Tekk's Thurn and Taxis Review |

Gregory Curtis

(Tekkor)

United States
Florida

Hello everyone. Has been a bit since my last review which was on one of the most played games in our collection...Stone Age (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/368253 ). However one of the next most played as of late games has indeed been Thurn and Taxis (T&T going forward).

Overview:

In T&T players are building a series of post office routes across Bavaria. You select from a pool of cards trying to get a series of connections so that you can then score and place "buildings" on those route locations.

There are several ways to essentially score points. However the game ends once someone acquires the largest deluxe carriage. There are several bonuses that can be acquired for building post offices on all locations of a certain color set...or having at least one "building" on every color etc. Also it is a very important part of your overall strategy to use and place as many of your buildings as possible because each one in your hand counts as negative points at the end of the game.

The game has a "lite" jobs style component that you have seen in other games like Race for the Galaxy or Puerto Rico in which on every turn you can pick from one of 4 "Jobs" that allow you a special function. Examples are draw 2 cards instead of 1 or play 2 cards in stead of 1. You can also wipe all the cards from the selection area and replace them with new cards (which often results in sighs from other players).

The game does have some similarities to Ticket to Ride however in my opinion this is a MUCH better game. I really do not enjoy playing TTR at all. But T&T is a very fun lite game to me.

Pic from swiftcorp

Components:

The components of the game are exceptional. The board is very well done and the art is really impressive to me. Very professional and the board works and is very functional. The wood house work well and the instructions are very well done with full color pictures etc. They even include a bit of a background history sheet which is a nice touch.

The only complaint would perhaps be the cards for the locations. They are the small version cards you have seen in some other games similar to say the St. Pete cards. They are also quite thin. But I understand why they went this direction in order to make the size work for the board. I just would have liked maybe slightly thicker stock on the cards.

Mechanics:

I think everything in the game works together quite well. You have a good amount of freedom to approach your game as you wish. The goal is the same for everyone in that you are essentially building routes. But unlike TTR you cant get locked out of an area. So its more about you trying to be as efficient as possible and basically beat the other players in the race to the end.

The game does have some player interaction if your the sort of player that can pay attention. You basically want to keep an eye on your opponents and you can get opportunities to try to make cards they want "unavailable" in certain ways by clearing the board or even selecting them yourself. But the interaction is lite in most cases. Again...the game is a bit more of a race. Can you finish the routes you need and pick up more bonuses then your opponents while getting the last carriage first? However...if your able to even semi waste a turn with a successful wipe to cause an opponent taking a chance to have to scrap a route it can be devastating to them.

Yes a bit more player interaction would have been nice...like maybe a way remove a card from their active route somehow or some way to temporarily block a location or something. But as it is it works.

It is compelling and fun.

Fun Factor:

As stated I find the game to be a fun filler style of game. When we have some of our monthly game sessions with friends many times this is one of the main 2-3 games that is the first to hit the table as a bit of a warmup.

I will also add that this is a good "non-gamer" or even female friendly game. Its a pretty easy game to get non-gamers up to speed on (pick cards that connect...put your houses down to get points.). My wife is not a big time gamer. However she likes 3 games in our collection and will play them often. Stone Age is her top choice all the time. Then T&T and Thebes are her next favorites.

Pic from swiftcorp

Overall:

Thurn and Taxis is a fun game. Its a great game for new players and as a filler or warmup game. The components are high quality and the game typically is not too hard to find for a very inexpensive price. Out of the 35 or so games we have its in the top 5 of our most played games I would have to estimate. The great thing is as well....it actually taught my 13 year old a bit of history in reading about the history behind the games subject material. Oh the horror!

Last edited Sat May 30, 2009 8:49 pm (Total Number of Edits: 1)
Posted Sat May 30, 2009 8:07 pm
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Adam K

(LupusX)

Sweden
Linköping

Great review! It's always good to use some pictures and star-icons to make it look good when writing longer texts, as you did. Otherwise it gets very boring to read.

A lot of people have complained on the cards, but I don't really get that. I think the size is excellent for the card's purpose. The only information they hold, is a little name on the bottom. Having big cards for just a little name would be a bit overkill in my opinion.

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Pasta Batman

(pastabatman)

United States
Tustin
California

Great review of one of my favorites. I think this is an ideal transitional game from 'gateway games'. Like many gateway games, it has great visual appeal, and it offers a healthy increase in complexity without being too overwhelming. Also, the confrontation aspects are muted, which can be a plus when raising the bar.

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Gregory Curtis

(Tekkor)

United States
Florida

LupusX wrote:

Great review! It's always good to use some pictures and star-icons to make it look good when writing longer texts, as you did. Otherwise it gets very boring to read.

A lot of people have complained on the cards, but I don't really get that. I think the size is excellent for the card's purpose. The only information they hold, is a little name on the bottom. Having big cards for just a little name would be a bit overkill in my opinion.

Thanks and yeah...the cards are a minor thing. really for me I don't mind them being small...as it works with the board well and all that. I just perhaps would have liked them to be on slightly thicker card stock.

The only benefit that would have came from having larger cards would maybe have been to have some sort of flavor history text on them...which would have been neat but they included alot of that on the additional insert.