Round 10 Press

HUBRIS: Woo hoo, not only can nobody run Race 45 this time, but nobody can even build to run its rerun next turn! Futility thy name is Race 45!

GM - HUBRIS: And despite that, Rip started a build to Hillsville. And then, just to twist the odds, we get another race to Hillsville this round!

HUBRIS to TURN: I take it you're going transcontinental since you were one hex away? Hard to argue against 40 points.

GM - HUBRIS: Ah, but the 40 goes to the player that wins the race, not the one that builds the first track.

HUBRIS to COB: Did you build to the Oregon coast (since you were the only one who could challenge TURN) and give us a shot at the double-point Transcontinental race? If not, he gets 40, we get zero. But since he's four hundred points behind, I won't begrudge him the points if it works out that way.

GM - HUBRIS: Looks to me like there are three of you with a shot, assuming we get a race soon.

SPIKE - Rivals: West Coast operations next time, anyone?

GM - SPIKE: Not this time, we've got some cities to build first.

Round 9 Press

HUBRIS, STILL AWAITING RACES TO RUN: Only one race again, twenty-five percent rented (one out of the four hexes), and I'm only entering that one because the union insists on it. If we sit idle, all the equipment has to go through expensive recertification.

GM - HUBRIS: Par for the course again. Methinks you've really got to expand your line to some of those outlying cities

Round 6 Press

HUBRIS: Race 25, Richmond to Bowling Green. What is this, a not-pro-enough-for-the-ACC local game for which we're carrying passengers? One whole hex from Point A to Point B. No mountains. Way to put the "no minimum race distance" variant rule to the test, Mr. GM!

GM - HUBRIS: Hey, thank the dice and the variant designer, not me (<:. Gotta like those COB and ARAB runs too!

HUBRIS: Whoo hoo, I get to enter one whole race this time! That's more than last turn! Of course I'll probably finish second and have to give about half the prize to the winner for track rental. Can I just skip buying the current generation of trains and wait for Superchief 18-trains to come out? By then I might have some runs for which I'd have any need for a train.

Round 4 Press

TURN: Someone trying to out-guess us? Can't be done. I have NO strategy ... :o)

SPIKE - Rivals: This game offers the option to seek a quick payoff and the option to invest for the future. It's nice to see that both are being pursued. Mike is doing the best job of getting a little of both.

SPIKE - HUBRIS: Here's a gamble. I could pay you substantial parallels this round, but I'm hoping you build north from Philly rather than east from Oswego. My line parallels the Erie Canal.

SPIKE - GM: No towns created during the races as a result of double "1"s so far, but it's only a matter of time! I'm having fun playing this game.

GM - SPIKE: And that time has come. In spades! Good to hear you're enjoying it!

COB: Whee. Now maybe I can enter a race.

HUBRIS: Okay, I purchase the Boston & Maine RR for $4,000.

HUBRIS to GM: No, you're right; expecting Conrad to be predictable is like expecting ME to conform to conventional ways.

HUBRIS to DICE GODS: Five races and I can run none of them solo and only one feasible joint run. Sigh.

(CLEVELAND): As HUBRIS builds railroad corridors into Ohio, the HUBRIS Board of Directors would like to offer a salute to the USA's largest Chief Justice, famed Ohioan William Howard Taft. Anyone know whether he was also our largest President?

ARAB - GM: What crappy build rolls.

GM - ARAB: The dice gods take pity on your plea this round.

Round 1 Press
HUBRIS to GM: Jeez. Two sixes and I still can't use those movement rolls to get over one mountain efficiently. Instead I'm spending round 1a building a couple of three-digit Interstates.

Round 0 Press

SPIKE - Rivals: Somebody has to start the B&O!
GM - SPIKE: Two someones!

SPIKE - GM: "Perdu"? Shouldn't it be "Trouve"?
GM - SPIKE: Call it poetic license. Only time and your tracks will tell which is more appropriate!

COB: Cambria is a small town on the central California coast, near the infamous gaudy Hearst Castle. Twenty years ago it was a collection of run-down beach shacks, but now it's something of an artists' colony with some really up-market antique outlets and like that. But the real point is that it's the southern end of the really scenic California coast that leads north through Big Sur and into Monterey and San Francisco. In other words, just exactly where I'd rather be right now.