Saddle up and guide your wagon train along the perilous Oregon Trail! Build a team of hardy folk and gather resources and equipment with a unique dice drafting system. But dangers await in the dice you don't choose! You can hire townsfolk, buy wagons, pan for gold, and take on cattle — all the while preparing for inevitable raids, storms and famine. Who will best face the perils of the wild frontier and lead their wagon train to victory?
Pioneer Days is a dice-drafting game reminiscent of The Oregon Trail. While you pursue your strategy, you must be prepared for impending disasters such as storms, disease, raids, and famine.
Round by round, players draw dice out of the bag, roll them, then take turns drafting one to either collect silver, hire a townsfolk, or take an action based on the die value. Townsfolk confer immediate or constant benefits as well as end game scoring bonuses, while actions help you collect wood, medicine, cattle, equipment, and gold nuggets. The unchosen die each round advances one of the disaster tracks based on its color, and when a disaster gets to the end of its track, all players must deal with its effects:
During a raid, you lose half of your silver.
During a famine, you need to spend 1 silver per cattle or lose the cattle.
During a disease, you need 1 medicine per townsfolk or lose the townsfolk.
During a storm, you need 1 wood per wagon or suffer damage to your wagons.
At the end of each round, you can satisfy the current town's favor conditions in order to earn their favor. Prepare for the disasters while you pursue your strategy, and earn the most points to win the game!
Pioneer Days - How To Play
- Marty played brilliantly and won decisively.
- The game has a Western theme that Tony enjoys.
- A late-game event of triggering disaster tracks completely wrecked Tony's end-game scoring.
- The dice drafting and specific card draws can lead to a feeling of the opponent getting lucky at the right time.
- Western expansion/development
- Western
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Dice Drafting — Players draft dice at the start of each round.
- Resource Management — Players manage resources like medicine, wood, and cattle.
- Set Collection — Collecting specific resources or cards for bonus points.
- Track Advancement — Players advance on disaster tracks.
- Variable player powers — Marty's special ability allowed him to gain extra victory points for collected favors.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it is much smaller than 40k is and instead of sort of planning on a grand scale the board of smaller far less units you want to really like you know play small think small and really think on your feet for this one
- it has the feel of 40k but it's streamlined
- instead of spending three hours playing a game instead they want to play a low point game loped model count game and maybe about an hour or so but still get that same feel of 40k
- it has almost like of an RPG element where you can make your own characters you name your own characters and then you can make them specialists
- the rotation of cards which is I think the key mechanic in this game
- there is only one token in this entire game
- this game right out of the box you just need cards no tokens no bits no dice
- the timing is critical in this game
- it's a TCG and a lot of people will automatically be turned off
- the starter decks only gonna get you the taste
- the turn structure is really straightforward
References (from this video)
- Clean dice-drafting design
- Multiple viable endgame paths (things to chase)
- Asymmetric starts add variety
- Middle rounds can drag, especially with more players
- Buildings may feel unbalanced at times
- Auction dynamics can create tense moments some may dislike
- settlers heading west and prospecting
- Westward expansion in America about 150 years ago
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Dice Drafting — Roll dice and draft one die per round; each die lets you either perform the die's action, take money, or draft a townsfolk with endgame bonuses.
- disaster track triggered by leftovers — After each round's draft, leftover dice determine advancement on disaster tracks by color, impacting players when they reach the end.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I think this is a really great design from any dice drafting perspective it's very clean.
- this game was an absolute blast to play and I don't think I ever want to play it again
- I would like to have this one in my collection
- the central neutral airship that is effectively flying around a small planet
References (from this video)
- Really good game
- Strategic dice drafting
- Going last can be advantageous
- Nobody played it
- Oregon Trail game
- The game involves drafting dice, and players face calamity tracks like flooding, sickness, or animal attacks.
- Oregon Trail
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Calamity tracks — Tracks represent negative events like flooding, sickness, or attacks, which increase based on unselected dice.
- Dice Drafting — Players draft dice rolled by the first player. The unselected die triggers a calamity track.
- Draft Order Manipulation — The order of picking dice matters, with later players having more strategic options to influence outcomes for others.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- we would play Warhammer I think I said it last time we would start Warhammer at like 9 A.M on a Saturday and like not until 9 p.m one combat we would play one massive three on three four on four yeah three to five thousand points each which is oh dude I wish I had photos oh my God and everybody's stuff was painted it was so great that was so great gaming yeah it was a great game
- that's when I remember the stupid toads plan the slam the salon of course you know since it was the newest army at the time was so massively overpowered because that sells armies yeah powerful Army so minis yeah and we were all like dwarfs were screwed
- I remember playing one time and I'm like I don't really know how this works but let's just see and I put it out there and this guy runs across with his General on a dragon and he got warped and destroyed in a second and it was like turn one and I'm like oh no what are you gonna do for the because that was like half his points right
- we were playing a blood Bowl league and I had like a chaos team for my blood Bowl team and so my my star player was a Minotaur and and then you have lineman and then like and that's basically your proper League of that the blood bowl like so the blood Bowl chaos team your whole thing is is that you're not fast but everybody is super strong and so you just you just March you just slowly March down and you injure every single one of them can't play around yeah yeah you just you just Smash and you basically you score a touchdown as fat like you knock somebody down you score a touchdown you spend the rest of the game not even worried about the ball you just sit there and just pound people that's what they do
- it was like the second turn of the game and like his star like Blitzer guy on like his elf team and at least like he he was just within range I could do my double Blitz with my with my Minotaur zip zip roll it was like and I got it all higher no it was like it was like boom injured roll again 12. dead
- Games Workshop all the time for their prices and this to anything but you know man there they have some solid solid games and blood bowl is an extremely solid game however it it desperately needs an updated computer game of it because the computer game the blood Bowl has is like it's from like seven eight years ago but it's it's fun to play and you can play it online with people me and Rob Oren used to play it a lot
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
References (from this video)
- theme evokes classic pioneer era with a familiar Oregon Trail vibe
- accessible dice drafting mechanism with meaningful decisions
- historical setting may feel niche to some players
- potentially punishing disaster events
- dice drafting; frontier survival and community building
- frontier settlement era; Oregon-Trail-inspired journey
- strategic, yet accessible frontier adventure
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Dice Drafting — players draft dice to determine actions and progress
- Resource Management — prepare for storms, disease, raids, famine, and other events
- resource/disaster management — prepare for storms, disease, raids, famine, and other events
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- board games are a lot like bees are they
- we're rooting for this month at number 10 is d100 dungeon
- it's a market game where you produce goods the fields customers helpers and shops are represented by cards
- it's also a centuries-long blood sucking house gang
- oh it's like the DMV it's like being at the DMV
- I love this market game
- this is the next upcoming title from elf greek games merchants of the dark road
References (from this video)
- Coming back with expansion
- Appreciated by French publisher
- Pioneer expansion and settlement
- Historical/frontier settlement
- Engine-building strategy
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Engine Building — Players build economic engines through resource management
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I went outside like for a whole two hours.
- Well, you're not the only one.
- You signed my game, but I didn't like it.
- That's a funny you signed my game, but I didn't like it.
- You get the one that's signed
- It's like you got the worst the worst component from my least popular game
- I think that's a much better fantasy to have that you fight dragons rather than you're a dentist
- Dragons? Surely that's what my uncle Adam does. Dragons, doesn't he's not a dentist.
- No, you can't make a Euro game set in space.
- It's interesting how that group think sort of works
- I think maybe it's a bit of group think in the industry
- One in 10 maybe
- Stack the deck
- That advice is right
- We probably got to check check our privilege here a little bit
- Very very fortunate to be in that position, aren't we?
- It's a practical problem, really
References (from this video)
- Solid mechanics
- Good underrated game by TMG
- Simple ruleset
- Good synergy building
- Teaching iconography is complex
- Publisher TMG no longer in business
- Frontier settlement
- Western town building
- Old West Empresario
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Asymmetrical cities — Build unique cities with different dice synergies
- Dice draft — Draft dice to take city tiles or activate city
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's just like falling off it's just literally there are 100 better games in it
- Small Islands uh this is the one that i've been saying is a replacement for carcassonne
- way too complicated for its own good
- it is one of the most beautiful games in existence
- i still think five tribes is better than yamatai
- nations is still my preference to fruity ages in terms of playing a physical game
- really good negotiation game
- great teamwork cooperative very cool
- this is a really good solo
- the deductions are really hard it's a really tough one to do
- it's oh it's a mind bender gorgeous looking
- reef is still a really cool game
- azul is only that good at two player
- near and far still really good
- there's no reason to play that one if you have near and far
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Dice Drafting — players draft dice and gain first-use or one-shot abilities on the tableau.
- dice drafting + one-shot abilities — players draft dice and gain first-use or one-shot abilities on the tableau.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- tableau builders feature a wide and diverse range of markets and currencies
- the beauty of this mechanism is the chain reactions that it creates when you take your turn
- it's a really nice feedback loop
- the world feels bigger than your own little player area
- tableau building is a core, solid mechanic that many designers build around
References (from this video)
- flexible use of dice to drive multiple actions
- versatile and thematic in a euro-style frame
- reliance on dice outcomes can reduce predictability
- Grand Austria Hotel
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- dice-driven action system — dice are used in multiple clever ways to power various actions and handle perils or incomes
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's really satisfying because everybody's involved in every turn of the game
- i really like games where i get income throughout the game
- a puzzle is laid out by laying out a series of cards and then we race to fit those different dice into that different orientation shown on the puzzle