Sheltie

End of Game Statements

Brendan Whyte (Red):  Andy took an early lead on Turn 4 and held it until I caught him up on T11, and I figured he had played this game a lot and was the one to beat. But while he regained the lead briefly on T14, from T17 Dave rocketed up the cashpile, and while I managed to hold him off, he kept closing the gap. I had nowhere to go, and all my claims kept depleting; meanwhile he got to Denver and Pueblo and cleaned up on the passenger routes to them. He had a slight advantage on me in terms of the chances of NOT clearing the passes in Winter, and if I couldn’t clear the big E-W pass, my income would drop by nearly $2000. Andy was competing with me for claims, and I was trying to cut him off, especially once all 4 of us were closing in on the Gallup area. It wasn’t until very late in the game (T21?) that I stopped trying to join cities like I do in Railway Rails, and considered what claims were actually still in the deck.  By that stage the odds of getting a prospector killed or jailed while prospecting the deck got too great, so I just went for the face-up claims. There were enough I really wanted, that I did very little claiming just to annoy others (But I did some of that too). But I was still watching my back with Andy. Luckily we managed to do a few deals on delivering each other’s loads, but the last 4 or 5 turns I really felt were touch and go with Dave, and I fully expected him to romp home in the last few turns, as I had almost nothing to operate (down 2 two claims on T24) while he had almost a dozen. Perhaps that was his problem: he couldn’t deliver off all of them, whereas I could deliver from all of mine most turns; but if mine depleted I was toast. The last 2-3 turns were carefully calculated as to what would actually pay off, and what was a risk, especially given my reliance on 5 difference winter passes on T24 but only having 4 snowploughs. The Gallup-Rosa passenger line only barely paid for itself. I was a little too late in building towards both ends, expecting Andy to do so instead.

I was surprised Andy tore up his track to Lordsburg early on, rather than deliver the copper I was mining there. He refused to rebuild it.  But as it depleted fairly early, it wasn’t a huge problem.

I don’t think I’ve ever played this game from the SLC end. I always seem to draw a Denver start (I actually haven’t played ftf for almost 20 years, but played a lot back then; and this postal game got me to pull the game out and play all the solitaire scenarios one weekend; and then invite a mate over for a head to head game, which sure helped me get back ‘on track’ with the rules.

But this PBEM game was *very* tense the last half dozen turns, and I felt both Andy and Dave were going to beat me. That they didn’t, especially Dave, came down to the dice on the winter passes… I would have been creamed if I had been unable to plough the big 8-length pass one or two winter turns, and if the game went on much longer, Dave would have passed me for sure with his still-operating claims. So I’m glad the game finished when it did!

Well played all, I really felt like I was going to come 2nd or third for most of the game. Thanks for Chris for running a game that must be quite fiddly for the GM even with the webpage template. A few typos along the way, but VERY tense, so for me one of the better GAMES I’ve played from the point of view of enjoyment/engagement regardless of the actual result. 

Andy York (Blue):  This being my first time even reading the rules to the game, I certainly was in a learning mode the entire time (apologies to Chris H. for all the corrections he had to point out when I missed bits and pieces of the rules). I was definitely on a learning curve, not knowing what to expect or how to react - the torn up Lordsville line was in reaction to the lost claim, not realizing the ease of delivering from other folks' claims. Later, it wasn't really worth much to me, compared to Brendan's gain, for rebuilding the line for a single run's load. This lack of experience also kept me from competing for Claims outside "my" area early on. The other major item I didn't realize was how quickly the draw deck was exhausted. I really overbought equipment in the expectation it would have much more use.
     Great job to Brendan on his strong win, and, again, thanks for Chris H. for helming this. I found it a pleasure to play (once I figured things out and had at least some idea of a strategy) and would look forward to trying it again in the future.

Brendan Whyte:  Well you had me fooled until near the end as to your experience!

I found the initial simultaneous sequence of play in the zine rather confusing to get my head around. Once we switched to half-turn email sequencing, it was much easier to play, and player order and strategies became more important. The increased turn speed also enhanced player interest and I could remember what I had planned the previous turn, when it was only a day or two before, not a month or two. Definitely the way to go in future for this game if Chris can handle it (it’s a big job to GM this one IMO).

While random player order is good, it is prone to bias if one player is more frequently either first or last. Perhaps this should be rotated, or randomised only in the sense of drawing from a uniform distribution without replacement (so once you’ve had 6 turns of going first, you can’t be first again).

It may also help newbies to have a ticksheet of claim cards left in the deck (i.e. city name and how many claims/of what type). I should have made my own at game start. Then I would have known not to build to one-claim cities if that claim was already drawn; and which were multi-claim cities. While in one sense it is ‘cheating the system’, it would just make sure everyone had the same info (I have my own copy of the game, but not everyone might).

It was great to play this again after so long. It’s been sitting on my shelf for ages due to its length ftf making it no longer so easy to get players for (they all have kids/wives and have to go home early…)