Mosey on over if you are looking for games like Great Western Trail and are curious about what similar games to play next. Great Western Trail is an epic empire creator where you are a rancher in the 19th century trying to push your cattle from Texas to Kansas City to make a buck. You have many paths to take in order to earn the most cash over the course of the game and come out victorious.
To determine this list we broke down Great Western Trail to what it is. This is a game about venturing into the unknown and trying to build an empire. This is very much a deck building game but we like to call it part of the “deck building plus” subgenre, a game that uses a deck building core, but there is much more going on like a board, movement, or other mechanics. About 1/2 of deck builders are pure cards and about 1/2 is this plus, made popular by Clank! and some others.
If you are looking for something similar, you have come to the right place. We took all this into consideration and came up with this list of the 5 board games like Great Western Trail.
FOR MORE: Great Western Trail Page | Buy Great Western Trail on Amazon
#05 | Terraforming Mars
Terraforming Mars is a bit of a departure from the other titles on the list of games like Great Western Trail because it has no deck building elements. The reason it is here is because of the vast engine builder world that you must command. Just like the epic Western empire you are trying to build on the frontier, in Terraforming Mars you are doing the same in space.
You are a corporation working with other corporations to make Mars inhabitable, but not in a co-op game way, you are very much trying to defeat others and be the best. You have six resources you can build up and you have countless options you can take and which path to victory you want to strategize toward. The overall goal is to get the most points. Raise the life conditions (oxygen, water, temp), mine, settle, focus on science, focus on nature, many options. For 1 – 5 players, games take 1.5 – 3 hours.
FOR MORE: Terraforming Mars Page | How to Play Terraforming Mars | Terraforming Mars Review | Games Like Terraforming Mars | Buy Terraforming Mars on Amazon
#04 | Clank!
Clank! is a great game and easy choice for the list of games like Great Western Trail. It has a further back spot because there are some big differences. This game is very much deck building plus, but here that plus is not about building an empire but about dungeon raiding.
You must sneak into an angry dragon’s mountain lair to steal precious artifacts. Delve deeper to find more valuable loot. Acquire cards for your deck and watch your thievish abilities grow. Be quick and be quiet (“clank” refers to the noise you make). Each careless sound draws the attention of the dragon, and each artifact stolen increases its rage. You need to make it out so how much will you push your luck. For 2 – 4 players, games last about 30 – 60 minutes.
FOR MORE: Games Like Clank! | Buy Clank! on Amazon
#03 | Orléans
Orléans was an easy choice for the list of games like Great Western Trail because it is also an acclaimed movement and deck building game that also has a theme about a revolutionary time. Both games play at a similar time and intensity level with very similar mechanics. You have a massive empire to build.
During the medieval goings-on around Orléans, you must assemble a following of farmers, merchants, knights, monks, etc. to gain supremacy through trade, construction and science in medieval France. It would take several paragraphs to detail the different actions and paths to victory you could take there are so many. Just know, you are in a giant city and you need to do things and recruit people that are going to yield all sorts of things (religion, economic, military). For 2 – 4 players, games last about 90 minutes.
FOR MORE: Games Like Orléans | Buy Orléans on Amazon
#02 | Concordia
Concordia makes the list of games like Great Western Trailer because as you will start to see on this list, it belongs to a specific subgenre that has only a few A-class games. This is one of them. It is a peaceful strategy game of economic development in Roman times.
Two thousand years ago, the Roman Empire ruled the lands around the Mediterranean Sea. For years the economy thrived and gave rise to mighty Roman dynasties as they expanded throughout the numerous cities. You must guide one of these dynasties. Develop your trade network and appease the ancient gods for their favor. High score wins. For 2 – 5 players, games run about 100 minutes each.
FOR MORE: Games Like Concordia | Buy Concordia on Amazon
#01 | Lewis & Clark
Lewis & Clark was an easy top choice for the list of games like Great Western Trail because not only does it have American West theme but it is also deck building plus in many of the same ways. You are leading a team on a journey West and have to cleverly manage your characters and resources you find along the way. There are many decisions to make.
This is an exploration game where players are faced with a constant dilemma: play a card or sacrifice it. During the game, you acquire character cards that enlarge your hand, building a crew that gives you more options but also more need to be optimized as he will. This new “handbuilding” mechanism fits strongly with the historical background of this tale. For 1 – 5 players, games last about 2 hours.
