First Impression: Canal Mania

By Craig Massey
July 24, 2006

Publisher: Ragnar Brothers / ragnarbrothers.co.uk

Game Played: Production Copy
Number of Plays: 2 (3 and 5 Player Games)

First the game exceeds by far the production of any previous game done by Ragnar Brothers.  This is a professional production with cards and bits.  Even the famous Ragnar tea towel game board is gone.

The game itself was just as good.  Players are trying to score the most points by building canals across early 19th century England.  Points are scored through the actual construction of canals, fulfilling contracts for specific routes, and delivering goods.  If you think this sounds like a train game, you’re right.

The game turn is divided up into three phases.

Phase 1:  Claim a contract:  Each player can have a maximum of two contracts at one time which they then work on building the canal structure to fulfill the contract.

OR players can switch engineers.  There are five engineers, each with a different ability.  Players can always exchange their engineer with another players to gain the benefit of the new power.

OR players can clear the tableau of building cards

Phase 2:  Players can draw up to three building cards to construct canals OR spend building cards to building canal segments.  Canals are made up of four different types of pieces with some being more difficult to construct than others.

Phase 3: Players can choose to deliver one goods cube only any completed set of links.  Run cubes on your routes and you score points.  Use other player’s routes and they score points.

Players may also choose to draw mystery meat of the building cards deck in lieu of any one of the three phases.

Aside from specific details about each phase, that is it.  The game is actually fairly simple.  Playing it is quite complex though.  You need to balance between drawing building cards and completing contracts with setting up routes to deliver goods.  You always want to do more than you can and the choices are not obvious.  The game is parts Ticket to Ride and Age of Steam, but doesn’t feel like either really.

I thought the game was outstanding.  The dynamics of the five player game were different from the three player game and allowed for varying strategies.  At first blush, the variety and order that the canal contracts come into play will also make each game play rather differently.

The first game poked along over two hours, but after a game or two, I see no reason for a game to run over 90 minutes with reasonable play. This is a keeper.

© 2006 Rick Thornquist

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Some adicional comments about his game? to me it’s the main object of desire right now. Posted by Mario Aguila on Aug 22, 2006 at 05:00 PM | #

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