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News item from BrettspielWelt
High upon the yellow wagon...
| Download Rules in Acrobat PDF | |
|---|---|
| German presentation of Thurn und Taxis. |
It is the end of the 15th Century, and Central Europe is beginning to develop the mail service, with innumerable small post offices and postal routes, bringing wealth and reputation from the transport of mail. Typically mail was delivered by horse up to 25 km away. Now with the advent of this new method of delivery, mail and packages are carried via relays of horse drawn carriages up to 166 km per day.
The new game from Karen and Andreas Seyfarth is set in this era. Andreas Seyfarth created the highly acclaimed game Puerto Rico, which is certainly one of the Top Ten games. You should not try and regard Thurn and Taxis in the same light. It would be like comparing apples with pears.
Thurn and Taxis is a lighter game, however, and has been tastefully created. A fun game for two to four players starting from 10+, which plays reasonably fast. The game is all about drwing cards to make a set which will reflect the linkage of towns on the board, however, as you play you find that some of the cards you need may pass you by.
Should you play your route now so that you can claim that smaller section, or should you risk expanding and getting further cards to give a longer route and therefore more bonuses.
It can also be annoying in the way that since there are 6 cards laid out available to you, your opponents may snatch the card you need to expand your route or complete an area, just to ensure you can't. If you finish off areas first you also gain a bonus. If you are second the bonus is not so high. The game is on to see who can acquire these bonus points first.
You can also use the officer's abilities to help win the game. The Post Office Master lets you change all 6 of the laid out cards. The Wagonner will let you find a short cut to increase your wagon size.
A crucial part of the strategy in this game is increasing the size of your wagon to earn extra bonus points at the end of the game. If you do not include this ever increasing wagon size in your strategy, it could cost you the game.
With all that said, you should always keep an eye on the competition. Once anyone builds a 7 Carriage or plays their 20 mile stones, the game is over. Who managed their resources the most effectively: the bigge the carriage the more bonus points. First to cover certain areas also score the highest bonuses. First to cover the greatest distances get bonuses too. You must decide which strategy to play and how to maximise your routes with the cards that you are dealt.
Thurn and Taxis is a game, in which there is more than meets the eye. You need to be mindful of how the other players are ding as well as deciding on how best to manage your resources/plans and where would be best to play to maximize the bonus points. Also be aware when your fellow player is about to go out. You may not get another turn…
Try it out!