Für Experten

In the era of steam

Steam

A classical railway game

Kid                       

Family                  

Friends                 

Expert                   ein    

Alter                    

Spezial                 

In 2002 the small company Winsome Games, specializing in railway games, published the first version of Martin Wallace’s Age of Steam. This was the start for one of the most important series of railway games. Only 18xx can boast a similar amount of variants and additional boards. Age of Steam was followed by numerous additional maps and also the basic game was re-published by bigger companies. But then designer and first publisher fell out. A long and expensive lawsuit followed fighting over the rights to Age of Steam. I will abstain from any comment, whoever is interested can find lots on the subject on the net, on some sites in English the parties involved have posted several comments.

In the meantime Age of Steam had sold out long ago and was only available very expensively via the second-hand market.

2009 brought the long-awaited new edition, at second glance there were two of them as designer as well as publisher marketed new editions, the designer with Mayfair Games / Phalanx game under the title Steam and the publisher with Eagle Games / Pegasus as Age of Steam.

Both new editions feature reworked rules and newly designed components. For Steam some rules were changed, so that it is rather a new game than a new edition, The basic mechanisms and flair of the game remain unchanged, though, Furthermore Steam features rules for an expert game, which is similar to Age of Steam, and rules for a simplified basic game, that complexity-wise rather reminds one of the Age-of-Steam derivate Railroad Tycoon.

This rule abstract describes the expert game:

The game comprises several rules of equal format, their number depends on the number of players. Each round again has several phases :

First, players can amass capital. Players can borrow any amount of money, which is also unavoidable as players start without money. Later in a round players cannot borrow money and must pay interest on their loans, for any 5$ income 1$ must deducted. Therefore calculate you monetary needs very carefully.

In the second phase sequence of play is determined by auction. In turn players must raise the current bid or pass. If you pass you place your marker on the free position furthest in the rear on the play sequence track and pay your own last bid. Only the first two players must pay in full, the last one pays nothing, all others half of it, rounded up. This sequence of play is valid for one full round.

In the third phase action tiles are counted. Each tile is available once and offers different advantages.

In phase four new track can be built. The game board shows a map divided into hexes with cities in different colours. You can place up to three track tiles to connect cities. Depending on terrain the price is different. Each part of track built is marked with your colour disc. A complete track between to cities is called a connection.

These connections can be used in phase five to transport merchandise. Merchandise is symbolized by small coloured cubes, which are distributed randomly on the cities at the beginning of the game. Your goal is to transport the cubes into cities of the same colour. For each owned connection used you score 1 point on the victory points / income track. You can also use other connections, but not more than your own and the points are scored by the owner. The maximum number of connections that can be used for a transport is equal to the upgrade level of your engine, rising from 1 to a maximum of 6. Instead of a delivery - two are possible in a round - you can upgrade the engine by one level.

In the last phase the actual income is paid out. From the current amount on the income track maintenance costs for the engine are deducted, equal to the upgrade level. The result can be negative! If the player has not enough money left to pay his debts, he loses one victory point for every 2$, ore one point on the income track. If you end up on 0 victory points and -10 income, your company is bankrupt and you drop out of the game. In the end the player with the most victory points wins the game after scoring victory points for each connections and income,

In the basic game there is no phase 1, money can be borrowed anytime at the same conditions, phases two and three are combined into one single phase. The bid for the game sequence is missing, instead of it the action tiles acquire an additional function and determine the game sequence. If you choose a weaker action you play earlier. The game becomes easier that way. Pre-calculating money is omitted as well as the sometimes tedious auction. At the same time the game somehow acquires more depth due to the more complex choice of action tiles, because sometimes you are well advised to choose not the best action to be able to play earlier.

Steam comes in a big, well filled box. The components satisfy all demands. Lots of wooden pieces, beautifully printed card board tiles and a good, well-structured rule book please every player. The test version even contains a full bag of unnecessary material. There is enough material for six players. Basically Steam can be played with 2 to 6 players, but the two maps in the basic box are only feasible for 3 to 5 players. The rules inform on the necessity of additional boards for 2-6 players. Meanwhile the first official expansion, Steam Barons, has been published. Furthermore you can use the many maps for Age of Steam, sometimes a little adaption are necessary.

All in all Steam offers a lot to fans of complex railway / economics games. All mechanisms have proven their worth over the years, not for nothing year for year expansion boards for Age of Steam are published. No other system has come so close to the king of the genre, 18xx. The allure of the game is enormous, albeit rather more tactical than strategic. The playing time of two hours is absolutely feasible for experienced players, filling an evening, but clearly less than for 18xx.

The expert variant of Steam differs only marginally from Age of Steam. Which one you prefer is first and foremost a question of personal taste. Steam has the small bonus of the basic game, which despite being simpler still is of interest for expert players and a welcome diversion. The biggest bonuses for the original Age of Steam surely are the many expansion maps already available and geared to the game. To acquire both games can only be recommended to collectors and absolute fans.

Markus Wawra

Spieler         : 3-5

Alter            : ages 12 and up

Dauer           : ca. 120 minutes

Autor           : Martin Wallace

Grafik          : Christopher Moeller, Craig Hamilton, Jared Blando, John Austin

Vertrieb A    : Heidelberger

Preis            : ca. 40,00 €

Verlag          : Phalanx / Mayfair 2009

                     www.phalanxgames.de

Genre                    : Railway / economy game

Zielgruppe             : For experts

Mechanismen         : build track and deliver merchandise

Zufall                     :

Wissen/Gedächtnis  :

Planung                 : 7

Kreativität              :

Kommunikation      : 6

Geschicklichkeit      :

Action                   :

Kommentar:

Well-tested sophisticated mechanisms

High interaction, planning still possible

Well structured rules

Rich components

Vergleichbar:

Age of Steam, Railroad Tycoon, Railways of the World, 18xx

Atmosphäre: 6

Markus Wawra:

Simply a must for each fan of complex railway/economy games unless you already own Age of Steam.