Union Stockyards Board Game First Impressions

Union Stockyards is a game of meat, stocks and politics.

It’s not vegan-friendly.

Opening in 1865, the Union Stockyards became Chicago’s largest industry and one of the city’s top tourist attractions with a half million visitors annually in the early 1900s. From the Civil War through the 1920s, more meat was processed here than anywhere in the world. During its height, 40,000 mostly immigrant workers laboured in “the busiest square mile on earth”, where over one million livestock passed monthly, supplying 80% of all U.S. meat. There were over 2,300 livestock pens and 130 miles of railroad within the “yards”.

Union Stockyards Game Overview

Quick Rules Summary

Players will spend money buying land and building buildings for points and to connect these buildings to railroad stations.

Money can be raised by selling livestock based on its current market value vs the player’s livestock valuation.

Players can also perform marketing campaigns, affect the political climate to avoid worker strikes and build branch houses in cities connected by railroads.

How do you win?

OK, so…

Your points + your cash + your final meat stock margins + branch houses + bonus cards – worker discontent level.

Most points wins.

Main Mechanisms

The main mechanism here is worker placement. You place your workers in the spaces to take these actions. Some spaces are more restricted than others which I like. For example, while meat exists on the board, you’ll be able to take a turn to sell some.

If worker unhappiness gets too high they strike and everyone loses a worker for a round.

USP

Erm… I’ll get on to it in the next section but the theme lends itself to adding the political side to the game. Having a worker placement game where you lose a worker to strikes, or choosing between Democrats and Republicans can change the game seems unique to me.

Theme

So this is historical. The 5 meat factories are real, and the game events that resolve each round are real and everything the game is based on really happened.

The back of the player boards has information on the company you are playing. I do like that in a game.

Setup

Just put things out, nothing tricky here.

There are 6 rounds, each round has 4 cards and you use one at random each game. That bit takes a bit of work but that’s it.

Components & Artwork

The buildings are clearly really nice, everything is OK for a Euro game. I did find the graphic design really good, everything made perfect sense.

The art is OK, I like the use of real pictures.

Ease of Teaching

The game is very straightforward and easy to teach.

Similar Games

I mean, any worker placement game I guess. If you want to pair the meat of this game with a glass of wine may I suggest Viticulture?

Union Stockyards Review

Positives

Quick and easy worker placement.

Stress-free gameplay, but some key placement spots are restricted so turn order is important.

The historically accurate time is cool.

Plonking down big buildings is satisfying.

The variation of the round cards will keep the game fresh.

Negatives

It’s good, but it’s not ‘fun’.

Summary

A very good mid-weight worker placement game.

Jesta ThaRogue