Western Legends: Ante Up Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• New Concepts
  • Event Tokens
  • Longhorn Tokens
  • Outlaw Tokens
  • Claim Jumper Tokens
  • High Roller Tokens
  • Gambling
  • Gambler Track
  • Gold Nuggets
• Playing with Ante Up
  • Start of Turn
  • Take a Location Action
  • The General Store and Trading Post
  • Ranches
  • Rail Stations
  • Mountain Pass
  • Frontier Spaces
  • Saloon
  • Marshal's Office
  • Outlaw Camp
• End of Game
• Variant Rules
  • High Stakes Poker

Components

• 1 Trading Post stand
• 1 Train mini
• 1 Gambler/Train board
• 1 Buzzard Gulch board
• 6 scoring cubes
• 12 faro bet markers
• 22 event cards
• 7 event markers
• 9 outlaw tokens
• 9 legendary tokens
• 8 Train encounter cards
• 3 claim jumper tokens
• 3 high roller tokens
• 6 longhorn tokens
• 12 frontier tokens
• 2 mountain pass markers
• 8 cattle tokens
• 8 character cards
• 32 character goal cards
• 10 alternate poker cards: Vendetta, Rumors, Jackpot, Scout, Outfit
• 24 item cards

Setup

The steps below are meant to be performed along with the setup steps shown in the 2nd printing of the core Western Legends rulebook. The setup steps followed by a letter are intended to supplement the base game setup steps. The steps with red numbers are meant to fully replace their respective steps in the Western Legends rulebook.

1A. Place the new board pieces from Ante Up in the center of the table next to the original Western Legends board as shown in the diagram.

1B. Place all tokens included in Ante Up in separate facedown piles grouped by matching icon.

3. Place the General Store and Trading Post stands within reach of all players. Randomly select and place 1 weapon and 1 mount in the Trading Post, next use the chart below to determine how many miscellaneous items to add to the Trading Post based on the total number of items you are using in the game:

• 13-14 items: 2 miscellaneous items
• 15-17 items: 3 miscellaneous items
• 18+ items: 4 miscellaneous items

Place all remaining item cards in the General Store stand.

4. Gather all of the poker cards and decide if you wish to replace the original poker cards with the alternate Ante Up versions. If so, remove the original poker cards matching the Ante Up poker card suits and values and place them in the box. If not, place the Ante Up alternate poker cards back in the box. Shuffle all remaining poker cards and place them in a deck in their designated area (We strongly using the Ante Up alternate poker cards when playing with Ante Up). [Printed as "We strongly using"; the word "recommend" appears to be missing from the source.]

6A. Place the orange cattle tokens on the Buzzard Gulch Ranch facedown so their rewards cannot be seen.

7. (red, replaces base step 7)

• A. Place the 2 prospecting dice and supply of gold nuggets in their designated area.
• B. Place the train mini at the Spike's View Rail Station facing to the right toward the Buzzard Gulch play area. Shuffle the train encounter cards and place them in a facedown deck in their designated area.
• C. Randomly assign 1 frontier token with the number faceup to each frontier space on the Buzzard Gulch board and return the unused frontier tokens to the box.
• D. Place event markers on the 5th space of the Gambler, Marshal, and Wanted tracks. Place 1 event marker on every 5th space of the Legendary Point track prior to the end game total.
• F. Shuffle the event cards and place them in a facedown deck in their designated area.
• G. Draw and resolve 1 event card for every two players rounded up. Place the resolved event cards in a discard pile next to the event card deck. If any of the drawn event cards call for the Sheriff to be moved, ignore that effect as the Sheriff has not yet been placed on the board.
• H. Place the mountain pass markers at Bandit Camp A in Sunny Hills and Bandit Camp C in Cliff Junction.

[Step 7 has no printed sub-step E in the source; the lettering goes from D to F.]

8A. Players flip their player mats to the side with spaces for legendary tokens as they will be used in Ante Up whether or not players use the goal card variant.

8B. Players take the additional scoring cube in their color included in Ante Up and place it next to the Gambler track.

11A. When each player places their mini in its starting location, remove any event token on that space, and return it to the supply.

20A. Give each player an Ante Up player aid.

New Concepts

Event Tokens

Western Legends: Ante Up introduces an event deck full of new challenges for players to face. The first time any player's scoring cube enters or moves through a space on any track with an event marker the player must immediately resolve an event card. Reveal the top card of the event deck and resolve its text as instructed. These instructions often call for placing a variety of event tokens at different locations across the boards. After an event token has been triggered return it to the box.

There are several different types of tokens that are added to the board as the result of events. Such tokens are all considered to be event tokens even if they are placed on the board by some other means. When an instruction tells the player resolving it to add any type of event token to a space on the board, the token is only added if the space is unoccupied. For the purpose of adding event tokens, unoccupied means free of any mini or token of any type. Here are the different types of event tokens:

• Outlaw
• Claim Jumper
• High Roller
• Longhorn

Longhorn Tokens

Players can acquire longhorn tokens in one of three ways:

1. While in the same space as a longhorn token, a player can take an action to acquire the longhorn token(s).
2. A longhorn token can be acquired as the result of the rewards on a frontier token. In this case, no action is required by the player and the longhorn token is gained automatically.
3. Longhorn tokens can be gained by successfully robbing a player with 1 or more longhorn tokens in their possession.

A player can have any number of longhorns in their possession at one time. The number of longhorn tokens in a player's possession is independent of any regular cattle tokens they may have. Each longhorn token in a player's possession reduces their movement by 1 space to a minimum of 1 space.

Players can deliver longhorn tokens to any of the following locations to earn 1 Legendary Point (LP) + $30: [the three Ranch icons (gold, blue and green), a crossed-revolvers icon, and the Rail Station icon]. [The source shows the crossed-revolvers icon without naming the location it marks; it is reproduced here as an icon description only.]

Longhorn tokens are considered cattle tokens when a player is Arrested or Robbed. After a player is Arrested, they must discard all longhorn tokens in their possession. A player successfully Robbing a player in possession of 1 or more longhorn tokens can choose to take 1 longhorn token. The player cannot take a cattle token and a longhorn token.

Outlaw Tokens

A player moving into a space occupied by an outlaw token must stop their movement and reveal the token. The number above the line on the back of the outlaw token indicates how many fight cards are drawn for the fight. Resolve the fight between the player and the outlaw as you would any other NPC fight. Regardless of the outcome of the fight, return the outlaw token to the event token supply. The reward for winning the fight is described below the line on the back of the token. A player losing a fight with an outlaw gains 1 wound and draws 1 poker card.

Claim Jumper Tokens

A player moving into a space occupied by a claim jumper token must stop their movement and reveal the token. The number above the line on the back of the claim jumper token indicates how many fight cards are drawn for the fight. Resolve the fight between the player and the claim jumper as you would any other NPC fight. Regardless of the outcome of the fight, return the claim jumper token to the event token supply. The reward for winning the fight is described below the line on the back of the token. A player losing a fight with a claim jumper gains 1 wound and draws 1 poker card.

High Roller Tokens

High rollers are placed on Saloons. A player wishing to play poker against a high roller must take an action at the Saloon where the high roller is located. The player must ante $20 and the dealer who plays for the high roller will draw the number of poker cards indicated by the number above the line on the back of the token. The rewards on the token replace those of a normal poker game and the dealer does not put up any money. If the player wins, they gain their ante, the rewards shown on the high roller token, and any additional rewards for character abilities, items, or from cards like Lady Luck or Jackpot. If the player loses, their $20 ante is placed in the supply. When a player challenges a high roller, no other players can participate since all games against a high roller are head-to-head challenges. Regardless of the outcome, the high roller token is returned to the event token supply. Challenging a high roller is considered gambling.

Gambling

When playing Ante Up players are able to gamble by playing faro, poker, and challenging high rollers. Any player participating in one of these activities, whether they initiated it or not has chosen to gamble and resolves any effects reliant on doing so accordingly.

Gambler Track

Any player can advance along the Gambler track regardless of whether they are Marshals, Wanted, or unaligned. Each time a player gains a Gambler point they advance one space on the Gambler track and immediately receive the rewards indicated on the space.

If a player is on the final space of the Gambler track, each time they gain Gambler points they receive the reward for the final space again (2 legendary tokens, discarding down to 3 total legendary tokens if needed).

During end of game scoring, the player farthest along the Gambler track gains 1LP. If there is a tie for farthest along the Gambler track, all tied players earn 1LP.

Gold Nuggets

A number of effects add gold nuggets to various locations on the board. No action is required for a player to pick up gold nuggets sitting in a space on the board. Any player ending a move action in a space containing gold nuggets may pick up any number of the gold nuggets in the space, as long as they do not exceed their gold nugget capacity.

Playing with Ante Up

Start of Turn

The only change to the start of turn is that the player moves the Train to the next Train Checkpoint.

During the START OF TURN phase, the active player carries out the following steps:

• Move the Train
• Check for start of turn effects.
• Choose one: Gain $20, draw 2 poker cards, or gain $10 and draw 1 poker card.
• Choose a weapon and mount for the turn.

The Train moves as a start of the turn. It moves to the next Train Checkpoint as shown in the diagram (Rail Stations, Mountain Passes, Bandit Hideouts). Place the front of the Train in the Train Checkpoint space. The Train is considered a location in that space for the duration of the player's turn.

The Train will stop at each indicated location.

Take a Location Action

Western Legends: Ante Up adds new location actions to existing locations as well as a number of new locations where players can take location actions.

The Train: The Train is considered to be a location in the space it currently occupies. As all Train Checkpoints are locations in their own right the Train is considered an additional location in the space and does not affect players' ability to interact with the other in any way. Players in the space where the front of the Train is currently located can take a location action to perform a Train Heist.

Train Heist: While at the Train space, a player may spend an action to initiate a Heist action. To do so, they must first draw a train encounter card and follow its instructions. Most train encounter cards require the player to fight the guard of the Train to succeed. A player can only initiate a Heist action once per turn.

Train Guard Fight: The player to the right of the active player draws the number fight cards indicated on the train encounter card for the guard.

• Resolve "start of fight" effects
• The active player chooses 1 poker card from their hand and plays it facedown.
• The guard plays 1 fight card facedown.
• Both cards are revealed.
• Effects from character abilities, items, weapons, and the played poker card are applied.
• The active player may play any number of Reaction effects.
• The effects from the played fight card are applied.
• The highest value wins the fight. The guard wins all ties.
• If the active player defeats the guard, they gain rewards for winning as indicated on the train encounter card.
• If the active player loses, they gain the consequences for a loss as indicated on the train encounter card in addition to the standard consequences of gaining 1 wound and drawing 1 poker card for losing a fight.
• Discard the played poker card(s) and return all fight cards to the bottom of the fight deck in a random order.

Example train encounter card, "Trap": Draw 4 fight cards. Decrease the value of the card played against the guard by 1. Player wins: Gain $80 and 3 Wanted points. Player loses: Player is arrested.

Train Board and Robbing the Train: The Train spaces on the Gambler/Train board correlates to the Bandit camps on the original Western Legends game board. When the Train is at one of the spaces on the new top board a player can take the Heist action while at the corresponding Bandit camp. For example, if the Train is at space B on the top board a player could attempt to rob the Train while at Bandit camp B on the Western Legends game board.

The General Store and Trading Post

While in a space neighboring a General Store or Trading Post, a player may take an action to purchase and/or upgrade any number of item cards, as long as they have enough money to do so and the item(s) are available. During setup, a specific number of items are randomly assigned to the Trading Post stand and are only available for purchase or upgrade at the Trading Post. Likewise, a player neighboring a General Store can only purchase and/or upgrade items located in the General Store stand. The only exceptions to this rule are any promotional items, which are considered to be available at both the General Store and Trading Post as well as to a player using the action on the card Outfit to whom all items are available. Follow all other rules governing purchases, upgrades, and items covered on page 9 of the Western Legends rulebook.

Ranches

Western Legends: Ante Up adds a new Ranch and color of cattle tokens to the game. All rules regarding Ranches, acquiring cattle tokens, rustling, and wrangling remain in effect with the following addition:

Longhorns: Players can deliver longhorn tokens to any Ranch like normal cattle tokens to receive 1LP and $30. For more information about longhorn tokens see the New Concepts section on longhorn tokens.

Rail Stations

Western Legends: Ante Up adds a new Rail Station on the Buzzard Gulch map. All rules regarding wrangling cattle tokens remain in effect. Additionally, players can now deliver longhorn tokens to either Rail Station and may travel by rail.

Longhorns: Players can deliver longhorn tokens to any Ranch like normal cattle tokens to receive 1LP and $30. For more information about longhorn tokens see the New Concepts section on longhorn tokens and the section covering event tokens.

Travel by Rail: A player at a Rail Station can take a travel by rail action. A travel by rail action is a special type of location/move action in which the player pays $10, moves to the other Rail Station, and then proceeds from that Rail Station by moving up to their maximum number of spaces. This is considered a move action.

NOTE: Moving the sheriff from one Rail Station to another counts as 1 space.

Mountain Pass

Western Legends: Ante Up adds Mountain Passes to the game. While at a Mountain Pass trail head, a player can take a trail action to travel between the original board and the Buzzard Gulch territories.

Trail Action: A trail action is a special type of location/move action that uses all of a player's movement for one action. The player then moves as shown in the example below:

[Diagram: a trail action from Bandit Hideout A to the Mountain Pass A space in Buzzard Gulch.]

There are two Mountain Passes:

• Mountain Pass A is considered to run between Bandit Hideout A in the top right of the original board to the Mountain Pass A space in the top left of Buzzard Gulch and vice versa. A trail action can be taken at either of these spaces to move from one to the other.
• Mountain Pass C is considered to run between Bandit Hideout C in the bottom right of the original board to the Mountain Pass C space in the bottom left of Buzzard Gulch and vice versa. A trail action can be taken at either of these spaces to move from one to the other.

NOTE: Moving the sheriff from one Mountin Pass trail head to another counts as 1 space. [Printed as "Mountin Pass" in the source.]

Frontier Spaces

Players at a Frontier Space still containing its frontier token can take a frontier action to explore and develop the land for rewards.

Frontier Action: To take a frontier action the player must be on one of the frontier spaces with a facedown frontier token. The player discards poker cards from hand with a value equal to or greater than the sum of the numbers shown on the frontier space and frontier token. For the purpose of this discard, 2-9 are worth their face value, 10-k are worth 10, and Aces are worth 11. After the player discards the needed poker cards they flip the frontier token, gain the rewards shown on it, and return the frontier token to the box.

Saloon

Ante Up adds a new Saloon to the game and changes to the rules regarding all Saloons. In addition to poker, players can also gamble by playing faro or challenge a high roller to a head-to-head match if one is present. Poker has undergone a minor rules change to its rewards, but otherwise plays the same.

Poker: While in a space neighboring a Saloon, a player may play a game of poker. To do so they take a gamble action and offer all other players in the same town the opportunity to play as well. This is the standard game of poker from Western Legends. It follows all of the normal rules with the following exceptions:

• If the Active player wins a game of poker they can choose to gain either 1LP or 1 Gambler point. This player also wins all of the money in the pot as normal regardless of this choice.
• If any player other than the active player wins a hand of poker they gain 1 Gambler point. This player also wins all of the money in the pot as normal regardless.
• In the event of a tie, the active player wins as normal and can choose to gain 1 Gambler point or 1LP.
• If multiple non-active players tie in a hand of poker, they gain 1 Gambler point and split the pot evenly rounding down and returning any additional money to the supply if needed.

Faro: While in a space neighboring a Saloon, a player may play a game of faro. To do so, they take a gamble action and offer all players in the same town the opportunity to play as well. If any other players choose to join the game of faro the active player gains $10. Once it is determined which players will play faro, the game begins!

1. The closest player to the right of the active player and not participating in the game of faro draws the top 4 cards of the fight deck and reveals 3 faceup. If all players are participating, the active player deals.
2. Participating players place their bets in clockwise order ending with the active player. Betting involves placing one or two $10-$20 bets. Each player has two bet markers in their color. These bet markers are double sided, having a $10 side and a $20 side. Players place their betting markers on the card value shown in the betting area to indicate which card they are betting on, and place either the $10 or $20 side faceup indicating how much they are betting on that number. If the player wishes to bet on two cards they simply repeat this process using the second bet marker in their player color. The sum of a player's bets can never exceed the amount of money currently in their possession. All players participating in a game of faro are allowed to bet on any card they wish regardless of whether any other player has bet on that card or not.
3. The dealer now shuffles the four cards facedown and offers the active player the chance to cut the cards. The dealer now reveals one card. All bets on this card are lost. Players that bet on this number pay the amount shown on their bet marker to the supply and retrieve their bet marker. The dealer now reveals a second card. All bets on this card win. Players who won gain 1 Gambler Point, and are paid 1:1, meaning a bet of $20 would pay the player $20. At this time, all players who still have bets on the Faro board have the opportunity to take their bet markers back and stop playing. This is decided in clockwise order ending with the active player. Any players who do not take their bet markers back have chosen to participate in the bonus round.
4. The bonus round consists of one more card being revealed. All bets not matching the revealed card lose. Losing players pay the amount shown on their bet marker to the supply and retrieve their bet markers. All bets on the winning number have won the Jackpot. Players winning the Jackpot gain 1 Gambler point and are paid 3:1 on their bet, meaning a bet of $20 would pay the player $60. Players take their winnings from the supply and retrieve their bet markers. Shuffle the cards used in this game of faro and return them to the bottom of the fight deck.

Faro diagram labels:

• Reveal: The active player draws the top four cards from the fight deck and reveals three to all players before bets are placed.
• Bid: Starting clockwise from the active player, all participating players will place their bet markers on the board indicating which cards they are betting on.
• Loser: All bets are lost, players return the amount bet from their player board to the supply.
• Winner: Players who bid gain 1 Gambler point and recieve a payout of 1:1. [Printed as "recieve" in the diagram.]
• Retract or Stay: Players who still have bets on the table can choose to retract their remaining bet marker(s) or stay in to possibly win the Jackpot.
• Jackpot: Players winning the Jackpot gain 1 Gambler point and are paid 3:1 on their bet.
• Loser: Losing player(s) pay their bet to the supply.

Marshal's Office

This is where Wanted players arrested in the Buzzard Gulch Territories go when arrested by the Sheriff or a player. Anytime a player is Arrested and moved to the Marshal's Office, move the Sheriff there as well.

Outlaw Camp

The Outlaw Camp is a combination of a Ranch and a Bandit Hideout from the standard game of Western Legends where players can rustle cattle tokens, deliver longhorns, and fight against outlaw tokens that may spawn there as a result of event cards.

Rustle: After a player ends their move action at the Outlaw Camp, they may deliver cattle tokens of any color to gain 1 Wanted point and the reward on the back of the cattle token. Once a cattle token is delivered, shuffle it in with the other cattle tokens at the corresponding Ranch.

Longhorns: Players can deliver longhorn tokens to the Outlaw Camp like normal cattle tokens to receive 1LP and $30.

End of Game

The only change to the end of game when playing with Western Legends: Ante Up is the player farthest along the Gambler track gains 1LP. If there is a tie for farthest along the Gambler track, all tied players earn 1LP.

Gambler track (printed on the Gambler/Train board):

• Space 1: $10 or draw 1 poker card
• Space 2: 1LP
• Space 3: $10 or draw 1 poker card
• Space 4: 1 legendary token
• Space 5: $20 or draw 2 poker cards
• Space 6: 2LP
• Space 7: 2 legendary tokens*

* For each Gambler Point gained after 7, gain 2 legendary tokens instead.

Variant Rules

High Stakes Poker

This section provides rules for players that wish to include another form of gambling into their Western Legends: Ante Up experience. It does not replace the version of poker described earlier in these rules, but rather provides players with another game they can choose to initiate while in a space neighboring a Saloon. High stakes poker is still considered poker and gambling for the purpose of resolving any game effects or abilities.

If no other players join the hand of high stakes poker, the player to the right of the active player takes on the role of the dealer. The dealer sets aside their current hand of poker cards and draws 5 poker cards from the deck as their hand. The Saloon adds $40 to the ante(s) from the supply as a reward for winning.

After all players in the hand have paid their ante and drawn their poker cards, the top 3 cards of the poker deck are revealed. This is called "the flop." Players then decide if they want to bet an additional $20 to stay in or fold, forfeiting the hand. This is done in clockwise order with the active player deciding last. If all players except for one fold, the hand ends and that player is considered the winner. If the hand continues, the Saloon adds an additional $20 to the pot from the supply. If the game is only between the active player and the dealer representing the Saloon, the dealer always stays in for the additional $20. If at least two players stay in, the top 2 cards of the poker deck are revealed. These cards are called the "turn and river." Players then make their best five card hand using 2 cards from their hand and 3 from the flop, turn, and river cards. If a player has no poker cards when they ante they must play with the one poker card drawn combined with 3 cards from the flop, turn, and river. For ranking of poker hands see the table on page 10 of the Western Legends rulebook.

The winner takes all of the money in the pot and gains 1 Gambler point and 1LP regardless of who initiated the game.

In the event of a tie in high stakes poker follow these rules:

• The active player wins as normal and gains 1 Gambler point and 1LP.
• If multiple non-active players tie in a hand of high stakes poker, they gain 1 Gambler point and 1LP and then split the pot evenly rounding down and returning any additional money to the supply if needed.