Volldampf

From: TM Spiele Designer: Martin Wallace List Price: $39 Players: 2-6 Playing Time: 60-90 minutes  Type of game: Family Strategy  Skill level: 8 Complexity: 5  Reviewed by: Peter Sarrett, Issue 26, Summer 2001

Long-time TGR readers know that I’m not a train game devotee. I’ve played 1830 dozens of times against computer opponents but never against humans. I enjoy the odd game of Railway Rivals/Dampfross (not to mention Santa Fe and Union Pacific), but eschew nRails and other complex rail games. Train games hold no special fascination for me. The gameplay comes first, theme second. So when I tell you that Martin Wallace’s Volldampf is my group’s latest obsession, you know it’s not because we’re a bunch of trainspotters. In fact, the game likely appeals to us because the train theme is more of an abstraction rather than a simulation.

Volldampf is a revision of Wallace’s Lancashire Rails transplanted onto a map of Germany. A web of five types of track stretches across the country, connecting small towns and color-coded cities. Over the course of four turns, players acquire these tracks and earn income for moving cargo across them.

Money, used to purchase track segments and (via auction) a spot in the turn order, is tight throughout the game. In fact, players are immediately forced to go into debt because the initial stake is woefully inadequate. Players can take as many bonds as they wish, each providing an instant cash infusion of six marks, but must pay dividends on these bonds at the rate of one mark per turn. Each bond also costs the player a victory point at the end of the game, so fiscal irresponsibility can come back to haunt him. Money management, particularly in the first half of the game, is an exercise in brinksmanship.

Each track segment has a fixed, marked cost from 4 to 10 marks. In addition to paying this price to the bank, a player must play a track card matching the type of the track he wishes to purchase. Sets of track cards (one per player) are dealt face-up at the start of each turn, and all players pick up one set in turn order. This card draft is the main motivator to buy an early spot in the turn order. The raise-or-drop system, in which the first player to drop gets his bid back and subsequent players pay half or full cost, encourages aggressive bidding. If only one set has a card for a particular track type, the bidding can become extremely competitive. The auction can also be a costly boondoggle. Spending money here means less money to spend on track later, which means more bonds, more debt, and more deductions in the final tally.

Spending a fortune on track does no good if the track never gets used. Wooden cubes in four colors— cargo— are scattered around the board with more added semi-randomly each turn. Each player is allowed to move up to two units of cargo every turn (in turn order, of course). Blue cubes must be ferried to blue cities, red cubes to red cities, and so forth, with a maximum journey of six track segments. Cubes can only travel over owned track, and when they do the owner’s income increases by one. Income, paid at the start of each turn, is vital for two reasons: it reduces a player’s dependence on bonds, and it’s also a player’s score. Cash on hand is worth nothing at the end of the game— income is everything.

The dynamics of cargo transport are fascinating and seem to be dependent on the number of players. Experience in 3-4 player games suggests the dominant strategy is to acquire an unbroken web of track and shuttle as much cargo across it as possible. With 5-6 players, however, transport relies on synergy with other players. Having a segment or two on other players’ vital routes can mean more income than trying to go it alone. When one player has a killer route, his opponents will try and move cargo away from it before that player has the chance to profit. When players share routes, they stand a greater chance of sending cargo across their tracks. The odd mark here or there can quickly add up and make the difference.

One of the more appealing aspects of Volldampf, in fact, is its balance of cooperation and competition. Getting a long stretch of connected track can be lucrative, but if an opponent beats you to the punch on a couple of sections it’s not the end of the world— that player is now likely to move some cargo across your own track. This makes Volldampf fairly forgiving of minor mishaps.

To further help players catch up from behind, at the end of each turn the player(s) in last place draw a free event card. There are seven different kinds of varying impact, from rearranging track cards into new sets to allowing a player to claim any track segment for the flat rate of five marks (an extremely useful card). Since there’s usually not much money to be made in turn one, hanging back to get a free card can be a very smart play. In fact, it’s something to consider any time the scores are close— sacrificing a point or two could pay huge dividends in the form of powerful events. On the other hand, the event can also be minor and not particularly helpful; a risky proposition, then. The Sabotage card seems particularly weak, since the circumstances under which it becomes useful are extremely rare.

Even the best track networks can be worthless if the cargo doesn’t cooperate. If there’s no cargo in range, or if the nearby cargo is of the wrong color and will therefore get dropped off prematurely as it passes through a like-colored city, there’s very little a player can do about it. This is a game in which the tail wags the dog. Players building great routes and hoping for cargo to show up to transport across them are setting themselves up for disaster. Players should build their track with a sharp eye on the cargo already awaiting transportation.

The emphasis on income, as opposed to cash on hand, can be difficult to wrap one’s head around. Cash is not an end unto itself, but merely a tool with which to produce income. Spending 10 marks for a route which, over the course of the game, might see only one or two cubes pass over it would be ludicrous in many games. Here it’s often worthwhile.

The game lasts a scant four turns which, although just right in terms of playing time, sometimes feels a bit premature. Depending on how the track cards come up, sections of the map can remain unconnected or isolated until the final turn, or never get linked up at all. Just when your hard work and planning seems to have paid off, the game stops before you really get the chance to exploit the fruits of your labor. On balance the timing is just about right, though, and I’m happy to accept the possibility of endgame frustration in exchange for shaving fifteen minutes or so off the clock.

TM Spiele is a division of Kosmos, and Volldampf features the high production values we’ve come to expect from that publisher. Players of Winsome’s Lancashire Rails will want to upgrade for the bits alone— the streamlined gameplay is an extra bonus.

Volldampf can be added to Santa Fe, Union Pacific, and Stephensons Rocket on the list of train games for people who don’t like train games. Mr. Wallace now has my attention for his future efforts.