Dale of Merchants 3 – The Grand Continental Railroad

Welcome back everyone. with the newest lockdown rules striking Ontario, Hector, Amanda and I are back to the gaming table more frequently again, this time with the recently arrived kickstarter: Dale of Merchants 3 – The Grand Continental Railroad. As the title suggests The Grand Continental Railroad is an entry into the well regarded (by me) Dale of Merchants series. It’s the 3rd small box game, and 5th entry overall if you count the collector’s box and Eurasian beavers expansion. As with all Dale of Merchants games, it is compatible with all previous entries, but this review will focus on the game as played using only the content of this box and not how it interacts with the series as a whole, there will likely be a future review of the series in it’s entirety.

The components are the same as usual for the series. Although one might assume this to always be the case, I actually appreciate the consistency. sometimes games series with multiple kickstarter releases have problems with component quality across releases and editions but Dale of Merchants has been consistent the entire way. The cards are good stock, the art bright and colorful in a cartoony oil paint style that you will either love for hate. I really wish they had chosen to use a resin dice instead of the lightweight wooden ones, but they’re about as nice as you can get for that style of die. Overall, excellent.

For those who have not played a Dale of Merchants game, it’s a quick deck builder in which players build a deck based on several different trader animals, each with a theme for their cards and attempt to build a tableau of 8 stalls. The stalls are built in order requiring cards that have a cost equal to their number, and cards of the same animal may be stacked to produce higher values. All cards also have a special ability of some sort that falls in line with their animal theme. First player to reach 8 wins the game.

The Grand Continental Railroad introduces a number of species largely based around player interaction, including the welcome edition of a faction that allows you to stash your own cards back into your deck, making them safe from other players. Because the entire set is based on manipulating other player’s cards, and there is a faction that can protect your cards, this makes the player on player interaction much less frustrating than previous Dale of Merchant’s sets, where usually only one set of cards per deck interacted with the other players. Because a player who snatched up all of the interactive cards a the start of the game could basically dictate the pace of the game from then on, those animal sets were only used in games where you used them all at once. By making 5 out of the 6 sets in this release interactive and including a defense against it, The Grand Continental Railroad allows for much more flexibility without turning it into a one way “take that” game.

Speaking of “take that”, two player games of the Grand Continental Railroad do turn into a little bit of a slugfest with these animals, as it is impossible to play without selecting at least a couple of animals sets that have “take that” elements. However the quick nature of the game mitigates any umbrage players might take, and each player will dish out as much as they take.

Overall I highly recommend The Grand Continental Railroad to fans of the series, and would go so far as to say it is a must. Not only is it a solid game on it’s own, but it will enhance the playability of previous games by mixing it in. I would not however, recommend it as a starting point for anyone interested in the series, unless you really enjoy deckbuilders that involve card stealing and “take that” elements. If you’re looking to jump in, start with the first or second games in the series, they provide the same feeling but don’t have the players in each other’s faces nearly so much.

Note: I really enjoyed this expansion, and as always with Dale of Merchants, how the game goes is dictated by three things- the abilities of bought cards, what cards come out in the marketplace, and how they’ve been purchased to be able to play them out the fastest. Sometimes you can think a card’s ability is marvelous and will layer well with other cards you’ve got somewhere in your deck, but if you never get the chance to use it before someone plays all their cards, it wasn’t actually that useful. All in all a fun and quick filler game.

The Teal Deer

Game: Dale of Merchants 3 – The Grand Continental Railroad
Designer: Sami Laasko
Price: $30
Players: 1-4
2 player Scaling: Excellent
Playtime: 20-30 minutes
Estimated Lifespan: Added to our permenant collecction
Expected Average Play Frequency: Monthly
Complexity: 3.5
Components: 4
Bang for Buck: 4.5
Value for Time: 5
Fun Factor: 4.5
Overall: 4.5