[Boardgames] More Ticket to Ride [Rowan Tree and Red Thread]

Last night was role-playing night but with one player absent and a general feeling of tiredness settling on us as the sky darkened towards a hell of a downpour we decided to postpone the role-playing and got out a boardgame to play instead.

We played Ticket to Ride, a game I really like despite regularly trailing in last as the game ends. More than previous games I remember things were really congested in the middle of the board and there was a lot of random picks of cards as the face-up selection often met with universal disgust.

Maybe the weather changed my luck, or the damp affected Alex's brain but this time I won. It was a much closer game than the last one and I don't think anyone failed to get any of their tickets, which probably helped to keep the scores up and closer together.

Final scores were Myles 128, Marie 116, Alex 116 and Sam 108 I think.

I'm curious to try the Marklin and Europe boards now, particularly as Marie has repatriated her copy of the game that was at our house and will soon be taking it to England when she moves.

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I don't like Europe so much -- there's more really frustrating blocking in it. I think the original has the right balance between openness and blocking. I'd be interested to play Marklin some time.

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Does TTR-Europe work with two players? I haven't tried the original TTR with just two players, but I think the game might work well for two on the right sort of board.

There's also a fan-created board of Lyon I believe. Don't know what that's like either.

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2 locos short of the longest track card too damnit!

I like all three. TTRE and TTRMarklin both fix the fundamental problem in TTR (big lines of track are just -better- than smaller lines) but in different ways (TTRE only has three long routes, and addes extra conditions to each of them; TTRM has a new mechanic that effectively gives you piles of extra points for building routes contining a lot of small lines of track).

I don't find that there's a "blocking" problem in Europe -- it's a much larger board with a lot of smaller tracks (see above), but it also has the Stations, which make it much easier to complete your track even when you get blocked.

I haven't played the original TTR enough to be sure, but I think I agree that the long routes are crucial. The pay out is good and they serve to link the higher payout tickets too.

I don't know how the Stations work in TTR:Europe.

Stations, which can be placed for a small cost (your turn + 1, 2, or 3 identical cards, depending on how many stations you've played so far), sit in a city, and at the end of the game, you can use one adjecent route that someone else controls for completing any or all of your tickets.

The stations rule sounds interesting alright, and it does add a new twist. It does sound like quite a change from the basic play though, as it introduces a new action entirely and changes the endgame connectivity checks.

Sounds nice as a alternate to the basic rules.

The stations are interesting (and work in TTRE erasonably well), but don't change the basic rules that much, especially since what I forgot to mention is that each station play costs you 4 points -- so you want to avoid playing them if you can. But especially in the big crowded board of TTRE they make it much more possible to complete all or most of your cities.

Ah, that wrinkle makes stations much less attractive, and only worthwhile if you see that you've little hope of making the ticket in the normal fashion. I could see that alleviating some of the competition for limited routes even if Europe is the more restricted map.

(I assume that was mnemex posting, btw.)

Rowan Tree and Red Thread

[Boardgames] More Ticket to Ride

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January