Trails to Rails doesn't Fail

I decided not to make a pun about tossing last week (pancake day) and will refrain again this week. Ten turned up last night, but Crocker stayed at home again…

As promised I got a seat at the table where Kev had set up Settlers of America: Trails to Rails. I can now tell you my remark about it being a cross between Settlers and Ticket to Ride is a bit off the mark. It certainly has a lot of the elements you’d expect to find in Settlers and it’s true it does now have trains, but the necessity of timing the track laying with goods delivery takes it up a level from Ticket to Ride. This is certainly a meatier affair; more strategic and with a longer playing time. I enjoyed my time playing Trails to Rails and went home thinking about strategies, which is always a good sign. Kev won, beating Christine, Steve and myself.

We then got an opportunity to play Innovation by designer Carl Chudyk, who also designed Glory to Rome. Innovation is a civilization based card game where players race to develop their civilisation by developing technologies, ideas, and cultural advancements, all represented by cards. Each of these cards has a unique power which allows further advancement, point scoring, or even attacking other civilizations. I mentioned race, and it is a bit like Race for the Galaxy, not necessarily in gameplay, but because it needs a tight group to play the hell out of it before it starts to shine. If you know the cards and how it all works then I can see that it could be very good, but if not then it feels a bit of a random card draw with arbitrary results. Unfortunately, I can’t see me playing this enough for it make it past the first stage. Your mileage may vary (obviously!) and I can see Punk Rich reading this with a crazy, yet delighted, grin on his face. Perhaps on a boat.

The rest of the group, which comprised of Phil, Stu, Tom and the three Riches played Bohnanza, the crazy bean trading game, which Lovely Rich won and 7 Wonders, which Phil won. They rounded off the evening with a game of Clans, which once again ended with victory for Phil.

Beer: I tried a pint of Rudgate’s Spring Elixir. A golden coloured ale with a citrus flavour and a floral nose. It was ever so slightly vinegary so I can't recommend it.