Tips to beat the Whistle Mountain Outlaws!

by Lindsay Schlesser September 06, 2021

by Nathan McKeehan & Lindsay Schlesser

The Outlaws have been designed to be a worthy Whistle Mountain opponent for you solo gamers, but not unbeatable! Continue reading our inside tips and tricks to help navigate the high skies and battle the Outlaws of Whistle Mountain! In the photographs below, our solo gamer is playing yellow, the Outlaws are red and blue airships.

Obtain abilities the Outlaws cannot use

One of our favorite aspects of Whistle Mountain is the amount of replayability the upgrades, starting abilities, cards, and awards offer. In Outlaws, these features are essential to a solo gamer’s victory as your opponent can gain upgrades and awards but they cannot use them for anything except for victory points. Snag upgrades and awards as often as possible, filling your player board with available options during gameplay. The Outlaws are unable to get cards but for you, cards could be an essential extra action each turn! Once the Duplicator upgrade comes out, try to get it asap. The Outlaws only have a starting ability in case you get the Duplicator upgrade, benefiting you alone.

The “all else being equal, you choose for them” rule is your ally

If two spots are equally good for the Outlaws to build or place an airship, choose the spot that benefits you most. For example, if the Outlaws have no workers on the board but are building a small machine, you have freedom to decide exactly where it should be built. Why not build it in a spot that gives you a great combo for your next turn?

Avoid robbery as much as possible

The sneaky Outlaws try to rob you every chance they get, which can be often in Whistle Mountain! During a robbery, they steal your resources in certain situations and earn victory points for the stolen resources. Thanks to the public Outlaw cards, you can anticipate what their next actions are going to be! If the Outlaw Blocker ships are likely to move, avoid placing one of your airships in a spot to get robbed when they do. There should always be an useful action to do that isn’t blocked by the Outlaws.

Let the Outlaws build scaffolds

Another way the Outlaws obtain a large number of victory points is through building many scaffolding pieces. Let the Outlaws build the heavy structure first and use this to your advantage by building machines more often than scaffolding! By having machines available to build, you can promote workers quickly. Climbing the tower quickly is key to capturing the rewards and using them since the the Outlaws have an annoying ability to climb rapidly.