FRED's new RAILWAYS games

UPS just deposited review copies of RAILWAYS OF THE WORLD and RAILWAYS OF ENGLAND AND WALES on my doorstep so here's the just-busted-the-shrink look.

Wow. RotW is actualy not a new game, it's a beefed up reprint of RAILROAD TYCOON with the expired license expurgated and the purple/blue color matching finally fixed Everything is printed a little brighter, which is nice, and there are some tweaks here and there. I'm really, really, really glad that there's a separate board with the score track on it now- no more screwups there. Trains are all new colors, more on that in a minute. There's also a new Rails Inspector card that you can drop on somebody to halt a delivery. OUCH!

You also get, in the box, the Mexico map. It's very, very small and it says that it's intended for beginners. However, I think it'll be great for a short game or a 2-4 player game. It's also small, so it will fit on any table.

In all, I'm not sure it's an essential purchase if you just like RRT and don't want to expand it or anything. I love RRT and it's definitely my favorite train game, so I'd consider it a must have...particularly because you really need it to use RAILWAYS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

This is really an expansion to the new edition, not to RRT. It obviously has the England and Wales map, but it also introduces a whole new way to play the game that puts the game more in line with an 18xx game than AGE OF STEAM. But a very, very, very streamlined 18xx game. A lot is taken out of the game, the cards and such, but it adds a shares system so no one owns track of a particular color any more and it has the concept of majority ownership. Companies have capital, can be issued bonds, and can be merged. It looks really cool, and in the spirit of RRT very simple and easy to play. It looks like you can use the shares rules on any of the maps- and all of the sudden there's four to choose from.

It's looking good. We may play it tonight at Swamp Castle, RRT is one of our group favorites.

Very interested in England & Wales. Let us know how it goes.

Wait a second, you need Railways of the World to play the England and Wales map (rather than just using RRT)?

BASTARD ! [grit teeth] Looking forward to the review [/grit teeth]

Almalik wrote:

Wait a second, you need Railways of the World to play the England and Wales map (rather than just using RRT)?

I picked up E&W when it first came out and didn't see anything that would prevent you from using RRT to play it. Unfortunately, I also passed it along to my RRT-freak friend immediately thereafter and haven't had a chance to play it yet [and won't until November]. Barnes, can elaborate on this? Did I miss something more substantive than aesthetics that would prevent one from using RRT parts?

Don't forget the mandatory disclosure!

I really like RRT too, glad to hear a game more in that vein.

Schweig! wrote:

Don't forget the mandatory disclosure!

[Threadjack]Hey Schweig, are you related to the Nobel prize winner?[/threadjack]

Jur wrote:

Schweig! wrote:

Don't forget the mandatory disclosure!

[Threadjack]Hey Schweig, are you related to the Nobel prize winner?[/threadjack]

Her surname is the most common German one.

Almalik wrote:

Wait a second, you need Railways of the World to play the England and Wales map (rather than just using RRT)?

Nah, you can definitely play RoEW with just the original RRT (I have both). RotW is really just RRT with the Rails of Europe improvements back-ported.

The cards are out? Is there anything driving a bit of unpredictability into the game?

(Please note that I really don't care, this is just a plug for my article which can be found here --> fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_cont...w&id=1470&Itemid=551 )

Sag.

RRT and RoE are definitely favourites with my group too, but I really don't want to buy the same thing again just to get the Mexico map or rails inspectors cards, although they sound good.

Is the map a bit smaller in RotW? Maybe same size as the Europe one?

To clarify- yes, you could play with the new stocks system with the old set, but you'd have to assign the old train colors to the companies. The new trains are all new colors that match up with the company cards. I suppose that's really not a big deal, so don't rush out and buy RotW just for that.

Also, RotW does add a new map, Mexico, and a couple of new cards so it's not a straight port-over of RRT with RoE additions. Again, I'm not sure those are worth an extra purchase unless RRT is a favorite game, then it might be.

As for unpredictability in the new system...no, there really isn't any. What there is instead is fairly volatile company ownership that is going to be where the variability comes from. It's similar to ACQUIRE or BIG BOSS in some regards, with company value increasing with growth. I like ACQUIRE-style economics systems and speculation, so I think it'll work fine without a randomizer.

BTW does anybody want to trade for my old RRT or buy it? PM if you do.

Michael Barnes wrote:

BTW does anybody want to trade for my old RRT or buy it? PM if you do.

Math Trade! Whoo hoo!

Yeah, I put it up there...for a minute I forgot we had one going on.