Stats:
No. of players: 2-4
Amount of time to play: 30-45 min
Age requirements: 10+
Set-up time: 5 min

The Great Heartland Hauling Co. is a pick-up and deliver card game. You must make more money than your opponents to win this game.

The Great Heartland Hauling Co. Description:

In The Great Heartland Hauling Co. you are a truck driver. You must travel to locations to pick up goods and get paid when you drop them off. The amount of money needed to end the game is determined by the number of players. The trucker that has the most money at game end wins.

To setup the game you build the map then place five of each native good on each space. There are four types of goods, corn, soy beans, pigs and cows. Each space also indicates what goods you can sell there and how much you profit.

You start with five dollars and five cards that have a good or gas on it. On your turn you can use gas cards to move up to three spaces or spend a dollar for each space you move. The map is set up as a grid and you may only move orthogonally. You cannot end your turn on a space with another trucker or backtrack over spaces on your turn.

You must move at least one space on your turn and then you may perform one action. You have three choices for actions. You can load a good, sell a good or discard cards. For each good you want to load or sell you must have a matching card. And it costs you one dollar to discard as many cards as you like. At the end of your turn you refill your hand to five cards.

Once the game is over you lose money for having extra goods on your truck. You lose one dollar for each corn and soybean and two dollars for each pig and cow. After subtracting your overload the trucker with the most money wins the game.

Quick Review of The Great Heartland Hauling Co.:

The Great Heartland Hauling Co. is quick to learn, teach and play. This game makes a great introduction to the pick up and deliver genre. The rules and mechanics are streamlined and the game is fun.

The components for the game are very good. The art looks great and the cards are durable. The box is surprisingly small and super portable. The rules are easy to follow and there are nice player aids.

I really like how moving costs you money. Not only does it fit the theme very well, it makes you use your victory condition to get and sell more goods.

There are also a bunch of variants that add to the replay value of this game. There are add-ons you can buy for your truck, advanced routes and even different board layouts. Again there is a lot of game in a pretty small box.

I like having the option to discard to try and get the cards you really need. This keeps the randomness of the cards from ruining your game.

The game has an interesting pace. At first things move fast, but after a bit it slows down. It is not too bad, and usually indicates players getting goods from non-native spaces. This requires two cards for one good and getting these cards may require using the discard action.

I played The Great Heartland Hauling Co. at the WBC this past year and was pretty impressed. Now that it is out I still really like the game. If you like pick up and deliver games or want to introduce the genre to your friends get this game. If you want to add a quick pick up and deliver game to your collection, try this one out. And if you get the chance sit down and try this game. It will go quick and you’ll have fun.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 3 out of 6
Luck 5 out of 6
Player Interaction 4 out of 6
Replay Value 5 out of 6
Complexity 3 out of 6
Fun 5 out of 6
Overall 5 out of 6