
- BGG rank
- BGG #643
- BGG rating
- 7.1
Railroad Ink: Deep Blue Edition
- 1–6 players
- 20–30 min
- Complexity 1.5/5
- 2018

Rules assistance for Great Western: Harz and Bayern
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

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Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Great Western: Harz and Bayern is an expansion for Great Western released in 2011 for 2–4 players and 40 minutes per game. It was designed by Florian Kalenda.
This is technically two expansions to Great Western, from Martin Wallace, which was published in Spielbox magazine number 92 (edition 2/2011). These two are published in Spielbox 6/2011. It is still a railroad game, but no longer set in southern England. The game objective is still to connect cities in the railroad. As the names suggest, one side of the "board" is set in the Harz Mountains, with the players branching out from Leipzig through Central Germany. On the other side, the players start in the Nuremburg/Fürth locale, and spread out through Bayern (Bavaria). The first magazine (2/2011) included the start player marker and chits for the entire series. The player must provide only the dice in order to play.
Great Western: Harz and Bayern supports 2–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Great Western: Harz and Bayern is 40 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
Great Western: Harz and Bayern has a complexity rating of 2.0 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Great Western: Harz and Bayern belongs to these categories: Dice, Trains, and Expansion for Base-game. Categories describe the theme, setting and style of a game rather than its rules. Filter the catalogue by the same category to find similar games when you enjoyed Great Western: Harz and Bayern and want something comparable for your next game night.
The credited designers of Great Western: Harz and Bayern are: Florian Kalenda. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Great Western: Harz and Bayern as an expansion for Great Western. Expansions add new content, rules or scenarios to the base game and usually cannot be played on their own, so you need Great Western to use it. Check that your edition of Great Western is compatible, as some expansions were revised between editions.