Game: Slow Freight

Thread: Re: Questions: running out of Freight cars/moving an empty loco?

TVis — 2007-10-24T11:18:43+00:00

What was the status of the Movement deck and Clocks? Was everybody building trains and no one moving them? I'm having trouble imagining how you got to this situation.

Who else had undelivered trains? The fear of scoring negative points for those should keep players drawing for Movement rather than building trains, at the end. Long trains make the Movement deck turn over pretty quickly (moving slowly requires more cards), thus consuming Clocks - which end the game.

Keep in mind, too, that Passing your turn still requires drawing a Movement card.

Thread: Questions: running out of Freight cars/moving an empty loco?

stray_flux — 2007-10-23T17:46:28+00:00

Two related questions.

What happens when you run out of Freight cars in the Freight cars deck?
I assume you just play on with 3 options per turn instead of four.

And can you move a locomotive by it self? If so how much can it move?

In our latest two games this was a factor. One person ended up with a loco without any freight do to a probably bad play of picking a loco when there weren't very many freight cars left. He had plenty of turns left of passing (which would have allowed the empty train to advance, but how many) but instead we just made him sit there with it and get -3 points at the end...

Thread: First-time play provides Useful Knowledge

TVis — 2007-07-21T14:19:25+00:00

This was a two-player game, mostly to gain perspective on gameplay rather than necessarily to engage in competition.

I had a slight advantage for having studied the rules and the card contents. I had better understanding of both the distribution of the three Freight Car types and the range of values on the Movement Cards (longer trains move more slowly, of course). My opponent had no knowledge apart from my preliminary instruction, in which I tried to cover all things important.

I also had read a prior session report here. In that game players had all opted for 5-car trains. I otherwise anticipated the possibility of shorter trains this day in order to more speedily reach the destination and capture the “first train”, “second train” bonuses. Nonetheless, my first two turns pretty easily gave me a four-car train of a single type and I waited for the fifth.

My opponent first constructed a 4-car mixed train and we avoided competition in terms of train type. He also gained an Extra Locomotive and moved at a respectable rate toward the destination (and thus the first scoring).

The Extra Locomotive forced him to focus only on moving his train, so as the sole player able to select Freight Car cards fresh from the deck I took advantage of this to form a second train before moving my first.

Useful Knowledge #1: I understood in advance that 5-car trains would only move one or two spaces, but upon drawing a mere 1 for my first move I reached a whole new stage of enlightenment. Moving all nine spaces was going to be more difficult than I had earlier imagined while only reading the rules. The first Clock had not yet appeared but this knowledge already had me worried about the game-ending time constraint since now I had also watched my opponent consume a good chunk of the Movement deck by drawing two cards each turn due to his Extra Locomotive.

Once we placed the final Clock into the Movement deck, Useful Knowledge #2 was revealed to me. I knew from the rules that “Pass” was one of the turn options. I had only envisioned this a way of saying, “the offered Freight Cars are not useful/compatible with my trains at this time. I draw none.” My opponent, however, delivered his remaining train and chose not to draw another Locomotive. He simply passed. We both understood wordlessly that the negative scores for undelivered trains made it unattractive for him to attempt more and his own game was effectively at end. I made two more moves and attained the same status. Thus, the game terminated without truly reaching the final Clock.

In the end, there never was any competition for the “first train” bonuses. He took first, second, and third for Mixed. I took first and second for two of the three single-types. Even though I later ran some shorter trains, I also gleaned “longest train” bonus in three of the four categories.

Final Score:
Him -- 60
Me -- 85

Other Observations:
1) I failed to record the complete individual scoring details, but it seems that we only completed about five trains each. Divide the same total among 3 or 4 players and I wonder how many scoring chances you really have. Granted, those situations also utilize one or two additional Clocks but does the effectiveness of the bet each player makes on the first train almost determine the game outcome? More game experiences required.

2) Running out of time at the game end also made me think of two other games for comparison.
2A) I have only played single games of Palazzo on two consecutive days quite some time ago, but I remember thinking that there was insufficient time to execute the multi-turn floor reorganizing process. Therefor no one even tried. So, too, here that we quit before drawing the final Clock rather than attempt a new train. For both game titles I need additional game experiences to get a feel for the probability of completing the options.

2B) An alternate experience comes from Lost Cities, where we freely play for a while and then reach a stage of very carefully counting the last five or ten draw cards. We consciously extend play to assure playing valuable cards already in our hands, or actively seek termination to hamper our opponent from doing so. Thus Lost Cities game-end seems a tense example without being as hopelessly discouraging as the other two appear.

3) Both of the above observations serve to support the concept that reviews should stem from the vantage point of multiple sessions rather than just a single play. I don’t yet know enough of this one to make judgements.

Side note: I was pleased to accidentally find this at my FLGS. I am content with the price paid since I would not otherwise have been interested in the additional cost for shipping on this small package.

See also Gameplay Explained – TUTORIAL

Thread: Gameplay Explained – TUTORIAL

TVis — 2007-07-21T09:54:40+00:00

This is not a complete explanation of the rules. It describes the gameplay in a summary manner that can be used to orient first-time players, and may be of interest to additional readers who are otherwise unfamiliar with the game.

Overview: Players take turns assembling trains on the table in front of them, each consisting of a Locomotive followed by one to five Freight Cars selected from a deck of cards. Completed trains must be moved a standard distance to their destination in order to score points. Movement is done by drawing from a second deck of cards. Points are deducted at the end of the game for trains that have not arrived at the destination.

Every player’s turn begins with three cards drawn from the random Freight Car deck and placed face up in front of it. These visible cards are what that player may select from (some, all, or none), and any taken are then replenished for the next player.

There are three different types of Freight Car cards: Auto Carrier, Tank, and Coal. For each of these three types there is a scoring category for trains that contain only Freight Cars of that single type. A fourth scoring category is for trains that have a mixed configuration of Freight Cars. These scoring options guide the players’ selection as they form their own trains. Scoring is also based on train length, so this guides how many cars players choose to add to their trains. Completed trains may consist of 1 to 5 Freight Cars. Players are allowed to have more than one train active at a time.

Movement of completed trains toward the destination is determined by cards drawn from a separate random deck, the Movement deck. Trains must complete a standard distance of nine spaces (thematically identified as “track sections”) to successfully deliver the goods and collect a score. Players are allowed to have more than one train in-transit at a time.

Players begin the game with one Locomotive in front of them. On each turn they choose one of four actions:

1) Take a Locomotive from supply to begin a new train.

2) Select 1, 2 or 3 cards from the Freight Car deck to add to their trains.

3) Move a train by drawing the top card from the Movement deck

4) Pass (although still drawing a card from the Movement deck for purposes of a game-ending mechanism)

More about Movement. Each Movement Card shows five different numbers representing distance moved. The particular number to use is determined by the length of the train being moved. As might be expected in the real world, 5-car trains generally move shorter distances (slower) than 1-car or 2-car trains. The range of movement designated by the card may be from 1 to 5 track-sections. Players take a number of Track Section tokens, as directed by the Movement card, and place them with their train in order to record the cumulative movement. Again, total movement of 9 track sections (or more) is considered arrival at Destination.

There are additional cards in each of the two decks that serve special purposes. The Freight Car deck also contains Extra Locomotive cards. These cards may be selected in the same manner as Freight Cars, and then added to the end of a train. Extra Locomotive cards provide for extra movement in the form of drawing a second Movement card on a player’s turn. The additional distance moved is taken from the designation for 5-car trains regardless of the actual length.

A constraint for using an Extra Locomotive is that the player must dedicate subsequent turns to moving that train until it reaches the destination.

The Movement deck is also seeded with a Clock card. Up to 8 Clock cards are used (depending upon number of players) to measure game length, but only one at a time is present in the deck. When a Clock card is drawn, train movement is a standard 4 track-sections. The drawn Clock card is set aside somewhere visible (together with others already drawn) so that players may note how many more before the game comes to an end. All cards of the Movement deck are then reshuffled, along with a new Clock card, and gameplay continues.

When the final Clock card is drawn, the player completes his turn and the game ends.

Scoring for trains that successfully reach their destination:
1) All trains score 2 points for each Freight Car
2) The first of each type scores 5 bonus points
3) Second and third of each type score bonuses of 3 points and 1 point, respectively
4) At game end, the longest of each type scores 8 bonus points. The points are divided in case of ties.

Negative Scoring for trains that have not reached their destination at game end:
1) Deduct 2 points for each Freight Car
2) Deduct 3 points for each Locomotive and for each Extra Locomotive

Thread: Group think might have made it blah...

i7dealer — 2005-05-03T21:02:08+00:00

Doug, Tabitha and I sat down to try out this new game that came with an order (I guess you can't buy it, you have to get it with a purchase from funagain or something like that). A couple of groups had already gone through it and we didn't have high expectations.

The goal was to get trains into home of various kinds (3 pure kinds and one mixed kind were your choice). The player who had the biggest train of a type got rewarded at the end of the phase (which was randomly determined by a deck, more in a minute). Once you decided to move your train down the line you could draw a card that would tell you how far it had moved that time based on it's length. The movement deck contained cards that would end the round as well.

Anyways, the three of us collected the maximum number of cars before heading out of any type of train we got. Since we did that, there was no train that didn't make it home by the end of the game, and no penalty. Had someone tried to ship with shorter trains, it's quite possible the game would have had some tension. As it was, we just flipped cards and nothing special happened.

I'm not a big Alan Moon fan, I've said before that I think some of the games I've played by him encourage group policing of the leader, and that can lead to some spiteful playing (Mammoth Hunter, Time Cop, others). This game I guess could have lead to that had someone decided to run short trains home to burn the guys waiting to ship with larger trains. But since you get points based on how long the train is, no one seemed interested in doing anything but the max.

I'd like to try one more time, before I say the game isn't fun. I can say that I love Freight Train, I think it's an awesome, fabulous game. This game is like it's little punk brother. Looks kinda similar, but you don't want him hanging around.

Thread: Re:Anyone play this game? Is it like Freight Train.

gamemark — 2004-12-22T18:09:19+00:00

Have played through one game solitaire (which is reasonably easy to do, as this is an open information game).

It reminded me more of Get the Goods than Freight Train, though I realize that both games have some similarities. The drafting decisions are simpler in Slow Freight - the real angst comes from deciding when to send the train out on the tracks.

My first impression: I like it. It's similar to many of Alan's games (Ticket to Ride, Get the Goods, Freight Train, Union Pacific) and yet different enough to be an enjoyable addition to my collection.

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jody — 2004-12-22T17:25:54+00:00

2-Player game in progress

Thread: Re:Anyone play this game? Is it like Freight Train.

jody — 2004-12-22T16:24:30+00:00

shawn_low (#71423),

Just finished a 2-player game with my son and Slow Freight is a pretty decent set collecting type game with lots of ways to score. Especially for something that came in an envelope.

I first made a colored scan of the 5 sheets just in case a piece gets lost. Then laminated a set to cut for play. It all fits quite nicely into a sandwich sized Ziploc bag (w/rules).

Thread: Re:Anyone play this game? Is it like Freight Train.

shannona — 2004-12-17T20:54:31+00:00

shawn_low (#71423),

It's a kit game, so, yes, the quality is pretty low. Cut-it-out-yourself pieces from cardstock (cf. Steve Jackson Games). The graphic design isn't too stunning either.

The game shares its method for forming trains with Freight Trains: 4 different types (3 pure trains and mixed trains). However, there's additionally a movement mechanism, based partially on train length, and that's how the trains actually score.

It looks relatively light to me, but I haven't played yet.

Shannon

Thread: Anyone play this game? Is it like Freight Train.

shawn_low — 2004-12-16T23:53:00+00:00

Ok, so it's another Alan Moon TRAIN game.

How does this one play?

The components are do it yourself and look rather low quality.

Is this anything like Freight Train?

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lorna — 2004-12-15T14:45:26+00:00

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lorna — 2004-12-15T14:45:26+00:00