Here in the RockyMountainNavy house, deck building games are not a preferred format. However, in the case of Trains (Alderac Entertainment Group – AEG, 2012) we make the exception. Trains stays in the game collection because Youngest RockyMountainNavy Boy still likes trains. So on the basis of theme it stays. After tonight’s game, I too am happy to keep it in the collection as it plays better than I remember.
Our Saturday Game Night was a classic three-way affair. We used the Northeastern USA maps so we were playing close to home. I took Blue and started off in Toronto. Middle RMN Boy was Yellow and started in the Buffalo while Youngest RMN as Green started all by himself in Washington DC.
The game took a bit longer than the rated time partially because we started off playing slowly. It took a while to build our decks and get our game engines going. Once we became more comfortable with the game it clicked right along. In the end, Youngest RMN Boy won with 61 points. Middle RMN was second and I a further behind third.
Playing Trains satisfies one entry in my new 2019 RockyMountainNavy Origins Challenge. Like my 2019 Wargame Challenge – The Charles S. Roberts Award and my 2019 Golden Geek Challenge, I combed my collection looking for Origins Awards winners and committed to playing each at least once this year. Trains was the 2014 Origins Awards Best Board Game winner. With Trains now played, I have completed 1 of 16 games in my Origins Challenge.
And it was better than I expected.
Rocky Mountain Navy Gamer 
Trains is a fave of mine (though just discovered it’s not in my top 20 or anything LOL). I do like deckbuilders, though, and give me one with a board and something else to do and I’m in heaven.