Elfenroads

The 2015 Elfenroads release is three games in one package: Elfenland, Elfengold, and Elfensea.  Today's review is of Elfenland.  For 2-6 players, it plays in 45-90 minutes.

Overview
You are a young elf about to undertake the rite of passage to adulthood.  Your goal: visit as many towns in Elfenland as possible.  The challenge: you'll have to use many different types of transportation (dragons, unicorns, giant pigs, elfcycles, magic clouds, ferries, rafts), as the roads connecting the towns cross varying terrain (plains, woods, desert, mountains, river/lake) and permit only certain 'vehicles'.  The card below shows which means of transport can cross which types of terrain, with associated costs to do so (for example, a dragon costs 2 cards to travel over woods, but 1 to travel over anything else).

taken from the rulebook, available here

Since the goal of the game is visiting as many regions as possible, this game is all about efficient transportation.  You'll use Travel Cards to pay to use roads; the method of transportation allowed on a road (and thus, the type of Travel Card you'll need to pay) is determined by which Transportation Counter is on that road on a given turn (see the next section for more information).  You can't traverse a road at all if it doesn't have a Transportation Counter on it.

the game map; image from here

Simplified Gameplay
The game is played in three rounds, where each round has six phases:

taken from the rulebook

In a given round, each player takes turns and:
1. Draws 8 Travel Cards
    - in the first round; in subsequent, each player draws back up to 8
2. Draws a Transportation Counter and keeps it secret
3. Draws 3 more Transportation Counters and keeps them face-up
    - players can draw from the five face-up Transportation Counters or from the face-down pile
4. Plans Travel Routes by placing Transportation Counters face-up on roads
    - only one Transportation Counter can be on a road; this indicates what vehicle may use the road
    - Transportation Counters must be legally placed (example: a giant pig can't be on a desert road)
    - players are not obligated to place Counters; they can choose to pass
5. Moves his elf boot to as many cities as possible
    - players can traverse only roads that have Transportation Counters on them
    - players traverse roads by paying the appropriate type and number of Travel Cards
    - players can visit more than one city if they have the Travel Cards to pay for multiple roads
    - example: if a giant pig Transportation Counter is on a road in the woods, the player can traverse that road by paying (discarding) one giant pig Travel Card
    - when a player visits a city, he/she takes his 'town piece' from that city
6. Finishing the round,
    - turn in all unused Transportation Counters except one
    - remove all Transportation Counters from the board
    - the next round begins (go to phase 1), unless three rounds have been played

game in progress; image from here

The player with the most town pieces at the end of three rounds wins!

Review
I have mixed feelings.  The game is by Alan Moon, who later designed the excellent Ticket to Ride.  I see similarities between the two (goals, varying transportation flavors & costs).  Elfenland is a touch more restrictive than Ticket to Ride, and perhaps not as satisfying.  Your drawn Travel Cards are random, and some (or all) of your Transportation Counters are, too.  Since you must "match" them to travel, that amount of chance can leave you in a bind through no fault of your own (though to be fair, you can make use of opponents' Transportation Counters, so that can offset the problem).  And wow, can opponents destroy your chances by placing one simple obstacle.  The map and theme are fun, though, and despite my reservations, something does keep drawing me back to this game.  It's also neat to have two more games (Elfensea and Elfengold) in the box.  Ticket to Ride is better, but this is pretty fun, too.  The game rules can be downloaded here.

Rating: B+