With the hand on hearth – please tell me who of us have not lived through fascination of the trains and everything connected with railroads during the childhood? For some it grew into huge passion (see my friend Marcin from Cube4Me – ardent fan of 18XX system), for some is a distant memory but in the end that theme – and those huge, metal monsters – is something one hardly can be indifferent to.

So this is not surprising that trains, locomotives, railroads – all of this found its place also in boardgames. Today I will have a look at exactly such titles and talk about ones which made the biggest impact on my board gaming life. There will be light titles and pretty complex ones – you will see a pretty thorough selection.

So let us jump to the article right away!

Other articles in the series:


Ticket to Ride by Days of Wonder

Let me start on a lighter note – and a one which I am sure 99,99% of Readers is well aware of. Ticket to Ride is one of my all time most played games, a title which was at the onset of my boardgames journey – the affection then evolved to more complex EUROs and in the end to a wide array of Wargames.

With elegantly simple gameplay, Ticket to Ride can be learned in under 15 minutes. Players collect cards of various types of train cars they then use to claim railway routes in particular region (in base game – North America). The longer the routes, the more points they earn. Additional points come to those who fulfill Destination Tickets – goal cards that connect distant cities; and to the player who builds the longest continuous route.

The title got multiple expansions – bringing it to the whole world. Also, we are getting some new mechanics, options to score points or ways to lead the routes. On top of this, we also got a wonderful digital application, allowing us to bring this game to the journeys / trips.

Wonderful digital implementation

Today, Ticket to Ride hits the table definitely more rarely than in the past. Still, when the time came for my boys to get into boardgames world, this was of course one of the first titles we brought to the table. That is why – and of course due to sentiment – it will stay in my collection forever 🙂

More about game:


Colt Express by Ludonaute

A game which landed in our home collection explicitly to “bring “lure” the young adepts of boardgames to that hobby. But also great position for adults who love to bluff, plan ahead and laugh when things go awry 🙂

Now, have you every imagined to travel in time and become one of the Wild West gangsters? In the Colt Express your dreams will come through! In this game you play a bandit robbing a train at the same time as other lawbreakers, and your goal is to become the richest outlaw of the Old West.

The game consists of five rounds, and each round has two phases (this is important!): planning phase – where players put their action cards sequentially to a common pool; and the resolution phase – where all cards are played one by one and the robbers perform their actions!

The game takes place in a 3D train in which the bandits can move from one car to another, run on the roof, punch the other bandits, shoot them, rob the passengers, or draw the Marshal out of position. The train has as many cars as the number of players, and each car is seeded with gems, bags of loot or suitcases at the start of play.

Again, as the game go extremally popular it received some interesting expansions. But even in the Base Game, that always gives our family a lot of fun and excitement!

More about game:

Steam from Mayfair Games

I think Steam was my first, serious or “adult” Trains themed title. My good boardgames colleague, Kuba G. read very good opinions about it and many years ago decided to get it and test in our games group.

In Steam you build railroads and deliver goods along an ever changing network of tracks and stations. You build the tracks, upgrade towns, improve your train, and grab the right goods to make the longest, most profitable deliveries. You score your deliveries and add to your income or victory points (your decision), balancing your need to invest against your quest to win the game.

Steam contains a beautiful, double-sided game board. The map on each side depicts terrain, towns, and cities at the start of the railway age. The map of the USA / Canada is ideal for 3 or 4 players, while European one for 4 or 5.

We spent some very interesting cold, winter evenings with that game – perfect for an evening gaming event, accommodating large number of players and providing multiple strategies for victory.

More about game:


Brass: Lancashire from Roxley

Long before Brass:Birmingham climbed to the top of BoardGameGeek and was deemed as one of the most beautiful games published, that interesting economic title hit out tables (then called simply Brass) already in 2007.  

This is an economic strategy game that tells the story of competing cotton entrepreneurs in Lancashire during the industrial revolution. You must develop, build, and establish your industries and network so that you can capitalize demand for iron, coal and cotton.

The game is played over two halves: the canal phase and the rail phase. To win the game, score the most victory points (VPs), which are counted at the end of each half. VPs are gained from your canals, rails, and established (flipped) industry tiles.

It is important to note, that Brass: Lancashire, the 2018 edition from Roxley Games, reboots the original Warfrog Games edition of Brass with new artwork and components, as well as a few rules changes – which balance the game based on hundreds of plays.

OK, this is not a purely Railway / Train title but the connections pay here a tremendously important role – and are so thematic to industrial revolution that I could not restrain myself from placing the game on the list. You will definitely have a fun with any of the Brass versions, choose the one which suites you best!

More about game:

1848: Australia from GMT Games

18XX

Before going into actual titles in that proposition, couple of words for those unbeknownst to the genre (well, quite recently I was among them!) 18xx is the name for a genre of board games that feature the creation and operation of railroad companies set in the 1800s. The landscape of 18xx games includes many different titles, usually with rules differences from one game to the next, giving each game its unique play style and flavor. Many

18xx are games of stock investments and railroad operations. Players act as investors to found railroad companies, buy and sell stock, and build their investment portfolios in hopes of collecting dividends and benefiting from rising stock values. The public railroad companies that are founded develop the map by building track and railroad stations, buying and operating trains, and managing their revenue. At the end of the game, the winner is the player with the highest net worth in their investment portfolio and cash holdings.

18XX’s I played

There is multitude of games in this series, from various publishers and designers. I started my journey with two very small and ideal for newbie title: 18MS & 18Chesapeake (you can check more in the links). However, today I would like to focus on title I personally like.

1848 Australia, is a semi-historical railroad game from the 18xx set, describing the development of that mean of communication on this continent – or rather, in its south-eastern part where the most things were happening.

The game consists of two separate series of actions repeated until the game ends, these are stock rounds and operating rounds. During stock rounds, shares in the various railroading companies are bought & sold by players and are tracked on the stock market mat. During operating rounds, the player/directors of those railroading companies are allowed to build track & place station markers on the map, and then may buy trains from which to earn capital from running those trains along routes on the map. The capital earned may be paid out as dividends to shareholders or retained by the company for future expansion.

As with many games in this series, there are similarities within the rules, but many feature slight differences, and it is these that give each individual 18xx game its character. 1848 has an interesting array of differences – these include how private companies are purchased, the inclusion of The Bank Of England as a public company that extends loans and administers railroads that are in receivership, dealing with different track gauges between states and ‘The Ghan’ special train.

More about game:

Summary

These are of course only several proposal from the many Train-Themed games. And while these are wargames which usually hit my table, I never deny when opportunity comes for some railroad building. That inner child in me definitely stayed there!

I would be grateful if you could share your ideas for Railroad games – what you like, what you would see on this list. Thanks