Wild West WHAT?!

Yeah, this is one of those games that stays under the radar of a lot of players. It’s one of the first games that Warcradle Studios took over when they decided to start producing games. For us, it’s still one of the best games out there. So, we know it plays in the Wild West, but… what else?

The story of Wild West Exodus

We have to keep it short and simple, since the whole story is quite huge. There is more than enough fluff to go around, and we just don’t have the time to cover it all. Besides that, finding out for yourself is way more fun than reading it all without playing the game.

Imagine yourself some aliens (the Watchers) that found their ship crashed on 1800s earth in the Wild West. They do their best to guard the ship, but stuff doesn’t go as planned. The first to arrive are the doctors of the Enlightened. They become the first human faction to make contact and from there it spreads over the whole Wild West.

The story unfolds via the different ways the players play the game and the characters they utilize. Talking about those, there are of course a couple of factions that need to fight over territory and try to become the ruling government. Let’s dive deeper in them

The factions of Wild West Exodus

The game has a total of 8 different factions. I have split things up in groups to show how versatile this game is.

• Hex: Dark Nation (Native demons), Hex (neutral/ sleeper agents), Carcosa (experiments/ demons) and Nazombe (voodoo)
• Enlightened: human experimentation through technology
• Outlaw: Conquistadores, Confederates, Golden Army and Mercenaries. This faction is the most versatile to play
• Lawmen: The “good” guys
• The Order: Hex Hunters. Angels that are surely no angels.
• Union: The army in short.
• Warrior Nation: Where there are cowboys, there are Indians.
• Watchers: Amber Clade, Viridian Clade and the Cerulean Clade.

As if 8 factions, each with its subgenres isn’t enough, there is more flexibility. There are for instance, union models working for the Hex. You can use some Nazombe units in a Confederate posse and so on. There are a lot of ways to make your posse, but there are some rules to it.

The Wild West Exodus Handbook and Stat cards

We’re actually not talking about the manual here, that is the rulebook. You must use the Handbook on the site to build your posse or detachment. This means there is a limit to how big a posse can be. You do have the ability to put more posses in a detachment (your army). This depends on the points you and your opponent decide to play with. You can have a small posse of Cerulean Clade and a Large posse of Amber clade working together on the battlefield.

The units are from 1 to 5 models, depending on the size of the model. You can imagine a demon is bigger than a human sized model. The bigger the base, the less the model profits from certain cover and reaction abilities.

This means one posse might have 5 or 6 more points used than the other. As long as the points are nearing each other, it’s good. Quite a way to balance the game out, right? It’s like using the rule of cool with balanced rules.

The average single posse holds about 5 to 7 units, depending on the faction. A normal game of Wild West Exodus is about the size of 2 to 3 posses working together.

Another unique thing about this game, is that every model/ unit/ faction has its own set of rules. It could be group rules applied to certain keywords, but also unique models rules that only apply to that certain model.

Skirmish fun

The game plays on a 3×3′ playing area, with more than enough terrain to keep cover going. Cover is a big asset in the game. You can go into houses, get on roofs, find cover behind debris and so on. Usually, there are about 4 to 6 houses or big blocking terrain pieces. There is no limit to how much smaller debris is on the play area. More is always better. That is also part of the hobby and charm of this game!

The time period is called the Dystopian Age. There are even different games playing in this time period. One is the 6mm wargame Dystopian Wars, the new and upcoming Armored Clash and Mythos. Last one focuses on the elder gods, but is the only one compatible with Wild West Exodus. It’s even supported by their own stat cards and faction (mostly Hex)

How to win?

Well, there are a couple of ways to score victory points (VP’s) depending on the way you play. At the start of the game, depending on the size of the game, you can take cards. These cards are called Guts or Glory cards. One part has small missions like destroy a unit with a certain unit type, the other has extra options to use in the phases of the game.

As you might imagine, when you are nearing a VP on the glory part of these cards, you have to make a decision to give up the VP to use the Guts part. This can give you advantage, but eventually, bad decisions can make you lose the game.

Great game, but…

You guessed it. With a lot of rules comes a lot of complication. Fun thing is that this complication is mostly skipped when you actually start playing. It might not be the best beginner-friendly game around, but it pays of biting through some of the tougher rules in the game.

When you have played a couple of games and get the hang of it, these complicated things start making sense and the whole complication drops right off the game. The result is one of the most fun, nail-biting skirmish games with weird characters you could possibly wish for.

Players really need to fight for the VP’s and not just roll some dice to shoot and save. Character models, be it the legendary version or not, can be defeated with just a single roll, but a fight can also last the whole game. Getting rid of characters is not only the best part of the game, but really feel spectacular. It’s like seeing the boss of a movie come, fight and escape again and again until the very last part of the movie.

Would we advise this game?

Hell Yeah! Absolutely. Once again, you have to bite through the rules, but if you are through, you have one of the best games one can play. With its offbeat factions and models, it’s weird, wacky and full blown fun. And be honest, what’s not to like about cowboys vs aliens vs angels vs demons vs the rest that we didn’t name.

Where can you buy Wild West Exodus?

Since this game seems to remain niche, you need specialty shops like CCGwinkel to get your hands on the 2 player starter sets, posses, legendary models and more. You don’t have to worry that something out of stock is unreachable anymore, since you can e-mail the team behind the shop to have it come in with the next order, so you never have to wait long for something.

The rules for the game, as well as the stat cards are free to download on Wildwestexodus.com, which is updated as soon as changes appear. This is the best start into the game, might you be interested in a read before the investment,