A weekend of gaming dissected or how I learned to stop worrying and love 18xx

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#2

“I still have Waddingtons’ letter about what they thought about a game of running railways for profit.”

Francis Tresham, who invented the 18XX and the Civ genre. Yes, that Civ. What a dude.

I find the gateway drug to 18XX is Chicago Express. That’s what you give kids. Like them, it’s short, brutal, and easy to learn but difficult to master.

Inis is very nice and a very lean design, but it will never replace Cyclades in my heart, the Harryhausen is too deeply rooted.

Antiquity, I love. Splotter existing is quite amazing. I do love it when people pass on their games, as if it would make a jot of difference. “I think Food Chain Magnate is overpriced.” - “Fine, one of the thousand people behind you will buy it, off you go.”

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#3

Some great-sounding games! I have a friend who’s heavily into 18XX, and I have to say that I don’t plan on ever getting bitten by the bug.

Railways of the World is a Wallace game too? So did it go from RoW to Age of Steam, to Steam? Or is there no relation between RoW and the Steam franchise?

I am really envious of that kind of weekend. I wish somebody up here would do that. :slight_smile:

#4

Age of steam was first and then he designed Railroad Tycoon which was a streamlined AoS. More family friendly. Not sure if it was a tie-in to the Sid Meier game of the same name, but I think they were related.

Then Glenn Drover jumped on it and polished some of the rough edges and it became Railways of the World.

Steam, I believe was the last iteration. Came out after both of the others. Tried to polish AoS while maintaining the heavy-euro aura.

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#5

Should give it at least one go. I’ll teach it to you at StatelyCon I (whenever that happens). :grinning:

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#6

What a smorgasbord.

My kingdom for boardgame-compliant friends within 7000km.

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#7

Maybe we should stage StatelyCon I in Japan…

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#8

Great write up. Sounded like a truly epic weekend! I’ve played 18EZ a couple of times, and am hoping to try a full 18XX game soon.

I am just curious though, what do you guys drink other than Sailor Jerry?

#9

I drink coffee and Diet Pepsi (I’ve been a teetotaler for 13 years now). We have one player (Nate) who specializes in Jack Daniels. The others will drink Sailor Jerry, wine, or scotch. And the last guy, Zim, is a beer only guy.

#10

Speaking also as a teetotaler, I find it sort of hard to game with people who drink anything more than a beer. I mean, yes, drunk people make mistakes I can take advantage of, but they also are tough to be around.

As for 18XX, on the rare occasions when I’ve let myself get roped into an 18XX game, I decide early on who I want to win, then do all I can to make that person win as quickly as possible so we can play something else. And even then, they take way too long.

So glad to see your thoughts on Inis. I’ve had that on the shelf for over a year and haven’t gotten it to the table more than once. I’ve kept it because it’s just so darn nice to look at and hold.

Downshift is maybe the best game I’ve played that was released last year.

#11

Inis is on my shelf, unplayed. I get together with two of my old roommates a couple times a year and will be bringing it with me.

Rising Sun is high on my wish list. Downforce is also on the wishlist; I see it all the time at my bookstore so may pick it up sometime soon.

Inis, Blood Rage, and their ilk are games I really wish we could get on iOS.

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#12

I always drink responsibly when gaming. Unlike the most recent expulsion from my gaming group, who thought two beers sufficient excuse to be his better, funnier self, and four to be the epitome of Dionysian excess.

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#13

The rest of the group is aware of my feeling toward drunks, that being a very short fuse. I’ve learned after gaming with these same four guys for the past 15 years or so, however, to just have fun and once they get past the point of controlled drunkeness to just stop playing games and do something else. For example, on Thursday night I ended up making dinner and reading Matt Thrower’s excellent tabletop gaming book while the rest of the guys played Mario Golf on the N64.

It’s really only the first day up there where anyone gets too tipsy (and it’s only 2 of the five of us) so it’s not too bad. Sometimes it’s just fun to hang out with your friends without the spouses around. If nothing else, it leads to some tremendous displays of public flatulence. :slight_smile:

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#14

Now that you mention it, there aren’t any good territory control games out there, are there? I guess 8-minute empire is kind of one, but it’s got that card play and I don’t really think of it as area control. Hmm. If we could get El Grande or Blood Rage on iOS, I’d be a happy gent.

#15

This is how I used to feel, but I’ve come to really enjoy them.

As I get older I find my tastes changing where a straight up euro with victory points galore and a resource engine churning away less interesting than games with an economic bent. If I read a rulebook and find out that the winner is the one with the most money, I’ll usually at least give it a read before deciding to pass.

I do agree with you that they’re too long, however. Most of the length comes from people trying to find the best route for their trains which, when the map gets crowded, can take a bit. I’d love an app that allowed you to recreate just the 18xx map and automatically determine the best routes for any trains. There are 18xx programs, but they require you to play the entire game in the app (stocks, trains, etc.) and they tend to make the entire process slower.

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#16

Small World, but it isn’t really my favorite game. It is also iPad-only, which is unfortunate.

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#17

Sorry, I meant to say good territory control games. I loathe Small World.

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#18

Ha!

Yeah, I don’t get the adoration. The game really bores me and the race/power gimmick is not nearly as deep as some people crow about. Just my two cents (and apparently yours).

#19

I’m not a fan of the “mixing two powers” gimmick, but the thing that really grinds my gears is the tearing down every other turn or so. When I game I want to build something, see that I did something kind of cool. Small World has you building something that will, inevitably, be deconstructed and destroyed. Ugh. It makes the entire theme of civilizations rising and falling complete crap and simply becomes a VP chaser. And not a good one, at that.

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#20

Safety in numbers! I used to think I was the only one who didn’t like Small World. Now if I get yelled at I’ll just tell them to take it up with @Neumannium!

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#21

There’s a reason I never post about small world updates here…because I don’t care. :joy:

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