Brat's Hill
Railway Rivals game 19
Turn 12 and game end
Previous turns: Turn 11 Turn 10 Turn 9 Turn 8 Turn 7 Turn 6 Turn 5 Turn 4 Turn 3 Turn 2 Turn 1 Start-up
This turn's races
The races weren't kind to Welsh Interstate Train Service (3rd) who not only failed to catch Seaside Railways (1st) (who did have some nice races), but was also overtaken by Cart and Barrow coming up fast (2nd). Locomotive Observation Steam Train Company entered several races but didn't score well overall and finished last (4th).
| No | From | To | WITS | SR | LOST | CAB | ||
| 36 | 12 | Carlisle | 53 | Kendall | 20+4 | 10-4 | ||
| 37 | S1 | Scotland | 51 | Penrith | 20 | 10 | ||
| 38 | 22 | Cockermouth | 46 | Grange-over-Sands | 10+5-1 | 20-5+1 | ||
| 39 | 62 | Morecambe | 14 | Wigton | 15+1 | 15-3 | +2 | |
| 40 | 64 | Lancaster | 31 | Distington | +2 | 10-4 | 20-2+2 | |
| 41 | 34 | Ravenglass | S5 | The South | 20 | |||
| 42 | 41 | Barrow | 21 | Maryport | +3 | 20-3 | ||
| TOTAL | 23 | 52 | 38 | 75 | ||||
| JR = Joint Run; ERP = Exchange of Running Powers | ||||||||
Builds and points
WELSH INTERSTATE TRAIN SERVICE (WITS), Mark Cowper - Red
Starts: Whitehaven
Points: 285 +23 = 308 (3rd)
SEASIDE RAILWAYS (SR), Rob Pinkerton - Blue
Starts: Carlisle
Points: 325 +52 = 377 (1st)
LOCOMOTIVE OBSERVATION STEAM TRAIN COMPANY (LOST), Gerald Udowiczenko - Black
Starts: Port Carlisle
Points: 239 +38 = 277 (4th)
CART AND BARROW RAIL (CAB), Chris Rudram - Green
Starts: Barrow in Furness
Points: 254 +75 = 329 (2nd)
Latest map
Brat's Hill map – no change from turn 10 (PDF, 1.5 Mb)
Game End Statements
Mark Cowper (WITS – 3rd)
Easy win for Seaside Railways as they got their Network spot on – Running N to S along the West Coast. WITS had a lot of builds going from E to W that meant that they had the best coverage here, but no-one wanted to travel that way. In the last set of races all went N to S, and WITS had no network coverage.
Rob Pinkerton (SR – 1st)
This has been an incredibly fun game and the dice were with me on the routes during the operating phase. I got very lucky with my builds in the east, being able to take the direct route for that side of the map.
Gerald Udowiczenko (LOST – 4th)
Congratulations to Rob on what is probably the best North/South network in the game. In the end, I think that’s what probably secured the win for him (as I assume he'll win), especially as he had very few mountains to contend with
I decided to try a different tactic and build through as many mountains as possible, hoping it would result in good North/South network. Unfortunately, the additional costs really added up, and I wasn't able to extend my route all the way South, which in the end proved a little costly as I couldn't run a number of those races.
I also think my more direct route meant I missed out on quite a few bonuses on getting to a Town first. Those extra points might have narrowed the gap and made things a little more competitive. That said, I expect to finish around 60 points off the top spot, so even claiming a few more bonuses wouldn't have been enough to bridge the gap.
Lastly, I'm a little surprised by the lack of Joint Runs and Exchange of Running Rights in this this game, although I suppose the dice simply didn't fall that way. The battle for second and third place could still be very tight, but unless I get particularly lucky, I think fourth place is where I'll end up.
Well played, everyone. And if I don't see another mountain-heavy map for a while, I certainly won't miss it!
(A feeling about mountains there which explains his starting position in Barringer Crater. Mike)
Chris Rudram (CAB – 2nd)
Well, I got myself isolated on the west coast. At times that was useful, but overall, I think I failed to get into other people’s networks at enough spots to really help my cause - there were some turns where my race options were severely limited. I think Seaside Railways getting the Tebay-Carlisle valley mostly uncontested was a big advantage for them. I think I was often too concerned about avoiding the expensive, slow hills at the cost of the overall network; and also (wrongly) assumed I’d have solo rights to some of the destinations up in the hills. I think the skill here was knowing when to pay the extra, and when to shoot down the valleys to get more reach.
Well done to whoever wins!
GM Mike
A difficult map, because it’s the west coast or the Penrith Gap (the M6 route?) for a north south route, though LOST did eventually build a route south over the mountains without much benefit. As Gerald said, “he paid lots to other people to come second.” The chance of the races probably did affect the result as well. Your early decisions on building can end up limiting your reach as others have taken the gaps. I expected more joint runs. Thank you to all the players and I hope you will play again.