Game: China Rails

Thread: Re: Winning at China Rails

kenjohns — 2008-04-03T15:47:50+00:00

At our last session one of our members won by only building on the coastal plan - i.e. enough to connect all the Major cities.

He used other peoples lines when neccessary; and was content with smaller, but quicker loads.

I personally think he was also lucky with the cards he drew but it does show that it can be done.

Thread: Re: Renting to Taiwan?

tomvilfroy — 2008-04-03T02:02:00+00:00

Sadly I've email Mayfair this and other questions since the end of 2007 (sending them 3 emails) and have yet to hear a peep back from them.

I think their "rules guru" email address is no longer working.

Thomas

Thread: Re: Winning at China Rails

tomvilfroy — 2008-04-03T02:00:16+00:00

Well I've played close to 20 games and I've yet to see anyone win with the N/S strategy. Did have a person that was within striking distance (225) but that has been the only one that was close (of course did help that he had 2 fish deliveries to Hong Kong and another nearby city for total of $25 for the 2 to start as well!).

The Cotton/Rug payoffs are key to winning, in my opinion.

Thomas

Thread: Re: China Rails: the Review

generalpf — 2008-03-31T14:40:21+00:00

Shoot, I have to comment on my own review after a dozen games. Normally I wouldn't do this but I sort of recommended it up above, and I should retract that.

The East-West deliveries are too strong. The winner is always decided by who gets their East-West link running first. Unless some freaky card draw leaves a player without any $50M+ East-West deliveries, the first player to build the link will win.

If you start with an extra $10M (standard Quick Play rules), you will be able to build this link right at the start of the game. I once won the game with SEVEN deliveries after 30 minutes of play. So the extra $10M is out.

We tried a few games with the standard $60M and found that it took 15 minutes to generate the cash necessary to build the East-West link. All it takes is a strong North-South delivery and you're set. The first person to get their East-West link wins.

Just played again last night with -$10M (starting with $50M) and it became more of a game, but still, the end result was the same. First person to build East-West wins. THERE ARE NO OTHER STRATEGIES.

When I said that China Rails offers more challenge than Empire Builder or Eurorails, I was a bit premature in saying so. I'd only recommend this game if you have an interest in the region.

Thread: Re: Winning at China Rails

kenjohns — 2008-02-05T14:51:22+00:00

If you add the short (southern) West run to Dali to the North/South run and I have won this way on a number of occasions.

I agree Sheep is/are a killer.

Thread: Re: Circus

kenjohns — 2008-02-05T14:40:50+00:00

In all the games we use three circquoi'(!).

At the start we choose 1 card at random and place a circus at each destination.

Thread: Re: Renting to Taiwan?

kenjohns — 2008-02-05T14:28:26+00:00

Sometimes you might wish to, or already be connected, to another port, and wish to use anothers because it's nearer.

Although I can see the argument for the other way - i.e. the container ports do not, as such, belong to a Player - we usually pay the owner for delivery.

Perhaps you should E-Mail Mayfair for a definite ruling.

Thread: Re: Renting to Taiwan?

TheCat — 2008-01-26T14:30:35+00:00

Two of the containers cost $8. Renting track costs $4. Sometimes, you don't have the extra $4 to build the container.

Thread: Re: Renting to Taiwan?

GameGirl21 — 2008-01-25T23:15:51+00:00

I don't know about whether or not renting the container link is ok, but since you have to build Taiwan to win the game (the victory conditions state that you must have 4 major cities + Taiwan) why would you want to rent (I am sure you would have to pay as it is an action which I feel would substitute for actual "running of your train") when you could build it for the same amount of money?

Michelle

Thread: Renting to Taiwan?

TwitchBot — 2008-01-19T22:03:45+00:00

I may be being a bit too much of a rules lawyer here, but I've read the rules a couple times, and it does not seem clear to me whether or not you are permitted to do this.

Obviously in other crayon train games you can rent other players' ferries. This is not confusing, and the rules address it clearly enough. However, the Taiwan Container Links are not "ferries" - they have totally separate rules, and they do not seem to discuss if they can be rented.

I can certainly rent another player's track up to the ferry port. The question is, once I've moved there and ended my turn, what can I do now?

1) May I pick up or deliver a load from Taiwan using this link owned by another player?

The rules seem, to me, to be very unclear about this. It simply says "A player who wishes to deliver to Taiwan, or pick up a load from there to deliver on the mainland, will need to use Container Movement." It doesn't say that I have to have built to the port, and so long as someone else has built there, it seems that I can follow the Container Movement rules without a problem.

Assuming that the answer to #1 is "Yes", then:

2) Do I have to pay the $4 per turn rental fee to use your container link?

Obviously I do have to pay you the $4 if I rent your track to the port. And again, I obviously have to pay $4 to leave on your track. But if all I do during a turn is sit there and deliver a container load, but do not move the train, do you have to pay $4 for that? The obvious answer is "Yes" because I'm "using" your stuff. That seems fair, but the rules refer to having to pay a rental fee if you "run your train" on someone's track. This is particularly key with the link in Hong Kong, because if I didn't have to pay to use the link, why wouldn't I just build track to Hong Kong, not pay the $8 for the link, and just use your link for free. Right. Obviously that would not work.

Anyway, any insight is appreciated.

- Twitch

Thread: Re: A shorter, nastier crayon rail game

BFoy — 2008-01-17T12:07:35+00:00

Thank you for the clarification. It didn't really matter in the games we played, there isn't much in Taiwan that you can't get nearby. But that is nice to know.

Thread: Re: A shorter, nastier crayon rail game

tomvilfroy — 2008-01-16T20:37:35+00:00

Would like to make a correction to the above : For the Taiwan container rules, you may only PICK up OR DELIVER in a turn and it is not per load.

Just thought I point that out in case you misread the rules.

And yes it does play faster than the other Empire Builder games and they are definitly more fun to my playing community. The Congress card keeps players in check since if they are trying to deliver a long load, they had best hope it doesn't come up.

And in 2 of the games, it did at most unopportune times for the "leader" and thus another person won the game. So I would say the game is very fun to play, namely with 3-5 players.

Thomas

Thread: A shorter, nastier crayon rail game

BFoy — 2008-01-07T20:21:28+00:00

Knowledge of the Crayon Rail system is assumed.

China Rails has the following features:

1.) The Taiwan 'container' rules. Build to a ferry connecting to Taiwan and pay the price (either 4 or 8). At the beginning of your turn you can pick-up OR deliver exactly 1 good. This rule didn't effect play much. Though its generally much faster than a ferry.
2.) All the cities are in the east. Must connect them all. Taiwan counts as a city. Connecting the cities is cheap.
3.) Start with $60. It is suprising you start with that much. $60 is almost enough to build a major E-W route. This makes the game really fly!
4.) Communist party event. Makes you return to the nearest city. If you are going west this card is horrible. If you are going east its irrelevant.
5.) Alot of routes from the NW to the east. This is huge, it only takes 2-4 of these runs to win you the game. Always get the 12-3 train because its easy to find a route using a NW commodity. Build into every NW town possible, because those towns are key.

Comparison with other Crayon Rails systems

I have played almost every Crayon Rail game written. This game reminds me of Nippon and Aussie Rails the most. It has the great E-W runs like Nippon Rails except it is much cheaper to build them and there are fewer key commodities. And it has the big race to get into the key towns like Aussie Rails. Except there are no alternate routes that can work but it is cheaper to ride other people's rails.

Overall opinion of the game

Overall this game will probably appeal less to Crayon Rail players than the other games. If someone gets good cards, there is not much you can do to stop them from running away with the game. But it will be over quickly. Running out of commodities located in the far NW is a common occurance in this game. But that is only a small niusance since you can get some other commodites, then dump cards a couple times to get the routes for them. They are so many NW-E routes in the game this is not usually a problem. This might be a good gateway game for potential crayon rails players. But overall this game will have limited replay value for experienced Crayon Rails players.

Thread: Re: Circus

dreiling — 2008-01-06T04:20:41+00:00

Beijing and Shanghai - as there are two famous circuses in these cities.

Thread: Circus

cmd890 — 2008-01-05T20:16:19+00:00

Where do the circus's start the game in China rails?

Image

Toynan — 2007-11-13T11:43:15+00:00

Back of the box (in shrink)

Thread: Re: China Rails: the Review

generalpf — 2007-11-11T18:11:29+00:00

TheCat wrote:
generalpf wrote:
there's a huge mainland with four major cities in the East: Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing and Xian. This means there are no major cities in the East.
I think you meant to say there are no major cities in the West.
Ahhh, you got me, I'm used to playing upside-down so my wife can see it all right-side up. Fixed.

Thread: Re: Winning at China Rails

tomvilfroy — 2007-11-11T14:45:44+00:00

As much tempting as the North-South corridor looks, I've yet to see anyone win with this (not saying you can't..I just have yet to see it).

The loads out west are just way too big and tempting.

But my 2 big beefs with the game are 1) Sheep and 2) Cars. The sheep is located in only one city in the SW corner of the board..and just way too cost prohibitive, even if you have built to the Marble town.

As for Cars, I would like to know why that city isn't a medium city vs a small..considering it is the only city that supplies cars AND it is pretty close to a major city as well. It gets easily locked up and I of course and usually the one looking to having to ride some else's rails.

Thomas

Thread: Re: China Rails: the Review

TheCat — 2007-11-10T04:09:45+00:00

generalpf wrote:
there's a huge mainland with four major cities in the East: Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing and Xian. This means there are no major cities in the East.

I think you meant to say there are no major cities in the West.

Thread: Re: [Review] China Rails

BFoy — 2007-11-05T03:01:10+00:00

You might want to check out:
Lunar Rails - Big board with lots of viable routes.
India Rails - Small board with lots of viable routes.
Nippon Rails - Very small board with few good routes, extremely tight.
Iron Dragon - Huge board with some unique rules.
Eurorails - Large board, like Russian rails except more interesting.

Thread: Re: Winning at China Rails

Caldis — 2007-11-04T13:05:25+00:00

I've only played one game so far but from what I've seen there are two options, north-south or east-west. The NE has several lucrative goods as does the far west while south central seems to be pretty sparse.

I'd suggest persuing a big payoff with your initial build rather than chasing a few small ones. That initial investment is huge and if you can get it back quickly it's great. I played trying to match up a few small fares at first, hoping that I'd get some more deliverys on those tracks but it didnt work out. There's too many places and I ended up wasting turns burning through cards trying to find deliverys I could reach.

Thread: Re: [Review] China Rails

TomVasel — 2007-11-04T10:17:57+00:00

OK, OK!

Fixed my money problems.

Thread: Re: [Review] China Rails

Naoki — 2007-11-04T08:31:16+00:00

rri1 wrote:
Gotta watch that yuan/rubles exchange rate, though. Play Russian Rails much, Tom?

It is pegged 1 to 1, right?

nope... it's 3.5 now... Chinese Yuan (RMB) is even more expensive than our local currency now...

Thread: Re: [Review] China Rails

rri1 — 2007-11-04T02:57:29+00:00

Gotta watch that yuan/rubles exchange rate, though. Play Russian Rails much, Tom?

It is pegged 1 to 1, right?

Thread: Re: [Review] China Rails

ellephai — 2007-11-04T02:26:50+00:00

Gotta watch that yuan/rubles exchange rate, though. Play Russian Rails much, Tom?

Thread: [Review] China Rails

TomVasel — 2007-11-03T13:55:43+00:00

I’m slowly becoming more of a crayon rail gamer, with my fourth game added to my collection. At the same time, it’s not like I need that many of the maps; they all have some differences, but nothing that really makes them stand out. Still, it was nice to get China Rails (Mayfair Games, 2007 – Michael Dreiling), if only because the country of China is so close to where I live. Crayon rail games are neat in that they actually let you draw on the board, but I knew enough about them at this point to realize that these games are the opposite of a “filler” game, as they can be very involved. China Rails isn’t anything new to the series; it takes on the original design of Empire Rails and simply adds a bit of a Chinese flavor to it. It’s probably my least favorite of the series so far (although that’s not saying I don’t like it – it’s still a fun game), mostly because the strategy paths aren’t as diverse.

A large board is placed in the middle of the table, depicting a map of China. The map has fifty-two cities, separated into three types: major, medium, and small, and is divided up into a triangular grid of “milepost” dots. Next to each city, there are one to three icons depicting what kinds of goods that city produces. Each player takes a “train” token in their color, along with a special wipe-off crayon. Each player also receives sixty million yuan as starting cash and a Loco card that depicts nine speed and two goods. A deck of demand/event cards is shuffled, and three demand cards are dealt face-up to each player. The cards show three different cities on them, and the type of goods that each city wants along with the payout in yuan for supplying that demand. Stacks of chips representing each commodity are placed in a special area in the box, along with the rest of the Loco cards and the cash. The player who has the highest cash value on one their three Demand cards goes first with play proceeding clockwise around the table.

Each turn has two phases, the operation phase and the building phase. During the first two turns of the game, players skip the operation phase. During the operation phase, players can move their train pawn on their tracks on the map. The train starts the game in any city on the map and then can move up to its maximum speed (9 or 12) each turn. Trains cannot reverse direction except at a junction and can pick up or drop off loads at any city. Players can move freely on their own tracks and must pay opponents 4 million a turn if they use their track. If in a city that has good icons, a player may pick up loads of those particular types if they have room on their Loco card (two or three spots) and if there are any chips of that type available. (There are three to four chips of each type.) A player can drop a load off at any city, discarding it for no reward; unless they have a demand card showing that the city they are dropping the load off at wants that type of good. When the player does deliver a load to its destination, they return the chip to the box, discard the card, and receive the amount of yuan shown on the card immediately. The player then draws a new Demand card, placing it face up in front of them. If the player draws an event card, it is either placed face up on the table or takes effect immediately (depending on the card), and the player draws another card to take its place.

In the building phase, a player can spend up to twenty million yuan to either upgrade their train or lay track on the board. If upgrading their train, the player pays twenty million yuan to the bank and takes a new Loco card of the next level, increasing either the speed (from 9 to 12) or the load maximum (from 2 to 3). If building track, the player can draw on the board with their crayon, connecting the mileposts at a cost. Players can build from any milepost from which they already have track connected to or can start from any major City milepost (twice a turn). Different terrain types on the board determine the cost for building the track, determined by the milepost built TO.
- Clear mileposts cost 1 million
- Desert mileposts cost 1 million
- Mountain mileposts cost 2 million
- Alpine mileposts cost 5 million
- Small cities cost 3 million and have a maximum of two players who can connect to them.
- Medium cities cost 3 million and have a maximum of three players who can connect to them.
- Major cities cost 5 million, and all players can connect to them (a player cannot deliberately block another from connecting.)
- Crossing a river costs an additional 2 million
- Crossing a lake or ocean inlet costs an additional 3 million
- There is a ferry that crosses part of the ocean, as well as some routes that lead to Taiwan, with different costs for each.

Players have the option to discard all three of their cards, drawing new ones - forfeiting the remainder of their turn. Any event cards drawn must immediately be dealt with. Some events cause all tracks in different deserts to be destroyed – a deadly affair if your network goes through that area. All the other events allow for special deliveries of goods, tax the players, use weather to keep players from moving, etc.

When one player has connected all four of the major cities on the board with a continuous line of track AND has at least 250 million yuan in cash at the end of their turn AND is connected to one of the links to Taiwan, the game ends with each player finishing up their last turn. If a tie occurs, play continues until one player gets 300 million yuan, in which case they are the winner!

Some comments on the game...

1.) Components: The board is six puzzle pieces attached together, which form a fairly accurate map of China. At first the board looks a bit bland; but once players start drawing the track, it becomes intriguing, as one watches the train networks grow and expand. The crayons were effective and were easy to wipe off the board, but I question the effectiveness of the yellow crayon; it was difficult to see. While the crayons were good, I typically use my set of erasable markers, as they’re just easier to use. The boards are of good quality; and while the graphics are plain and a bit bland, they are quite easy to see and differentiate. The paper money was passable, and the cards were useful and of good quality - easy to shuffle and use. The chips were small poker chips that needed to have quite a few stickers attached to them, but I’m coloring the commodities to make them stand apart more. There was a plastic tray in the box that holds money, cards, and chips effectively but with one problem. If the box is tipped on its side at all, all the chips fall out of their slots, mixing them together in a giant mess. This is easily fixed by putting them all in a plastic bag, but then you have to sort them all out at the beginning of the game. Not a big deal, but a slight pain - I might tape some kind of board over them to keep them in place when I transport the game.

2.) Rules: The rulebook is very clear and explains how the game works – it’s identical to other books in the series, and I wouldn’t have minded a section on “How this differs from the other crayon rails games”, but newcomers will have no problem. Really, the game is very simple to explain to people – once they take a few turns the game really gets moving. For some reason, people who won’t touch a deep strategy game will easily jump into the rules of a game like this one. Maybe it’s the crayons?

3.) Length: The game is LONG. Even with a variant of moving the trains quicker (which I HIGHLY recommend), it still took a while. This isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy my time of playing the game, but downtime can occur. I tried to speed up the game by encouraging players to plan their track building while others where moving, but a simple event card can mess up all your carefully laid plans and cause a person to rethink the map. Once a good is delivered, the player draws a new card, which also might affect what they do next. So there’s really no way around it, the game is going to take a while. With two players, it’s fairly easy to get the game played in two hours, and I don’t think I would go above three.

4.) Variations: There are a few variations on play in the rulebook - two of which I think quite useful. One of them involves changing the speed of the trains to 12 and 16 respectively. This speeds the game up, while still retaining fairness and balance. The game also recommends giving mercy to those who are trapped without money. This can happen to new players who aren’t watching the desert carefully, but other players should rarely fall into bankruptcy.

5.) Strategy and Fun Factor: Most of the fun of the game is involved with setting up your network of trains. It’s great fun to watch your network grow and expand, and delivering goods gives one such a tremendous feeling of satisfaction. Knowing what goods to deliver and where is the crux of the game. Do you deliver several small loads, taking a bit of money at a time, or do you concentrate on the very long but lucrative loads. Being in the right place at the right time also helps, especially when an event card is drawn. The event cards add some randomness to the game; and the desert storm cards can be quite destructive – new players should be informed about them before playing. The game starts off a bit slow, as players struggle to get one or two loads delivered. Then, as the game progresses, the game speeds up, with the networks completed, as players rush to deliver as much stuff as they can. It’s not too terribly interactive, but players get so caught up in their networks that they don’t care too much.

6.) Empire Rails: This is my fourth game in the series that I’ve played, after trying the Russian, North America, and Australian maps. While I’m partial to China (living rather close), I enjoy this map – but not as much. The two western corners of the map hold the most valuable items, and the game really is just about getting to one or both of those places and transporting the valuable items. This doesn’t seem to leave a lot of strategy. Taiwan seems interesting, but it’s really just a slow-down mechanism (trains have to wait a turn when picking up and delivering there). The best thing about China is its terrain, which I found different and unique; but I would still recommend Russian Rails as my favorite of the lot and the original Empire Builder best for newcomers.

This is not the kind of game I’ll pull out to finish out a game night, nor is it one I’ll pull off the shelves lightly. When we play this one, we are going to game - and game hard. At the same time, it’s not too terribly taxing on the brain, just immensely involving. Because it takes so long to play, it probably won’t get played that often; but when it does get played, the time will be memorable. I wouldn’t recommend it as the introduction to the series, but it wouldn’t be horrible either – just not as good as the others. Still, I enjoyed the game quite a bit and recommend it to anyone who has wanted to start their own train empire. And the geography lesson about China certainly doesn’t hurt.

Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games.”
www.thedicetower.com

Thread: Re: China Rails: the Review

generalpf — 2007-11-02T14:50:58+00:00

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Thread: Welcom you here

laury — 2007-11-02T14:42:34+00:00

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Thread: Re: China Rails: the Review

generalpf — 2007-11-01T17:22:01+00:00

BFoy wrote:
Lets face it, the difference between the pronunciations is very subtle. Your co-worker probably didn't want to deal with teaching you how to say it perfectly. Unless you have perfect pitch, she could explain it for an hour and you still wouldn't get it.
That's probably it.

Thread: Re: China Rails: the Review

BFoy — 2007-11-01T16:55:50+00:00

generalpf wrote:

Thanks! I asked a first-generation Chinese immigrant co-worker of mine how to pronounce "Taiyuan" in English, and she said just like "Taiwan". At least Taiwan isn't a destination in this game.

Lets face it, the difference between the pronunciations is very subtle. Your co-worker probably didn't want to deal with teaching you how to say it perfectly. Unless you have perfect pitch, she could explain it for an hour and you still wouldn't get it.

I remember learning how to say thank you, it sounded like I was cussing them out. I had to go to class to learn it properly.

generalpf wrote:
I wouldn't say it's bland, unless you didn't like crayon rails, but I see that you do. Give it a shot!

Except for the map, the game is just like loads of other crayon rail games. In Eurorails you have the same issue, to go to Madrid or not. I just don't see it being much different from your description. I have a good balance in my crayon rail collection and if I got anything it would be Australian rails, Nippon rails or Iron Dragon. Each is different from other crayon rail games I have.

Thread: Re: China Rails: the Review

DarrellKH — 2007-11-01T14:33:13+00:00

太原 isn't pronounced exactly like 台湾. First of all, the inflection is different on the first syllable. Secondly, the second syllable for the mainland province is pronounced "yu-wan", where the "u" is nearly (but not completely) skipped over. The second syllable for the island is, simply, "wan", in contrast. (In both cases, the "wan" is pronounced like "wand" in English, minus the "d".)

If they sound the same to someone, when spoken by someone Chinese, either they didn't understand the question, weren't familiar with the English romanization of the Chinese ideograms you presented them with, or ran the syllables so closely together that your ear (unpracticed in listening to Chinese) couldn't tell the two apart.

Thread: Re: China Rails: the Review

generalpf — 2007-11-01T13:40:38+00:00

BFoy wrote:
Hmmm, this sounds rather bland, like Russian rails. But I obviously have different tastes than you have. Seems like the main benefit is to familarize people with China geography. BTW, Taiyuan and Taiwan aren't pronounced the same, though they are very simular.

But this is a good review...
Thanks! I asked a first-generation Chinese immigrant co-worker of mine how to pronounce "Taiyuan" in English, and she said just like "Taiwan". At least Taiwan isn't a destination in this game.

I wouldn't say it's bland, unless you didn't like crayon rails, but I see that you do. Give it a shot!

Thread: Re: China Rails: the Review

generalpf — 2007-11-01T13:39:00+00:00

tacitvs wrote:
Nice review. I really enjoy Eurorails, so this caused me to put China Rails on my wishlist!
Thanks! I hope you enjoy the game.

Thread: Re: China Rails: the Review

BFoy — 2007-11-01T11:50:46+00:00

Hmmm, this sounds rather bland, like Russian rails. But I obviously have different tastes than you have. Seems like the main benefit is to familarize people with China geography. BTW, Taiyuan and Taiwan aren't pronounced the same, though they are very simular.

But this is a good review...

Thread: Re: China Rails: the Review

tacitvs — 2007-11-01T06:19:27+00:00

Nice review. I really enjoy Eurorails, so this caused me to put China Rails on my wishlist!

Thread: China Rails: the Review

generalpf — 2007-11-01T03:39:30+00:00

Note: this review is geared toward crayon rails veterans, not novices. If you're new to crayon rails, you probably want to start with Empire Builder, but first read this summary of crayon rails games: http://p4wn3d.blogspot.com/2007/08/doublepost-friday-i-love-...

It seems like it was announced years ago -- and I think it was -- but China Rails is finally ready. Designed by Michael Dreiling (a new designer), China Rails fits right in alongside the other Mayfair crayon rails games. This review will focus on the differences between China Rails and other games in the line.

]]>
There's not much to mention in the way of components. You've got the standard load chips, deck of cards, a six-piece puzzle-cut board, train markers and a set of crayons. The load chips are printed with the names of the goods, which is a new standard, and it's much appreciated. The board is beautiful, taking a cue from Australian Rails, with coordinates along the sides and nice art in the oceans and along the borders. I was particularly thrilled by this, since the other rails games I own (Eurorails, India Rails and Lunar Rails) all come with a bland board, no printing on the chips and no coordinate system. The train cards are double-sided, which, depending on your stance, is either a positive or a negative. (Personally, I like Eurorails' approach, which eschews double-sided cards in favour of simplicity.) If I have one gripe about the components, each piece of my board is a little bit warped, required a stiff bend before assembling. (None of my other crayon rails suffer from this.)

Gamewise, this is how China Rails works: there's a huge mainland with four major cities in the East: Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing and Xian. This means there are no major cities in the West. The island of Taiwan is here too, and it's dealt with in a special way, discussed below. To win the game, you've have to connect to all four major cities and Taiwan, too. Does this mean you don't have to build West? Read on and see.

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Taiwan is represented as an island, geographically, but game-wise, you don't deal with the island, you deal with the link ports. The island of Taiwan has three cities: Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. However, you don't actually build track on the island, you connect to link ports on the mainland. Each link port is considered adjacent to one or two of the cities, represented by a dotted double line. To connect, you simply pay the amount indicated on the link, and you're then considered to connected to the corresponding cities on Taiwan. To drop off or pick up a load from Taiwan, you end your movement on the link port. At the beginning of your next turn, you can drop off or pick up your load from the city that corresponds to the link port you're on. If you want to do multiple pick-ups and/or drop-offs, you have to sit and wait to do another one next turn. (Don't worry, that's pretty rare.) This is far smoother than the ferry method, where you have to stop on one turn and move at half rate on the next. A huge two thumbs up on this clever representation of the Taiwan container system!

Goods-wise, it works along the lines of Australian Rails. Payouts seem slightly higher than, say, Empire Builder, but not as lavish as Australian Rails. Short runs are not very profitable at all, and most of the big runs run to the West. This almost makes your decision for you about building to the West. After three plays, I was able to win my first two by building to the West near the beginning. In my third game I tried to avoid it, instead limiting myself to the Eastern half, and I lost by one turn. I will stop short of saying it's unavoidable, but it will depend on your card draws. What this does is add a grander strategic element to crayon rails: not only are you left with short-term tactical decisions, but at some point you will be forced to make the long-term decision to build West or not, and to what extent you'll do it.

There are the standard common goods like iron and corn that are produced in a few places and wanted everywhere, but the stuff you'll be tempted to build West for are sheep, only found in Lhasa, to the far West, and rugs, found in three locations in the West. These items go for a lot of money in the East; payouts of $60M for sheep and rugs are not uncommon. Cars can be found in the Northeast, which are wanted in the South for big bucks too.

The events in China Rails are mostly benign; sandstorms and river flooding are frequent and unfortunate, but then again, when you build across a desert or river you know what's coming to you. One event really punishes those who focus on the West: Party Congress. It prevents you from picking up or delivering any goods until you've visited a major city, which of course are only found in the East. Even with a fast train under the quick play rules (12/16 movement), you're looking at 4 turns just to make it to Beijing should you be stuck in the West when this card is drawn. Ouch.

Now for the opinion section of the review. China Rails is like Australian Rails in the payout department, but it doesn't suffer from "ring around the middle" geography. It's not as tight and brutal as India Rails, with its six-piece board, not to mention that Taiwan isn't as desirable as Sri Lanka. China Rails is far more forgiving than Lunar Rails, but then, aren't they all? In the end, China Rails fits in just under India Rails as my second-favourite crayon rails game.

I had the biggest problem out of any crayon rails game ever with the city names. India Rails didn't faze me, but stuff like "Nanchung" and "Nanjing", and even "Taiyuan" (pronounced the same as "Taiwan") consistently throw me for a loop. I've gotten to memorize where goods can be found, but finding the cities is still a pain.

If you've started with Empire Builder or Eurorails and you're looking for something a bit more challenging with more interesting decisions, China Rails is a perfect next step. The production is beautiful and the game is very well balanced. Kudos to Michael Dreiling for what is sure to be a top-shelf entry in the crayon rails series.

Full board photo courtesy of Ed Rozmiarek.

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generalpf — 2007-11-01T02:31:11+00:00

The port linking system to Taiwan replaces the ferry system found in other crayon rails game

Thread: Re: Winning at China Rails

TheCat — 2007-10-02T23:22:48+00:00

I've won several games with an "avoid the west" strategy. There are equally as many good cards going to and from the northeast, and the 'party congress' will only lose you a couple of turns compared to 5+ turns lost going west.

Thread: Re: Winning at China Rails

mark_biggar — 2007-09-23T10:17:34+00:00

Yes, this works well, but you are taking a gamble. Watch out for the "Party Congress" card which can cause you to have to deadhead all the way back east while being unable to even pick up spec loads to take with you.

Thread: Winning at China Rails

eric_s_raymond — 2007-09-23T06:04:51+00:00

I've played four sessions of this recently-arrived game against experienced gamers familiar with the other Mayfair rail games, and I've won every time by following a very simple rule: Go west, young man!

The card mix in the deck contains a large number of extremely high-value contracts to and from the cities of the far Northwest -- Urumqi, Korla and Kashi in particular. Thus, though you must connect all four of the major cities in the east, the road to victory is to build west as soon as possible and be the first to start running the big contracts.

And when I say big, I mean big. Two east-to-west doubleheaders or even a single triple-header between (say) Urumqui and Taipei can win you the game, or at least give you an unassailable lead. It's even more devastating that the legendary pigs-to-Seville run in Eurorails.

When I say the card mix favors this, I mean that long east-west contracts come up often enough that you seldom have to even take small contracts (let alone deadheading) wait for them. I've found this to be true even if you're playing the original rules, and more so with the public locking rules (http://www.icynic.com/~don/rails/LockRules.html) which do tend to make a larger selection of contracts available.

You first build, and every build afterwards, should be aimed at Inner Mongolia until you actually get there. Thereafter, just let the money roll in.

The obvious good route is from Beijing west along the Mongolian border, but west from Xian to Golmud and then northeast towards Korla works just as well. Don't fear crossing the Taklimakan Desert; while I'm sure there is a sandstorms event card that will blow away your track I have yet to see it come up. Supposing it does, the logical Golmud-to-Korla routes only cross three desert hexes.

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sikeospi — 2007-09-12T21:42:08+00:00

China Rails on September 2, 2007 at ConQuestSF. The bordered background depicts the a scenic view of the Great Wall of China and surrounding hills.

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klellingson — 2007-09-10T03:25:29+00:00

A game in progress as part of the WCBC at ConQuest SF 2007.

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edroz — 2007-08-31T01:31:07+00:00

China Rails board

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edroz — 2007-08-31T01:30:39+00:00

China Rails components

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MartinStever — 2007-08-29T02:35:45+00:00

Load scan, circus included

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MartinStever — 2007-08-29T02:33:27+00:00

Rulebook Cover

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nomad001 — 2007-06-26T05:43:47+00:00