Railroaded at Northampton game night

Kevin and Marci hosted our 3rd Northampton game night last night. I arrived late, they had just finished a close game of St. Petersburg, Kevin winning by just 2-3 points over Dough. Kevin had 10 aristocrats, Doug had 8 in their four-player game with Caleb and Kim.

After a wonderful dinner, and some kidding around at Willie-Joe's expense (thanks Mike!), we got down to a 3 hour game of Railroad Tycoon, originally published by the defunct Eagle Games. Designed by the great Martin Wallace (Age of Steam, Struggle of Empires) this game ranks 19th on the geek, and is know for a huge board and great pieces.

Long story short, Caleb ran away with it, dominating in the Northeast. I built from NY to Boston, buy he controlled the NY to Philly to Baltimore/DC area, and was able to cheaply and steadily out-earn us all until his was buying level 5 rail upgrades for cash.

I was able to fulfill my secret objection (level 6 trains), and Doug racked up some great local bonuses. Kevin built junctures to some key routes and was carried along by his opponents needing the to finish longer lanes. Mike stayed in the Atlanta area.

Caleb won by what looking like 20 points ahead of the rest of us, who were clustered more tightly together. One of the key advantages he had was getting 4 moves in the first move due to the advantages of his age (lowest goes first) and a double-move card at start. We all agreed to play the game again, but bid for the right for first turn to eliminate any advantage here.

Thanks Kevin and Marci for a wonderful evening!