Last Train to Wensleydale – Review

Last Train to Wensleydale was first published in 2009 and is designed by Martin Wallace who has designed a number of “train” games. This game attempts to simulate the movement of cheese, stone and passengers from the Dales all the while trying to make a bit of money. (This review was originally posted on BoardGame-Reviews.com)

Last Train To Wensleydale:

• Designed by: Martin Wallace
• Published by: Warfrog
• Number of players: 3-4
• Playing time: 2 hours
• Player ages: 13+

A Quick Overview

Each player takes on the role of a director of a small railway company who attempts to make some profit by building rail track in some of the most difficult terrain in England.

Players obtain investment money which they then use to buy influence in the government and other national rail companies, build track and attempt to ship cheese, stone from nearby quarries and the occasional passenger.

Game Play

Last Train to Wensleydale takes place over 4 turns (5 for three players) and build a profitable rail network. Profitability is ensured by delivering goods and passengers along your rail network.

Each turn is broken into 10 “phases” which are played in turn order. These phases allow a player to:

• Receive “investment” income
• Bid for influence
• Build track
• Buy trains; Ship passengers and goods
• Sell off unprofitable track to national railway companies

The heart of the game revolves around delivery of goods and passengers. Over the course of the game, deliveries are slowly exhausted and by later turns, you are struggling to ensure a profitable rail network.

There is also a bit of an auction element which allows players to get influence points which affect turn order in the different phases of the game.

Careful management of your rail network and selling off track to the existing national rail companies at crucial times will ensure that you will come out ahead.

This is a game of bribery and jostling to prevent other players from developing good routes across the Dales!

Do you have what it takes?!

Observations

I *love* “train” games or train-themed games so it is no surprise that I adore this game! I would very much recommend it.

After several readings of the (rather obtuse) rules and several playings, it reveals itself to be a simple game. Mr. Wallace’s prose is a better fit for a book rather than a rules booklet. If you have played other Wallace games, you’ll understand why. (It is because there are several rules’ exceptions scattered throughout the prose which a cursory reading will not reveal!)

This game is easily played in under two hours and offers a great balance of “game weight” to satisfaction. A 3 player game feels fun and “light” while a 4 player game is very tight and sweat inducing

It is a cutthroat game because you will discover that careful placement of tracks will cause much consternation for other players! There are lots of delightful nuances to the game that is discovered after plays.

What I enjoy about this game is the random setup for each game. However, I don’t like that the initial setup and “seeding” of the game can take a bit of time.

The board is functional yet was garish to look at. After a few plays, however, it was ok; the colours do evoke the sense of a biology textbook but that ensures that you aren’t confused about the landscape.

Every game that I have played was different and each game lent itself well for trying out new strategies for the following game. I think this game is more tactical than it is strategic but that’s not a detracting factor.

I would not play this game with younger players because there are a number of things to keep straight.

Happy gaming.