I finally got to scratch my railroad gaming itch.  Lately, I've been thinking about Age of Steam / Railroad Tycoon a lot.  I've read a lot of articles on Boardgame Geek.  I've looked (and even purchased) some of the Age of Steam expansions.  I even read up on 18xx, and ordered a copy of 18(something), although it won't be delivered for weeks.  I've done everything except actually play a game.  Fortunately, that changed Saturday at Allen's house.  What follows is a quick session report, sans pictures. 

We started off trying the latest Alea big box game - Notre Dame.  I was pretty stoked about trying it, but...  Meh.  I felt like I was just mindlessly pushing cubes around.  The draft mechanic was interesting, but it felt immensely tactical and not at all strategic.  There was little in the way of player interaction.  And if I really wanted to do something, I had to hope I either drew the card, or got passed it.  I'd say it's better than Pillars of the Earth, but only marginally.  I decided early last year not to "collect" the Alea series, and only buy the games I really enjoyed.  I'll try Notre Dame a couple of times again, but I'm pretty sure this is one I'll skip.

Next up, the main event of the day was Railroad Tycoon.  The players were Allen, Jay, Mark, Jeff B, and me (Jeff C).  I drew one of the "most money" tycoon cards, which meant if I had the most money at the end of the game, I would get an additional 7 points.  I didn't have to worry about being share-conscious, like I normally am.  Among the opening card draws was a Railroad Executive card - one of the cards that grants an additional action.  The others were mostly hotels and a couple of service bounties, plus two major line bounties - from Toledo to Baltimore and Atlanta to Richmond.  Only Allen would complete a major line - the latter Atlanta to Richmond line.

Jay and I were the main bidders for the Railroad Executive, and I wound up taking it for a good price.  I used it to claim a spot in the Northeast and take the Baltimore hotel, intending to make the first delivery for a good jumpstart.  Jay joined me in the Northeast, while Allen chose to start around Atlanta, and Mark and Jeff B starting in the midwest.  My railroad executive play gave me a good head start, and I was able to grab the Speed Record bonus for making the first 3-link delivery.  Mark beat me to the New Train bonus (level 4 engine).  All players pretty much stayed in their starting locations, with me and Jay sharing the bounty of the New England area, Mark and Jeff B fighting over Cubes between the mountains and Chicago, and Allen being left alone to do what he wanted in the Southeast.

Mark and I had a sizeable lead going into the late game.  Allen, through his Major Line bonus, as well as some large deliveries was able to partially catch up, but it was too late, and it was a battle for first between me and Mark.  It came down to the wire, in a very exciting finish.

On the last turn of the game, Mark pulled ahead of me with some large deliveries.  I knew I would be counting on my railroad executive (most money) to give me the bonus points, but I only had a rough idea of how much money everyone had.  I suspected Allen and Mark had more cash, but Mark burned most of it upgrading to a level 7 train, leaving Allen as my only competition.  I had $40k, and figured Allen had maybe a few thousand more than me.  If I issued too few shares, I would lose the potential 7 point bonus, as well as the shares I issued to get most money.  If I issued too many, I risked sacrificing points during the final income reduction.  So I chose to issue exactly 2 shares for $10k, taking me to $50k.

It turns out, Allen had $45k.  I issued exactly the right number of shares to get my 7 point bonus.  One fewer share, and we would have tied for most money, leaving me without my Executive bonus.  After income reduction, I wound up winning by a single point.   That's right - one point.  If I would have issued one less share, I would have lost by 5 points.  If I would have issued one more share, I would have tied for first.  But by issuing two shares, I hit the sweet spot of most money, and won by a single point.  It was a satisfying win.

If the game had gone on longer, Mark (and Allen) would have crushed me.  I was running out of deliveries, and would have needed to rely on Urbanization, hoping to get cubes that could be delivered.  Mark still had 5 and 6-point deliveries available to him, and Allen had room to expand to more.

I'm looking forward to playing again.

As a postscript, we finished the afternoon with a game of Lifeboats.  That's one I'll probably never play again.  We botched one of the rules, thinking we needed to fill every empty spot on a boat to sink it, which probably drastically affected the results.  However, I found the game incredibly unsatisfying.  I like negotiation, but only when they support good game mechanics.  This game was pure negotiation, and was a bit too much for me.