Computer games made into board games may seem like an unnecessary step backwards in the evolution of gaming. Computers, and by extention robots, are capable of keeping track of the minutae of a game such as dice rolls, modifiers, range and so forth, leaving the player with the burden of directing his overall strategy and having more fun. Did I mention how awesome robots are? It saddens me that I can't have an army of robots vacuuming my carpet, mowing my lawn and doing the busy work around the kitchen. Robots, and by extention computers, have no feelings and are generally unsociable folk. This is where board gaming wins, with the joy of human contact and the imperfection of not remembering that you did get a +2 from flanking and actually did drop that goblin.So how does one take an established and excellent computer game and make it into a board game that fun to play yet deep enough to excerise your brain? Well in the case of Railroad Tycoon, you take an established and excellent board game (Age of Steam), tart it up with new plastic bits and pieces, put in all on a HUGE board with a load of new art, and viola you've got Railroad Tycoon: The Board Game. Perhaps I'm not being entirely fair. Yes, Age of Steam is a great game but it's also pretty minimal in terms of art and bits. RT:tBG addresses that in spades, and did I mention the FUCKING HUGE board? Seriously, it's like it's own acrage. Twilight Imperium doesn't take up that much space. Huge.
The gameplay is just like Age of Steam. Players are the eponymous tycoons of the railroad, building connections between cities while delivering goods to gain income to make more connections that build into the end game. Victory is determined by the income you're bringing in, not necessarily cash in hand. You periodically have to put yourself in debt by issuing shares to gain capital to build your railroad.So we've essentially got Age of Steam with better art, on a big ol' board. It's not really fair to say that RT:tBG is any better than AoS as far as game play, because it's pretty much the same except on a bigger field. Simply put if you like AoS, than you'll like Railroad Tycoon as long as you have the room for it. Both games rate a 8/10, as the bigger better art of Railroad Tycoon is cancelled out by the near logistical nightmare that entails getting this game on the table. The FUCKING HUGE table.
1 comments:
Close. RRT introduces a handful of changes from AoS that just don't work for me.
In RRT, you can take a loan out at any time. In AoS, all players must take out loans prior to taking their turns...leading to tense "ARGH! One dollar short!" moments. I like the brutal tension in AoS. RRT is much more forgiving.
AoS also features an auction at the start of each round, determining player turn order. RRT does away with much of this, auctioning off only the first player role, with turn order just going clockwise around the table from there.
Also, rather than the standard set of special actions available every turn in AoS, RRT has a deck of cards providing a WIDE range of benefits. Again, I much prefer the known quantities in AoS.
As far as production quality goes, I *like* the spartan look of the Warfrog-produced AoS. Minimalistic, but with an understated visual appeal and total functionality. RRT is over-produced, and the plastic bits are superfluous and distracting. Furthermore, much of the map is completely useless, and the "Western Link" thing just doesn't work.
The "Rails Over Europe" expansion supposedly addresses some of the gameplay and map design issues of RRT, but I haven't played it yet.
Anyway, given the recent conclusion of the Martin Wallacs vs. John Bohrer trademark lawsuit, within the next year we'll be seeing new versions of not only AoS from Winsome, but a modification/expansion of the RRT system (built upon the Rails Over Europe expansion), and a renamed revision of the AoS system (NOT using the AoS brand) from Mayfair. Good stuff.
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