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Monday, February 9, 2026

Union Stockyards

This game came highly recommended, but it is not a subject I care for being a vegetarian.


I was the Swift meat packing company and muddled through with poor brand reputation, but a healthy slice of Packingtown.

Here is some commentary from Richard:

Union Stockyards

Well, we certainly learned what to do in the last turn if you're in a positive margin on your products. Russell selling three times in the last round pocketed a whole bunch of cash. Everything else kind of evened out, but Russell's cash holdings tipped things in his favour. Russell is 3 wins from 3 games. (I'll make sure the board is upside down when facing him next time).

Mark's product prices suffered from poor brand development, but he streaked ahead with buildings. Perhaps choosing different ones which also boosted brand might have helped.

My buildings suffered from poor synergies only getting a few late game points for those and I didn't get the most out of my railroad connections only getting one double location which I chose to develop instead of slaughtering like Russell.

It would be interesting to see how this game played with 4 or 5 players as that would cut down opportunities to acquire so many buildings each and you also get far more limited numbers of trade houses (although we didn't lean heavily into that in this game).

This game is really great I think and it plays so fast once you understand how it works.


4 comments:

  1. For the record, no animals were harmed during play.

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    1. The game also provides an interesting slice of history, labour relations and the uses animals were put to beyond food.

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  2. Weird topic for a game! But perhaps not. Sounds more interesting than 'Monopoly', anyhow. The thing kinda looks good, too. Better than the horrible freezing works (Thos Borthwick [A'Asia], long since vanished) where I used to work as a student...
    Cheers,
    Ion

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    Replies
    1. I had a school friend who had a short job as a meat stamper in an abattoir near where we lived (when the wind blew from certain directions it was very noticeable). He said he had to wear five or more jumpers and dash into the freezer and do his stamping as quickly as possible and then get out and try and warm up.

      This is an interesting game with a number of strategies to follow.

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