I think part of the problem with the Western is that the gap between the genre and the cliche is so narrow and so fraught that it’s very difficult to deal with.

Like, when I see both SotI and Night Witches, the playbooks are genre elements in my reading, cold, and hands down. (Granted, the way I use the word “genre” is different than most, and possibly specifically opposed to “genre cliches” as you’re saying it.) But they’re both just on the edge of any sort of mainstream geek fiction about either that the genre bits don’t immediately code over (in most folks minds, I think) to simplistic tropes.

But when you get to the Western…. all of a sudden it doesn’t matter what you do or what you say, what you call the playbook or how you situate it, everyone is going to play The Cowboy On The Steel Horse They Ride.