Thurn and Taxis: All Roads Lead to Rome

Thurn and Taxis: All Roads Lead to Rome
Designed by Andreas and Karen Seyfarth

This is another great expansion for the game Thurn and Taxis and this review will complete my 3 part review of Thurn and Taxis and its expansions. If you haven't heard of Thurn and Taxis, check out my review on the base game first - and yes, you will definitely want an opportunity to play or own this game.

This expansion offers a couple of different things you can play with the original base game. You can play them together or you can choose to play with one or the other. The first one is actually where the title for this expansion comes from, "All Roads Lead to Rome." This expansion includes a board that is placed off to the side and consists of different pathways that lead to Rome. Each player secretly at the beginning of the game chooses to place certain religious characters with different valued points attached to each face down in each carriage. The carriages (5 total) are moved when a player decides not to place a post office in a town of that same color. If you get to Rome too soon, another players character of the same type would keep you from scoring those points, but if you don't arrive at all, no luck either. It is an interesting idea and is pretty interesting, but not my favorite addition.

The other expansion provided is basically some tokens which are taken when you choose a specific action. You are rewarded by diversifying your action choices and you get to turn these in for bonuses (get an additional card, victory points, or place a post office in a city of your choice). I really like this aspect of the game and it really can help you snag some of those bonus tiles a little bit easier.

Overall, the expansion is a good one, but if you were to choose, I would say go with the Power and Glory expansion. Again, a big SHOUT OUT to Rio Grande Games for making this review possible, and for making such great games and that is How Lou Sees It!

Thurn and Taxis: Power and Glory

Thurn and Taxis: Power and Glory
Designed by Andreas and Karen Seyfarth

Power and Glory is the first expansion to Thurn and Taxis and it does not disappoint. For those familiar with Thurn and Taxis read on, and for those who are not as familiar with the original or base game I suggest reading about it here first.

Now, Power and Glory is not an expansion in the sense that it adds components to the original board, but it provides a different map and a different way to play with the houses used from the base game. And I have to say, I'm not sure which one I like the best (I think The Wife actually enjoys the Power and Glory board and variation better than the original) which is definitely saying something for this expansion.

I'll break my review up into the two main differences between this expansion and the base game starting with the new board. The new board has color coated regions just as the first but they are arranged a bit differently. The largest color region is actually split into to areas of the board (which I like) and there are a few "free cities." The free cities are independent cities (not belonging to any region) and even though they are all represented by a gold color, they are not considered to be a region or color category for means of placing houses (you can only build in one of these cities when scoring a route). The first player to place a house in the free city obtains 1 point. The free cities do not contribute in any way to the diversity bonus (in which a player has a house in each region). I like the new map, and it helps provide more replay to the game as a whole (I even wish they would have provided a double sided board like Power Grid, but it would have been a bit more difficult with additional cards needed). The good news is you can also play with all the same original rules and just play with the new board as well, but the variation provided in this game might actually be preferred to the original. Let's take a look.

In the Power and Glory variation, there are no carriage cards obtained for building routes 4, 5, 6, and 7 long.  The game therefore doesn't end until someone's houses are all gone (they still obtain a bonus point and tie-breaker tile for ending the game). Players will still want to build longer routes, because this game has bonus tiles for length once again (on up to 8 long). You can obtain these tiles at a first played, first gained basis. Basically, this opens the game up a bit and gets rid of the time component of the carriages - not allowing players to speed or slow the game by the carriage cards (they can still do this by choosing how they play their houses). The main change to go along with this change is the horses. Each of the cities has 3 cards just like the original, but the back of the cards have either 1, 2, or 3 horses on the back. Each player starts with a carriage card with 2 horses (each card on the front also has a representation of the horses by horseshoes 1, 2, or, 3) and while playing a card down into their playing area, a player may choose to play a card as horses to his carriage instead of adding to the route. The player must have at least as many horses as the player does cities before the player can close and score his route.

I really enjoy the variation in play. I believe it actually makes it easier in some ways, especially in regards to having to discard a route. If a player doesn't have the city he needs to continue his route, he can play horses to his carriage instead (max of 6 cards to the carriage) and wait and see if the city comes up next time. I have not concluded which I prefer more yet (the original or the P&G horses variation), but I believe the horses to be a great variation. Definitely worth getting this expansion for Thurn and Taxis and that is How Lou Sees It.

Thurn and Taxis

Thurn and Taxis
Designed by Andreas and Karen Seyfarth

I absolutely love this game and it is definitely joining my top 10 (bumping out Slide 5) and making 5 out of my top 10 games now Rio Grande Games. A big SHOUT OUT to Rio Grande Games for making this review possible. This is actually going to be part 1 of a 3 part series. I will also be reviewing the 2 expansions to Thurn and Taxis as well: 1) Power and Glory. 2) All Roads Lead to Rome. Look for these reviews in the coming weeks.

Thurn and Taxis actually came out in 2006, 2 years after the successful game Ticket to Ride. While there are some similarities between the two games (one being that they both received the great Spiel des Jahres award for their release year), Thurn and Taxis is by far the more enjoyable game in my opinion and some have even nicknamed Thurn and Taxis the "Ticket to Ride Killer." The game is for 2 to 4 players and it takes about an hour or a bit less to play. The only reason I don't think that this has become as popular as Ticket to Ride in the U.S. is because the map is not of America and people just haven't heard about it.

In Thurn and Taxis, players are building postal systems by building different postal routes, post offices, and by collecting carriages. The game play is learned quickly and is very easy grasp. A player draws one card and then has to play one card.  There are six face up city cards available to choose from along with the draw stack (you can choose to take the top card if you wish). The player then has the option to close and score their current route (if at least three cities long) or keep it for the next turn.

The player also has the ability to use some help from postal officials. The player has the option of using one of the four special abilities each turn. The player can: 1) draw two cards instead of just one, 2) play two cards instead of just one, 3) discard the current six face up cards and replace them with new ones, or 4) obtain some help with getting carriages (I'll explain this a little bit later).

Each turn you are playing city cards down in front of you in a continuous fashion. If you are unable to play a city that is adjacent to what your route is currently, you have to discard your route and start all over. So, there is a lot of strategy in choosing the right cities and being able to play a card each turn. As you build longer routes, you can obtain higher valued carriages. The game ends when someone runs out of their cities (everyone has 20) or someone obtains a 7 carriage. I like this element of the game, because the pace of the game is dictated by the players. One player can advance the game more quickly by upgrading his carriage faster or by playing more of his cities. Players get certain bonuses throughout the game for building in certain areas first (there are runner up bonuses for those who get there second etc.).

The scoring for each player comes from their highest valued carriage card and any of the bonus tiles received throughout the game. Players also subtract from their score for each unused city remaining in their supply. I don't want to get into the rules in greater detail, but you can for yourself here.

The game components are really great quality and the illustrations and everything is great. The game has little cards (similar to the size in Ticket to Ride) which isn't my favorite, but they shuffle great and seem to me that they will hold up very well. The game as I said is very easy to learn and play, but has a nice depth of strategy to it as well. The game is not overly interactive (you can't block routes or anything like that, but you can take a face up card that you know your opponent would like etc.), but you are trying to work the board so that you can obtain the best bonus tiles before everyone else. I like the fact everyone really has the same objective and same bonuses available, nothing is really secret. A lot less luck factor than Ticket to Ride with the ticket cards etc. One thing that I think could have been better is the color differences. I think playing the game might be a bit tricky for a color blind player with the subtle change in colors.

I played the game with The Wife, just the two of us, and it played very well with just two players. The game is a good length allowing for a quick rematch, or if you just need a shorter and not so complex game. I highly recommend this game to everyone and I can't wait to try out the expansions as well (stay tuned for Power and Glory and All Roads Lead to Rome)!