However, if there is no stagecoach, or it belongs to the moving player, then the stagecoach in the city the cowboy moves to earns $1. A stagecoach never earns money from retreating cowboys or from one fleeing after a bank robbery.

Train. A train in a city doubles the income earned by all cattle counters in the same city, not only those of the same colour as the train. It also doubles the victory points earned by cattle at the end of the game.

Bank. The owner collects income as described above.

Jail. The sheriff acts as an extra cowboy that may be added to its owner's cowboys or used to help another player in defence. A sheriff may help a farmer defend. If a player is on the losing side of the gunfight he does not lose control of the jail, unless it was the target of the attack, in which case the jail is removed from the game.

Store. The owner collects income as described above.

Hotel. The owner earns extra income as described above.

Winning the Game

The game ends when the turn marker cannot be advanced further, which will happen after twelve turns with three players or nine turns with four or five players. Players now calculate their victory points.

Each building or transport counter is worth as many victory points as the size of the city it is in. The size of the city is given by the number of building or transport counters present in it. (Example: a building in a city with a total of four building/transport counters, including itself, is worth four victory points.)

Each cattle counter is worth one victory point, or two if the train is present in the city (no matter who owns the train). If there is a farmer in the city then each cattle counter is worth one victory point less, which means that cattle without the train will have no value and those in a city with the train will be worth one point.

The player with the most building/transport and cattle counters in a city controls that city and earns a victory point bonus equal to the size of the city. Remember that cattle do not affect the size of the city, but they do count for the purpose of controlling a city.

The player with the most money in hand earns five extra victory points. In the case of a tie each tied player takes two victory points.

The player with the most Wanted counters earns four extra victory points. In the case of a tie each tied player takes two victory points.

No points are awarded for cowboys.

The player with the most victory points is the winner. There are no tie-breakers, so a tie remains a tie.