Deadlands: The Battle For Slaughter Gulch

I've played some complicated games in my time, and this one is right up there. The deceptive thing about it, is that's it's not as complicated as is appears to be—yes it took us about four hours to play a game that (according to the box) should only take one to two—but it was the first time we had played it.

This game has a LOT of components. I started setting it up on the table and was worried that we weren't going to have room if we didn't put a leaf in; shifting the modular board to run diagonally solved that problem, but it was by a very narrow margin.

There are cards, and tokens, and player screens, and miniatures, and counters, and cards, and tokens, and miniatures, and card, and cards. . . there's a lot on the table. I should have taken a picture, maybe I'll set up a game and snap a picture...maybe.

Even though there's a lot going on, the actual game play is pretty simple; after a couple rounds we had it down and the game moves pretty quick. I'm not sure how to win this game as far as tactics go. It's a "victory point" game, but those victory points come from so many different places that I found it difficult the first go around, to come up with a strategy.

In a way this game reminded me of Agricola, there was so much to do, that I found it difficult to decide what was important while playing. After seeing the end game, I had a better Idea of what I should have been doing throughout the game. Unlike Agricola, I never really felt my options were limited (except by movement). Unlike Agricola, I don't simultaneously hate the game and yet still feel compelled to play it—I actually really liked Deadlands: The Battle For Slaughter Gulch and look forward to playing it again. Observing that I pre-ordered this game; that it was released October/November of 2009; and that Jan 2010 is the first time I've gotten to play it—who knows when it will make it to the table again?