So January is shaping up to be a good month for me, game-playing wise. Which, of course, means that it’s a good month. My whole outlook seems easier to keep upbeat if I get a significant amount of play time in.

What may be interfering with that starting in . . . oh, about 10 minutes is the release of the World of Warcraft expansion “The Burning Crusade” (link opens a flash window) .”

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Ok. I know I promised a review of Ys or Tower of Babel. But instead, I bring you the newly chosen Spiel des Jahres Thurn and Taxis. This is a recent release for 2-4 players from Hans im Gluck, imported for the U.S. by Rio Grande Games. The designers are Adreas Seyfarth, best known for his smash hit Puerto Rico and his wife, graphic designer Karen Seyfarth.

Goal
In Thurn and Taxis, each player represents a postal concern in pre-Industrial Germany. By placing the most depots in cities and completing the most lucrative routes, each player can earn points. Early is better, though, as most point-scoring opportunities get smaller for those who do them second, or third. The game ends on the turn that one player has placed all of her 20 depots on the board, or a player upgrades to the “7″ carriage. At the end of that round, each player calculates points based on route chips picked up over the course of the game, plus the value of their carriage, minus any depots left unplayed. Final winning scores can range from the high teens to the low thirties, depending on the playing style of the group.

Setup
Each player takes the depots of one color. A deck of 66 city cards is shuffled and the first six are placed in the draw area of the board. The carriage cards (numbered 3 through 7) are set up in small stacks, and the scoring chits are stacked by where they score, in numerical order from highest on top to lowest on the bottom.

Game Play
On a player’s turn, he performs two mandatory actions, and then has the choice of another:
1. Draw a card (from the six face-up or the top of the deck)
2. Play a card for his route. If there is already a route begun from a previous turn, then the new card must extend one end of the route. If it is impossible to extend the route, then the existing route must be abandoned and a new one begun. This is bad.
3. If the route is at least 3 cities long, the player may choose to close it, allowing for depots to be placed, and perhaps scoring chits to be earned, and the carriage to be upgraded.

In addition, the player may take one of four different privileges on each turn: she may draw two cards (instead of one), play two cards (instead of one), wipe all of the visible cards from the draw section (before drawing herself), or (when closing a route) earn a higher upgrade of a carriage than the route allows.

Upon closing a route, the player may place depots in one of two ways: either one depot in each region the route travels through, or one depot in every city in one region that the route travels through. Upon placing depots, the player may have earned scoring chits. Chits are awarded for having depots in every city of some regions, or for all cities in multiple regions, or for closing routes of at least 5 cities.

Impressions/Review
Some have pooh-poohed (I’ve always wanted to use that) the comparisons of this game to China (nee Web of Power), but the similarities are apparent. Playing cards in order to place pieces in regions of the board is an obvious parallel. But in this game, the placement is a race to be first, rather than an attempt at area control. And since multiple depots can occupy the same city, it is more difficult to thwart the plans of your opponents. More difficult, but not impossible. Since there are only three cards in the deck for any city, using the privilege to wipe the board clean can remove options for your competitors, or you can just take the city they need, as it is not uncommon for you to need to reach the same regions yourself.

This game seems to leave opportunity for multiple styles of play, leading to short or longer games. Cut-throat games, with players frequently wiping the draw board clean can lead to games of 45 minutes, while a more solitaire style of game, where each player pays attention only to their own cause should lead to a quicker game. Of course, choosing a style ahead of time will be self-defeating, as this game requires more tactics than strategy. In any case, this is a lighter filler game, like the two it is so often compared to. There is a moderate amount of luck, and in a four-player game, planning ahead is frequently for naught, as the available cards can cycle quickly. Fortune favors the prepared, and counting cards is an important skill, and not all that difficult.

I gave this game a 7 on Boardgamegeek, which according to their system means Good game, usually willing to play.

A few weeks ago, at the end of my regular Thursday gaming night with the Elgin Eagles, a friend brought out a homemade-looking box with pasted on graphics. But kit games can be fun, so I thought, “why not?” Then the theme was presented – a race game. I’m fairly certain that the groan that that piece of news engendered did not actually escape. Opening the box did nothing to improve my first impression. The board was a laminated piece of cardstock with an oval track subdivided into 40 wedges, and my pieces were (admittedly cooler) plastic bicyclists. This plus a piece of paper with four large columns subdivided into three or four smaller columns made up the entirety of the game.

I should pause here and say that I am not the kind of gamer that chooses games based on bits. I appreciate a finely made set of pieces as much as the next person, though, and find that higher quality components do have an impact on my enjoyment of the game. They are not the most important element, but there it is.

So, after taking my customary green pieces, we were ready for the rules. Here is a summary:

(From the rule book) “In Breaking Away you control a team of four cyclists and determine their race strategy in an attempt to outscore your opponents.”

Goal
The race takes place over 100 wedges or “squares,” or two-and-a-half laps of the circuit. Furthermore, there are three scoring stages to the race, two “sprints” which are roughly one circuit each, and the finishing stage where the scores for crossing the line are doubled. Only the first 8 cyclists to cross any of these stage lines gets points, and the points diminish for each of these. A player’s final score is the sum of the points earned by all of his racers.

Setup
Each player takes the four cyclists of one color (numbered 1-4) and a racing form (ok, it’s really just a modified spreadsheet, but racing form sounds cooler).
The first order of business is to assign movement values to each of your cyclists. This is a crucial element to the game, as it provides your team with the flexibility needed to find advantageous spots in the peloton. Here is a brief rundown of the options:

Cyclist 1 takes 30 points and breaks it up into 3 or 4 values between 1 and 15 inclusive.
Cyclist 2 does the same with 25 points over 3 values.
Cyclist 3 does the same with 20 points over 3 values.
Cyclist 4 does the same with 16 points over 3 values.

Each of these breakdowns gets placed into the Movement log (racing form) on the top row for each cyclist. Then it’s time to place the cyclists on the board. This will require choosing a starting player.

For placing on the board, there are two setup options:

2. Begining with the start player, each player places their #1 cyclist on the start line, then their #2, etc. This will create a large line from inside to outside on the starting line.
3. Begining with the start player, each player places their #1 cyclist on the start line, then in reverse order the #2 cyclists are placed on the space behind, then keep switching back for the #3 and #4 cyclists.

Game Play From this point, the race begins! For every turn, the cyclist that is furthest forward and closest to the inside of the track is the next player to move. On a cyclist’s move, the controlling player chooses one of the three or four numbers and travels that far forward, taking the innermost available slot for the target space. After all cyclists have moved, it’s time to refresh the Movement log.

One of the choices for each cyclists has been used. Bring the others down to the next row and leave a blank for a new “replacement” movement value. Replacement values are calculated thusly:

Any cyclists in the front of a group get a replacement value of 3.
Any other cyclists in that group get a replacement value of 3 plus the number of cyclists in that group that are in front of her. This simulates the highly valuable cycling skill of slipstreaming.
Each group is evaluated separately. In addition, if a lone cyclist has “broken away” from the pack, he receives a replacement value equal to the number of empty spaces between him and the nearest group. Note that breakaways only refer to the lead, solo cyclist. If there is another cyclist on the space, or there is a group in front of the cyclist, it is not a breakaway, and the cyclist will get a replacement value of 3.

That’s it. The whole game. Once the 8th cyclist has crossed beyond the finish line, the game is over and total points (in the form of chits earned for crossing stage lines) are totalled.

Impressions/Review

I am not an expert on race games, as up until now I have found almost all of them too reliant upon luck – dice, cards, etc. The only exception I had played up to this point was Mississippi Queen. This is another. There is no luck here at all. There is chaos introduced by the actions of others, but choosing the movement value is a matter of clever management. On each turn, there is pressure to stay toward the back of the pack, in order to get good replacement values, while also staying within striking distance of the front in order to get sprint points. There is great benefit in keeping your team functioning as such – this keeps a rider from being at the mercy of the other players, getting stranded alone and such.

This game is extremely mathematical in nature. The math is not advanced, but projecting what values will be needed for key moments in the race requires calculation. Like an actual bicycle race, tactics are more important than strategy – reacting to the conditions of the other players overwhelms the initial determination of values. Keeping movement logs secret is key to preventing analysis paralysis; turns should be taken relatively quickly, since in a four player game there will always be 16 cycles to move per round.

Overall I find this game to be intensly satisfying. Play is quick, with little downtime, and decisions are meaningful at almost every step of the race. The theme is strong, even with the mathematical construct of the logs (just look at the logs as the racers managing their energy levels throughout the race).

On a non-play note, the only place to get this fine product is directly from Fiendish Games. For us Yanks, that means a shipping time of about 2 weeks. The price as of this posting is $38 (US), which for a game is quite reasonable, especially as this includes overseas shipping (via air mail). Be warned, upon placing an order, I recieved no confirmation outside of the automated Paypal email. Don’t panic. The game will arrive in a manilla envelope (you must assemble the box yourself) in 2 weeks.

Overall, I rated this game an 8 (out of 10) on Boardgamegeek which by their published criteria means “Very good game. I like to play. Probably I’ll suggest it, and will never turn it down.”