Scenarios in board games have been around for quite some time and seem to only be rising in popularity. They take the core mechanics of a game and tweak or rearrange elements around them to create a new experience. Even if not by name, many expansions to early hobby giants Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride and Carcassonne function more like scenarios than expansions. More recently, war and adventure games employ this often: Gloomhaven, Memoir 44 and Arkham Horror: The Card Game are all famous recent examples.

Snowdonia too has a plethora of scenarios representing different railways around the world. That element is something we want to champion in Grand Tour, in which the scenarios are more ambitious than ever. So I want to start exploring scenarios through “deep-dive” articles. And naturally with a game called ‘Snowdonia’… there’s only one place to start!

Overview

Mount Snowdon is the first ever scenario: all other scenarios use this as their base. Some might even argue that it’s not a scenario at all! We’re starting here because really understanding the core game is critical to fully appreciating the twists and turns later scenarios add.

This is the most streamlined version of the game available but that doesn’t necessarily make it basic. It tests your fundamentals well and if you’re coming back here after playing other scenarios for a while, you might even be caught off guard by its lack of core gimmick to latch onto.

Track cards

2 players – 12
3-4 players – 13
5 players – 14

The track in Mount Snowdon is mostly unremarkable. We’re noting its length here primarily to use as a comparison point in future deep dives.

That said, the fact the game starts with track cards before players reach a station to build in is relatively unusual. This both increases competition for non-E actions and also reduces the desirability of stone since building won’t be possible for one or two rounds.

Stations

Two things immediately stand out here. All rewards are just VP and all building requirements are simply stone or steel. This makes the scenario a great opportunity to practise assessing the value you are getting from your actions and resources when choosing where to build. I know this sounds really simple… but it’s better to get 8 points for your steel bar than 6!

The excavation spaces on offer here are also relatively easy to get and very points efficient.

Some other examples of note include:

1. 1 stone for 1 point on Two Viaducts – this is exceptionally bad in most circumstances. This is like moving your surveyor but scoring the lowest possible amount of points for doing so while also losing a resource and a scoring marker. The only exception to this would be if you needed building spots for a contract and this was really all that was available.
   
   
2. 2 steel for 14 points on Yr Wyddfa – this is strong. 1 steel for 7 points is the same ratio you’ll find elsewhere but this nets you an extra action vs building 2 of the separate 7 pointers. If you’re not in dire need of building track this is a fantastic use of your steel!

Surveyor

This is the simplest the surveyor ever gets. He’s often maligned in this scenario for being useless and, broadly speaking, he’s not the strongest option. But as you’ll see when we get to the contracts there are a couple cards here that bolster him.

Also of interest is the halfway station, for being one of the only times in any scenario that you will lose points for advancing the surveyor. If you’re nearing the end game and your surveyor is near this station… there is an element of risk reward to be considered. Getting caught out here hurts a lot.

Trains

No. 1 L.A.D.A.S.

This train is not just my personal favourite from this scenario but potentially my favourite train in the entire game. No. 1 for a reason. Absolute unit and all round massive L.A.D. *ahem* This ability enables you to take acceptable excavation turns when other player’s can’t, gives you incredible potential to score excavation bonuses and combines with double-excavation contracts to game winning effect. It’s not an auto-pick (nothing in Snowdonia is!) but I take it when I can.

No. 2 Enid and No. 3 Wyddfa

These trains are similar in that they’re netting you extra resources. That said, the extra steel costs to craft them mean that they’ve both got work to do before they’ve broken even. This goes extra for the Enid which doesn’t even come with coal.

I find the Enid’s use case more narrow than the Wyddfa though because it doesn’t really pay off till you’ve used its discount 2 to 3 times. The issue then is finding the time to leverage that volume of steel before the game ends. Even in a shortage of iron ore where Enid would hypothetically shine, I prefer Wyddfa’s capacity to simply secure more of it in the first place.

The Wyddfa also importantly allows you to still take coal in addition to 3 iron or stone, which hits many useful breakpoints in the game’s action economy – namely steel needing 3 iron ore, and many buildings needing 3 stone. This way you can keep taking efficient actions while maintaining the flow of coal for your third worker.

No. 4 Snowdon

Simple but very good. 1 Steel for 9 points outranks all of the building spaces in this scenario and even comes with coal to boot. That said… it’s notably more appealing to pick this up after train maintenance if you can, and even better if you can pivot into it after having your previous train scrapped.

No. 5 Moel Siabod

It’s simple but effective. What it lacks in long term value offerings compared to the other trains, it makes up for in immediacy. Like the Snowdon, it can be a nice late pick-up after train maintenance. Unlike the Snowdon, this is likely stronger before train maintenance. Use up its coal (and the extra steel you saved) fast to get ahead early then allow it to scrap when the time comes. You could even rebuy it later to benefit from its upfront 2 coal again!

No. 6 Padarn

This train has potentially the highest power ceiling given it can potentially generate an extra action for building every turn without even paying coal. The trade-off of paying 2 coal for your 3rd worker though is steep. The Padarn narrows your playstyle significantly as it will demand constant resource generation and depend on a steady flow of available building spaces. But when it shines, it really shines.

No. 7 Ralph

This seems like a natural counterpart to my bestie L.A.D.A.S. but in practice it is very different. Unlike excavation, laying track has a cost. Opportunities to lay track are also in more limited supply. This makes the Ralph more of a precision tool than other trains. It’s best used once or twice at key moments to dominate track ownership and edge opponents out of the picture. If you can score high value track contracts with this while stopping your opponents from scoring theirs, the point swings can be huge.

Contract cards

How many contracts Mt Snowdon brings to the table is a matter of perspective. There are arguments for it being 0, 30 or perhaps a number in between. Since 0 would make a boring article and I’ve discussed many of these in other articles, I’m going to go for the latter option and discuss a couple of the contracts most commonly removed by other scenarios – specifically 27, 28 and 29.

Before looking at any specifics about them, something that these three have in common is that all of them are totally unique. Neither their top or bottom halves can be found anywhere else in the deck. This makes them enigmatic if nothing else.

The top halves of 28 and 29 both offer additional rewards for your surveyor. These cards are also unique in that they’re removed from the deck if playing with 2 players. I believe that this was a balancing decision as they would be rather easy to achieve in two-player mode while offering quite generous rewards. This slightly quirky spot they occupy design-wise is, I believe, why they’re replaced in almost every other scenario.

Now my next opinion should be taken with a pinch of salt as I’ve not seen these contracts hit the table often, but the top half of 27 and the bottom half of all 3 cards stand out for being quirky but weak. Stockpiling coal, moving your surveyor, rearranging the position of a single worker or removing the limit on coal collection all feel like they’re either weak, encourage you to do something suboptimal or are outperformed by other effects in the deck. I like the variety of ideas on offer here and 27 can be nice if for whatever reason you’re sitting on a pile of coal in the endgame, but overall I can see why these are often replaced.

Jaya’s design thoughts

I think it’s a testament to the core game system of Snowdonia that many players are still perfectly happy to just own their original base game and only ever play the Mt Snowdon scenario. It’s simple, but that’s exactly what it’s supposed to be. Rather than try to dazzle, it allows players to focus on the primary mechanics and skills that the game asks of them.

It’s possible that the Eurogamers of today might find the Mt Snowdon scenario itself a little too simple for their tastes. But I think many of them are humbled when they find simplicity of mechanics does not necessarily equate to simplicity of play. For that reason, I have a lot of affection for Mt Snowdon. There’s no gimmickry to hide behind, you just have to pay attention and make consistent, smart choices to win.

It’s clear where other scenarios improve upon the formula presented here. Stations and the surveyor specifically get significantly more interesting in other scenarios. That said though, the contract deck and trains hold up very well. Their interest and versatility rightly earns their frequent re-use in other scenarios.

That’s our first deep-dive complete. What do you think of Mt. Snowdon as a scenario? Are there any elements of scenario design you feel I’ve missed that you’d like discussed in future articles? Perhaps you think the Enid is great and my shilling for the L.A.D.A.S. is folly? Either way, I’d love to hear from you!

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Jaya Baldwin