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Games night ………. ‘Tinners’ Trail’ by Martin Wallace
The game is at Kendall’s, who arrives back from collecting son Tim from cricket, just in time to unload games from Dicken’s car. Kendall is all set to do an Onedin Line run to Huddersfield and back in order to collect copies of ‘Monastery’ – they have arrived! Kendall’s car will go stuffed to the gunnels with ‘Backpacks and Blisters’ and ‘Blooming Gardens’ as well as copious amounts of bubble-wrap collected from the school caretaker. What a life.
Tinners’ Trail is set up as first Paul (minus Liz) arrives, followed by Richard (minus his accordion). Before commencing on the rules there is a warm discussion as to the merits of the components. ‘Treefrog’ is the name given to Martin Wallace’s new line of games. His aim is to produce a limited run of gamers’ games with quality components, which (in order to avoid the pitfalls of full-scale commercial production) he is packing in-house; literally. We have this on good authority, having had several friendly chats with the Warfrog / Treefrog team at the UK Games Expo.
The components get a thumbs-up. Kendall particularly liked the wooden bits. Paul would have liked some town names on the map. Dicken was very taken with the box-art work. Richard excused himself on the grounds of not having played that many games before; a common theme for the evening.
Salsa dip with Doritos is the order of the day. Paul asks for the bottle opener, Richard is drinking orange juice (noble citizen) and the two Ragnars open a can each.
So to the rules. These are written very well. Or at least they seem so, but then again someone else may find the kind of difficulties associated with ‘Brass’ - but not tonight. Particularly meretricious is Martin’s enthusiastic commitment to the Cornish mining theme. Throughout the rules he draws the reader into the subject matter and this helps cement the rules in place. Kendall has visited the Laxey Wheel in the Isle of Man, watched Fred Dibnah exploring steam engines and visited the Science Museum. He is already converted. Unfortunately he is also the person who has read the rules, so the others may not be so wowed by the subject. None-the-less they are up for a good game.
Dicken starts, choosing an area rich in tin and copper deposits in which to place the ‘Robber Baron’ black pawn. Soon a mine of one of the players will be placed there. That player will first need to win the auction. Bidding starts at £3 and rises to £5. Richard wins – Kendall tut-tuts – surely far too expensive! Dicken places another mine – this goes for £6. Kendall waits for a cheaper opportunity, eventually paying £3 for a mine of less potential.
A good mine will have loads of copper and tin (as determined by dice rolls after the original set up) and little or no water (also a dice roll, but increasing each time mining takes place). Water makes mining expensive and much of the other actions are focussed on dealing with the problem of water. Thus a steam pump or adit, port or railway will reduce water; whilst a miner, port or railway will increase the rate of production, thus reducing the amount of water coming in per metal being taken out. Great idea and very neatly handled; this is without doubt the most innovative part of the game and very well themed.
Miners, adits, steam pumps etc. are regularly hoovered up in the early part of each turn. Thereafter players may use the time left available to mine or sell pasties. Pasties are a way of raising a bit of extra capital but can make the difference between being able to mine an extra ore or not as the game progresses.
In round one the mining is finished relatively early as player’s money runs out. Perhaps those mines were too expensive – Dicken and Richard have bought two each. Bucket-loads of pasties are sold. Only when the next turn order is revealed do folks realise the folly of their ways. Dicken stays first player, with Paul staying second. They get the advantages of scoring first and staring first next turn. Richard and Kendall gag on the pasties; passing would have been better.
More beer is quaffed and the Doritos replenished. There isn’t a lot of banter this evening, the game being quite accessible yet requiring a fair bit of analysis. Decisions have to be taken at the auction, in the action phase and when trading wealth for victory points. In addition the two leading players will choose a land each in which to ‘prospect’ – rolling dice for revealing new deposits of copper and tin (and water). However, at one point Dicken slips from a mock Cornish accent into a caricature Pirate voice much to Dicken’s own amusement and the others sympathetically chuckle along.
By the fourth turn players will need to have already collected victory points (earlier turns provide more for your money) and be in a position to mine well for the last time. In Dicken’s case this means splashing out on a new mine. Richard and Paul decide to contest this but end up with expensive mines and little cash with which to extract the ore. Dicken finally gets a third class shaft (if you’ll pardon the expression). Kendall has an old bore still working.
A close call at game end. Dicken has done enough to win with 89 pts, Kendall manages 82 (one more pasty might have made a difference – to his waistline! Ed.), Paul has 72 and Richard 57.
It’s 10.20, so ten minutes of chat about the game ensues. It’s agreed that this is a well-crafted design with a very neat resource system at its core. All present have enjoyed it a lot. Will Phil like it? Watch this space for part two when ‘Tinners’ Trail’ travels north……
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