The politics of Downton Abbey strikes a perilous balance for competing estate where a once esteemed house can fall away from the lofty Libraries, Flower Gardens, and Cassino's of prestige. Should you elide the pitfalls, and host the Fairchilds once or twice for afternoon tea, however, you may find yourself with the finest estate at the table. Obsession is a prim and proper engine builder with some crunchy decisions and - much like any estate in high society - harbours harsh teeth beneath the surface. The sliver of asymmetry provided by the starting Houses is a simple Archimedean point from which butterflies doth effect. A Yorkshire House flush with footmen ought to win big at the National Holiday - can you wait that long to really make a move? The Posonby's wealth will get you off the mark quickly - god willing the Builder's Market complies - but will you reach for a tile you're staff are incapable of servicing? The Asquith's Dowager guest will promote early success, but you'll need to pass sometime soon to utilise them again. The Cavendish reputation can rake in big turns before anyone else - but will your guests dry up at just the wrong moment? Although strategy summarily amounts to "do I earn some points this turn, plan for points at a future turn, or try to win the next courtship phase", planning can be a tight cravat to unravel. The beauty is that the game will often force you to stretch beyond your dowry: host a sporting event when it is less efficient or damage your reputation for one more morsel of cash to get that Smoking Room for your objective card. The '+EV' play is so frequently fraught with inefficiencies. That these tribulations are so pleasantly balanced for all players is testament to a well-made game. With several seasons in Derbyshire under my belt, however, it has become clear that there are big swings beneath the harmony; a scandal of risk hidden under the lace and bonnets of balanced euro-mechanics. Casual 'pauper' guests can stifle a victory charge; the tile you need can be snatched just before your turn; you can get burned in the final courtship fight for the Fairchilds, which can be a 26 point VP swing right there and then. Indeed, missing out on every courtship round is nigh on deleterious in the fisticuffs for prestige. The amplified importance of courtship has a few effects, but I think two are worth review - one good, one neutral. First, there is a competitive edge to the market in pursuit of particular tiles. Player interaction is often minor and indirect (except the rumour mill tile…), but the courtship themes create great tension for the table. Second, however, there can be homogeneity of strategy. Very occasionally it has felt as though a meta play was repeated around the table in the first or second courtship phases. Yet the discrete and delimited nature of improvement tiles and guest cards prevents the mirroring of player boards, and that little sliver of asymmetry I mentioned? Well, it will often be the very thing forcing you to diverge from the norm. The result is neutral, but I think indicative of thought-out mitigations in the design process. I have but one minor gripe: the probability of doubled theme cards is maybe a touch high. At roughly 62% the already-wealthy are readily re-rewarded in most games. The result can diffuse the tension in fighting for the final Fairchild - which, as aforementioned, is paramount. When one player's lead in this regard is doubled on reveal of the card, the other players can only hope for a Hail Mary monument or two that's probably already been taken. Nonetheless, this is a spiffing game that hits all the right notes for its theme