
Last night didn’t quite end up as planned.
Yesterday morning I tweeted how I was looking forward to playing my favourite game of all time (do I really have to say it? You all know what it is by now. Oh ok) Scythe, that evening. That’d I’d also be teaching it to two new players.
Indeed that was the plan made on Saturday at the end of D&D so that Mark and Lizzy could learn the game before joining the Rise of Fenris campaign this coming Saturday.
Reality, life, call it what you want had other ideas.
I arrived early to get Scythe setup. As usual I wanted to maximise play time for everyone by having it so that once everyone had arrived we could dive straight in.
There were no tables so I set up the ones I needed, plus the one I thought Jonathan and his Railways of the World players would need.
Brief aside before carrying on with the retelling of the events of last night.
As the photo below shows I now have the realistic tokens for Scythe. I know that’s a major shock. After all I have been vocal in my preference for the wooden tokens that come with the game. However these were the final upgrade I needed to make my copy of Scythe the equivalent of the Kickstarter Art Connoisseur Collector’s Edition.
What surprised me last night was how they grew on me last night as I was setting up, and taking the photos (below). I actually quite like them!
I just need to save up and get the metal mechs (I need four sets, which ain’t cheap) to have everything you can officially buy for it.
Right back to my ramblings.

As I was setting up Scythe Jonathan arrived and not long after so did Shane.
With Scythe setup we just needed Mark and Lizzy to arrive.
However Shane asked if I had heard from them. Which I hadn’t. Apparently Lizzy was ill and wouldn’t be coming.
Bugger.
I asked Jonathan if he wanted another two players for Railways of the World.
After Jonathan started setting up for a five player game, and I had packed away Scythe, it transpired Mark was on his way.
“John got room for one more?”
While we waited for Mark to arrive there was banter and a brief discussion between Jeff and Jonathan about how best to setup the game so it didn’t go on all night.
Some cubes were removed from the board.
Once Mark arrived Jonathan explained the rules. For three of us this was our first time playing the game. Luckily there was no “it’s just like Agricola” moment.
I have to say despite nearly coming last, I really liked Railways of the World.
With three copies in the club now (Gav just bought a copy) I don’t feel a need to get my own. But if I want to play a railway themed game this is the one I’d play. It’s so much more fun than Ticket to Ride.

I like the bidding for first player at the start of each turn.
Another thing I like a lot is the almost sandbox like approach it has to building tracks. You can literally build a track anywhere on the board. Ok it might cost you a fortune to do so depending on the terrain crossing.
The having to upgrade your trains to be able to move goods further along the built tracks is cool.
But there is the whole making connections and delivery engine you are building to push you up the income track, whilst trying to get as few bonds as possible. Obviously the two most experienced players had this off to a tee. Eventually I managed to break even and then make a small profit. But this whole core to the game is so much fun and can be very cut throat.
As the results show the three more experienced players finished top three, with Shane almost breaking into third place.

Still a great evening of gaming with great gamers!
Here they are Jonathan’s photos of the evening to end the post with.

