Hey, there really are some perks to being the addressee/host of a boardgames club!

Eagle Games have picked up on us and sent us (me) a free copy of a game they're aiming to launch, for us to beta-test for them!  I'll keep it on behalf of the club ....

It seems to me it's essentially a variant of their highly-successful RAILROAD TYCOON.  Which we happen to like a lot as a club.  The variant keeps the same basic track-building-rivalry rules, but is then very different.  It seems they are pandering to the eco-lobby, so this is a variant that eschews those coal-burning, CO2-emitting steam engines, in favour of a more eco-friendly race against your rivals.  No trains.  Instead, your track-lines are infested/colonised by animals who spread along them, successfully breeding and expanding.  Preferably faster than the other players' animals can colonise along their tracks.

The winner is the first to colonise from coast to coast.  There are special cards, as in Railroad Tycoon.  Some are the same as in RT, to help you build track, but some are different, eg. Breed Faster and Adventurous Young (which expand the colony further along your track ....  there are also predators which you can introduce or expand, to reduce the expansion of the other players' animals.  The rules say it can be quite red in tooth and claw, but entirely "eco-realist", with no environmental qualms.

We must test it!

I've posted a shot of the game in progress in our photo files here on this site.  And guess what they've called it.

Bob