Sante Fe Rails WBC Finals - 2023
Watch “Sante Fe Rails WBC Finals - 2023,” a gameplay video for Santa Fe Rails from Andrew Drummond on BoardGameVideo.
Description provided by Andrew Drummond on YouTube:
Final table of Santa Fe Rails at the 2023 World Boardgaming Championships. Players in the game were: Rob Kircher Ryan Feathers Sky Roy Andrew Drummond Written analysis of the game below: Rob, Sky, Ryan, and Andrew are all very strong players and yet all players who were not at the final table in 2022. We also got an unexpected gift from Chris Bizzell who graciously volunteered to record the Final. Sky decided to drive yellow north at the start instead of south and everyone collected a little money as yellow drove to Duluth. But in the second city plays, no one played a 2X and Andrew continued setting up a Northern strategy with Billings, Rob dropped Las Vegas looking for a Western push, Sky put down a relatively safe Albuquerque and Ryan also played a Denver. Turn 3 saw Andrew add Albuquerque while Rob played the game’s first 2X, Sky added Los Angeles and Ryan put down a nearly guaranteed 12 in Duluth. Train plays were interesting with white snaking its way to Dallas via St. Louis, Wichita, and Little Rock while every other line was pointed at Andrew’s Minneapolis. In turn 4 Andrew doubled up on Billings while playing his second branch of the game, Rob got his 12-point Duluth out, Sky threw down Dallas that he’d just connected White to, and Ryan played a Bismark. Ryan made an interesting play where he forced Andrew into a position of giving Sky 6 points for White into El Paso or take no action and give Ryan 12. Andrew chose to give it to Sky, but it was the first of many interesting inflection points as the game moved on. For round 6, Rob got in on the crying about his cards but took a red branch to try and improve his standing and Sky announced the round as the “round where we find ways to jam Andrew”. It was set to be a fun round. Because he was obviously terrified of Sky’s bluster, Andrew dropped a 2X, Rob played San Diego further promoting a Western swing, Sky put down Amarillo, and Ryan did Sacramento. Round 7 Andrew saw more northern potential and played Canada, Rob dropped a Casper, Sky played Tucson with a White branch and Ryan took the last red branch and played it with Seattle. White got to Phoenix setting up Rob’s 12 cash next round for LA. Round 8 was the start of the short lines coming out. Rock Island came along with Rio Grande and that convinced Sky to play a 4-in-1. Rob and Ryan played 2X leaving Andrew’s Salt Lake City as the only city played that round. Sky celebrated his first ever 2X in round 9 which ironically was a round where a 2X was still left on the table for the first time as well. We also launched the remaining 2 short lines. Andrew played a 2X (as did Sky) while Rob added Salt Lake City and Ryan doubled up his Sacramento. In round 10, Andrew played another 2X while Rob and Sky partnered on Sioux Falls. Ryan added Phoenix to his haul. Rob had also played a yellow branch and tanked on where to put it after Andrew dropped yellow down to 4 trains left. In Round 11, Andrew and Ryan both took a blue branch and for cities, Andrew dropped El Paso, Rob joined Andrew in San Francisco, Sky did 2X and Ryan played a Spokane that was now worth at least 12. Nothing too interesting happened with train play that round. Round 12 saw only 2 cards left in the deck. Rob in first spot took one and Sky took the other. Ryan was forced to draw a 2X but took the last blue branch with it. Andrew took a 2X and green branch. Rob played Portland, Sky picked up Canada, Ryan played a 5 point Rapid City and Andrew played Spokane. Branches moved trains to Canada and Duluth. For round 13 draws, Andrew took a 3X to try and control tracks and everyone else took 2X or Boomtown. Andrew used his 3X to push Blue West through Denver instead of dead ending it. Round 15 saw Andrew take the last green branch and play a Los Angeles while Rob played Boise and Sky St. Louis. Andrew branched green to give LA a chance, while Ryan used his 4 in 1 to destroy that chance and pick up the green square in Portland as a bonus. Rob also snuck green into Las Vegas for the 2 cash and 6 cities. With one green train left, there was a round 16 to let Andrew get Boomtown out, but no appreciable other action happened. Final scores were: Rob (167 points) with 33 cash, Portland (21), San Francisco (14), San Diego (0), Las Vegas (6), Duluth (12), Boise (12), Mexico (12), Salt Lake City (15), El Paso (10), Casper (10), Bismark (10), Sioux Falls (8), San Antonio (4) Ryan (157 points) with 27 cash, Sacramento*2 (28), Seattle (14), Portland (21), Duluth (12), Phoenix (6), Spokane (12), Casper (10), Rapid City (5), Bismark (10), Denver (12) Sky (154 points) with 41 cash, Canada (14), Los Angeles (7), Mexico (12), Tucson (6), Albuquerque (15), Denver (12), Dallas*2 (16), Amarillo*2 (16), Sioux Falls (8), St. Louis (6) Andrew (144 points) with 17 cash, San Francisco (14), Canada (14), Los Angeles (7), Spokane (12), El Paso (10), Salt Lake City (15), Albuquerque (15), Billings*2 (20), Minneapolis (20)
2001·Alan R. Moon
2 - 5 players
60 min
Medium weight: Teach it in one sitting
About Santa Fe Rails, from BoardGameGeek:
On a map showing the western portion of the United States, each player takes turns building track to extend any of five major railroad lines westward from their originating cities. Players often want the lines to extend in different directions toward the cities that they have a stake in. Some branching is allowed, but each line has a limited number of track pieces. Stakes for specific cities are accumulated throughout the game by drawing blind from a deck of city cards. The more different lines arriving at a city, the higher the score will be for that city. Later in the game, four short lines also become available. An updated version of Alan R. Moon's White Wind game Santa Fe. Game Summary The deck is composed of city cards (with some short lines shuffled into the middle third). Players have a hand of 4 city cards to start the game. Each round, players simultaneously select a card to play, then reveal. City cards are added to your personal display -- essentially, you have a share in that city. There are also several special cards (2x, 3x, 4-in-one, Branch Line, Boomtown) that modify the basic game turn. These specials are on public display, and can be acquired at the end of each round (some cost $1; the 2x may be held, but the rest must be played immediately after acquiring them). Then, in turn order, going twice around, players add a single track to any of the railheads (each of the 5 lines has specific starting locations on the board). If the link is to a previously unconnected city, collect $2. In addition, if the city is one of the goal cities of that train line, collect $4. After all players have gone (twice), pass the start player marker to the left. THEN, in turn order, players bring their hand total back to 4 (draw from deck and/or from cards on display). If a Short Line card is revealed, discard the card and draw again; that Short Line is now in play. They choose a card to play, and repeat above. The game ends when tracks for 3 lines are completely used. Each city's value is equal to its base value, printed on board, multiplied by the number of different train lines connected to it. The player with the most cash and city value wins!
Designer
Alan R. Moon
Artists
Rodger B. MacGowan, Mark Simonitch
Publisher
GMT Games
Categories
Trains
Mechanics
Network and Route BuildingDrafting
