6th October - Saturday Session

Well we finally got our Saturday session after a last minute hiccup when Garry had to pull out hosting, luckily Richard stepped into the breach and we gathered at his house in Haywards Heath on Saturday morning. Garry took Steve and myself in his car and when we got there Jo had already arrived. While Steve got the Coffee going we decided what we were going to play first, Railroad Tycoon got the vote and we started to set up the huge board.


Railroad Tycoon board setup

As most of you who read this blog regularly know I am not a fan of AoS, but will happily play RT. I think it's because you can take shares whenever you like so my brain doesn't have to work out what I'm going to do so far in advance. Anyway off we went, initial position of track can be crucial in any route laying game and RT is no exception. Steve and Richard started off in the top NE corner around the NY area. Jo and Garry thought they would have a tussle around the Lexington, Cincinatti area and I started building from Washington through Richmond going south.


Garry (green) and Jo (purple) having a little tussle

Richard decided it was getting a bit crowded in NE so struck out across the mountains to Wheeling, that cost him $16,000 and it was quite early on. I continued southwith luckily no competition to speak of.


Richard (red) forging across the mountains and me (yellow) going South

I think Jo was the only one with a 5 train everybody else had a 4, I couldn't see any blocks to deliver for five, I had plenty of 4 and 3 deliveries so didn't bother. I also had the card that gave me 7pts for most money at the end of the game so I didn't want to spend on trains or track if I didn't have to.Richard managed to connect New York and Kansas CIty and collect a massive 20pts from the Major Line connection card.


The board is so big you have to stand up to see the other side
Steve, Garry, Richard and Jo study the layout

I thought it was going to be close at the end but I won by 11 points, Steve had issued the most shares with 11, I had 6, Garry 5 and Richard 6, I think, correct me if I'm wrong guys.


Final board position

Final Scores
Colin 64, Richard 53, Steve 46?, Garry 42 , Jo 42 (Garry won the tiebreak on most links)

Time for a break and pizza.......hmmmmmm pizza. Jo decided to call it a day as he had some friends coming over to his place in the evening......to play games!! The 4 remaining dedicated gamers decided to give Kampt um Rom another outing, I think we had only played once before, just after Essen last year when Richard got his Klaus Tauber signed copy (what a showoff).


The starting corner of the KuR board showing the 2 tribe types, horse and foot

I must say I like this variation of Settlers, although I still get stuffed with the dice rolls!! Basically each player controls 2 tribes, horse and foot and they start in the NE corner of the board then spread across the Roman empire like the plague, looting cities and getting the rewards. The resources in this game are wheat, ore and either horses or oxen. You have to keep building up your tribe as you lose men when looting the cities most times. After you have looted 3 different coloured cities your tribe can settle and then conquer cities. You can move where you like on the map as long as you can afford the cost.


Kampf um Rom board overview

When looting cities you sometimes get development cards or you can purchase them. These have various effects some gain you extra VPs or give you free movement over the map or loot cities that are stronger than your current army. You shouldn't rush to conquer cities but build up resources and your army while looting. Once you have settled you can only expand from that point so you have to pick your position carefully. Wagons are crucial then as you have to leave one in every city you conquer, so being on hexes that produce horses/oxen and wheat is good.


Garry has just pulled off the win in Kampf um Rom and is almost smiling

Moving the legionnaire on a 7 closes down production for that hex and you can pinch a resource from someby adjacent as usual, no hand limit though so that pleased Richard who always likes to have a handful. The game was flowing along quite nicely when Garry suddenly annouces that he has the required 10VPs for victory, those 2 face down development cards.....doh!

Final Scores
Garry 10, Richar 8, Steve 6, Colin 5