How to Play

Great Western Trail: New Zealand

1-4 players 75-150 min 8.5 Board Game Geek Rating

Players control 19th-century New Zealand sheep station owners, moving their runholders along branching trails toward Wellington. Throughout the journey, you perform actions to acquire valuable sheep breeds and improve your farm operations. Victory comes from accumulating points through strategic decisions and delivering sheep to trading posts in Wellington, balancing diversification with specialization strategies.

Published 2023

Great Western Trail: New Zealand

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Place the sea route board
Position the sea route board above the main game board
2
Add port managers
Randomly place 5 of the 8 port manager tiles on the corresponding spaces on the sea route board
3
Place neutral buildings
Randomly place 8 neutral building tiles on the corresponding spaces on the main game board
4
Set up double-sided neutral buildings
Place the 4 double-sided neutral building tiles face up
5
Prepare worker market
Draw 1 worker of each type from Bag A and place face up in the designated top row positions of the hiring market
6
Draw A tiles by player count
Draw and place A tiles based on player count (2 players: 9 tiles, 3 players: 11 tiles, 4 players: 14 tiles)
7
Set up bonus tile market
Draw B tiles and fill the bonus tile market from top row rightward, then second row up to the market marker
8
Fill Wellington prediction zones
Randomly fill the 4 prediction zones with corresponding lettered tiles
9
Create sheep market deck
Shuffle 37 sheep cards face down, then draw cards based on player count (2 players: 12, 3 players: 13, 4 players: 14)
10
Prepare objective cards
Shuffle 24 objective cards face down, then display 4 face up
11
Set up card stacks
Stack 16 Romney (pink), 12 Sheepdog, 14 Ferry, and 12 Kiwi cards face up with corresponding extra card tiles above each
12
Prepare bonus card sets
Randomly select 4 sets from the 10 "☆" bonus card sets, adding cards per player count (2 players: 2 cards, 3 players: 4 cards, 4 players: all 5)
13
Place step tiles
Stack orange step tiles equal to player count near the kiwi track, +1 side up
14
Distribute player components
Each player takes:
15
Determine starting player
Randomly select first player, others follow clockwise
16
Distribute starting resources
Starting player: 7 money + 4 cards; 2nd player: 8 money + 5 cards; 3rd player: 9 money + 6 cards; 4th player: 10 money + 7 cards
17
Adjust starting hand
Discard down to 4 cards, then place 1 white disc on kiwi track '0' space
18
Place ranchers
In turn order, place rancher on any neutral building tile (multiple players may start on same tile)

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Move on kiwi track
Advance your marker and gain rewards at certain spaces:
2
Move your rancher
Move at least 1 step up to your step limit on the map
3
Execute location actions
Perform actions in any order (all optional):
4
Step 1 - Breed sheep
Display any number of different sheep card types from hand; add permanent certifications and/or spend temporary certifications to increase breeding value; gain money equal to this value; discard displayed cards
5
Step 2 - Deliver to trade station
Move 1 disc from player board to available trade station with value equal to or lower than breeding value
6
Step 3 - Place prediction tiles
Select 1 tile from each column and move to corresponding area
7
Step 4 - Return rancher
Move rancher back to starting position
8
Hire a worker
Select worker tile from hiring market, pay hiring cost with any modifiers, place on leftmost available player board space; if covering an action, execute immediately (cannot delay)
9
Invest in bonus tile
Select bonus tile (except from market marker row), pay investment cost with modifiers, place in player area, gain immediate reward
10
Use sheep market
Spend money based on shepherd count to gain new sheep cards to discard pile; each shepherd used once per action; optionally use 1 shepherd to add 2 cards from deck to market display
11
Shear sheep
Display different sheep card types up to your shearer count; add wool values plus permanent wool; gain money equal to total; discard displayed cards
12
Build a building
Select unplaced building requiring minimum craftsmen you possess; pay amount per craftsman used
13
Move your ship
Move up to number of steps equal to sailors owned
14
Small port
Pay upgrade cost, place any warehouse (check for player board bonus), gain specified bonus card to discard pile
15
Medium port
Place any warehouse (check for player board bonus); provides extra trade station for future trades or wool trades
16
Large port
Pay upgrade cost, place 1 disc, gain specified bonus card; then optionally remove rightmost worker tile from any row and replace port manager tile to gain instant reward (keep for end-game scoring)
17
Reset ship
If upgrading port at sea route end, reset ship to starting space
18
Track gold
Gold is tracked on player board, separate from money
19
Purchase bonus cards
During Phase A or B, spend gold for 1 of 4 bonus cards:
20
Gain gold from certification
Moving temporary certification from 1 to 2 grants 1 gold
21
Gain temporary certification
Pay 2 money to move marker down 1 space, or pay 4 money for 2 spaces
22
Move ship
Pay 1 money for 1 step, or 2 money for 2 steps (may upgrade port)
23
Advance on kiwi track
Pay 1 money for 1 space, or 2 money for 2 spaces
24
Use exchange markers
Discard anytime:
25
Gain exchange marker
Received when purchasing Suffolk sheep card
26
Acquire objective cards
Select from display (then replenish) or draw from deck top; place in discard pile
27
Play objective cards
From hand, play during Phase A (before) or Phase B (before/after actions) to player area; execute immediate action shown in top-left
28
Score objective cards
At final scoring, gain/lose points based on task completion regardless of whether played; owning items count once only
29
Draw to hand limit
Draw cards up to hand limit (4, 5, or 6 as shown on player board)

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Trigger game end
When bonus tile market marker moves off board bottom, triggering player finishes turn, then each other player takes 1 final turn
2
Score buildings
Gain points for each placed building
3
Score trade stations
Gain/lose points for discs on trade stations and wool trade stations
4
Score ports
Gain points for discs and warehouse markers on small and medium ports
5
Score port managers
Gain points from port manager tile effects
6
Score fifth column workers
Each worker in player board's 5th column earns 4 points
7
Score empty warehouse pairs
Gain 2 and/or 4 points for clearing corresponding warehouse pairs from player board
8
Score empty space bonus
Gain 3 points if specific player board space is cleared
9
Score hiring market marker
Gain 5 points if acquired
10
Score per 5 money
Each 5 money owned earns 1 point
11
Score objective cards
Gain/lose points based on task descriptions
12
Score kiwi track
Gain points for position on kiwi track
13
Score disaster and bonus tiles
Gain points for each collected disaster and bonus tile marker
14
Score sheep and bonus cards
Gain points for purchased sheep cards and/or bonus cards
15
Determine winner
Player with most points wins

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

Great western Trail: New Zealand - Gameplay e impressioni (gioco da tavolo ita)

Great western Trail: New Zealand - Gameplay e impressioni (gioco da tavolo ita)

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Great Western Trail: Nowa Zelandia | Zasady Gry | Instrukcja

Great Western Trail: Nowa Zelandia | Zasady Gry | Instrukcja

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FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

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