Board Games

I recorded another podcast with Mark Teskey on The Gaming Moguls. We riffed off my earlier post on Why I call myself a Train Gamer, talking about what makes a train game and discussing various games that either we would call a train game or are on the boundaries of train games including: 18xx, Age of Steam, Cube Rails, Ticket to Ride, TransAmerica, Union Pacific, Acquire, Stephenson's Rocket, Ride the Rails, Irish Gauge, Iberian Gauge, Dual Gauge, Brass: Birmingham, The Grand Trunk Journey, Russian Railroads, Indonesia, 18RoyalGorge, 1890, Stellar Ventures, Chicago & NorthWestern, Steam Power, Railway Boom, and Imperial Steam.

Short notes on my plays of: Brass Pittsburgh, Circus Flohcati, Cheeky Monkey, Colorado Midland, Concordia, and Great Western Trail

I always play a game to win, but often I find the game reach a point where I clearly can't win any more. What do I do then?

I was fortunate to be invited to the playtest of Brass Pittsburgh. After ten or so games, here is my detailed review.

Short notes on my plays of: Dominion, Age of Steam (Southern US), Brass Pittsburgh, Brass Lancashire, Brass Birmingham, Age of Industry, Railway Boom, Sushi Go, Speakeasy, and Power Grid Outpost.

People regularly complain about “the cult of the new”. But I think this complaint misses out on the attraction that many have for exploring new games.

If asked, I would say that I am a “train gamer”. But what does that mean?

I recently came across Horseless Carriage at an outrageously low price. Why didn't I decide to buy a copy?

I appear on an episode of the Gaming Moguls podcast, where I talk with host Mark Teskey about our gaming in 2025, including: Age of Steam, Snowdonia, The Castles of Burgundy, Russian Railroads, Steam Power, Fromage, Babylonia, Santiago, Vantage, Clans of Caledonia, and Speakeasy.

Short notes on my plays of: 18RoyalGorge, Clans of Caledonia, Show Manager, Ra (with traders expansion), Formosa Tea, Harmonies, Earth, Spokes, Luthier, Stellar Ventures, Railway Boom, and Fishing.

Short notes on my plays of The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, Angle's Share, Papyria, Railway Boom, 1975 White Christmas, Chartered: The Golden Age, Fearless, Great Western Trail: Argentina, Age of Rail: South Africa, Spirit Island, Cross Bronx Expressway, and Indonesia.

A summary of my gaming in 2025. Has this been a year where I've taken a decisive step in the direction of 18xx?

“JATWAT” stands for Just Another Trick-Taker With A Twist. It's a somewhat dismissive term, which I resonate with because I'm almost entirely unmoved by the huge rash of trick-takers (and shedder/climbers) that have come out in the last few years.

Short notes on my plays of Key Harvest, Priests of Ra, Century: Spice Road, Age of Steam (Madagascar), Santa Claus Takes the Intercity, Ghost Lift, 18RoyalGorge, Orloj: The Prague Astronomical Clock, Oranges & Lemons, and Power Grid (Québec).

I attended the UK Age of Steam convention, met some great UK Age of Steam fans, and played four maps: Phase IV: March of Ants, Belgium, 23 Wards of Tokyo, and Pacific Electric. I also got in a game of Volldampf.

Short notes on my plays of Seize the Bean, Merlin, Botswana, Samurai, Steampunk Rally, Everdell: Bellfaire, and 18RoyalGorge.

I like using poker chips as money for most board games I play. So much so, that I carry a set of 100 chips with me to any meetup, to eliminate the risk that I'll playing with lesser objects. I often see people asking about getting into them, so I hope my experiences with them will be useful to share.

Many people prefer games that are “tight”, but some games have such tightness in resources that a player can become “wedged”: unable to do any meaningful action. This isn't fun, and I'm wary of games with a high wedge risk.

Short notes on my plays of Forest Shuffle, Cascadia, Power Grid (Australia), Azul: Summer Pavilion, Brass Birmingham, Concordia, and Samurai

Short notes on my plays of Babylonia, Metro, San Juan, Power Grid (Central Europe and India), Steam Power, Princes of Florence, Basari, Brass Birmingham, Palazzo, La Strada, Age of Steam (Great Britain), and Vantage.

People often call games “tight”, usually with approval, but what does “tight” mean to us? I argue that there's two distinct forms of tightness in games: resource tightness and strategic tightness.

Age of Steam has been around for a long time, and has reviews going back many years. This is my attempt to make one that's up-to-date to introduce new people to this excellent game.

Age of Industry is a cruelly underrated member of the Brass family. While it's a great game, its promise of easy expandability via maps has been less successful than one might hope. Here's an idea that might help.

My review of the game Steam Power, which I think is a perfect choice for a route-building addict who wants a relaxed, hour-long game.

Short notes on my plays of Steam Power, Agricola, Steam, Duos, Nature, Power Grid (USA), and Age of Industry

Short notes on my plays of Age of Steam (Lacerda Portugal), Canal Mania, Vinhos, Ora et Labora, Steam Power, Tycoon: India 1981, and Tricky Time Crisis.

Heavy Cardboard spent some time compiling top 50 lists from the herd, and also the local group. Here's links to that data, and some pages summarizing it.

Short notes on my plays of Acquire, Brass Lancashire, Carcassonne, Huang, Age of Steam (Stalinist Russia, Atlantic City, 1830 Pennsylvania, D.C. Metro), Ora et Labora, Sankoré, Maglev Metro, Railways of the Lost Atlas, Pax Hispanica, Lisboa, Oranges and Lemons, 1846: The Race for the Midwest, Parade, and Flamecraft. I also added Colorado Midland and Iberian Gauge to my Cube Rails Geeklist

I've long had a love-hate relationship with 18xx games. There's so much that appeals to me about an economic game with a strong tie to history, but I've also had some experiences with it. But some recent developments in the family give me hope that I'll finally learn how to like (some of) them.

Short notes on my plays of Power Grid (Germany with new power plants set 1), Oranges and Lemons, Puerto Rico 1897, Pax Penning, Railways of the Lost Atlas, and Castles of Mad King Ludwig.

Take-and-Make games are particular forms of tableau building game where we take tiles from a shared offer, and use them to make a passive tableau. The style was defined by Martin G in a BGG post in 2021.

Short notes on my plays of Concilium Urbis, Cube Express, Polynesia, Kraftwagen, Power Grid, Dominion, Ark Nova, The Castles of Burgundy, Acquire, Big Boss, Shackleton Base, and Inferno

I like to follow Dun Thurot in making a distinction between setting (artwork and vocabulary of a game) and theme (the decisions and mindset). Includes my observation of how Weather Machine's setting undermined its theme.

Victory points are almost omnipresent in board gaming, yet often they encourage games to be become unfocused. I wonder if designers should strive to create victory objectives without them.

Recently a visitor remarked on two formidable boxes on my shelf: special editions of established games: The Castles of Burgundy: Special Edition (English sundrop edition) and Ra (25th Century Games English deluxe edition). They both appeared around the same time, and make a good pair to compare and contrast.

As part of the recent Heavy Cardboard patron drive, Edward asked all the local streamers to come up with a top 20 list. I'm posting mine here, primarily to compare it to the one I did with Edward back in December 2019.

Short notes on my plays of The Isle of Cats, Dutch InterCity, Age of Steam (Sun), Middle Ages, Ginkgopolis, Babylonia, Cascadero, Age of Industry, Brass Lancashire, The Bloody Inn, Age of Rail, Terminus, and 18RoyalGorge.

BGG created a Hall of Fame of games, and left out the highest rated game in BGG history: Puerto Rico. I speculate that this is because of its problematic theme.

Summarizing my board gaming in 2024

I've enjoyed exploring cube rails games, but haven't found anywhere that pulls them together. So I started a geek list to share my views and hopefully guide others interested in the genre.

Short notes on my plays of Southern Pacific, Fishing, Tinners' Trail, Power Grid (India), Fromage, Faraway, Faiyum, and Pandemain.

Short notes on my plays of Men-Nefer, Endeavor Deep Sea, Age of Steam (1890 Berlin), Medici, Winner's Circle, Code 777, Modern Art, Strozzi, Troyes, Speakeasy, and Bier Pioniere.

I attended Age of Steam Con in Kansas City, where I played Zombie Apocalypse, Osaka, Chicago Speakeasy, Rio 1982, Korea, and 1830 Pennsylvania.

Short notes on my plays of Age of Rail, Sparks, Spectacular, Luthier, Trick and Trade, Fixer, Seven Prophecies, Stree Botics

Introducing new maps is one of my favorite ways to expand a game. The most successful example of this is Age of Steam - I think because it encourages folks other than the designer to make and publish new maps.

My review of Speakeasy, having played the prototype several times in preparation for streaming on Heavy Cardboard. I think it may well become my favorite Lacerda.

Short notes on my plays of Speakeasy, Prairie Railroads, Winner's Circle, Orongo, The Icarus Club, and Age of Industry (Portugal and New England)

Although I play regularly with people comfortable with heavy games, I'm finding that games with high rules-complexity are less appealing to put on my shelf

Short notes on my plays of Stephenson's Rocket, Huang, Dutch InterCity, El Caballero, Through the Ages, Troyes, 1930: The Golden age of Airlines, The Castles of Burgundy, Nunatak: Temple of Ice, Age of Industry (Great Lakes), Age of Comics, Caylus, and Seers Catalog.

I started playing hobby games in the mid 1970s, exploring some of the titles that were around until I emigrated to the United States in the early 1990s.

Short notes on my plays of Long Shot: The Dice Game, Glass Road, Metro, Alhambra, Scholars of the South Tigris, Pax Porfiriana, and Ground Floor

A brief summary of games that I rate an 8 but BGG overall rates less than 7

Recent plays of On Mars and Civolution made me want to compare these two games. Both are heavy enough that I'm unlikely to play them very often, but I find On Mars more appealing to explore.

Short notes on my plays of World Wonders, Union Stockyards, Age of Steam (England and Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico), Skyrise, Dominion (Guilds and Cornucopia), Keyflower, Hansa Teutonica, Cascadero, Québec, Great Western Trail Argentina, Boonlake, and MLEM: Space Agency.

Some things I love from my first game (but maybe my last)

I find it useful to think of three forms of player interaction: Destructive Interaction, Resource Contention, and Symbiotic Interaction

I liked the thematic elements of Union Stockyards, together with the mechanisms for the market and buying of land.

Short notes on my plays of El Grande, Chicago and NorthWestern, Taj Mahal, Mini Express, Ginkgopolis, Great Western Trail New Zealand, Hyperborea, Agricola, Age of Steam (Blizzard of 77).

While Heavy Cardboard was at the Gathering of Friends, us un-friends recorded some little videos. Mine was on The Caylus Test, and three games that pass it.

Age of Steam (Panama, and Steampunk), 1862, Age of Industry (Minnesota), Art Decko, Concordia (Roma), DerrocAr, Kutná Hora, and Shipyard.

On the whole, I'm not that keen on expansions. I'm happy to get an Essential Improvement, but usually dislike Modular Rules. I do go for Replacement Boards (usually maps), and enjoy Increasing Data. I like Sibling Games but they aren't really expansions.

Whenever I play a worker placement game, I submit it to the Caylus Test. Most games fail.

Wabash Cannonball, Age of Steam (South Africa), Puerto Rico, Steam Power, Evacuation, Galactic Cruise, Gulf Mobile and Ohio, Yunnan, Russian Railroads (German Railroads), Tribune, Babylonia, Age of Industry (Japan).

San Juan was the first game I played that was about building an active tableau from the flow of a large deck of cards. It was soon followed by the magnificent Race for the Galaxy, which was itself followed by Terraforming Mars, Ark Nova - and in a different direction: Wingspan.

On the BGG scale, I rate the average game as a 5, indicating a game that I wouldn't pick to play, but happy if someone else picks. A game that I'd like to play again I'd rate as 7, and favorite games as a 9. A 3 indicates a game I'd rather not play again.

Brass is a hugely successful family of games, and if forced to pick a favorite game, it's the one I'd pick. The key features that appeal to me about the game are: node-heavy ruote building, symbiotic interaction, logistics, money management, market mechanism, hand-management, technical progression, a strong histoic theme, and focused scorcing.

Summarizing games I played in 2023, with some brief thoughts on Age of Steam, Ra, Castles of Burgundy, Big Boss, Rococo, Age of Industry, and Seize the Bean.

Thoughts on Forest Shuffle, Horseless Carriage, Havalandi, Arborea, Evacuation, and Hegemony

Brass Birmingham becomes the #1 game on BoardGameGeek. I celebrate by explaining why I like it so much.