I promised myself: no more crowdfunding after Spiel 2024. No more Gamefound or Kickstarter rabbit holes. Yet here I am, staring at West Story: A Town Building Game, and honestly, it’s testing that resolve. The campaign is live on Gamefound. Check it out, though. So I might not be the only one giving in to temptation.
To make it short, I will just shorten the game’s title to West Story. For efficiency reason, of course (read: I am too lazy). So, where are we…
West Story was first demoed back in 2023, and I missed my chance to try it then. A bit unfortunate. But fast forward to this year, I found myself wandering over to the Smart Flamingo booth. And there it was, Piotr standing beside his creation, the game I’d been curious about since day 1. I managed to get in half a session, and here are my thoughts so far.
Tableau-building > DECK-BUILDING?
Cards are at the core of West Story’s mechanics and components. It’s done in a way that feels simple. Yet, it’s surprisingly effective. Rather than going the deck-building route, Piotr opts for tableau instead.
We purchase cards, set it in our board, and by doing so, upgrade our default actions. This approach allows us to mix and match. The cards are divided into three categories: the action, animal, and building. We are given freedom to create our strategy.
With tableau building, West Story keeps everything out in the open—there’s no shuffling and drawing from a personal deck. Yet, luck still plays a role. The game’s two action lines, green and yellow, correspond to the two dice colors we roll at the start of our turn, determining which actions we’ll activate.
At first glance, some might wonder, ”What’s the point of having the tableau if we still cannot pick whichever card we want to activate, then?” Fair question. Piotr addresses this with a simple implementation. Once a card has been activated, a black cube is placed on it, marking it as unusable for the next turn. This enables us to skip to the next available action. And there’s another twist. Each card comes with multiple icons, and triggering cards with matching icons in a turn rewards us with a bonus action.
Coming back to the cards with black cubes — they are off-limits for upgrades as well. We can, however, upgrade those which haven’t activated yet. This sets up a little dilemma. You might have your eye on a powerful card sitting in the market, but grabbing it means sacrificing a decent card already in your tableau. The card that, perhaps, you want to activate the next turn. This is where the game hits that “Aha!” moment. Every purchased card becomes a deliberate choice.
West story’s best part
For most games in the market, the score track exists to do one thing. It’s for tracking victory points. Obviously. But in West Story, this track becomes more than a mere tracker. Progressing along opens up access to new regions, where we can trade with the towns in the area and claim majority. Watch out, though. Since not all regions are that friendly. Bandiss lurk around and we have to either fight them for glory or be cowardly and pay them off, continuing on our way.
It becomes clear that moving up in the score track in West Story does not always equate to more nett points for the end-game scoring. Sometimes, stalling your advancement can be a good choice. Do you still want to fight off bandits? Or perhaps I decide to claim the majority in one region. This unique mechanic gives the game another aspect in decision-making process. Honestly speaking, this is the thing I love the most from the game.
Verdict
The demo at Spiel Messe 2024 was crafted to offer just six rounds instead of the full dozen. It was, however, more than enough to give a taste of what West Story has to offer. Those six rounds alone convinced me that Piotr’s creation is a euro game that stands out. It sits comfortabley in the mid-weight complexity. Relying on classic and familiar euro mechanics, we will see tableau building and set collection driving the gameplay forward.
One of the elements that really hooked me was the score track. As mentioned, it’s interesting. The way it integrates into gameplay has me eagerly awaiting the full experience.
West Story is currently live on Gamefound. I highly recommend checking it out! Really looking forward to diving into the whole dozen rounds. I will be sure to revisit and report my impressions once I do. Wait for it!
I am a full-time food technologist during weekdays. However, when the calendar hits weekends, I transform into an avid board gamer. I am a hardcore Legend of the Five Rings (L5R) LCG player from Fantasy Flight Games (FFG). Current hobby: buying board games. My shelf of shame’s list is getting longer, thanks to you, Kickstarter.
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