We steal cows. Longhorn Game Review

LONGHORN BOARD GAME REVIEW

 In Longhorn , two players compete to collect the most cattle in a 3 x 3 location grid. But be careful, collect too many of one breed and you won't be able to sell them at the end of the game. The game ends when there are no more moves allowed. The cattle you have at the end of the game, as well as any gold nuggets you manage to steal along the way, will give you your points in the game.

HOW TO PREPARE THE BATCH

 A Longhorn only takes a minute or two to prepare. Players first choose which rogue they want. Will you choose the evil Jesse the Artist Byrd or the mean and disgusting Eagle Perkins?

 Arrange the location tiles randomly in a 3 x 3 grid. Shuffle the square action tokens and place one in each location. If a Sheriff Badge token is randomly selected, it must be placed on the Nugget Hill location.

 Mix up the cattle parts and randomly place a certain number of them on each location tile according to the number found in the lower left corner of each location. For example, Red River Valley should always start with 4 cows, while Nugget Hill should always start with 6.

 Flip a two-sided robber token like a coin, and whichever side of the robber comes up gets to go first (say, Eagle Perkins for this example). Then the opposing player representing Jesse Byrd the Artist will place the outlaw token anywhere with 4 cattle (Dagger Flat, Kid Copper Ranch, Red River Valley, and Cherokee Spring).

 Below you can see the preparations for the game and its readiness for the party.

GAME TURN

 The first thing a player does in his turn is to steal cattle. Choose a color and take each cattle figure of that color from the current location and place it in front of you. These cattle will form the player's herd, the value of which will be calculated at the end of the game. If a player selects the last cattle from a location, he must pick up an action token and perform its action.

 After that, the player must move the robber token to the number of cells equal to the number of cows they just milked. Movement:

• Must be orthogonal
• You cannot move over a tile on the field more than once per turn.
• You cannot end on an empty space, but empty spaces can be passed.

 If all the fields where the player can move are empty, then the game is over and the counting of points begins. After the robber token is moved, the player flips it over to indicate that it is the next player's turn.

ACTION TOKENS

 There are 7 different action tokens in the game:

• Gold nuggets - cost from 200 to 500 USD. They are counted at the end of the game.
• Branded Iron - Discard this token and take all cattle of 1 color from 1 location orthogonal to the outlaw token.
• Epidemic - Discard this token and remove all remaining livestock of the same color from the field. This will make all cattle of that color unnecessary at the end of the game.
• Sheriff – If a player is forced to take this token, you are captured and lose the game immediately.
• Snake Oil - Discard this token and immediately take another turn.
• Ambush. Discard the token and take either a random gold nugget token or 2 cattle of the same color from your opponent.
• Rattlesnake - Your herd is in a panic. Choose one cow of each color from your herd and place it on any space orthogonal to the snake token.

END OF THE GAME

 The game ends when one of the following conditions occurs:

• If a player must take the Sheriff's action token, they immediately lose the game.
• If one of the players manages to collect 9 cows of the same color, he immediately wins the game.
• All locations located by the number of squares determined by the last livestock raid are empty.

CALCULATION OF THE VALUE OF THE HERD

 To determine the value of a player's herd: Each cow in his herd will earn the robber $100 for each cow of the same color still on the playing field! Each player also adds up the value of the gold nuggets in front of him. The player with the most money wins!

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE GAME

 The artwork in this game is fantastic: Vincent Dutre's work is simply incredible. It's obvious that Bruno Catala respects his work enough to put Vincent's name on the cover of the game. The colors are bright and rich with the oranges and browns of the desert and the beautiful blue sky. Text and icons are clear and easy to read without getting in the way of the illustrations.

 The game pieces are made of strong cardboard with a nice paper coating. The cattle pieces are well done and their colors are easy to distinguish. The outlaw token is thick and wide, easy to pick up and move around.

The game is fast and once you read the rules carefully, you can play without any problems.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

 I picked up the Longhorn based on a website recommendation. I've played it a few times with my 10-year-old daughter, and while it's moderately enjoyable to play, it mostly failed me. I generally like games with the mancala mechanism, but Longhorn seems odd to me. You can move in multiple directions, but since the field is only 3 x 3, it's hard to make good choices about where you end up.

 I like the variety of resources, knowing that there is a balance between taking too much and leaving enough so that the ones you do take are valuable at the end of the game. But since there are really only 8-12 moves, it feels like the game is over too quickly.

CONCLUSIONS

 Longhorn is actually the smaller, older brother of the critically acclaimed Five Tribes. I think Longhorn could have been something bigger than what it was…but then it became the five tribes…so I guess that's saying something.