We've finished Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West! 🤠 | Our 5 Likes & 4 Dislikes Spoiler-free

We've now finished this legacy version of TTR! we share our thoughts about our experiences playing through the entirety with three players.
For more game info:
boardgamegeek....
Thanks for stopping by! We're Amy & Maggie aka ThinkerThemer. We're an Australian couple with two very different perspectives of what makes a great board game - Amy (Thinker) is all about the mechanics and enjoys tight, competitive games, and Maggie (Themer) is all about the storytelling and the theme of the game, and the 'world' that the designer is trying to create. Subscribe to our channel to hear us talk about these two elements of a game, and how well integrated we feel these are in delivering a cohesive and wonderful game experience.
#board games #tabletop games #thinkerthemer ❤🏳️‍🌈🇦🇺

[@alexandravere2448]

Ticket to ride rails and sails is a much heavier version so maybe you’d enjoy that better than the light weight Europe version 😊

[@ThinkerThemer]

Thank you! We'll have to check that version out!

[@jamessherman7797]

I agree. I seem to be in the minority that I love Ticket to Ride Rails and Sails. I find that it’s criticized for it’s attempt to be a mid-weight Rails and Sails game, that is more complex and a longer play time. My gaming friends and I have really enjoyed it. Has a clever 2 sided boarded with different levels of complexity, in fact we usually play the simpler Great Lakes side. It is satisfying. I think adding the ships to the game was very clever and forces you to make hard decisions about which type of transportation you will use to get your route.

[@GORYOUN]

My wife is a boardgame widow and suffers my 600+ game collection slowly taking over the house, however there are two games which she will play with me - Castles of Burgundy and Ticket to Ride. Being a completionist I had to buy all the expansions over a period of time, but ultimately this has been whittled down to two of the expansions. Volume 5 is probably the most interesting with the United Kingdom map on one side (your ability to move around the map over the longer paths and moving more efficiently is dependent on your acquiring special ability cards) and the Pennsylvania map on the other (each path gives you a share certificate in one of a number of companies with a set collection mechanic contributing to your final score). OK at 2 player but better at 3-4 players. Volume 2 contains India (my favourite 2 player map) and Switzerland (we don’t play this because of India). India has some interesting bottlenecks on the map but the best part is the Mandala sub-game, where you score extra points if your completed routes can be achieved using two totally separate pathways. For base games at two player (or three) the Nordic Countries games provides a much tighter map with a much more satisfying experience than any of the other base games. Rails and Sails, I played once at a 4 player count and to me it dragged and felt bloated compared with those alternatives mentioned above. It might be a bit heavier (?) but I I would rather player a better mid weight euro. For me, when playing Ticket to Ride (like Castles of Burgundy) it is great because you get an enjoyable 30 minute game experience with quick set up, no plowing through the rule book to remember how to play and just enough interesting decision making and tension in the play, right up to the final scoring. The ‘app’ is also a great implementation for when your travelling or on holiday.

[@TheJillybean13]

@@jamessherman7797 I also like the Rails and Sails version. Off topic a bit, I did NOT like the newest TTR South Korea and Iberia version, even though the designer said Iberia is now his favorite map of ALL TTR games.

[@shelbeeray]

With Matt Leacock onboard, having the experience of building the Pandemic Legacy games…I would expect this game to be more polished. We played through the Pandemic Legacy games and the last one was a blast. After watching a couple of videos…we are still on the fence.

[@Karim-bd9vb]

Thanks for the video. I ve never played to Ticket to ride and i really want. Do you recommend me to buy the legacy legends of the west or the traditional version Europe/USA please ? I really like the geography of USA with the true names of cities, mountains etc… but i m scared that only the 1st map of the legacy version has it…. Thank you !

[@JJ_TheGreat]

Good to know you liked it! BTW, is there any chance you will cover Sagrada: Artisans (Legacy version of Sagrada)? I would be interested in what you think of that one! Thanks.

[@ThinkerThemer]

We did cover Sagrada Artisans in a recent 10 out of 10 episode. We liked this one (TTR) much more :)

[@ajtame]

I never played clank or pandemic a single time after completing the campaign, so I can't see me playing this after finishing either from what you have said. Thanks for the good review Ladies.

[@BrianD0313]

Another thing you have to think about is that the player count could affect the quality of your final product. If you're only playing three players, then you may end up with a board with three prominent colored tracks on the board where as a 5-player campaign may end with a more diverse board.

[@Jeff_Pusch]

We have one or two new people to my regular gaming group, and their experience has been lighter games like the original TTR or Jamaica or Grimm Forest. How would you say the experience would be for a mixed group -- I've played a bunch of legacy games, but I don't know if I invite someone who is playing their first legacy?

[@ThinkerThemer]

I think if the heavier gamers are patient and you can cover off the new rules more slowly, I think it could definitely be doable if they know the base game. Multiple sessions in one sitting gets more challenging but recapping new rules at the start of each session would help. As with regular TTR you can make it more challenging on yourself by trying to achieve more. It would be a nice step up to midweight gaming.

[@bookaddict777]

I am very happy to hear that you two enjoyed your experiences with the TIcket to Ride Legacy game! I have high hopes that my husband and I will too.

[@ThinkerThemer]

Can't wait to hear what you think! It definitely gave us a more positive halo of the entire TTR series. It was just an enjoyable journey :) I hope you both have as much fun as we did.

[@bookaddict777]

@@ThinkerThemer My husband, who is a casual gamer (although that is slowly, but surely changing) loves TTR so I think he will love the legacy game. I am hopeful that I do too.

[@Cissewis]

Thanks Maggie and Amy for another lovely video! Hope to see you soon at Essen! Cis

[@ThinkerThemer]

Thank you for watching! Hope ur following along in discord Essen Spiel channel! Looking forward to finally meeting in person 🥰

[@Cissewis]

Awesome, I will have a look at the Discord!

[@rocksandstars]

Perfectly structured & articulated review for a Legacy game! Does the campaign have a preset number of games (like My City/Island) or variable? How many games in your campaign? Thanks :)

[@ThinkerThemer]

Thank you! There are 12 games in the full campaign, each taking us around 25-50min.

[@darlene7165]

What an awesome review! I am looking forward to getting this and playing through it. This is one game that Laura really enjoys playing since it is on the light side. I think she will enjoy it and I know I will based on your review! You should try the Pennsylvania board. It has stock 😁. Thanks for then great review!!

[@ThinkerThemer]

Oooo we are excited for you both to play it to hear your reviews (intrigued to see how Laura will like it). Have you played any legacy games together?

[@darlene7165]

@@ThinkerThemer We started Pandemic Legacy Season 1 and got about half way through and then her school (Masters Program) got in the way, and then work....so, this might have to wait a little bit before we play. However, She was really enjoying Pandemic. That was the game that got us (me) into the hobby and then Ticket to Ride. I have no doubt she will enjoy this when we do get to finally settle back into a Leagacy game. :)

[@JakeDobyns]

Seems like nowhere on the internet is a photo of all of the boards connected. I am just looking for someone to confirm that each of these boxes is a new board that physically connects all of them together. Thanks.

[@nicdieterle8950]

I felt the same way about Ticket to Ride until we found Ticket to Ride: Europe; for me, that’s the definitive version to play.

[@mystemo1980]

Excellent review! Just wondering if you'd get a second copy for a different set of people and would you enjoy it again?

[@ThinkerThemer]

Actually, yes! Of course we''d have no element of surprise but we both agree we'd enjoy tackling the challenges again and trying to do better at some that we didn't perfect in that particular episode!

[@AndrewPepperstone]

I have heard that some people at the end of a campaign game such as this actually mount and frame the final board as a reminder of the games. That might have been a legacy game that was unplayable at the end (like one of the Pandemic legacy games). That might be one option to keep part of it, but that does not an address the larger issue of the waste material left over, which I agree is an issue.

[@ThinkerThemer]

We have heard of people doing this too!! A nice way to personalise your game room for sure. It's just a shame you can't replay the novel ideas that are peppered throughout as we enjoyed them so much! But I guess that is what you sign up for 😅 Thanks for watching!

[@jameskirk4692]

Thank you for this review.

[@ThinkerThemer]

Thanks for watching!

[@maxkosek]

Thank you, so a great review. Was excited for your positives and started to think maybe… but you confirmed my biggest fears - permanent damage and one time use, basically - horrible side of the consumption is what’s turning me off. It’s a no for me.

[@Minimotomayhem]

For anyone that hasn’t started this campaign: DONT BELIEVE ANYONE THAT SAYS THIS CANT BE RESET. This game can be fully reset…. SPOILER FREE: 1-You need a wet erase marker to use instead of a destructive element. It works perfectly and accomplishes the same goal. 2- generic 1x.375 labels from Amazon can be used to easily replace used stickers for MANY MANY PLAYS with one purchase. 3- there are some elements that get changed… I used generic round color code label stickers to re-hide elements for limitless plays. One other set of stickers that gets used can be restuck to the original gimmick. After several plays they can be replaced with generic colors. (You will understand this once you see it)… Once the campaign has been played you will know certain things that will take away some suspense, but this campaign is very fun and with a SMALL amount of effort and about $7 worth of Amazon purchases it can be easily reset many times over (with just one purchase)…. This will help prevent the sheer waste of having yet another legacy game that is unplayable or unbalanced, or that collects dust. There is also a thread about this on bgg-boardgamegeek.com/thread/3187252/resetting-campaign-2-players-massive-spoilers

[@gee3161]

Great job guys, looking forward to my copy arriving. Seems like it suffers from the same problem My City had - it was a good game, but at the end you can play it again in a stripped down version, instead of the intricate version you played through the campaign

[@DrBrooksNY]

That is the biggest disappointment of My City - The Eternal game stripped out way more that was fun.

[@ThinkerThemer]

Our thoughts exactly! Someone in the comments asked if we'd play through another copy again and we definitely would but nothing is exciting us to get the stripped back version off the shelf :(

[@teen-at-heart]

One thing I have been wondering for quite a while (which is hardly discussed in any review of TTR Legacy): Does the game mention/show (not hide) at what human cost the West was connected by rail? And what workers did the main work? Or is it very “clean” and supports the fantasy of technical white people overcoming the challenge of building a transcontinental rail connection?

[@thanatos3778]

Thank you for this review, now i understand that this type of game cannot be replayed. One question: when you say that the discarded parts are eliminated permanently from the game, that means that they are thrown away? Like, literally in the trash? Anyway, great review!

[@bclipse01]

To be clear, the campaign portion of this game cannot be replayed. BUT, when you finish the campaign portion of the game, you are left with a semi custom version of the base game Ticket to Ride that can be replayed as much as you want. And, yes. You literally rip cards up and throw them away.

[@PocketPet]

@@bclipse01You do NOT “literally” rip cards up. That happens in some legacy games, but not this one. You *can* throw away the cards that are retired at the end of the campaign, or you can use most of them for house variants in future games.(And if you’re an English teacher or know one, almost all of the remaining cards are useful fodder for creative writing activities.)

[@tourguidechuck]

Yet again! Your review has convinced me to buy! I am trying to figure out with whom to play it now! Or maybe I have to purchase two and play one with my local group and another with the family.

[@RedMountain111]

Great review. About how long was each game session?

[@ThinkerThemer]

Thank you! About 25-50min. The early games are quick but even towards the end we always finished under an hour. We played with three people though, all fairly experienced gamers.

[@RedMountain111]

​@@ThinkerThemerAwesome, great to hear. My group is open to playing it, but sometimes we meet irregularly. So if each session is less than hour, that's even better and easier to get going.

[@ThinkerThemer]

Yes! We would just recommend going through the rulebook carefully at the start each session if you're meeting irregularly! We always find it tricky to keep track of rules coming in and out in legacy games! I hope you and your group have as much fun playing it as we did :)

[@theunamiable]

I don't think I've ever gone back to play a legacy game once the campaign is over. Too much else to play. This may make the environmental impact worse, but it is probably still an improvement on games that don't get much play at all.

[@ThinkerThemer]

That is very true! We are always moving on too. I just wish we could pass it on to another home to enjoy after we're done. We've played other campaign style games where we've purposefully not marked anything to be able to do that but this one was unavoidable lol. Hope you've been well ❤️

[@theunamiable]

@@ThinkerThemer I guess I've always thought that once you start putting stickers on books and maps, it's too late for such things. It does give me a perverse delight to tear up a card, especially as I usually refuse to mark even score sheets. Have been well enough, although my gaming (especially competitive/Euro) has been very frustrating of late. One day I'll manage to get back into it, hopefully.

[@DaniloakaOlinad]

Very excited to get some new legacy games, thanks for the thorough and spoiler-free review! If you enjoyed this over Betrayal and Charterstone, I'd highly recommend Risk Legacy. It's the first, but it stays one of my favorites so far :D

[@ThinkerThemer]

Thanks for watching! 🥰 We've heard good things about Risk Legacy but we don't really play war themed games and neither of us were players of the original Risk so it kind of just passed us by!! Maybe we'll get an opportunity to pick try it one day!

[@waldemarcordero5932]

I have a question. I heard Magie talk spanish and my friend said that she thinks Magie is latina, but does not know where Magie is from?

[@waldemarcordero5932]

By the way we are from Puerto Rico and love your channel and the style of your content. My friend also have a channel of board games called Partidas Compartidas and sometimes I cooperate with other channel called The gaming dragons I'm el dragon profe because I am a math teacher.

[@ThinkerThemer]

Thank you! We would love to go to Puerto Rico one day. Maggie grew up in Venezuela but she is half Brazilian half Dominican (and yes Spanish is her first language :)) Thanks for watching!

[@KamillaHolandaCrozara]

@@ThinkerThemer Wooow! I'm from Brazil and we absolutely LOVE your channel here! Thank you! It's one of the best board games' channels on KZbin!

[@ThinkerThemer]

Aww thank you! That is so cool that you watch from Brazil. What is the board game scene like there?

[@KamillaHolandaCrozara]

In general the games are very expensive for the average salary of brazilians. But we still play a lot and got really excited about Kickstarter campaigns (which often don't deliver here!). It's still a very sexist hobby too, but that's slowly changing. Currently some friends and I are organizing a board game group exclusively for women. We have weekly games and we will have a big event on October 21st. I'm really happy to talk to you girls! You are my reference for board games and that of many other people here in Brazil too!

[@melvinyong3148]

Those nails make me think if you were snacking on Cheetos while playing. 😂 On a side note, it shouldn’t be difficult to find someone to buy the ‘completed’ game. The components themselves should be quite sought after?

[@ThinkerThemer]

Hmm I think most of the components will be legacy specific. Not super handy for the base game. Definitely no cheetos at the gaming table 😂

[@damobdaking]

Great review, wife found Gloomhaven good, but a bit all consuming and has been put off legacy games because of it. That said, we watched your review as she loves ticket to ride. (we have a few different versions) This is now on our wish list. So big thanks as I love legacy games.

[@ThinkerThemer]

Ohh yes I think this is much easier to get in and out of than Gloomhaven sessions. Less admin and each episode is less than an hour. I hope you enjoy playing this one together !!

[@mattyweaves]

I haven’t wanted to ask this question on any forums due to not wanting to deal with people, but I trust the two of you. Does the game mention or acknowledge the problems expanding west into America caused the Native American people, or the Bison population? Everyone was so head over heels when it was announced, I didn’t want to be “that person” but I couldn’t help but think of these issues. From everything I’ve read, expanding the transcontinental railroad had a lot of negative impacts.

[@ThinkerThemer]

Thank you for asking this question and we were also concerned about the setting. We were happy to see that in the rulebook they directly address this in a very clear statement (not hidden in the small print) and so while the game does not further educate on these truths we were comforted that at least people can seek more information to understand / do not lead to the wrong conclusions based on the light treatment of the setting. Hope that helps & thanks for watching ❤️

[@mattyweaves]

@@ThinkerThemer That's great to know, thank you for taking the time to respond.

[@JJ_TheGreat]

Wow! I never knew about this part of American history. I will have to read more about it! Thank you for informing me about it.

[@Luke_L]

Hi Amy and Maggie! Thanks for your thoughts on this one. I’m torn on legacy games these days because I don’t like having to throw them in the trash once they’re done. I had a great experience with Pandemic Legacy S1 back in the day, but I’ve been reluctant to try the other seasons. I think Rahdo has a variant to replay the game, so I’ve held on to my copy (but I haven’t tried that variant yet). On the other hand, I have replayed Clank Legacy after finishing the campaign, and it was still a lot of fun in large part because you can appreciate all the changes and mechanisms that were applied to the game throughout the campaign. I wish more legacy game designers would make sure that a game is replayable as a one-off with all (or most of) the features that were discovered during the legacy campaign. Maybe I’ll wait for a variant to “fix” this issue for this game :D

[@ThinkerThemer]

We haven't played any other Pandemic Legacy games either! But we have had plans since prepandemic to play Clank Legacy with another couple who own it but we just can't seem to find the right time! Now I'm even more intrigued based on what you're saying. I hope someone makes a variant too... seems like such a waste of so many cool things that happen along the way! Thanks for watching as always ❤️

[@Luke_L]

@@ThinkerThemer Clank Legacy is a lot of fun if you enjoy a bit of silliness with your Clank :D

[@kevinerskine3299]

So it sounds like a dozen plays and then pitch it? Definitely not solo, I assume? Pretty expensive for 12 plays.

[@kenjack8864]

Although for my group of 5, that’s 60 plays for 130 CAD. That’s incredible entertainment value. Wondering if the stickers could be put on clear plastic wrap and small envelopes to allow reuse?

[@ClaudeAndTaylor]

Amazing video!! Y'all are the best!!

[@DonGilstrap]

I'm looking forward to this one. Ticket to Ride was such a big hit for our family back in the day.

[@ThinkerThemer]

I think you all will enjoy this one! Cute little twists and turns, and more of a challenge!

[@meepsandpeeps4739]

Thanks for the opinions..when it was released the designers said there would be lots of replayability..I didn't think so if you were stickering things...😊

[@davidhogarth2161]

Great review. Covered the ground and no spoilers - well done. I was very much looking forward to playing this but I got my key question answered - no replay! The best game I play and reset is It’s A Wonderful World. The campaigns are great and entirely replayable. I think it’s a huge mistake to keep on with the irrevocable legacy stickers and such, when the proof is out there that campaigns can be great and re-run, so you get to play the game all possible ways - excellent value for money too. Like I said, great review, thanks. I’m going to give this a solid miss now and that’s a shame.

[@MargaManterola]

Great video, thanks a lot!

[@StephenGrubb]

So excited to see your positive review of this game! We have enjoyed several other legacy games, but were unsure of this one. Now, we must have it. Thank you!

[@speedviolin]

Can you not destroy the parts and just put it away and replay after? Some Legacy need to destroy but some game i didn't trash it and put back in the game and resell it..

[@morderwarg]

Only played mission one so far but so far using sleeves that can be "permanently" marked means you don't need to destroy anything so far at least...

[@jimpollock441]

Sorry to spoil the party here but I have to disagree with much of what the girls talked about. I am a TTR tragic but play with many who do not have the time or inclination to play this complicated version. I like complexity - TTR is good at that - but we found this game unplayable. However we adapated the elements and have come up with a version that can be played repeatedly and is very enjoyable for the mainstream player.

[@Sreehammer]

Great video! How do I join your discord?

[@the80thdoctor78]

I second that. I will be in Essen this year. Do you plan on meeting anywhere with your followers?

[@ThinkerThemer]

Thanks for asking! Our discord is a private one that is linked to our youtube membership which is the main way we support our channel. As a KZbin member you are able to sync your account with discord which then makes the Joeyfam appear. That's not for everyone and that's ok but we will be walking the halls of Essen every day so please come over and say hi if you see us (or at any other con!) We love meeting people!