This week Andy joined us as we played Railroad Tycoon: Railways of England and Wales. Ben
and Owen had a slight advantage as they actually knew where the cities were
located on the game board. The rest of us were always asking “Where is Cabbageford?â€
or “How far is Buttsandbother from Nopantshaven?â€
The game started off with Owen shipping the first cube of
goods and taking a huge lead. Everyone else struggled to catch up. As the game
wore on and everyone began to carve out their rail lines, it was obvious to me
that I wasn’t going to do well. Even Andy, who had never played before, was
keeping up with the leaders. Ben and Owen were firmly planted in the center of
the board. Mike was on the western coast. Andy was mostly south and I was in
the southwest.
Owen went after every extra bit of points he could using the
cards and special rail lines to his advantage. Ben was hoping his lack of
shares would help throughout the entire game. Mike was deep into financing his
line by issuing share after share. Only at the end of the game did he realize
they counted against him as negative points. I blundered about managing to stay
in last place, but still keep up with the rest of the group. Andy quietly turned
his southern railway into a massive shipping line.
Andy won the game with Ben and Owen following behind him.
Mike thought the negative 15 points for his many shares would land him in last
place. It did not. I was two points behind him. He was very excited about that.
Chaos Steve