On Merdeka's Day, we revisit the Age of Railroads
One of our local hobby store, Toybox is organizing a
Merdeka Day
event primarily with the intention of teaching newbies to Euro Gaming some
good gateway games, like Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, etc.
While Nick (of Toybox) is going to conduct workshops for newbies, a group of
us seasoned gamers are thinking of meeting up for some brain-burning games. And
what better game to bring to the table than Age of Steam (AOS)!
I started a call for gamers and almost immediately the 6 seats for Age
of Steam were filled up!
Hopefully my gaming buddy Ainul (aanemesis) is able to make it for that day
as he has another AOS board (Chua being the other one with AOS board) that we
can use to run two tables of AOS.
Toybox has recently seen a lot of activities on Railroad Tycoon and Nick is
ready to bring this game to the table anytime since Toybox has a large fanbase
for RRT.
We are not forgetting the newcomers to this hobby as Ticket to Ride is one of
the gateway games Toybox will be doing demos on the Merdeka Day event.
With Age of Steam in play, and if I bring along my 1856, it looks like we
have (almost) the entire Railroad games on display!
Level 1: Ticket to Ride (TTR)
(IMHO) The best gateway game to introduce newbies to Euro Gaming.
Takes no more than 1.5 hrs and the newbies are hooked. Enuff said. :) |
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Level 2: Railroad Tycoon (RRT)
The best game to show gamers what's next after Ticket to Ride. This
game is a step-up from TTR yet does not burn too much brain and offers
good fun for 2-3 hrs. This is also the perfect game to introduce them to
the mechanics of Age of Steam should they decide to make that move-up. |
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Level 3: Age of Steam (AOS)
For the seasoned gamers who wanted to do brain-burning
railroad-theme game. Gamers who have already played RRT would have
understood the basic gameplay in this game, but the extra complexity
moves them up one or two notch. Plays just sweetly under 2 hours. |
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Level 4: 1856 (18xx)
While most of the games above are pickup-n-deliver games, the 18xx
series offer a different challenge. You are practically running a
railroad business, with involvement in the share market and dividends
coming into the gameplay. This game offers more complexity, absolutely
zero luck (no dice or random good cubes). Its downside is perhaps it
plays longer (4 hrs) than RRT or AOS. |
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Other Railroad games of note:
- TransAmerica - lighter than TTR
- Union Pacific - another Alan Moon OOP game that I've been eyeing. Good
news is that a reprint may be in the pipeline.
- 1830 - the game that kickstarted the 18xx series. If you luv no-luck
railroad business management game, you MUST play this.
So let's make Merdeka Day an age of railroads!
p/s Hmm.. maybe I shud do a Lupus in Tabula (aka Werewolf) session too if we
get enuff gamers on that day. No need to wait for Halloween.