This new edition of Tinners’ Trail is a reprint of the critically acclaimed 2008 game by Martin Wallace, which has been redeveloped and upgraded in partnership with Alley Cat Games
Tinners’ Trail is a thematic Euro game set in 19th century Cornwall. You play as a mining conglomerate at the height of the tin and copper mining industry. You must buy plots of land across Cornwall in auctions and survey them for tin and copper, always managing your ‘work points’ and money effectively. Once you have a mine in place, it’s time to extract the ore, and make a profit(!) but the deeper your mine goes the more expensive the process gets. You’ll have the opportunity to improve your mines with infrastructure like ports, train stations, and adits (drainage tunnels), but there’s only so many improvements to go around. Can you outplay the competition and make the most money or will you be left without two shillings to rub together?
- Increased player count – a game that was once only 3-4 players can now be enjoyed by 1-5 players!
- 2 new expansions – the Arsenic expansion, which introduces a new resource, and the Emigration expansion, which sees miners travel overseas.
- Reduced randomness – but still keeping the variability. The board is now set up with tiles instead of the roll of a the dice.
- Improved Auctions – dual-use cards are now an important part of the game, giving you information before an auction or an extra boost after an auction.
- Improved artwork and graphic design – with artwork by Ossi Heikkla (Flamme Rouge) and artwork and graphic design by Javier ‘Inkgolem’ Gonzáles (Cooper Island).
- Improved component quality – with custom meeples and colour blind friendly colours.
- Lord Wallace solo mode – a brand new solo mode from our solo mode expert, David Digby, designer of the Chocolate Factory solo mode.
The expanded edition of Tinners’ Trail comes with 2 brand new expansions, which add to Tinners’ Trail with thematic new gameplay. These expansions require the base game to play and can by played alone or combined. They are also compatible with the Lord Wallace solo mode.
Arsenic Expansion
The arsenic expansion adds the extra resource of arsenic. Due to the danger of arsenic, it is mined at the cost of PERMANENTLY losing work points but with the reward of a big cash payout.
Emigration Expansion
In The Emigration expansion, you can send your workers overseas to gain ongoing benefits, such as extra income or free improvements.
Each player represents a growing mining operation in 19th-century Cornwall, seeking to profit from the rich tin and copper deposits of the region. Over the course of the 4 rounds players will build mines, acquire developments, extract ore, sell their tin and copper, and invest the proceeds to earn points. The player with the most points is the winner.
Actions are taken by using points from the ‘work track’, and players further back on the work track take their turns first.
Better actions cost more work points so time your actions carefully. You’ll need to think about the best action now, but also how many work points it’ll cost you, affecting your turn order later
The market value of tin and copper change each round, so you’ll have to push your luck at the right time to sell. Tin can be sold at a pretty good price right now, but will it be even higher in the next round?
Developments can increase your mining capacity, remove water from your mines and even add more tin and copper. However, they are limited each round, so you’ll have to snap them up quick. The competition is fierce so you might even want to pass a round early to give you the first choice in the next round!
Use your profits to invest in the market to gain victory points. The sooner you invest the more points you’ll get for your money
The Arsenic Expansion adds a new resource to Tinners’ Trail. Arsenic can be mined without spending work points and it can be sold instantly and gives a higher price the sooner it is sold but Aresnic is very dangerous to mine and you permanently reduce your maximum work points for each arsenic you mine.
The Emigration Expansion sees your workers take their mining skills overseas. Cornish miners were in high demand overseas as skilled labourers and if you send your miners overseas you’ll receive ongoing benefits such as regular income each round, free developments, extra investments, or even adjusting the market.
In The Lord Wallace solo mode, you’ll go head to head against Lord Wallace as he attempts to establish dominance over the Cornish tin and copper mining industry.
Lord Wallace will choose actions based on the card that is revealed and the number of work points he has left. He also takes into account the price of copper and will take advantage of an increase in the market, which will keep even the most experienced miners on their toes.
The Lord Wallace solo mode can be used alone with the base game or in combination with either or both of the expansions
The Lord Wallace solo mode was designed by David Digby, who not only developed the expansions and updated gameplay for this version of Tinners’ Trail, but also created the critically acclaimed solo mode for Chocolate Factory.
