“Your surveyor has passed away — R.I.P.
The terms Surveyor and Coffin are to be considered synonymous for this scenario.” – The Necropolis Railway, 2014
These are some of my favourite words I’ve read in a rulebook. This is an utterly unnecessary change in nomenclature from a technical standpoint. But the wry humour here sets the tone of this scenario perfectly. A railway literally built for the purpose of carrying the dead could be a somber affair, but in an unexpected twist, this scenario is perhaps the most aggressive and race-like Snowdonia gets. It’s a bit of a controversial one amongst the fans, but that makes it all the better to discuss!
Overview and main changes
The Necropolis railway shakes things up by tasking players to move their coffin to the end of the line and bury them by “building” a burial site there. This defines the entire scenario. So much in fact that the steadfast game-end condition of finishing the railway no longer applies here. Instead, once one player has buried their surveyor, the others only have 2 rounds to do the same before the game ends. Completing this somber task only awards 6 points. Failing to do so however loses you 21. Negative points are a rare thing to find in Snowdonia, let alone a loss this big.
As if the stakes weren't high enough, there is only a limited number of burial sites available. Players are also able to build more burial sites than they need to deny the rest of the table. And on top of all that, limited G actions spots mean that only 1 or 2 players get to move their surveyor each round. This scenario is very much a race.
Stations
Most of the build rewards here are either VP or burial sites (themselves worth 6VP). Necropolis Junction though offers players 3 spaces that count as rail instead. Usually in Snowdonia this is a rather enticing opportunity given the relative value of track when it comes to contracts. However, with the game-end condition changed, so too does the proposition of these spaces… You have to ask yourself if you have the time to be building these as you race your coffin to its resting place.
Speaking of resting places, the final stations offer more than the usual number of excavation spaces. Equally unusually they need to be completed in order to build their adjacent burial sites. I love the show-don’t-tell story work the mechanics do here as you make the grim transition from digging the path of the railway to digging graves.
Dig graves you must though, as a burial site is effectively worth 27 points to you. Every subsequent burial site you take is likely denying another player 27 points. It’s your main goal of the scenario so make sure that you have the stone required! The burial sites in the North Cemetery are more desirable to grab given their earlier availability and shorter journey to move your coffin to.
The exchange rate for points on your stone and steel is fairly generous here across the board but the space offering a generous 12 points for just 3 stone in Brookwood is one you really want to win if you can!
Track cards
2 players – 9
3-5 players – 10
This is very low and distributed very unusually. There is a whopping 6 track to get through between the first and second buildable stations while there is only 1 between each of the others. This creates a tight funnel around building at London Necropolis Railway Station, followed by a large drought of options then a rapid influx at the end.
Coffin (surveyor)
Unlike Mt Snowdon, here the surveyor is the macabre star of the show. As the opening text to the scenario states, your surveyor must be interred (emphasis mine). I hesitate to say it’s impossible to still win if you fail to do so, but I’d be very surprised to see someone turn that situation around. The limited G action spaces will be heavily contested and you do not want to be the laggard; if you’re far back when the game-end timer starts, things won’t look good for you.
Keep an eye out for any ways to advance your surveyor faster through contracts and trains, as gaining a 2 station lead will really put the pressure on your opponents!
Contracts
Looking first at bottom halves, 5 and 29 here are at worst an extra action. and at best a way to snag a freshly available building space before anyone else. You can get caught out in this scenario and end up doing all the grave digging only for somebody else to get the credit for it. These contracts are great tools to prevent this happening to you.
10 and 28 are interesting and nice to have but not necessarily ground-breaking while 27 is simple but lethal. A free extra movement of your surveyor in this scenario can really up time pressure on your opponents.
The top halves of 27,28 and 29 all incentivise players to build more graves than they need which is just devilish design. If a player completes contract 27, they’ll have scored a mighty 37 points from the endeavour and almost certainly denied another player a spot to bury their coffin – a relative 58 point swing!
Trains
There is only one train in this scenario, the appropriately named Funeral train. I believe it to be very much worth the purchase if used correctly. Repeat use of contracts is always powerful provided you can find the contract worth spending the coal on.
The big drawback of this train is that it costs 2 coal to get a third worker, which means that you’re at a major disadvantage if you’ve not found a good contract or two to combo with. Remember whenever reusing a contract that another train would get you a third worker and make sure you’re getting appropriate value for it!
I’m intrigued to try a “speed-run” strategy here making repeat use of double excavation and surveyor-move contracts. This could see your coffin in place early while inflicting the dreaded -21 on everyone else.
Jaya’s design thoughts
This scenario is a knife-fight in a phone booth and I love it. I completely understand why it turns many players off as it’s a significant deviation in game-feel to Mt Snowdon, but that’s exactly what I want from a scenario! The Necropolis Railway is a race and that really challenges you to think about how you spend your time in a game of Snowdonia. The shift in game-end condition and extreme punishment for failure to complete it makes building and track laying potentially dangerous side-activities. This adds an almost push-your-luck feel while encouraging you to pay more attention to your opponents’ progress relative to you.
I also really enjoy the quirky narrative here. The dry comedic tone might seem inappropriate for a railway of death but the railway’s history is full of little moments it's hard not to see some humour in. This was a railway where you could buy first, second or third class tickets for coffins that said “one-way” on them! Brookwood golf club members disguised themselves as mourners because the tickets were cheaper than the conventional lines and one man even died while on the train because he was sticking his head out of the window.
The narrative and mechanics really come together here for me to give the Necropolis railway a very strong identity and though I certainly wouldn’t choose it as a way to introduce new people to the game I think it makes for a fantastic shake-up to the formula.
As always I hand it over to you. What do you think? I know this one splits opinion so I’d love to chat about it!
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Jaya Baldwin
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