Howdy partners!
Gather your top gunslinging cowboys and get ready for a hog-killin’ time! (Cowboy talk for a hella good time).
We’ve got an epic list of the best Western and Wild West board games out there! The Wild West is such a fun theme that immerses you into the world of cowboys, outlaws, saloons, shoot-outs, and gold. On our list, you’ll find an awesome round-up of games that take you to the Wild West, but you’ll need a sense of adventure and a strong poker face.
We’re burnin’ daylight, so without further adieu, let’s ride off into the horizon with the 10 best Western and Wild West board games!
🏆 Our Top Picks for Best Western Board Games
In a hurry? Take a quick peek before you go.
Great Western Trail (Second Edition)
Players: 1- 4
Playing time: 75- 150mins
An epic adventure awaits you on the Great Western Trail!
The epic game is back with its second edition, with even greater features and components for an even greater journey!
In the game, players must try to navigate their cattle to Kansas City while avoiding the many dangers of the Wild West. If you’re successful, you’ll have delivered the most cattle, and earned the most money.
Great Western Trail combines some heavy-gun elements like set collection, strategy movement, deck-building, and hand management, making it one of the most epic cattle rides.
You’ll be hiring cowboys, builders, and engineers to get closer to the trail to victory!
In the second edition, you can customize your own cowboy with different colored hats. It just adds a little extra Western pizzazz.
Shadows of Brimstone: City of the Ancients
Players: 1- 4
Playing time: 75- 150 mins
Load up yer’ guns, throw on yer’ hat, and gather your best riders. The darkness is coming and all hell’s about to break loose…
Shadows of Brimstone: City of the Ancients is a fast-paced, cooperative game that combines the Wild West theme with a dungeon crawler… and an unspeakable dose of horror.
What’s fun about this game is that players create characters. You’ll take on the role of Old West classics like a man of the law, a badass saloon bartender, the typical Western hero, or a gunslinger. They all come together to form a group of unlikely heroes.
The game follows a campaign system that allows for lots of adventure, making the game feel unique each time you play it. With artifacts, gear and experience gained, your heroes’ class upgrades, you can gain new skills and abilities as you go.
If you’ve already played Shadows of Brimstone: City of the Ancients, try their other Western-themed expansion, Frontier Town. You’ll travel through various adventurous towns, each offering ‘unique’ services and a healthy serving of danger.
Gold West
Players: 2- 4
Playing time: 45- 60 mins
Gold West has players take on the roles of leaders of mining empires during the Gold Rush. You’ll battle it out in an attempt to have the most territory control while also being mindful of your resource management.
In this economic, territory-building game, players must create strategies to successfully build up victory points through different resources. There are five resources in the game, copper, silver, gold, timber, and stone. Each resource acquires points in a variety of ways.
Gold West challenges you to find the fine balance of managing resource production carefully with striking out and taking opportunities to grow. There are no one-trick ponies in these Western towns!
Can you step ahead of the competition in America’s Golden Age?
Western Legends
Players: 2- 6
Playing time: 60- 90 mins
If you enjoy having a historical aspect to your board games, Western Legends has actual historical figures that play out new adventures.
Western Legends is a super fun “sandbox” game, meaning you are free to explore the boundaries of the world without an explicit win condition or goal to work towards.
There are honestly so many ways to play out your Western-themed fantasies. Players can pursue legend stories, search for gold, gamble, fight robbers, or become robbers, among many other adventures.
The board game’s presentation is beautiful, with a Western-themed map and really well-made components that all give it further thematic life.
Carson City
Players: 2- 5
Playing time: 90 mins
Welcome to Carson City. Roll up your sleeves, and have your ace in the hole. It’s cowboy land and the deserts a boomin’.
In Carson City, players take on the roles of cowboys building cities and carving out terrorism in the Wild West. Played over four rounds, players place their cowboys in the action fields.
Once in the field, your cowboys will claim land, build houses and buildings, and construct roads. Sounds too peaceful right? If two cowboys are trying to claim the same land a duel must be fought!
Carson City is interesting because it’ll have players playing different characters each round. Each character, of which there are seven, has a unique set of abilities to their advantage.
There are some fantastic Carson City expansion packs like Carson City: Gold & Guns and Carson City: Heroes & Horses.
Colt Express
Players: 2- 6
Playing time: 40 mins
In Colt Express, you’ll play as a bandit robbing a train. Thing is, all the other players are bandits too, trying to become the richest outlaw in the Wild West.
The game has two important parts to each round that make it very strategic. There’s the Schemin’ part where you’ll need to lay out all your plans… and the Stealin’ part where you’ll need to successfully execute your plans.
Yes, the game is really well designed but the highlight for me; is the little meeple cowboys actually fit onto the horses! You’ll feel like you’re playing Cowboys as a child.
Need more Colt Express? Try the Big Box version.
“Move along the train and rob your way to riches, because it’s the Wild West, and “A man’s gotta do, what a man’s gotta do.”
— John Wayne
Homesteaders
Players: 2- 4
Playing time: 60- 90 mins
Homesteaders is an economic game with a fun Western theme. It’s an auction and resource management game where the buildings confer abilities, income, and points.
In the game, there are ten rounds where players can bid on opportunities like different types of buildings using resource cubes.
If you manage your resources the best, you’ll earn the most victory points, thus becoming the biggest business on the American frontier.
Deadwood
Players: 2- 5
Playing time: 30- 60 mins
Players take on the roles of cowboys on the wrong side of the law, looking to make some cold, hard cash off the booming West. But with so many gangs in town, looking to make a quick buck, you’ll need to threaten, fight, and kill anyone who gets in your way.
In this worker placement-meets-cowboy gang game, there are three different classes in your gang, each with different strengths. Greenhorns, gunslingers, and trail bosses. With your gang in tow, you’ll ride into town to take over control and annex different buildings.
If you gain control of the building, you’ll also gain the building’s advantages Other gangs will initiate shootouts to take over your buildings, so you’ll need to be on the lookout constantly.
Bang! The Dice Game
Players: 3- 8
Playing time: 15 mins
It’s outlaws vs. the law, Sheriff vs. bandit, deputies vs. renegades. What could be more Wild West than that?
In the West, there’s the eternal battle that keeps heating up. Then, suddenly the sky is darkened by hundreds of arrows. The town is under attack. Bang! The Dice Game has all the emotions of Bang! but with only a handful of dice.
Bang! The Dice Game starts with each player secretly taking on a role as the Sheriff and deputies, or outlaws and renegades. With each role wanting to eliminate the other, players roll dice as dice combat meets luck.
If you’re looking for a quick, fast-paced Western-themed game, Bang! The Dice Game brings the heat with no downtime or deadlock, while being conveniently travel-friendly.
Tiny Epic Western
Players: 1- 4
Playing time: 30- 45 mins
The West is growing day by day, it’s time for you to stake your claim! But, you’ll have to gamble with the most powerful people in town.
Tiny Epic games are worker placement meets area control games. In Tiny Epic Western, there’s a poker element introduced and you’ll have to bluff your way to glory.
You’ll compete as a boss of the Old West and gather your gunslinging posse to prepare for dueling and gambling. The game is really easy to learn so it’s a great choice for all ages, but be sure to have your poker faces on.
As John Wayne says, “Talk low, talk slow, and don’t say too much.” If you bluff right, you might just have a chance at becoming the most powerful tycoon in all of the West.
If you’re a fan of the game’s mechanics, There are loads of different Tiny Epic game series like Pirates, Galaxies, and Dungeons. It’s a fantastic series to get into with so much variety!
Bonus Game: Best of the West
Best of the West is an asymmetrical wargame that can be played cooperatively with the bandit gang or competitively as a lone pioneer. This board game allows for open-world exploration, and it pays to get off the beaten trail. Players can collect cards at the Indian Village, Coyote Canyon Saloon, or in the ghost town of Purgatory.
Best of the West is all about player interaction. You must bribe, trade, and battle your way to the top, using your quick with as you master weapon combat and upgradeable character abilities.
With 16 unique characters and an open world to explore, the only way to win is to collect the most loot!
Wrap-Up
Yeehaw cowboys! We hope you’ve enjoyed this bangin’ list of the best Western and Wild West board games! Have you tried any of the games on this list? Did we miss any of your Old West favorites?
Do you have a favorite western-themed board game? Let us know in the comments below! We’d love to hear from you.
Ready Player Christine. Since my first D&D game, which took a turn for the weird and wacky (probably my influence), the world of board and tabletop games came alive. Now today, I get to write about these fantastical, fictional, and downright fun worlds.