Round 1 - Season 2
So a couple of things to note here; a couple of which you might have spotted in the previous posts.
1. The Service tiles are moved from the Market to the Service Market Reserve, in order to clear up space for more interesting and VP-rich tiles from other areas.
2. This will happen next turn, but in the second season, players draw two more Objectives cards - giving them 6 total. There's a discard phase after every courtship, just like the first one, so eventually I'll have 5 total.
All right... so I have three cards in hand - only two of which I can play. This seems like an excellent turn to Pass, which I do.
Passing involves the following:
1. You bring your entire discard pile back to your hand. There's no maximum hand size.
2. Your servants are all refreshed to Available Service.
3. There's a choice - either you can collect 200 pounds in tenants' rent or you can refresh the market. That Flower Room is sitting there and we need the money anyway, so this is an easy call. Get that 200 pounds and go up to 500 pounds.
Thankfully, the AI eats something not the Flower Room, or I would have literally cried. Flower Room shifts to the 700 pounds position.
Round 2 - Season 2
Let's see what Objectives cards I drew:
Estate tiles each worth 1 Victory Point and another group that ties into the Flower Room. Right now, that Estates objective is worth 4 Victory Points - not a ton, but still in play for the Final 3. Obviously the Flower Room and any Garden is automatically a keep for the 11 Victory Points we've already secured.
You can also see the helpful Pass flow card that outlines what I detailed above. Each player has that card and two other handy reference cards for what symbols mean. All really well-designed and smart to include enough to be put in everyone's starter box.
Thanks to the pass, I have 500 pounds, my full deck in hand, and a full complement of staff. This sets up a turn that will look quiet on the surface, but be explosive in its ramifications.
Having been pestered by his mother about securing funds for her long-cherished Flower Room, Allen Waters, the heir to the house, takes tea out in the main gazebo with Sir Richard Beeston. After a lengthy conversation, Sir Richard purchases Bricklebutter for 200 pounds. "It'll be quite fun to have the horse involved with an American heiress," Sir Richard quipped. "And it'll have that little mess out of your hair."
It was a shrewd bargain, for with the money, at long last, the Viscountess Beatrice realized her dream of stunning natural scenery in the York estates. No expense was spared on that Flower Room - a full 700 pounds ensured the most exotic, stunning, and impressive specimens would be worthy of placement there; to say nothing of hiring a gardener who specialized in the care of such precious plants.
Further, Allen Waters' shrewdness in disposing of the Bricklebutter matter helped remove a little of the still lingering stench surrounding that incident. (I took the one Reputation point option from Allen, rather than the money - first time I did that).
AI Turn
Fenced Paddock scavenged. Who cares?
Either way, this was a small turn on the surface, but huge in its ramifications, because I was able to buy the Flower Room and fulfill the Nature Group objective. It also sets up the rest of the season...
Round 3 - Season 2
Most of the time, you want to host an activity in a tile that's going to flip to the rose side, which will generally increase your Victory Points. But sometimes, that's just not going to be possible because either all your tiles are flipped or, as in this case, you don't have the required Reputation to host an event there. Lacking the servants and/or people in your deck to play an option is also something that sometimes happens.
Fortunately, one of the flipped tiles, when played again, generates just enough Reputation to finally erase the hanging cloud of Miss Norris and Bricklebutter's rendezvous.
Despite her trepidation after the unfortunate whist game, Viscountess Beatrice decided it would be enjoyable to host a cassino game and invited Lady Sarah Lewis and Miss Penelope Atwood to join her for a three-player competition. The two oldest friends of the Yorks did so, and on their way to the estates, chatted in the carriage about the fun they had during the Bowls tournament the season before.
The Viscountess played skillfully, winning 100 pounds off Lady Lewis and the acclaim from her shrewd play and winnings spread throughout Derbyshire, at last restoring the reputation of the Yorks so that....
Round 4, Season 2
...
Finally, not only did Viscountess Beatrice at last have her beloved Flower Room (and a most expensive one at that!), she was able to invite Miss Penelope Hill to come to a viewing. Despite the American heiress incident she caused, Miss Alice Barstow was welcomed back into the family's good graces and asked to also come by and see those wondrous blooms.
Miss Hill was so enraptured by the beauty of the Flower Room, upon returning home, she wrote enthusiastically and glowingly of the space and its collection to all of her acquaintances. Word spread, catching the attention of some luminous names indeed...
...Not least of which was Charles Fairchild himself, who wrote the Yorks to ask if he could come and see the estates and this absolutely magnificent Flower Room he'd heard so much about it.
It was the single greatest coup of the Yorks yet in their quest to restore their good name. And as a history of the family would later relate:
"No single event had a greater impact on the family fortunes than the construction of what is now called the Beatrice Flower Gallery. This floral space not only fulfilled one of the Yorks' greatest ambitions, but it persuaded the family's first guest of some distinction - Miss Penelope Hill - to grace the estate. Her letters and enthusiastic reports put the Yorks on the radar of such august names as the Dowager Countess of Bristol, the hotly pursued Charles Fairchild, and - in the biggest coup of all - Countess Mary of Conventry, one of the most important and esteemed members of the nobility in that time period."
Game Notes
What an absolutely massive turn. So many pulls of great guests - from the Flower Room activity, from Miss Penelope Hill (both earning a Prestige Guest draw), and even Miss Alice Barstow pulled a Casual Guest who won't cause the reputation issues that Miss Norris did.
But the biggest turn happened during Courtship. As you've probably already guessed...
At 9 points, because we're in a Solo Play game, we already know that we're equal to the Stuarts in Estate score at the final Courtship two seasons from now and - should we be lucky enough to pull the second Estate focus - can beat them again in the third courtship.
I opted for Charles Fairchild because he's worth more Reputation Points. At 2.1 reputation and halfway through the game, we're way behind the curve in Reputation and are at risk for another incident that we simply can't afford.
I'm thinking right now that Season 3 is going to hit Reputation building pretty heavily. We have an 8 card hand and 100 pounds in the bank. This will be a pretty important season coming up. Season 2 was all about stabilizing and getting us to the point where we can truly advance.
Post-courtship, I sadly discard the Literature Objective. Kills me thematically and personally to do that, but the way the Objectives are playing out, one is already locked down (Nature Group); we only need one of the libraries for the Domestic Group; and right now, Guests and Estate 1 point per 3 guests/Estate tile are fighting for the third slot if we get the Domestic Group objective.