Game: British Rails

Thread: Re: Just a few questions before my first play

stormseeker75 — 2008-05-19T01:39:19+00:00

Sorry John! When I clicked the subscription link, it took me to Bill's post and I didn't even think about scrolling up. Your answer was awesome as well.

Thread: Re: Just a few questions before my first play

jearles — 2008-05-18T23:21:18+00:00

stormseeker75 wrote:
Excellent, thanks Bill.

What my answer was too verbose?

Enjoy the game Steve! My wife love the Rails series. They take a few hours to play but are interesting - just make sure you have contingency for the event cards. I especially enjoy India Rails when playing with 2.

Thread: Re: Just a few questions before my first play

stormseeker75 — 2008-05-18T23:14:20+00:00

Excellent, thanks Bill.

Thread: Re: Just a few questions before my first play

Eldard — 2008-05-18T23:07:25+00:00

stormseeker75 wrote:
1. When a train stops to make a delivery, can you change direction or do you need to keep going in he same direction?

You can change direction.

stormseeker75 wrote:
2. The rules say that your may start your train in any city. Is this just for the very start of the game? I assume that once your train is on the board, it starts each turn where it ended the previous one. The rules are really quite good, I just want to make sure I get those 2 items right.

You are correct.

Thread: Re: Just a few questions before my first play

jearles — 2008-05-18T23:03:57+00:00

1. When you make a delivery you can then use the remainder of your movement to go in any direction in which there is track.

2. That is correct. At the start of the game you can start your train in any city (hopefully one that works well with your loads). After that your train moves around on the track laid.

Thread: Just a few questions before my first play

stormseeker75 — 2008-05-18T22:45:20+00:00

1. When a train stops to make a delivery, can you change direction or do you need to keep going in he same direction?

2. The rules say that your may start your train in any city. Is this just for the very start of the game? I assume that once your train is on the board, it starts each turn where it ended the previous one.

The rules are really quite good, I just want to make sure I get those 2 items right.

Thread: Re: Card misprints

Salamon — 2008-03-09T04:10:01+00:00

seppo21 wrote:

The post above yours lists an answer (supposedly) straight from Mayfair games. That is all the consensus I needed I hope you enjoy the game.

True, but then he expressed doubt about whether the correction was correct. I just wanted to make sure.

thanks,
mark

Thread: Re: Card misprints

seppo21 — 2008-03-09T04:04:03+00:00

Salamon wrote:
Any consensus on what these cards should say? I am getting ready for my first play and want to modify the cards so they are correct. Is Barley to Aberystwyth worth $20 million? Should it be something else to Aberystwyth like Sheep or Lead since those two things are actually on the card?

Any help is appreciated.

mark
The post above yours lists an answer (supposedly) straight from Mayfair games. That is all the consensus I needed I hope you enjoy the game.

Stephen

Thread: Re: Card misprints

Salamon — 2008-03-09T03:31:48+00:00

Any consensus on what these cards should say? I am getting ready for my first play and want to modify the cards so they are correct. Is Barley to Aberystwyth worth $20 million? Should it be something else to Aberystwyth like Sheep or Lead since those two things are actually on the card?

Any help is appreciated.

mark

jearles wrote:
Having recently purchased British Rails I sent an email question about these cards at to rulesguru@mayfairgames.com. Here is the response:

Hello!

Thank you for your interest in Mayfair Games! You seek wisdom for the British Rails game. Perhaps I can bring you a little enlightenment.

I apologize for the confusion! Although we try very hard, sometimes a gremlin sneaks in and messes something up on us!

Card 94 should be Lead to Cambridge. Ignore the Jute symbol.

Card 135 is supposed to be Barley to Aberystwyth.

I hope that helps!

Looking at the board I am not 100% sure of the Barley load, though. Barley is only available in one city and is 34 (or so) mileposts away. 20 Million does seem quite enough in this case. :-(

Thread: Re: Suggestions for first play?

gobogobo — 2007-10-11T10:15:19+00:00

Yesterday evening we had our first go at the game, which was not completely succesful This is mostly due to the nature of our players group. We know eachother all too well, and we always try very hard to figure out the boundaries of the rules. On top of that, we have a lot of discussions, and bingo, starting out with games last quite some time longer than they should

Anyway, my experiences with the dozen rounds that we played so far:

- Playing with 5 players makes it very hard to get routes between the major cities.
- Getting your head wrapped around all the options that the delivery targets give you is very hard. It's not only that you have to find all the cities, but to keep an overview of all your options and how best to combine them is a skill you have to acquire by playing.
- We were all virtually out of money after the first construction rounds. This makes the game "stall" a little bit, and also makes you unable to use other people's tracks.
- One thing that we probably did wrong: we all tried very hard to be get the connection between the southern major cities, while it is probably better to first focus on one well paying delivery, and work out from there. I think that while it is important to get the connections between the cities, getting the money is the harder goal of the two winning conditions.

Anyway, we're going to try again some time soon.

Oh and one practical tip: It is wise to make a few copies of the overview sheet of the cities and the goods.

Thread: Re: Suggestions for first play?

Rygel — 2007-10-07T17:00:26+00:00

I have logged 27 plays in British rails. My wife is a HUGE crayon rail addict so we play them all the time. A few suggestions;
1. The game will take about 3-4 hours.
2. Do not start in Scotland and think you will be able to build down. It does not work. There are not enough deliveries in Scotland to make this work.
3. If you build into Plymouth or Dundee grab an extra clay or jute and just carry it around with you. Works better if you have the carry 3 train. These two items have the biggest payouts and there are only 3 of each item. Eventually you will get a card that needs what you have and you will all ready have it and will probably be near where it needs to go. Plus, if you carry them, no one else will be able to get them.
4. Being the first to build into a city is very good, especially when build into Scotland. If you look at the board closely you will notice that there is only one good path, clear mileposts instead of mountains, into each city. taking that path will save you a lot of money.
5. Have fun.

Thread: Suggestions for first play?

gobogobo — 2007-10-07T08:35:45+00:00

Hi

My friends and I are planning to try this game soon. We're all reasonably experienced gamers, and looking at the rules we should be able to play this reasonably quickly.

Does anyone have any hints or rule suggestions for first time players?

Thread: Re: Cards missing

vearles — 2007-05-19T03:28:39+00:00

kingalfonso41 wrote:
Can anyone help with the wording for cards 60 and 62, please?

For at least the 2002 Mayfair version:

----------

Card 60:

Bristol, 9M, Steel;
Holyhead, 26M, Oil;
Barrow, 18M, Fish

----------

Card 62:

Coventry, 8M, Machinery;
Brighton, 29M, Coal;
Berwick, 14M, Chemicals

----------

Thread: Re: Card misprints

jearles — 2007-04-30T21:42:35+00:00

Having recently purchased British Rails I sent an email question about these cards at to rulesguru@mayfairgames.com. Here is the response:

Hello!

Thank you for your interest in Mayfair Games! You seek wisdom for the British Rails game. Perhaps I can bring you a little enlightenment.

I apologize for the confusion! Although we try very hard, sometimes a gremlin sneaks in and messes something up on us!

Card 94 should be Lead to Cambridge. Ignore the Jute symbol.

Card 135 is supposed to be Barley to Aberystwyth.

I hope that helps!

Looking at the board I am not 100% sure of the Barley load, though. Barley is only available in one city and is 34 (or so) mileposts away. 20 Million does seem quite enough in this case. :-(

Thread: Re: Card misprints

Liumas — 2007-03-08T22:22:17+00:00

Toss the card.

Or, before or after the game, come up with a different load that is reasonable for the pay off. Write it in or use a label.

I have the older cylinder case version. Don't recall these misprints, but maybe...

Thread: Card misprints

seppo21 — 2007-03-08T21:40:38+00:00

We played a game of British Rails (the newer boxed edition) and ran across a couple of misprints on the cards. The cards in question are 94 and 135. On 94, the third demand names lead but shows Jute for the demand. On 1035, the third demand names lead but shows sheep.

In the past, I think Mayfair has stated that you follow the named item in such cases, which really isn't a problem for 94. However, on 135, the lead is only a couple of spaces from Aberystwyth (and sheep are in Aberystwyth) which really doesn't justify the payoff of 20 million. Any thoughts?

Thread: Re: Old vs New versions

seppo21 — 2007-03-08T21:36:54+00:00

I like playing with the old metal trains and cardboard commodity chips.
Did you really get metal trains in your original British Rails? Mine only came with the plain old plastic pawns (though I do tend to use my original EB trains). I also prefer playing on the larger map, though we do use the updated demand cards.

Thread: Re: Old vs New versions

celt619 — 2007-01-26T00:36:20+00:00

Is anyone in a position to detail the differences between all three versions of the game? It sounds like the Orig vs newer editions has been touched upon. I would be curious if there is any point in upgrading from the tube to the 3rd edition, assuming this isn't just a change in form factor. Unfortunately, Mayfair game support sucks, especially if the game doesn't involve Catan. (I suppose if there were Catan Rails (can I trademark that?) there would be an faq and errata list.)

I will be asking the same question on the other crayon rail pages as well if you have info on them as well. Thanks.

Mark

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onigame — 2007-01-18T19:14:38+00:00

Map of tube version

Thread: Re: Old vs New versions

kenjohns — 2006-11-08T13:41:30+00:00

Having recently tried this with the Newcastle/Plymouth upgrade - which I like it; I'm wondering whether Cardiff too should be upgraded - to encourage visits to Wales?

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Werbaer — 2006-11-02T12:42:38+00:00

clearer image of the box cover

Thread: Cards missing

kingalfonso41 — 2006-09-23T12:16:21+00:00

Can anyone help with the wording for cards 60 and 62, please?

Thread: Re: First edition: card 6 question

Liumas — 2006-03-24T19:56:29+00:00

Gale!

No train within five
mileposts of the
Channel coast from
Plymouth to Dover
may move.

Thread: First edition: card 6 question

alfonzos — 2006-03-24T19:07:30+00:00

My card says, "GALE! No train within five mileposts of the Channel coast from Plymouth to Dover"

and the copy stops. Can anyone complete the sentence?

Thread: Re: User Review

Eric Brosius — 2005-11-24T05:16:08+00:00

I agree with Bruce about British Rails, but it's important to note that all the games in the Empire Builder series present a positive feedback loop. If you play fast, the game is fun and engaging, and you are eager to take your turn, so the game continues to move quickly. On the other hand, if even one or two players play slowly, losing focus, the game drags and everyone stops paying attention. This slows the game down even more and makes people play even more slowly, until eventually things grind to a complete halt (almost.)

If you're new to the series, I strongly recommend that you play with 2 or 3 players. This will help you learn the game in a setting in which your turns come around frequently. Although I really enjoy British Rails or Empire Builder with a lot of players, I'd be very hesitant to play a 6-player game with new players.

Thread: Re: User Review

Daddy-O — 2005-11-24T04:17:19+00:00

Thank you, Valdir, for writing a great review! Great because I can totally connect with some of your issues with this type of game, and to think, I have been seriously considering buying this game cheap online. (That bit about the board's segments separating would drive me absolutely up the wall.) Apparently, a cheap price just can't be cheap enough with this one. I understand what the others here are saying about the joy in planning and in maps, but Age of Steam seems a better way to go in the planning department. Plus, Railroad Tycoon has just been released. [insert applause here] I'm going to get RT and AoS to satiate my railroad fix instead. Thanks for saving me from a miserable gaming experience.

Thread: Re: User Review

Mike_Barno — 2005-09-23T22:39:08+00:00

I agree with Togu, and somewhat disagree with Stephen to this extent:
British Rails with six players, like most maps of Railway Rivals with six players, is a very competitive and challenging gaming experience, in ways that a "multiple solitaire" three-player game on the same map can't match. Yes, it's long, and that's one reason I play a lot more Ticket to Ride and TtR:Europe than BR or any of the crayon games. But planning, building, and developing railway networks can be fun for plenty of people. It doesn't have to appeal to everyone.

Thread: Re: Old vs New versions

Mike_Barno — 2005-09-23T22:29:30+00:00

Having played Bruce's version three times or so, I agree that the extra major cities (with "5 out of 6" endgame requirement) and more-diverse deck are significant improvements to the game in an objective sense. I tend to share Bruce's taste toward the old components and in particular the old trains. But, except the trains, these parts don't affect my enjoyment of the game nearly as much as Diplomacy's wooden blocks as compared to plastic stars and anchors. (The Hasbro miniatures from Monopoly are okay but this is an older debate than that.) The rule changes that improved flexibility and strategy (rather than knowing the card deck's biases) are moer important to my enjoyment than any component-design change.

Thread: Re: User Review

Bruce Linsey — 2005-09-15T00:40:48+00:00

I agree with Togu. British Rails is an absolutely wonderful game, the best by far in the Empire Builder series except for Empire Builder itself. I've probably played (the original version of) BR 60 or 70 times, and it never gets old. As with all games in this series, it moves much more quickly with experienced players. One of my very favorite games!

Thread: Re: Old vs New versions

Bruce Linsey — 2005-09-15T00:37:59+00:00

The original version of British Rails was a good game which needed some work. First, it needed a new deck of contract cards to give more value to certain regions, cities, and products. I created a revised deck, but unlike the one I made for Empire Builder, I never sent it to Mayfair...apparently they've now revised their original deck too.

The second change was to make Newcastle and Plymouth into major cities (take a red crayon and draw hexagons using the adjacent mileposts as vertices) and then require that five of the six major cities be connected, as in the original Empire Builder game. The result of all this was and is a much better game.

I will not be "upgrading" to the newer version. The plastic product chips, pawns for trains, and molded box insert all represent serious DOWNgrades in component quality for me...as would the smaller map, I'm sure. I like playing with the old metal trains and cardboard commodity chips, and they sit just fine on a table while playing and in a ziplock baggie while not in use.

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Koldfoot — 2005-03-25T15:13:58+00:00

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EJKemp — 2005-03-02T16:39:29+00:00

Thread: Re:User Review

toguopp — 2004-12-13T21:00:08+00:00

ValJor (#54453), it seems that you've been spoiled by the experience of Euro-games. The crayon games have been around long before the Euro-game craze. It's a slower paced game and requires a different mentality. Yes, some of us just enjoy maps and being able to draw rail lines on them. To some of us, the game gives the basic feel of building up one's own rail network. If you enjoy the "experience" of that, rather than just looking for an intense competitive gaming experience, one can very much enjoy these games.

Thread: Re:User Review

seppo21 — 2004-12-13T05:47:35+00:00

Wow, six players. I realize that the game is rated as 2-6 players, but I would never inflict a game of British Rails on a group of 6. I would think 4 players would be the absolute maximum -- and that would be a tough and crowded game. At any rate, I can certainly understand your animosity since you seem to have had no idea what you were getting into.

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seppo21 — 2004-10-10T01:09:03+00:00

Thread: User Review

ValJor — 2004-09-16T18:22:59+00:00

Getting it out of my chest

Boy, did I hate this game! (How is that to start a game review?).

Well, now that my main comment about British Rails is out of the way, let me start my proper review:

Boy, I REALLY HATED THIS FRIGGING GAME!

Ok, ok, now, breath in, out, count to 10 and now we start...

The proper review begins here

I understand that the common practice is that a review should only be written after its author has played the game at least a few times, so that he can have a more solid grasp on the game mechanics and the finer details that make up the whole gaming experience. And I usually abide by this non-written rule of the BGG. However in the case of this game I have to make an exception because you will never catch me dead playing this monstrosity ever again, but I think it is my civic duty to warn future generations of gamers to stay away from it.

This review is related to the session report written by dwarf on 09-11-2004 (you can read it all here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/54058). Pierre-Luc (better known as dwarf here at BGG) invited me and my son to play at his house. After a very good game of Hansa (won hands down by the scheming dwarf himself), we were six players and his friend Mathieu proposed to try this "simple and fun game" (his words).

Mathieu explained the rules and off we went. What followed was three hours of excruciating pain. It was so bad that me and my son even played a game of Chess during the game of British Rails. That’s how bored we were!

I had never played a crayon game before and because of this one, I for sure will not ever play another one ever, ever again.

Components and game playing

One of the articles on the BR game page says that its new version is much nicer than the original. As the version I played is the new one with the nicer components, I think I should be thanking the gaming gods for having spared me at least some of the pain...

The components are both very good and terrible. I explain: the chips to identify the products are very good quality, the card stock is also very good, the money and crayons are ok, too. The board itself, however, is bad: it is divided in four sections that you have to assemble together. During the game the players are supposed to draw their networks with crayons on the board (and sometimes erase them, too, if they make mistakes) and the four sections come apart all the time (throwing the pawns off in the process). Other than that the separation between the dots are way too small, so small that if two pawns (the trains) have to be side by side, they will be in each other’s way.

Another pet peeve for me is the fact that you have to build your railroad network with crayons. Come on! After playing "real train games" (like AoS, TA and TtR, for instance) where you have real pieces representing the tracks, just drawing them on a board is out of question. I wouldn’t mind doing this if I could just print the board from the web and start the colouring exercise, but to think that people would pay good money for such a thing just boggles my mind!

The other problem is that there are too many cities and products. IMHO, the board would gain a lot if it were much simpler, with a lot fewer connections to be made. TransAmerica springs to mind again. I wouldn’t mind playing a BR-like game on a TA-like board: fewer cities, bigger spaces between the dots, fewer connections, etc. Ah, and cities we know! Who the hell knows where Penzeance is?

This game has some nice ideas behind it but I hate to see that they were so badly implemented. For instance, having to pick up products in one city and deliver them in another is incredibly rich. It was used, for instance, in Age of Steam but with such a better result!

Final notes and warnings

Just take my word: stay away from it! If someone ever suggests playing it, don’t invite the poor guy anymore! If you find this game for dirty cheap at a garage sale, buy it, run home and set it on fire! You will be doing a great service to gamedom.

You have been warned.

Thread: Session Report

dwarf — 2004-09-12T22:49:16+00:00

While I was playing Hansa, my brother had arrived. Mathieu arrived also with his girlfriend, who isn`t a gamer. She talked with us and watched tv or my dvd`s while she was there.

Once Hansa was finished, now that we were 6 players, we decided to play British Rails. No one played except Mathieu before, so he explained the rules.

So the 6 players was Yves, Valdir, Ivan, Gilles, Mathieu and me.

The concept of the game is interesting. Posssible with another game or two, I might enjoy this kind of game. For as a first game, there is lots to consider that you can`t really see all the possiblities or what is best to do with your money.

So we started to build one after another, 20 dollars each time for building cost. Some had spend it all we as some had some money left. (We get 60 dollars at the start, and have 3 building pharse, 20 dollars max each time).

Out of the 6 players, was building was concerned, being 5th some interesting spots were taken. Meaning that first ones has the easy path with cost less to build. Other players who wants to go in a particular, would have to make a detour of some sort, result builing on moutains or rivers, so costing more than the players who build before him.

I started about in the middle and went up north, same as the player who play after me. Other first 4 players had tracks about middle and went south.

When we started to move our train and load and sale stuff it was interesting. Only Gilles and I made an upgrade for the train. We didn`t finish the game since Valdir and Ivan had to leave. Another friend, Rami had arrived shortly before we stop.

We by looking at the map and all, Yves had a good position so we declared him the winner.

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trnardo — 2004-08-19T18:44:46+00:00

Tube version

Thread: Re:Old vs New versions

Eric Brosius — 2004-05-22T12:25:04+00:00

Hopalong (#36948),

I believe the original deck of cards was heavily tilted toward one route (I think it was London-Birmingham-Manchester-Lancaster) and gave minimal incentive to build to certain areas of the map. A particularly welcome change is that the new deck pulls you in more directions, so you will now see a wider variety of builds and use almost all the parts of the map if you play a series of games.

Eric

Thread: Old vs New versions

Hopalong — 2004-05-22T10:44:23+00:00

Having owned the original for many years, I finally decided to buy the new version. The board is now in 4 parts instead of six and the map is on a smaller scale, which has made small changes to the coastline. The components are much better quality, using the plastic disks for goods, first seen in Eurorails, and the demand cards are now 'proper' cards, rather then seperated out from a sheet.
As for the demands themselves, these have been completely revised, seemingly to give higher values, and thus a faster game as a result.
Their is now a preformed insert in the box, which holds all the different goods neatly, until the box is tilted and they all end up all over the place. The crayons and the token colours now match, which they didn't in my original game!
So, in conclusion, it's good to see a good game getting a facelift and I'm quite pleased with it, overall.

Thread: Session Report

jmcmilla — 2004-03-05T22:19:18+00:00

BRITISH RAILS
Ready to try something meaty, we grabbed our crayons
and started criss-crossing the English countryside
with track. Generally, my head spins when confronted
by the seemingly endless array of railroad games, but
this one turned out fine.

Unlike several other railroad games I have played,
British Rails has no stock shares to issue and track.
Players start with an initial treasury, spend to lay
track and/or upgrade their locomotive, and then earn
income when they manage to complete a delivery. There
are a couple dozen different commodities ranging from
lead to pigs to beer to automobiles, and each is only
produced in 1-4 cities scattered around the map.
During your turn you drive your one train around
England picking up goods and delivering them to the
cities on your cards.

These demand cards are the major feature, and some
might say weakness, of the game. For all of the
intense route planning and rail maneuvering required,
you are still at the total mercy of your three demand
cards, which cannot be discarded or exchanged. Each
card depicts three city/good combos, so you've always
got nine to work with. That seems like plenty, but in
practice you'll get a couple clunkers clogging your
board, and then you're in trouble.

Throw in the often painful random event cards, and you
have an unsettling luck/skill ratio. It's a long,
heavy game that takes plenty of skill to play well,
yet poor card draws can ruin even the best laid plans.

We played with a "quick start" variant, and only
played to $150 Million rather than $250 Million, but
it still took about three hours to play. I hate to
think how long a six player game would take!
Admittedly, a lot of the downtime was due to our
unfamiliarity with English geography. "Where's
Glouchester again? Ayr?"

One major gripe that Luke surfaced, and I agree with,
is the lack of penalty for dumping goods from your
train. Without such a penalty, there is a strong
incentive to pick up goods on sheer speculation, on
the off chance you will later draw a demand card
featuring the good. This happened to me for a quick
$25 Million, and it felt like stealing. Plus, why not
keep an extra good on board as insurance against the
dreaded derailment event card?

Overall, the jury is still out on British Rails. I
won't be buying a copy for my own collection, or go
around recommending it to others, but I will play it
again under the right circumstances. A fun game, but
a bit long for what it offers.

Thread: Session Report

PBrennan — 2003-03-31T11:07:39+00:00

A first play on this map, and I found it similar to Nippon Rails, with long north-south links & runs with only two cheap routes. I only play the system 2 player with Rick in front of the cricket (hooray at the World Cup!!), and we always enjoy. A rating of 7 after 1 play; good game I'm usually happy to play.

Thread: General Comment

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

I pulled the designers off of the rulepage on the Mayfair tubed version of the game. I think it is a later version. I also hear that they are redesigning, and releasing it in the near future.

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2001-12-03T17:03:40+00:00

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2001-12-03T17:03:38+00:00