Game: India Rails

Thread: Re: Good crayon game to start with?

BFoy — 2008-09-03T11:01:36+00:00

ssmooth wrote:
If you're playing ANY rails game, my friendly advice is not to play with more than THREE players. If everyone has already played the game, FOUR is the top limit. These are fine games even with just TWO players, which is no doubt the easiest number to begin with.

I vehemently disagree with this statement. I play with four and five players all the time. The game scales well and the downtime for 5 players isn't much more than 3. At the beginning of the game, everyone simultaneously plans their initial routes and there is alot of thinking. Then the game quickly moves along until there is major rail building or someone starts dumping cards.

Though some maps don't really accomodate 5 players. Russia Rails, Euro Rails, Lunar Rails and Iron Dragon all are big enough to easily accomodate 5 players. Empire Builder with Mexico is also big enough.

Thread: Re: Good crayon game to start with?

Eldard — 2008-09-03T03:53:19+00:00

atomzero wrote:
I'm new to the crayon rail game series and am looking to pick up my first one. Is this a good one to start with?

Adam, I've played Empire Builder, British Rails, EuroRails, Iron Dragon, Lunar Rails, India rails, and Australia Rails, and I can say without hesitation that India Rails is my favorite.

I also highly rrecommend it as your first crayon-rail game, for these reasons. . . .

1. The mapboard is 50% smaller than the others. This means it takes less time to connect the major cities and move goods around. We once played a 3-experienced player game in less than 1.5 hours (Don't expect that on your first game, though).

2. The geography is great.

a. The map is basically a diamond shape, with roughly equal east-west & north-south axes. But the major cities (needed to be connected to win) are around the periphery. This poses at least two major strategic options: build track around the periphery to connect the cities but take more time to move goods, or build track through the heart of the map to expedite goods shipment while branching outward to major cities.

b. The Ganges River in the east, and the desert and marshes in the west pose natural disaster risks to connections in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

I recommend starting with India Rails.

Thread: Re: Play time on box

atomzero — 2008-09-03T03:12:08+00:00

Thanks. I just wanted to know the one on the box because I keep track of that info as well as actual play time, but thank you for the good information.

Thread: Re: Good crayon game to start with?

atomzero — 2008-09-03T03:10:58+00:00

Thank you very much for the fine feedback.

Thread: Re: Play time on box

mark_biggar — 2008-09-02T23:00:56+00:00

In general for all the crayon rails series, experienced players on a known map take 30-45 per player. A new map takes about 50% longer. My father and I typically knock out 2 player games in 60-90 minutes (actually depending on what is simultaneous on the TV If it's a football game add an hour)

Thread: Re: Good crayon game to start with?

ssmooth — 2008-09-02T21:42:23+00:00

Actually I firmly disagree that you should start with a map with familiar geography. Part of the fun of the game is getting to learn about cities you may never have heard of and where to find them on the map.

My first of these games was British Rails. I went in with a general idea of the locations of London and Liverpool. Soon my education progressed to where I could find Scotland and Wales and even Penzance with the greatest of ease. Today I can almost spell Aberstwyth. All thanks to British Rails.

If you're starting with India Rails, my only friendly advice would be to ignore the "pilgrims" rule until you've played the game a couple of times. It's just a small detail added to give the game a slightly different flavor from the other Rails games, and you can easily do without it.

If you're playing ANY rails game, my friendly advice is not to play with more than THREE players. If everyone has already played the game, FOUR is the top limit. These are fine games even with just TWO players, which is no doubt the easiest number to begin with.

Thread: Re: Play time on box

atomzero — 2008-09-02T21:41:21+00:00

Thanks!

Thread: Re: Good crayon game to start with?

atomzero — 2008-09-02T21:40:58+00:00

You both make a good point about the geography. I'll be honest as to my reasons for asking about this one:

1) It's the highest rated one that I can get on Amazon Prime
2) I'm interested in learning the geography

Aside from the availability, what made me not think Empire Builder initially was actually my familiarity with the map.

Thread: Re: Play time on box

Eric Brosius — 2008-09-02T21:23:57+00:00

3 hours.

Thread: Re: Good crayon game to start with?

kevinwho — 2008-09-02T21:09:23+00:00

I agree with Michael -- it is a lot easier to get into a crayon rail game if you aren't spending all your time trying to figure out where the heck things are. However, if that is not an issue for you...

My buddy owns pretty well all the Empire Builder series, including a couple of unofficial print-n-play ones he downloaded here on the geek. I have logged many hours on the various boards, and my opinion is that you are unlikely to go particularly wrong with any of them.

I quite like India Rails, as I feel the board is nicely balanced, with good east-west and good north-south routes. I think you can start just about anywhere on the board.

I actually think the Empire Builder board is probably my least favorite. I think it is much more viable to start out in the Northeast, than to start anywhere else on the board. Building in the west, for example, is so expensive, and the cities are so far apart, that it is very difficult to get traction, and early on there will be very few cards with deliveries you can actually make.

Anyway, my $0.02 is that if you are not concerned with the initial need to learn the geography, India Rails is a fine starting point.

Kevin

Thread: Play time on box

atomzero — 2008-09-02T20:49:25+00:00

What does the box say is the play time for this game? I don't need to know actual play time, I just want to know what the box says for my records.

Thread: Re: Good crayon game to start with?

CortexBomb — 2008-09-02T20:39:03+00:00

Let me start with the caveat that I have very, very limited experience with these types of games (1 game of British Rails), but based on this experience I suggest getting games that have maps where you are already familiar with the geography involved. Much of the game involves finding the most efficient way to pick up and deliver goods from point A to B to C. Not knowing the geography can make this much more arduous. Hence, most Americans would likely be best off starting with Empire Builder.

Thread: Good crayon game to start with?

atomzero — 2008-09-02T20:33:31+00:00

I'm new to the crayon rail game series and am looking to pick up my first one. Is this a good one to start with?

Thread: Re: Crayon Rail Newbies 1st Time 2 Player Game

tomvilfroy — 2008-08-21T00:10:18+00:00

TheCat wrote:
The Train Gamers Association definitely doesn't play the "fast rules" when they offer the Puffing Billy Tournament at GenCon and Origins.

Nor usually at other conventions - namely RailCon - so I doubt there are many cons where the TGA does allow for fast start.

Thread: Re: Crayon Rail Newbies 1st Time 2 Player Game

TheCat — 2008-07-12T17:33:56+00:00

The Train Gamers Association definitely doesn't play the "fast rules" when they offer the Puffing Billy Tournament at GenCon and Origins.

Thread: Re: Crayon Rail Newbies 1st Time 2 Player Game

Tall_Walt — 2008-06-30T16:08:45+00:00

TheCat wrote:
What championship? Those certainly aren't Puffing Billy (Train Gamers Association) rules. Where is this championship played, and where are these rules published?
Perhaps I've misunderstood, but I understood the Puffing Billies did play the fast rules. My group has three or four dedicated Puffing Billies, and they always play the fast rules, even when practicing just before the con.

Thread: Re: Crayon Rail Newbies 1st Time 2 Player Game

TheCat — 2008-06-30T13:13:54+00:00

dagny21 wrote:
I noticed that my husband never did bother to spend the $20 million to upgrade his train, which I think was a big mistake because in the end I won, but he wasn't far behind. I think if he'd upgraded he might have pulled ahead.

Upgrade early and often. It gives you significant advantages (speed and speculative loads) and definitely makes the game play faster. Everyone should upgrade for a faster train, and nearly everyone should upgrade for more loads -- well before the midpoint of the game.

Thread: Re: Crayon Rail Newbies 1st Time 2 Player Game

TheCat — 2008-06-30T13:11:03+00:00

Tall_Walt wrote:
Do play the fast rules. They are also the championship rules

What championship? Those certainly aren't Puffing Billy (Train Gamers Association) rules. Where is this championship played, and where are these rules published?

Image

Rokkr — 2008-06-26T14:48:54+00:00

delivery ticket, event card and back

Image

Rokkr — 2008-06-26T14:47:44+00:00

the locos

Image

Rokkr — 2008-06-26T14:46:32+00:00

rule book cover

Thread: Re: Crayon Rail Newbies 1st Time 2 Player Game

Tall_Walt — 2008-06-24T12:38:00+00:00

Werbaer wrote:
With the "radical proposal", you can turn around by drawing a triangle at the start of your turn (usually $2), and lose one movement point by using it.
Often $2, but perhaps not usually: mountains and bridges and other track may interfere. Also, you are already adding movement, while under the original rules you would not have to reverse at all.

An objection to late-draw is that makes more costly to cash in spec (speculation) loads and (more commonly) to re-evaluate your position on the basis of new cards. Since the reverse rule never comes into play among experienced players, I see no value in keeping it.

It may be worthwhile to give some examples for those less experienced in the game. Here's a simplistic example: simplistic for clarity and because I don't have time to produce fancy graphics; the situation is real--it just usually happens on twistier track than this:

A---------------------B------------------C----D---------E

You're at (or near) A and get tickets that offer:
#1. A -> D
#2. A -> D
#3. C -> E or D -> B

You go to D and deliver two goods, pick up for E and just start to E.

You now draw D -> A and C -> A to replace #1 and #2. You now want to immediately reverse to take the new contracts and change which part of #3 you're using, by delivering D -> B instead of C -> E. In the original rules, you would have reversed at D. Under the late-draw rules, you have to reverse to D first. Adding a reverse penalty (1) moves the game further from the original and (2) slows the game, which is not the purpose of the fast-draw rules.

I also note that $2 could prevent an engine upgrade in the early game, increasing the cost to $2 track, 1 movement from the loop, 3 or 4 movement for the delayed train upgrade, and the reverse cost not in the original rules.

Regarding the $1 out $5 in city rule: it's just noise with no effect on the game. It's not worth teaching the rule. Nor is it thematic.

Thread: Re: Crayon Rail Newbies 1st Time 2 Player Game

Werbaer — 2008-06-24T10:46:27+00:00

Tall_Walt wrote:
Tall_Walt wrote:
Using this option, you should allow an instant turn around of a train.Under the usual rules, you are not allowed to reverse the direction of your train except in a city or by taking a turn to turn around. [...] In the case where card draws are delayed until the end of the turn, it's necessary to remove the rule so as to not devalue speculation commodities too much, and not have too great a cost of reversing due to the new cards.
With the "radical proposal", you can turn around by drawing a triangle at the start of your turn (usually $2), and lose one movement point by using it.

We play with the late draw variant, and with track building after movement (but before drawing new cards), and still have no problem. If you have valuable speculation loads, you can choose to end your turn in a city and forfeit a few movement points, or stop at (or near) an intersection with another players track (so you can ride back at a cost of $4); some players might even build a track triagle somewhere in the wild ($2) at the end of their turn to be able to move back if desired.

Tall_Walt wrote:
Equally useless is the rule allowing two free exits from big cities per turn, but $5M(?) entrances: I've never seen anyone enter a big city.
You don't pay it (except in very rare cases), but it is a small advantage for people later in turn order in the first build round. In Empire Builder, you're unable to claim a direct route between Chicago and Kansas, and in addition build the direct route to Detroit, or contact to a small town (to avoid the risk to get shut out). It's even more important on the Eurorails map, with Ruhr and Holland being very close to each other, and only two players are able to use the best connection spot in Holland.
In India Rails, this rule doesn't matter, since the are no adjacant major cities.

Thread: Re: Crayon Rail Newbies 1st Time 2 Player Game

Tall_Walt — 2008-06-24T01:05:37+00:00

Joe Casadonte wrote:
Tall_Walt wrote:
Using this option, you should allow an instant turn around of a train.

I'm not sure what you mean by that....
Under the usual rules, you are not allowed to reverse the direction of your train except in a city or by taking a turn to turn around. This is actually a pretty useless rule since good players never make such a mistake--it only punishes new players. In the case where card draws are delayed until the end of the turn, it's necessary to remove the rule so as to not devalue speculation commodities too much, and not have too great a cost of reversing due to the new cards.

Equally useless is the rule allowing two free exits from big cities per turn, but $5M(?) entrances: I've never seen anyone enter a big city.

Thread: Re: Crayon Rail Newbies 1st Time 2 Player Game

johnkerr — 2008-06-23T23:25:25+00:00

One thing that speeds the game up for me is using the player aid that shows the cities on one listing and the goods on another. A big part of the game (IMO) is finding sets of goods that travel from similar areas to similar areas on your cards. Since the player aids show the general area that the city/good is in, you can relatively quickly make a high level determination of which sets work well and which don't. I'd encourage having a copy for each of you.

Thread: Re: Crayon Rail Newbies 1st Time 2 Player Game

Joe Casadonte — 2008-06-23T23:21:46+00:00

Tall_Walt wrote:
* In some games you get more money--I forget whether IR is one such.

I believe you start with $70 instead of $60.

Tall_Walt wrote:
A more radical proposal has been made to speed up play. (I regret I forget by whom.) The turn sequence changes to:
1. Draw track up to $20. (This means you have other players' down time to plan in.
2. Move and deliver, but don't draw.
3. Draw until you have three contracts.

I like these a lot!

Tall_Walt wrote:
Using this option, you should allow an instant turn around of a train.

I'm not sure what you mean by that....

Thread: Re: Crayon Rail Newbies 1st Time 2 Player Game

Tall_Walt — 2008-06-23T21:16:42+00:00

Do play the fast rules. They are also the championship rules, so you're not losing anything but the tax card (which you can always house-rule back in). The fast rules are (from fallible memory):
* You start with five cards (not counting disasters) and discard to three before your first build.
* Trains travel 12 and 16 instead of 9 and 12.
* No taxes, but money becomes public.
* In some games you get more money--I forget whether IR is one such.
I also suggest you allow the loan rule (repay 2 for 1 loaned) since it removes the need to exactly count out track.

Playing just the fast rules (not the loan rule), experienced players routinely play 1/2 hour per player.

A more radical proposal has been made to speed up play. (I regret I forget by whom.) The turn sequence changes to:
1. Draw track up to $20. (This means you have other players' down time to plan in.
2. Move and deliver, but don't draw.
3. Draw until you have three contracts. (This again puts thinking about routes into the other players' down time. It also prevents the situation where you move one space, deliver, and draw a disaster that almost kills two complete turns.)
Using this option, you should allow an instant turn around of a train. The draw at the end makes spec loads pay off a little less quickly, but the reversal rule change keeps them from paying off too slowly.

Thread: Re: Crayon Rail Newbies 1st Time 2 Player Game

Joe Casadonte — 2008-06-23T17:55:18+00:00

Played a 2-player game (with fast rules) in just over an hour a few weeks ago.

Thread: Re: Crayon Rail Newbies 1st Time 2 Player Game

Eldard — 2008-06-23T12:38:19+00:00

IMHO, India Rails is the best of the crayon-rail games in the Empire-Builder series. As you get more familiar with the game, the game length will come down. We once played a 3-player India Rails in less than 2 hours.

Thread: Crayon Rail Newbies 1st Time 2 Player Game

dagny21 — 2008-06-23T06:18:23+00:00

I've been curious about crayon rail games for awhile now, and just recently picked up a gently used copy of India Rails on eBay. When My husband read 180 minutes on the box he looked at me like I was crazy. You see, he loathes long games, while I secretly love them.

Fortunately he loves me enough to go along with me with minimal eye-rolling.

Anyway, Friday night we sat down to play this game. I had prepared by reading the rule book ahead of time and playing a little bit solo to really figure the game out so I could help him. (His least favorite part of playing games with me is learning the rules the first time).

After two full hours we were both still broke, but each of us had managed to build quite a network of rails, and we'd each also connected 4 of the 5 major cities. I upgraded my train to a fast freight, then we called it a night and decided to take it up again the next afternoon.

The second half of the game we finally started to make some money. We did less and less building and pretty soon we were racing each other to see who could get to that $250 million first. I noticed that my husband never did bother to spend the $20 million to upgrade his train, which I think was a big mistake because in the end I won, but he wasn't far behind. I think if he'd upgraded he might have pulled ahead.

In the end, it took us 4 1/2 hours to play our first game. But I think a lot of that had to do with staring at a map of India and trying to figure out where things were. I think we'll get faster in the future.

If I can rope him into playing it with me again that is. I know he had fun, he just doesn't have the same kind of attention span I have.

Thread: Re: Possible to upgrade train at any milepost?

usagi-san — 2007-11-24T18:32:43+00:00

Awesome! Thanks John.

Thread: Re: Possible to upgrade train at any milepost?

jearles — 2007-11-24T03:48:16+00:00

Yes, while it may seem strange to be upgrading outside of a city, you can indeed upgrade at the end of any turn (instead of building new track)

Thread: Possible to upgrade train at any milepost?

usagi-san — 2007-11-24T03:31:20+00:00

After moving, can one upgrade the train at any milepost? It seems weird to be in the middle of a track (i.e. not in a city) and upgrade your train after moving.

This is my first Rails game so I am not entirely familiar with the system. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks muchly.

Thread: Re: Any errata?

railgamefan — 2007-06-09T19:44:06+00:00

For the computer version we ended up prohibiting builds across the coastline. This appears to be the most popular choice, and is what has been used at the WBC.

Thread: Re: Any errata?

mbtigger — 2007-06-01T19:56:08+00:00

We play Iron Dragon more often than India, and in Iron Dragon there are coastal inlets that cost +3. I don't recall anyone building along the coastal areas in any of our IR games, but should it happen I am pretty sure we would default to rules we know from other Mayfair variants.

Thread: Re: Any errata?

railgamefan — 2007-06-01T19:23:09+00:00

The rules state that players can build from any milepost to any adjacent milepost, except where prohibited.

But I agree that the coastline should be handled one of the two ways you listed.

Thread: Re: Any errata?

TheCat — 2007-05-28T13:23:41+00:00

I'm not sure why you say it must be free. It would be equally valid to say that it is prohibited. How did you come to your conclusion?

The two obvious possibilities suggested by other crayon rail games are:

1) Prohibited - no building across coastlines
2) +3 in addition to other terrain costs.

Thread: Re: Any errata?

railgamefan — 2007-05-07T15:06:36+00:00

There's no mention of coastline in the rules.

By strict interpretation, that means ocean coastline can be built across at no extra cost.

But that doesn't sit well with me since no other game in the series handles the coastline in that fashion.

Thread: Re: Any errata?

Basilius — 2007-01-26T01:28:05+00:00

None I've ever seen. And we've never needed it. (I've played this one a LOT.)

Thread: Any errata?

celt619 — 2007-01-26T01:18:52+00:00

Wondering if anyone is aware of any errata with this game?

Image

Werbaer — 2006-11-02T12:41:20+00:00

box cover

Thread: Let's start in Bombay

seppo21 — 2005-10-02T22:27:16+00:00

Only Game: India Rails

Since we had some time before Numb3rs started, Christine and I decided to play one of the Empire Builder games. Christine chose a game of India Rails, which is the one we have played the most except for the original. The object of the game is to connect all five major cities and amass 250 million rupees. Rails are paid for and drawn directly on the board. A set of three loads cards lists destinations and pay-outs for various commodities. Once you deliver a load, you draw a new card. Unfortunately, there are events that can cause you to lose turns and loads (among other problems) mixed in. In addition, if you need a little extra money, you can pick up some pilgrims and take them for a little ride. Our one little deviation from the rules is to start with 60 million instead of 50 million and use three initial building rounds

My initial set of cards allowed me to pick up a couple of items close together just out of Bombay and deliver them to the area around Darjeeling. After dropping those off, I was able to get some tea and some steel (and get a faster train) to head back to the central area of the board. Now I had something of a dilemma. The only way to really use my cards efficiently was to build a lot of track and use a lot of turns to get it taken care of. My other option was to build a little less, still take nearly as long, and make hardly any money. Of course, I could always discard and redraw, but that is an option I try to avoid whenever possible. I chose to build. This meant taking a load of goats to the far east of the map, picking up some oil and heading back. On the way, I picked up some copper. and as much as I try to avoid it, I bought the bigger train because I was picking up one other commodity. This proved to be a fortunate purcahse as I carried three items a couple of more times during the rest of the game.

As I was making those deliveries, the load cards I was drawing were not looking all that interesting. However, once I had made all three deliveries, it became clear that I would be heading south to pick up some coffer for two deliveries around Delhi and some imports for delivery to Quetta. Granted, this would cost me a couple of turns, but the pay-out was enormous. In addition, I was able to go ahead and connect all of my major cities at this time. As I began dropping off the coffee and drawing new cards, I began to formulate a new plan. Since I was close by, I went ahead and connected to the rugs I was going to need. After the imports were dropped off, I needed to go back and get two more loads of coffee to take with me to the eastern part of the board. So, again, the coffee really helped me. Interestingly, as I dropped off my commodities in the east, I drew two more coffee deliveries. However, I was now at 141 million. The quickest way to make money was to pick up coal (which happened to be available in the city I was in) and head off to the rug city. A few turns later, I was the winner.

Final Result: (in millions)

Stephen -- 266
Christine -- 191

I find it interesting that Christine and I have played India Rails as much as we have over the years. I think it is because it has one of the more interesting maps to play on out of all the many different ones available in the series. There are lots of rivers to build around. Some desert, some mountains, even the salt marshes. At any rate, this was a pleasant way to spend some time in between cooking Saturday's breakfast and waiting for our TV show to start. Our total playing time was 90 minutes.

Thread: Second Play

snoozefest — 2005-08-26T19:28:58+00:00

I got home from work a bit early, so we decided to play a quick game of India Rails after dinner. Mary loves this series - we originally bought Iron Dragon, and later Eurorails, Empire Builder, India Rails and Lunar Rails. At this last Origins, she also bought the single piece rolled up maps for all these games, Russia Rails and British Rails, so I guess we'll be getting those soon, too! We used the India Rails laminated map, and markers -- MUCH nicer than using crayon!

M is a gamer, but there are specific criteria for what games we can play. We'd just tried Ark of the Covenant again, and that didn't go well (I can't seem to "play nice"). But this is one of those multiplayer solitaire games, and it would play quickly: only 2 of us, using the fast-start rules (5 cards to choose 3 for opening hand, $70 starting money, 12 speed/2 capacity starting trains; we used only 2 build turns, though). India rails also has a Pilgrim rule, but neither of us ever took advantage. We also used the travelling circus variant, although again neither of us ever moved the circus.

Man, there are a lot of rivers, and a lot of branches, in India! My initial set included a card with a huge ($64?) payoff for indigo, and also medium-sized (~$30s) payoffs. With the starting money, I was (just barely) able to build my initial route from Chittagong, Bangladesh, to Srinigar (N. India) for a medium payoff. It wasn't quite enough to build track all the way to Sri Lanka - the ferry was just a bit too much money for me. So, I was forced to take a few smaller payoffs to get some building cash. Then, I was able to build track all the way to the tip of Sri Lanka and pick up a couple of indigos - I'd drawn another card with an indigo order. I wasted several turns on the ferry, but it turned out to be worth it because of the payoffs (~$100 total for both).

M's initial route was entirely east-west, from Bangladesh to Quetta, Pakistan. She had a string of medium deliveries mostly along this route. She quickly connected all 5 major cities by building down along the western coast. She also built track southward from Delhi, so that her network had sort of a loop in western India, with a leg extending towards Bangladesh. She never built into Sri Lanka, choosing to take smaller payoffs rather than spend the time/money required to build into and pickup/deliver from Sri Lanka.

My network, meanwhile, developed into a hub-and-spoke configuration. My initial route went through Delhi to the north and east. I then built track south, reaching all the way to Sri Lanka for indigo (and eventually to the Indian tip for fish). I didn't connect with the other 2 major cities until much later, by building spokes from Delhi (partly through desert).

Anyway, the early game was just moving along our initial track, earning money to build out. We both quickly upgraded to the 16/2 train - can't let your opponent win just 'cause you have a slow train! With more money, we built more track as noted above. To my eye, my network was more efficient. Sure, I'd have a hard time getting to south-western / west-coast India, but I was able to pick goods that I could deliver pretty easily. (It's interesting how the initial 3 cards determine your initial track; then, later in the game, your track determines which card goods you will deliver.) Near the end of the game, I had 2 deliveries from the south to the north. I picked up another order (for wood), which was only a short detour for my train. I had to upgrade to the 16/3 train in order to carry everything, but then I was quickly able to make 3 deliveries (2 to Lahore, 1 to Quetta) which totaled ~$100. I ended up winning with $263, to Mary's ~$200.

-----
This is a fun game, and it probably took us only about 2 hours to play. It was odd that we never had ANY events come up in this game (except 1 in the initial hand during setup, which was discarded). The events can be kind of random, so I don't really mind that they didn't come up - might even consider not playing with them, in the future. There is little player interaction, at least with only 2 players. With more players there would likely be more fighting for position - trying to get the cheapest routes (there are a lot of rivers and mountains!). For us, the competition for space was less important than trying to maximize the efficiencies of building track and moving trains. In this game, at least, the hub-spoke network seemed to be more efficient. I don't play enough train games to know what is considered optimal in the different maps. Anyway, this was a fun, fast game; I hope to play the other versions soon, too.

Thread: Land of Enchantment

seppo21 — 2005-06-09T02:06:07+00:00

First Game: India Rails

My wife and I have been trying to get through all of our games at least once this year. Since we love the Empire Builder series, that means there are a lot of these to play. We decided on India Rails this evening. For those of you not familiar with the series, you spend money to build rail lines that are drawn directly on the game board. You then move our train from city to city picking up and delivering loads that make you a given amount of money (as determined by the load cards you draw). The object is to get to 250 (million?) and connect all five major cities.

My initial loads included a load of indigo into the middle of the country that would make me a fair chunk of change. Now, my usual strategy in India Rails is to built a mostly East-West line and make a living off of many short, quick, cheap loads. After that, I can expand to the major cities I need to win the game. I've never been to Sri Lanka (the source of Indigo) in my previous games. Today would be different. Delivering the indigo took almost all of my initial money. I was then able to head North toward Delhi with another delivery. My new load card allowed another delivery even further North. I now also was able to fill a load of oil way down South. This set up a pair of deliveries around Calcutta (more indigo and peanuts), which nicely set up a couple of deliveries to Karachi. Eventually, I had to large deliveries to the Upper Ganges (Rubber and Coffee) which pretty much sealed the deal. One more delivery, and I was finished.

Final Result:

Stephen -- 264
Christine -- 215

It's kind of strange, but both my wife and I really like India Rails for some reason. I think it may be because of the varied type of terrain as well as the balance between pursuing big loads and small loads. At any rate, it was really different for me going into Sri Lanka. I normally avoid ferries because they eat up so much time. However, in this game, it really paid off for me with 2 indigo and 2 rubber loads. Total playing time around 2 hours.

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Kiov — 2005-05-05T15:38:53+00:00

Note that we are using white board markers and the dice is used to keep track of moves already moved before breaks for loading or selling cargo.

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Kiov — 2005-05-05T15:38:53+00:00

A two person game where my wife totally crushed me.

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EJKemp — 2005-03-06T13:39:48+00:00

Thread: Re:User Review

bwross — 2004-08-24T01:00:46+00:00

sasseriansection (#38784),

There are two sources of interaction that you didn't notice:

(a) Small/medium cities and ports have limits on the number of players and number of exits you can use. Large cities also have the general access restriction (you can't build in a way that would prevent a player from connecting), but it's rarely a consideration.

(b) There's a limited number of each type of good chip.

These do occasionally become real issues in some games, and I've often wondered if tightening them up would make things more intense (ie. reduce all or most of these limits by one).

Nippon Rails, with it's narrow corridors caused by the islands and their mountainous/alpine terrain, is my favourite of the crayon rail games... preferably with four or five players which really adds to the competition for the handful of cheap routes though any given area. This is why I think tightening things up a bit would make most of the others more interesting (I've played India Rails 4-5 times, and every time I have been derailed by elephants!)... that combined with at least some open contracts (there are a number of systems for these).

Thread: Re:User Review

Werbaer — 2004-08-23T17:09:49+00:00

House rule for a bit more player interaction: At the start of the game, each player gets 4 demand cards, chooses 3, and discards the other one. The discarded cards become 'open contracts'. Each player can deliver them; after a delivery, the card is discarded, and a new open contract is drawn. Now it's often a race to use these contracts; can someone deliver a low-paying good before another player gets a big payoff?

House rule for speeding up the game: New contracts are not drawn immediately, but after the players turn is complete (after his build phase). This way, players are forced to start thinking during their opponents turns; and if several players make a delivery in the same turn, they use the same 'thinking time'.

Thread: User Review

sasseriansection — 2004-06-06T17:35:59+00:00

India Rails is a game I picked up on a slight whim. I had read about the Empire Builder series here at BGG, and the fact that it was on sale locally sealed the deal. I came into this game thinking how spiff it would be to draw on something with crayons for the first time in years, but I was confused on how money was made, handled, and competition between the players. So how does it play?

Mixed. The quick and simple review is: "Interesting mechanics, with not a lot of player interaction and a smidge longer than it needs to be." Now that you know, here's the meat of the matter.

The rules, after a read through or two, are easy enough to implement and remember, and I've had no issues with broken, incomplete or vague situations. Honestly, I think they're a bit *too* simple and could really use some extra flavor with some house rules or complete variants.

The decisions in the game are definitely there, at least for a time. You *MUST* make good decisions on where to build your rails, and if you have anyone in your group that takes forever to decide on something, this might not be the game for your group. Here's why: Each player is given three cards that each have three loads on them with how much the payoff for them are. So just right there you have 9 loads that must be sorted through and the cities where those loads are to be dropped off must be located. Then you must locate where those goods are produced. Thankfully you can refer to the City and Goods charts on the sides of the board to ease finding them. Short deliveries are worth 10$M usually, medium 20->30$M, and the long boys are 40$ -> 70$M. So as you can see, sorting through the choices can take a bit of time, and you really need to make sure people are planning their next move during other people's turns.

The construction of the game is a little above average, probably helped by the extra coating on the playing surface so you can wipe the crayons off. The map, while not winning any art prizes, is detailed and (more importantly) *CLEAR*. The charts on the side of the map assist with the location of a city, a good addition because otherwise you would be beating your head into the wall looking for that 20 consonant filled city that you've never heard of.

My issue with this game is two fold: 1) Lack of player interaction and 2) the last 1/3 of the game.

The only interaction between players is when someone uses your line (they pay you 4$M regardless) or they draw an Event card and you need to look over and see what it is. Other than that it's all you baby. And while this makes the game good for intermittent play, the game play just honestly that exciting for say internet or play by mail. If you use some house rules where you can block your opponent, bribe their workers to go on strike, etc. I think this game would get a substantial improvement.

The last 1/3 of the game has always been just sitting back and waiting for the money to roll in. Very little track gets built, unless you need to make delivery somewhere that is worth the expenditure. And honestly, if you're not drawing track the game loses about 2/3 of its appeal. Again, house rules would assist here by offering more interaction than you taking money from the banker.

So all in all, I'd give it a 5.5. It's a decent game if you don't feel like or can't do a lot of interaction; say if one player is in and out a lot. The premise of drawing with crayons and playing trains again will probably draw in some players. But honestly this game has been played twice and probably won't be played again unless I can come up with some decent house rules.

Thread: Session Report

sasseriansection — 2004-06-06T17:32:26+00:00

Finally found a little time to teach this game to my girlfriend. She started off by building a loop around Central India, connecting Dehli and the resource rich northern areas. I began my line in the East Lower Ganges, connectiong Calcutta and some of the bigger cities in the area.

As the rounds progressed and money started pouring in, I continue my line south along the coast all the way to Sri Lanka and continued my way north up through Bombay and finally connecting the remaining two cities up. She continued plodding away picking up and dropping off goods, never quite catching a break on massive payoffs on her line.

After two huge dropoffs of oil on the same turn, and all of my trains upgraded and rail lines connected, all I was left to do was sit back and wait for the 250$M to piile in to end the game. She came back to connect all the cities up, but alas a disaster card wiped out a 45$M load of Linseed Oil and guaranteed my victory.

Playing Time: 3.5Hours including rule training. This is greatly reduced once you know where all the cities are.

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sasseriansection — 2004-06-06T16:23:43+00:00

The open box with all the goodies, itching to be played.

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sasseriansection — 2004-06-06T16:23:43+00:00

Closeup of Eastern part of board around Calcutta.

Thread: Session Report

Randy Cox — 2003-01-02T15:28:11+00:00

The same group who got together three weeks ago for a round with Empire Builder (see session revies http://www.boardgamegeek.com/viewarticle.php3?threadid=3929 ) congregated on New Year's Eve to play the Far Eastern counterpart, India Rails. It was a first go-round for two of the players, so the initial set up and board analysis took a bit of time (probably 15 minutes), what with the most unusual city names and unfamiliar commodity production points. So we settled in at 7:30 for sorting all those little chips, rules explanation and the afore-mentioned calculating process. Gaming didn't actually start until about 8:15.

The game started with Rachel creating a western route towards the north-central portion of the board (Pakistan and inland). Jim and Randy followed with remarkably similar routes, threatening Rachel's potential of reaching the small rug-producing city of Mutan. Beth took the quick route in the south which allowed her to reach Sri Lanka's ferry. With the switchback turn, Beth completed the routes through Sri Lanka which would allow her to start her train in Colombo for the precious indigo and tea. Randy then completed the unnecessary route to Mutan (for later potentials) and Jim bypassed that city to concentrate on the far north oil fields and gypsum producing city. Thus, Rachel was able to complete her startup rug run.

Rachel and Jim created West-to-South lines while Randy was left to rely on others rail networks, as he wasted too much money for future potential and had a short northern spur and a short southern spur, disconnected by some 20+ mileposts. Beth gobbled up the quick rare commodities and took the slow ferry back to the mainland.

Beth seemed to be in the lead for much of the game (mostly due to Jim's protestations that he was *not* in the lead), but the three runs to Sri Lanka bogged down her travels in the end, making the cash flow too infrequent to reach the $250 million goal. Meanwhile, Jim really was completing many money-making runs with high returns on his way to eventual victory. Randy had to borrow at 100% interest at one point and Rachel was amassing a bit of cash quietly.

In the end, around 11:30 (though we took an ice cream break in the middle), Jim completed a run to Pakistan which gave him exactly $250 million. On that same turn, Rachel had two large payoffs to reach $228 million and Randy had a double-drop-off in Karachi to reach a measely $180-ish million. Beth finished with just over $200 million.

Though the board is smaller and money is more available, this game seemed to take much longer than Empire Builder (this is, of course, playing without any calamity cards as is our way--with floods in India, this game would take forever). All in all, it was a pleasurable but very long game. Don't know if it will come out again soon.

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noisycrow — 2002-09-12T13:09:58+00:00