Whilst trying to familiarise myself with roads and boats I stumbled across this play-through.
Spoilers, it doesn’t end well. In fact, I thought I could do better.
Problem is, I don’t own roads and boats, but I own a lot of other board games. So maybe I could cannibalise other resources and build my own version?
So let’s work this out, everyone else gets a bonus point for every game resource or component I use that they can identify.
I thought you meant physically? If just digital or printed images, why not use roads & boats?
Oh. Totally physical from now on. Just needed to print off a board, now various bits can be used to let me do this spatially.
For logs, you can cut down any tree that may be on (or defensible-by-way-of-feigning-ignorance near) your property. Woodcutters automatically generated one log per turn, so you’ll probably have to deforest a pretty good-sized area to create a large enough supply.
Planks, on the other hand, are probably going to be less numerous, though not insignificant; I recommend buying some wood planks from a lumber yard if you don’t have the tools on hand.
You know, the more I think about it, it would probably be easier to reproduce the components at the same scale as the packaged game!
The game just uses cardboard chits for all of the resources with the icon for the good printed on both sides; you can accomplish this same thing with a bit of full-page A4 sticker sheets printed, stuck to a piece of A4 chipboard, and then use a paper cutter or straightedge+hobby knife to cut them down into squares.
From the 3rd edition and on, the transporters are meeples of the appropriate shape, but before that, they were large wooden disks in the player’s color; perhaps 3cm in diameter or so, and a sticker stuck to it showing what type of transporter it is.
If you are printing out terrain layouts, I would just recommend to laminate it (if that wasn’t already obvious).
I have scans of most of the game components other than the terrain tiles.
(I understand now RossM doesn’t need it and has other plans, but the Vassal module is a simple zip file containing all the original source art, somewhat scaled down but still probably better quality than any scan. I think I used pillbox’s scans for some expansion content that Splotter didn’t supply: aeroplanes, and the like.)
Oh god. I’m nowhere near using aeroplanes
So. Limiting Board factors.
It’s going to be Turn 4 at least until I can get stone, either through quarry or clay.
Every square is accessible by boats.
Maximum of two mines.
Research seems of limited use. Maybe specialist mines?
Why? Seems like you can build a quarry.
Yep. But with the home location being in the top right, it’s going to take me that long to get to the tile.
Oh, didn’t know that was fixed.
I’m confused, is this a solo attempt? With groupthink?
Pretty much a solo attempt with input from you lovely people.
Ok, in that case I think it might be worth considering the initial stone as a bridge to get a quarry going on T3.
Bridge hex as sawmill, adjacent forest as woodcutter, adjacent pasture as your breeding spot. Home hex left a little lonely, initially.
Or the sawmill on home, eventually. That works too.
That would shave a turn off. Hmm.
You are going to need both quarries, I assume, so at least one bridge is compulsory. Might as well make it the bridge that enables stone production a turn earlier.
Research wise I fell like only specialist mines and oil rigs are worth getting?
What about ships? It will make you much more efficient in the second half
But the distance to get iron and fuel? I think even rowboats will be expensive.
I think so. It’s like having wagons instead of donkeys to upgrade from rafts. You’ll be able to do so much more if you can get them going
