Game: Age of Steam Expansion - Austria & India

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thorndor — 2008-06-11T01:39:37+00:00

India Board with Cubes: Setup and Ready to Play

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thorndor — 2008-06-11T01:35:51+00:00

Austria Board with Cubes: Setup and Ready to Play

Thread: Age of Steam Austria session report

dedefortin — 2008-05-13T02:28:17+00:00

Since John Bohrer published the Austria map, Martin and I really had fun playing Age of Steam in 2 players game. I've write it before but the new turn order rule is really simple but it makes great game. It's different thangame with 3-8 players but it keeps the essence of the basic game. We always had the feeling that 2 players game with AoS are like chess game in which you can plan your turn in advance and have alternative strategy in case something goes wrong. We've used the Austria turn order rules when playing 2 players game with many maps that are available on BGG like Umbria, Scotland, Mongolia and Alpha Centauri and the result was great.

Today we choose the original 2 players map, Austria. The display of good was generous and Pierre choose the first build action to connect the important Salzburg, Linz, Vienna links. Martin builded following the same path as Pierre and reserve the yellow new city in the northeast area. Pierre was in a bad situation on turn 2 as he had only 1 good to ship so he had to take the first move action as it would have too dangerous to take the risk that his opponent would not take this important good even for a small delivery. Pierre took the good decision since Martin confirmed that he would have done this move since it would have put Pierre in a very difficult position to begin the game. When you hace the chance to hurt a player and at the same time help youself , you have to do it. You rarely have this kind of occasion during our AoS game. Martin was in the same situation on turn 3 and he also had to take first move action because he only had 1 interesting good to deliver. I don't remember any of our 2 players games in which first move action was taken so early and so often in a game. Martin was again in a bad situation on turn 4 as he had to take first build action even if he was first because he was afraid of being cornered in the northern area of the map. Martin was able to connect the southern part of the map but on the next turn he also had to take the first build action to connect another city in the south. During this time Pierre had the chance to take the loco action with his second place and he took the lead with 3 deliveries of 6-5-5 income. Pierre finally put the game out of reach of Martin when he blocked Martin from linking Klangenfurt. This was a tough blow since Martin had no way of continuing his network torward the western part of the map or to finish a big loop.

Pierre finally won the game by a good margin but until turn 6 the game was very close. This was a very different game from the ones we had before. Even if there are some classical openings on this map, the rest of the game is always different and very challenging.

Final scoring:
Pierre: 186
Martin: 126

Thread: Re: Age of Steam: Austria

medievalbanquet — 2008-05-09T12:01:26+00:00

My experience was similar, Alex.

Its a nice review but this map sucks. AoS with 2 isn't fun, IMHO. With 3 it can be less of an experience..

On of the great things about AoS, IMHO, is the need for plan B, C and sometimes D. AND, surviving while executing plan C or D. 2 and 3 player AoS lack a lot of that struggle.

I do love the system, though.

Andy

Thread: Re: Age of Steam: Austria

montu — 2008-05-07T23:55:07+00:00

We've found a major flaw in this map, unfortunately.

On the first turn, if player 1 chooses Loco, then player 2 must choose 1st build and build the Graz-Wein link (assuming a cube in either location can ship for 3, which is likely considering the # of starting cubes), but player 2 cannot use the 3 link he/she has just built because he/she will only have a loco of 2. Hence, player 2 makes no income in turn 1, and player 1, with loco, can go anywhere and ship several 2-links for income.

Player 1, on turn 1, can force player 2 into a very bad situation while setting himself/herself up very nicely. It's very hard for player 2 to recover.

Of course, this doesn't happen every time. If there are no reds in Graz or blues in Wein this sequence is not a given, and the game works better. We considered a variant in which any starting reds in Graz and blues in Wein are replaced immediately.

Thread: Re: Age of Steam: Austria

thorndor — 2008-05-07T21:26:18+00:00

Thank you.

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thorndor — 2008-05-07T20:40:37+00:00

End of a Game of Age of Steam: Austria

Thread: Re: Age of Steam: Austria

rockusultimus — 2008-05-07T20:28:13+00:00

Nice review.

Thread: Age of Steam: Austria

thorndor — 2008-05-07T14:28:47+00:00

I am a big Age of Steam fan. The base game, which comes with a map known as the Rust Belt, requires careful bidding, money management, short term tactical play, and long term strategy. As the box proclaims, however, the game as written does not work with only two players. Undaunted, several people have written variants to allow a two-player game. Austria is one such variant. This review assumes at least a basic understanding of Age of Steam.

For full disclosure, all my games of Age of Steam: Austria have been with my wife. We have played 3 times. We have played the Rust Belt map quite a bit and have some experience with other maps but neither of us are experts at any of them.

Components:

There are only three new components introduced with Austria: a single page of rule adjustments from the base game, a 5 exit town token ]]>, and a new map which in the Steam Brothers version that I have is laminated paper that comes in two pieces. My personal opinion on components is that functionality is all that matters, so I may not be the best judge of the quality of the components. They seem perfectly fine to me. My only complaint is that the maps don’t fold and, thus, transportation is slightly more inconvenient than for the other expansions that fit in the box.

Map:
]]>
It is worth spending some time discussing the Austria map. It is much smaller than the Rust Belt map with less than 30 places to lay track. Track is not allowed in the mountains. Track laying in the game is further hampered by 10 impassible thick black lines. While this is a common feature in Age of Steam maps, the impassible lines are a more prominent feature in this game than in other maps I am familiar with.

(As a side note, I find these thick black lines to be an unpleasant feature of all the Age of Steam maps because track pieces are laid over them during the game making them essentially invisible. This leads to situations where you plan a route and only realize its illegal when you go to replace the current track or you don’t realize it at all and play incorrectly. We have run into this problem frequently with the Austria map due the comparatively large number of black lines.)

Rules Differences from the basic Age of Steam map (aka Rust Belt):

The rules for Age or Steam and discussion thereof can be readily found here on BoardGameGeek.com. Austria, however, changes some of those rules quite drastically creating what is, in essence, a completely different game. Allow me to list the major rules changes and their implications as I understand them:

1. Shares are not issued. Each player starts with initial capital ($15) and all future expenditures must be from cash generated by earnings.

Several keys elements disappear from the game. 1) While it is entirely possible for a player to stall completely, there is no danger of bankruptcy. 2) Players ability to exploit a current turn opportunity is completely dependent on their play in previous turns as all cash must come from prior turns earnings. 3) Since the only source of cash is income and the only expense is your train, cash is very hard to come by early in the game and readily available late.

2. The second difference is that turn order is not auctioned and, consequently, the turn order action is not used. Players take alternate turns (Player 1 goes first in turns 1, 3, 6 & 8).

This rule serves to make some elements of the game more predictable. A player can depend on getting the special action of choice on half of the turns. This rule also serves to reduce the need for cash as players no longer have to plan their bids into their expenditures.

3. Urbanization allows player to place the new city tiles in the Foreign Markets. The towns may not be upgraded to cities.

Proper urbanization of foreign markets into cities both as a place to deliver goods cubes as well as sources of additional cubes is an important part of this game’s strategy. The fact that towns may not be upgraded creates a lot more replacement of town tiles than I have seen in other Age of Steam games.

4. There are two major track building rules changes. First, all track placements or replacements cost $4 per piece. Second, no uncompleted links are allowed.

Due to the increased cost relative to the base game, track placement in the opening turns is quite limited and therefore one might argue more important. The second rule increases the value of engineer (player may lay 4 track instead of 3) and leads to frequent (in my experience) replacement of town tiles. As players lay track, they frequently cannot or do not want to reach another city. They, thus, lay track to a town. Because of the second rule, the player cannot extend through a town unless that track is also completed this turn. So, players must make use of the “lollipop” piece which enters a town but does not exit the town. ]]> (the piece on the lower right) If the player wishes to extend the line that “lollipop” piece must be replaced at a cost of $4 and using up one of the three pieces of track that the player may normally lay during a turn.

5. Players have three chances to deliver goods. Only one of these can be used to upgrade the locomotive.

This rule plus all of the goods coming onto the board with the double production (see below) helps players increase their incomes faster.

6. Goods growth is different from the base game as well. Wien gets two cubes every turn independent of the role. Other cities get cubes for both light and dark roles thus doubling production. New cities come on to the board with two goods cubes already on them.

These rules bring lots of goods of the board quickly giving players more options for delivery.

7. Finally, every $20 is worth one victory point at the end of the game.

Since the only expense is the locomotive and the board fills up toward the end of the game leaving little room to lay additional track, it’s good that the money is not completely worthless.

My experience and reaction:

In my games so far, the most difficult changes for me to incorporate have been the rule disallowing incomplete track and the comparatively large number of impassible parts of map. I find myself laying mental plans for the next turn only to find that I need too much track to accomplish my plans or that I need to travel through one of those thick black lines which have been hidden by prior track placement.

The cumulative effect of the rules changes is to create a tight game, focused heavily on track placement and good movement choices. While I appreciate the ability to play an Age of Steam like game when only two players are available, I have so far found the experience to be marginally less enjoyable than the original. I believe that one has to alter one’s approach to this game at least as much if not more so than for other Age of Steam variants. When I try to approach this map like just another map, it really limits my ability to fully enjoy this game. If you can approach this game as a new game distinct from Age of Steam, I think you will get more out of it.

Conclusion:

To conclude, I would recommend this game on its own merits. If you like meatier games like Age of Steam, this game will likely fall somewhere in the 7-8 range for you. I would, however, have reservations about recommending this game to someone who wanted an experience very similar to the base game with only two players. The rules changes are substantial and for many it won’t scratch the same itch as the base game.

P.S. This is my first review. So, if you have suggestions please pass them along.

Thread: Age of Steam India session report

dedefortin — 2008-05-02T02:56:41+00:00

The India map is a favorite in our group when playing with 5 players. Simple rules but very challenging map. The terrain is rough and the monsoon rule often disturbs your economy.

Pierre won the first bet and choose the urbanization action and he began in the eastern part of the map. Marc-Andre was happy to win the first build action as he connected 4 cities in the middle og the map. It's usually a good spot to start but you have to be careful since they are of the same color. Nathalie and Martin started in the middle of the map and Mario in the southwest region. Marc-Andre won the loco action on turn 2 at 6$ and made 2 deliveries of 3 income each. Pierre had a tough time when Nathalie urbanized Bareilly and deny Pierre from connecting it. On turn 3 the bets again went very high and Marc-Andre won the loco action and Pierre won the urbanization action but again Nathalie builded in front of him to deny him in connecting the western region. This was a tough time for Pierre as he had to back up 2 at the end of the turn as he had spend too much during the betting round and the monsoon cost was high for this turn. On turn 4 it was the same story as Marc-Andre aain won the loco action as Mario choose the urbanization action on first place, it enables him to take a big lead with 2 deliveries of 5 income. It was also a tough round since monsoon roll was again very bad and we all had to pay 2$ before income and expense phase. At this stage the game was very harsh for most players and we all had money problems but the bets went very high. Nathalie won the urbanization action and she placed a purple city in the center of the map and it help Marc-Andre much as he wouldn't have been able to ship anything. Instead he shipped 2 purple goods at the new purple city for 5 income each. Even at the end of the game our companies were not making much profit. Marc-Andre increased his lead and he had a nice finish when he connected the southern part of the map to give him a nice pool of ressource.

As expected we had a tought time but it was fun. The feeling of this map is almost the same as the Rust Belt map with the simple rules. The building cost are higher and it,s a good challenge.

Final score
Marc-Andre: 69
Martin: 64
Mario: 63
Pierre: 24
Nathalie: 23

Thread: Re: Unfinished links

John Bohrer — 2008-04-03T18:57:59+00:00

Hi Chuck,
I hope all is good with you and Jill. I assume that we are talking about the Austria map here, I leave India rules questions to the Steam Brothers!

cparrott wrote:
Hi John,

Can you build single stubs to towns even though it's useless for shipping until the track continues on to another city? You couldn't have unfinished track leaving the town, but you could upgrade the track later to continue through the town. That's the way I understand unfinished links, they have to terminate either to a town or city.

Chuck

Sure, no problem. Only Completed Railroad Links may be built on the Austria map. You could place, for example, a 'lollipop' Town and on a later turn Upgrade it to a Town with a track continuing on to another Town, City or Foreign Market. The same rule is also in my Germany expansion.
Note that the cost to Place or Upgrade a Town is $4 in the Austria expansion.
You understand the difference between Completed Railroad Links and Unfinished Track Sections correctly, Chuck. You are right when you say that you couldn't have unfinished track leaving a town in the Austria expansion.

Thread: Re: Unfinished links

clearclaw — 2008-04-03T17:29:57+00:00

cparrott wrote:
Can you build single stubs to towns...

No.

Thread: Unfinished links

cparrott — 2008-04-03T15:35:27+00:00

Hi John,

Can you build single stubs to towns even though it's useless for shipping until the track continues on to another city? You couldn't have unfinished track leaving the town, but you could upgrade the track later to continue through the town. That's the way I understand unfinished links, they have to terminate either to a town or city.

Chuck

Thread: Re: Track to foreign markets - Austria

John Bohrer — 2008-04-03T14:47:16+00:00

Are tracks to foreign markets considered finished links?
Only if the Foreign Market has been Urbanized.

In other words, can I build to a foreign market that is not urbanized?
No.

Thread: Track to foreign markets - Austria

rockusultimus — 2008-04-03T13:10:21+00:00

Are tracks to foreign markets considered finished links?
In other words, can I build to a foreign market that is not urbanized?

Thread: Re: Question about track building cost - Austria

cparrott — 2008-03-14T14:25:15+00:00

I'm not John, but...

Cost for towns. As I understand the rule, John replaced the normal track costs as a flat $4. So in Austria, placing a town with a straight track running through it is $4 instead of the $1 for the town and $2 for the track it would be in the base game. Likewise the special Austria tile is $4 and not $6. You don't have to spend $4 for the tile and $4 for the town.

Since you pay $4 for the 'no tile' links in Salzburg and Innsbruck as if 1 tile did exist there, I would think you would also get the 1 vp for those links at the end of the game.

To Ingo: Yes you can urbanize but not build to/from if you wish, I don't see anything in the rule that is different from the base game aside from the restriction you can't urbanize towns in Austria. But it would be wise to build the link ASAP otherwise your opponent is free to snag the link.

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thorndor — 2008-03-07T02:02:17+00:00

Special 5-way town for use with Austia Only

Thread: Re: Question about track building cost - Austria

d0gb0t — 2008-03-03T22:21:17+00:00

Hi,
bobcatscry wrote:
The next question that came up...

I also have a question regarding this map: if i place a foreign market with the urbanization action, must i build a link to it? Or can i build a foreign market without any link to "prepare" my further steps?

Thread: Re: Question about track building cost - Austria

bobcatscry — 2008-03-03T18:23:50+00:00

OK, thanks for the reply. The reason for the uncertainty was because in the basic game, you pay for each section of track when you build to a town. If I understand your answer correctly, you pay $4 for the tile, regardless of how many track sections, and $4 for the Town.

The next question that came up was: If I Urbanize the Foreign Market next to Salzburg or Innsbruck and build the link to it, does that link count as 1 VP at the end, or do you only count track sections on tiles?

Thread: Re: Question about track building cost - Austria

John Bohrer — 2008-03-03T12:46:08+00:00

From the rules:
"The cost to Place or Replace Track is $4. The cost to Place or Upgrade a Town is $4."
one tile, $4; two tiles, $8; three tiles, $12; four tiles, $16.

Thread: Question about track building cost - Austria

bobcatscry — 2008-03-03T00:11:57+00:00

On the Austria map, what is the cost for building from Graz NW through Leoben, then SW to Klagenfurt; or from Wien SW through St. Polten, then NW to Linz?

I can see reasonable arguments for counting the cost as either $12 or $16. Can someone clarify the rule, please?

Thread: Age of Steam India session report

dedefortin — 2008-01-04T16:22:01+00:00

As the South America map, India is a favorite in our group with his simple rules but very challenging map. There are many choke points and each turn is usually critical, especially when playing with 4-5-6 players. The game is usually very tight and the moonsoon factor can be decisive when doing your income expense phase.

Mario started the game strong when he betted high for the loco action as there was many good locations he was almost guarantee to ship for high income. Mario choose to begin in the east where there was many purple goods to ship, Nathalie in the southern part of the map, Pierre in the middle of the map and Martin in his favorite spot in the southwest. As I stated earlier, games on this map are usually pretty tight where every turn is important and on turn 2 everyone betted and Nathalie took the first build action because she was afraid being locked in the south. During this time Martin continued his nice network in the southwest with many small loops that would surely pay high in the future. On this turn Mario had a big break when he was able to choose the loco action even if he didn't win the bet and shipped 2 goods for 4 income each. Pierre made a nice comeback when he urbanized the red new city in the northwest and then took the loco actin to ship 2 goods at 5 income. Martin was urbanized by Nathalie but his network was still very profitable and he began to ship high as Mario who finished his big loop in the east. As the goods were becoming scarcier some battles for first build started between Martin ands Pierre in the northwest area and then between Martin and Mario in the southeast. Martin had a break when Mario left the last exit available at Vishakhaputnam (even if he had the first build action)and Martin was able to ship many goods from this area. The bets were even higher in the end and Martin won the loco action one more time to deny other players winning it.

Martin won the game as it was very close between the first 3 players. This was a classical game for our group as we had to fight very hard to ship or build where we wanted.

Final scores:
Martin: 99
Mario: 98
Pierre: 93
Nathalie:45

Thread: Age of Steam Austria session report

dedefortin — 2008-01-03T16:09:57+00:00

One of our favorite 2 players maps is the Austria expansion. From our first game we really like the turn order rule from John Bohrer. It's simple but it works great.

Martin had the itiniative and he choose the first build action to connect the cities of Wien/Linz/Salzburg. This was a good move since he was able to link 3 important cities in one turn. Pierre choose the purple and yello urbanization in the first turns to make some nice deliveries to start the game. As usual money was really tight and we couldn't build much at the beginning. It's very challenging to try to be profitable as fast as we can without taking any shares. On turn 4 Pierre took the first build action to connect Graz and deny Martin in doing the same. Instead Martin again upgraded his loco (now at 6) but Pierre shipped goods at 2 income to deny big delivery to Martin. First build action was important today as we were each trying to make some loops to allow us to make bigger delivery on this tough map. Martin began to take the lead on turn 6 even if Pierre blocked his build inthe middle of the map by using the 5 exits town tile from this scenario. Pierre made a big mistake on turn 7 when he choose to skip a delivery to upgrade his loco, usually it's not good to do this at the end of the game. So Martin increased his lead and finally won the game easily.

Again we had fun on this map. That's the kind of map we like with simple and innovative rules that work great. For our group the 2 players turn order rule was a revolution within our group since it gace even more replayability to an already great game.

Final scoring:
Martin: 192
Pierre: 167

Thread: Re: Rules on urbanization, goods, etc.

msaari — 2007-08-14T17:01:47+00:00

okaraburger wrote:
1. How much does it cost to Urbanize?

Nothing.

2. Do Engineer, Produce Goods still figure?

Yes.

3. New cities start with 1 good each. How/when is that good placed? Any restriction on what color that good could be?

I picked the goods randomly in the setup phase and placed them on the tiles to wait. No restrictions should apply.

4. Build track costs $4 per tile, but do the base game terrain costs apply also?

No, it's just $4 per tile.

5. How does Wien get goods during Goods Growth? Does it simply get 2 (or is it 4?) goods every time?

Two goods every time.

6. I assume the thick black lines are impassable?

Yes, it says so in the rules.

Thread: Rules on urbanization, goods, etc.

okaraburger — 2007-05-31T20:12:51+00:00

I'm thinking about purchasing AOS Austris/India and am trying to piece together how the 2-player game works. I hope somebody will shed some light the following:

1. How much does it cost to Urbanize?

2. Do Engineer, Produce Goods still figure?

3. New cities start with 1 good each. How/when is that good placed? Any restriction on what color that good could be?

4. Build track costs $4 per tile, but do the base game terrain costs apply also?

5. How does Wien get goods during Goods Growth? Does it simply get 2 (or is it 4?) goods every time?

6. I assume the thick black lines are impassable?

Thanks,
C.

Thread: Re: A couple of questions about Austria

John Bohrer — 2007-05-18T01:48:50+00:00

We played the Austria map last weekend and ran into a couple of issues/questions. In cases where the rules did not specify a course of action, we simply applied "traditional" AoS rules, but I'd still like to know if we were right:
No problem

1) Since Austria is a 2-player map, do we roll 2 dice for goods growth?
Yes, 2 players, so 2 dice
Some other 2-player maps use 4 dice, but the standard AoS rules say use a number of dice equal to the number of players.

2) Do the "circle" links between Salzburg/Foreign Market and Innsbruck/Foreign Market also cost $4 each?
Yes, per the expansion rules
I know the rules say that all track costs $4, but it seems counterintuitive that those single links cost the same as the potential multi-link (and, thus, multi-VP) town links.
(Those single links represent considerable trackage through the Austria-Hungarian Empire of the era. It was much bigger than present day Austria, FWIW.)

3) Foreign Markets come into play with a cube already on them. Do they also get two cubes in the production queue?
Yes, same as standard AoS
We assumed they do.

4) Players are allowed three shipments per turn, as opposed to the usual two. We assumed one could still only increase locomotive strength once per turn (not counting choosing the loco role, of course). Is this correct?
Yes, same as standard AoS

In all cases, we tried to stay within the original spirit (or perhaps the letter) of the standard AoS rules, but it would be nice to get some clarification.
You had everything right, Alex. The standard, traditional AoS rules are in effect unless an expansion's rules expressly modify them.

John
Pittsburgh

Thread: A couple of questions about Austria

montu — 2007-05-17T16:23:14+00:00

We played the Austria map last weekend and ran into a couple of issues/questions. In cases where the rules did not specify a course of action, we simply applied "traditional" AoS rules, but I'd still like to know if we were right:

1) Since Austria is a 2-player map, do we roll 2 dice for goods growth? Some other 2-player maps use 4 dice, but the standard AoS rules say use a number of dice equal to the number of players.

2) Do the "circle" links between Salzburg/Foreign Market and Innsbruck/Foreign Market also cost $4 each? I know the rules say that all track costs $4, but it seems counterintuitive that those single links cost the same as the potential multi-link (and, thus, multi-VP) town links.

3) Foreign Markets come into play with a cube already on them. Do they also get two cubes in the production queue? We assumed they do.

4) Players are allowed three shipments per turn, as opposed to the usual two. We assumed one could still only increase locomotive strength once per turn (not counting choosing the loco role, of course). Is this correct?

In all cases, we tried to stay within the original spirit (or perhaps the letter) of the standard AoS rules, but it would be nice to get some clarification. Perhaps an errata sheet is necessary?

Thread: Re: Mexico, Spain/Portugal, India, Austria maps

dedefortin — 2007-05-04T18:56:36+00:00

Our maps were send flatpacked to our distributor so we'll check them why they were rolled in the shipping.

Thanks

Pierre and Martin
Steambrothers

Thread: Re: Mexico, Spain/Portugal, India, Austria maps

100%Blade — 2007-05-04T15:57:41+00:00

clearclaw wrote:
100%Blade wrote:
I have to say that I am disappointed these came rolled up rather than packed flat as per the last set of maps. The maps look good but this just doesn't make them that easy to use - particularly if you compare them against the recent mounted Mississppi Steamboats / Golden Spikes maps which are execllent quality (and I got hit for import tax which Ted made sure didn't happen with his maps) I'll think twice before ordering more maps in this way.

I suspect youa re referring to Age of Steam Expansion - Mars: Global Surveyor, not the recent SteamBrother's maps. Age of Steam Expansion - Mars: Global Surveyor was supplied rolled in a tube. I laminated my copy and carry it with all the other Age of Steam maps I've reproduced on single sheets (Japan, C&O, Puerto Rico, Merseyside, New Zealand, India, Spain, etc plus my own prototypes).

My copies of the new SteamBrother's maps BoardsAndBits arrived as laminated double-sided, two sheets per map, in a flat envelope. In an improvement over the SteamBrother's last maps, the flashing was trimmed from interior edges of the map sections.

No. These were the Austria/India/Spain/Portugal maps and they came rolled up in a box. They are a nightmare to get flat. The last SteamBrothers maps were flatpacked and arrived in perfect condition.

Thread: Re: Mexico, Spain/Portugal, India, Austria maps

SteveK2 — 2007-05-04T07:02:11+00:00

I received my copies of the Steam Brother's new maps yesterday. Mine also arrived rolled up. Perhaps Boards & Bits pack them this way for international orders? If so, I'm glad they did - I'm not sure how well a large flat envelope would survive

The rolling up isn't a problem for me - they'll join Mars Explorer and the Bezier Games maps in a large folder. I just wish they'd cut the Austria Town tile - I tend to be a bit ham-fisted when doing this sort of thing myself.

Thread: Re: Mexico, Spain/Portugal, India, Austria maps

clearclaw — 2007-05-04T00:27:44+00:00

CortexBomb wrote:
clearclaw wrote:
In an improvement over the SteamBrother's last maps, the flashing was trimmed from interior edges of the map sections.

My copies of the first Steam Brothers maps also had their interior sections trimmed...I wasn't aware that they released any that were untrimmed...that would be a tad inconvenient to deal with.

Hurm. Odd. I can only suspect that my copies managed to escape the izmel.

Thread: Re: Mexico, Spain/Portugal, India, Austria maps

CortexBomb — 2007-05-04T00:08:21+00:00

clearclaw wrote:
In an improvement over the SteamBrother's last maps, the flashing was trimmed from interior edges of the map sections.

My copies of the first Steam Brothers maps also had their interior sections trimmed...I wasn't aware that they released any that were untrimmed...that would be a tad inconvenient to deal with.

Thread: Re: Mexico, Spain/Portugal, India, Austria maps

clearclaw — 2007-05-03T23:35:36+00:00

100%Blade wrote:
I have to say that I am disappointed these came rolled up rather than packed flat as per the last set of maps. The maps look good but this just doesn't make them that easy to use - particularly if you compare them against the recent mounted Mississppi Steamboats / Golden Spikes maps which are execllent quality (and I got hit for import tax which Ted made sure didn't happen with his maps) I'll think twice before ordering more maps in this way.

I suspect youa re referring to Age of Steam Expansion - Mars: Global Surveyor, not the recent SteamBrother's maps. Age of Steam Expansion - Mars: Global Surveyor was supplied rolled in a tube. I laminated my copy and carry it with all the other Age of Steam maps I've reproduced on single sheets (Japan, C&O, Puerto Rico, Merseyside, New Zealand, India, Spain, etc plus my own prototypes).

My copies of the new SteamBrother's maps BoardsAndBits arrived as laminated double-sided, two sheets per map, in a flat envelope. In an improvement over the SteamBrother's last maps, the flashing was trimmed from interior edges of the map sections.

Thread: Re: Mexico, Spain/Portugal, India, Austria maps

100%Blade — 2007-05-03T19:14:42+00:00

I have to say that I am disappointed these came rolled up rather than packed flat as per the last set of maps. The maps look good but this just doesn't make them that easy to use - particularly if you compare them against the recent mounted Mississppi Steamboats / Golden Spikes maps which are execllent quality (and I got hit for import tax which Ted made sure didn't happen with his maps) I'll think twice before ordering more maps in this way.

Thread: Re: New Steam Brothers Expansion

vvrood — 2007-04-21T13:20:53+00:00

This seems to be a session report of a game played on the Mexico expansion.

Thread: Re: New Steam Brothers Expansion

darky — 2007-04-20T19:46:09+00:00

As John would say:

If it's not specified in the expansion rules or provided with the expansion, use the basic rules and materials.

The difference in the artwork of montains is just to avoid a lot of same design. If something is different for the game, it will be specified in the rules.

Have fun

Thread: New Steam Brothers Expansion

annhamon — 2007-04-19T21:26:52+00:00

A few days ago we received the new Age of Steam expansion sets (Spain/Mexico and India/Austria) and decided to play them. We already have the original and most of the earlier expansions, all neatly packed in original game box (which now weighs about 40 pounds and the lid keeps coming off!) Our first choice was to play the India module, but that fell through when we could not find a goods display card for the module, although there is one for Mexico. We were later advised by the designer that there isn't a separate one, and the the basic game one should be used. It would have been nice to have been told this in the additional rules. In any case, we ultimately settled on a four handed version of Mexico. This played quite smoothly, except that the rules for building costs were not too clear, especially since there are two kinds of mountain hex designs on the map, but only one mountain price in the rules. Back to the designer. Both kinds of hexes cost the same despite the slightly differing artwork.

For anyone who isn't conversant with the basic game, you take out bonds to get capital, build track over which you deliver scarce goods, and use these deliveries to build up your ongoing income. The more links of track (i.e. routes between cities) that goods are delivered over, the greater the yield in permanent income. If the links are yours, you get the income - but if the links belong to someone else, they benefit from your actions. Each turn you bid for turn order, and then choose special roles - much like Puerto Rico - that confer special benefits. Late in each turn you pay expenses, including interest on your bonds and money for train operation based on the quality of locomotive you have. These costs can be ruinous, and it requires a very careful balancing act to try to turn a profit in the early turns of this game. There are a couple of other twists in the basic game. One is that once you have bought a bond, you are stuck with it forever. It costs you interest every turn and it counts against you at the end of the game. Another is that those who cross certain points on the income track have their ongoing income permanently reduced(after they collect for the current turn)by arbitrary, and presumably game balancing, amounts. All in all, however, it is a very fun game.

Each of the expansion modules also has some special rule to set it apart from the others. In Mexico, it is the concept of nationalization. This means that if you choose the nationalization role, you can take track links away from another player and turn them over to the government(he or she gets basic building costs returned) and from then on all players not only get no income credit for shipping over that link, but also have to pay the bank for the privilege. This is a wicked and evil thing to do. I say this only because it was done to me three times, and really gutted my network.

My strategy in this game has usually been to be very careful about taking out too many bonds, to try to get into the profit column as soon as possible, and to build my way slowly toward victory. In the game we played, the destruction of my network pretty much put an end to that. However another player(my wife - the real Ipoh 123)slowly improved her engine to gain better hauling capacity, took out all 15 allowed bonds and used this large amount of capital to build all kinds of track links over the last few turns, and made major deliveries that left us all in the dust. We were sure she would go bankrupt but she won handily. Which just goes to show that just when I think I've got a game all figured out, all of a sudden I find out that I really don't know a darn thing about it. Oh, well. I guess that challenge is why I play.

Thread: Re: Mexico, Spain/Portugal, India, Austria maps

dedefortin — 2007-04-14T01:10:18+00:00

Hi Pedro
They are laminated and we had great comments from the customers when they received our first expansion set. I'm sure you'll have fun when trying these new maps.

Pierre and Martin
Steambrothers

Thread: Re: Mexico, Spain/Portugal, India, Austria maps

MogwaiBR — 2007-04-13T06:13:37+00:00

Hello! I've just ordered the set, my first expansions for AoS. But I'm not sure about the quality of the maps. Is it hard-mounted? I'm looking forward to play this.

Best!

Thread: Re: Mexico, Spain/Portugal, India, Austria maps

dedefortin — 2007-04-10T23:09:14+00:00

Boards and Bits (www.boardsandbits.com) received our new set of maps. They are in stock and the first sets will be shipped this week.

Thanks

Pierre and Martin
Steambrothers

Thread: Age of Steam India session report

dedefortin — 2007-03-30T02:16:50+00:00

Another evening with 6 players and we decided to choose the India map. The map and the rules look very simple but the comments from the players who tried it were very good. The spirit of the basic game is kept but the new additional twists as the additional monsoon cost make it challenging. There is also a new tule for production of goods as they are place on the map whenever a city is connected by a player track. So you can plan your turn in advance and don't have to hope for some dice for production. The 6 players who play this map had already tried this map and it seems that we would have a very good game.

Pierre, Nathalie and Mario started in the center of the map, Sophie in the northwest, Martin and Marc-André in the southwest region. Bets went high in round 2 as Nathalie started at 4 but Mario with his 4 additional shares won and choose the urbanization action. There was already a fierce fighting between Martin and Marc-Andre and there wasn't much exits left out of the cities in their area. Mario went for the sky when he took 5 shares in the next round but he had some competition from Marc-Andre and Martin. In round 4 Pierre won the urbanization action with his turn order and urbanize a purple new city in the northwest to deny Martin 2 nice shippings of 5 income, at the same time it gave him an important purple city for delivery. At the end of this turn only Marc-Andre and Pierre made some profit and other players had to mve back on the income track because they didn't have enough money to pay for the monsoon. From this point Pierre took no more shares and he was able to put pressure on the other players for the first position. Since there wasn't much ressources left in the southwest region Marc-Andre couldn't catch Pierre.

As predicted the game was very challenging for everyone. Each turn was critical and interaction was great. Even Pierre on second turn was on the verge of being cornered in his small staring area so we had to fight on each turn.

Final score:
Pierre: 60
Marc-André: 49
Nathalie: 37
Sophie and Martin: 27
Mario: 15

Image

darky — 2007-03-28T08:51:03+00:00

Image

darky — 2007-03-28T08:50:34+00:00

Thread: Re: Mexico, Spain/Portugal, India, Austria maps

dedefortin — 2007-03-25T17:33:56+00:00

The english, french and german rules are gonna be included in our sets.

Pierre and Martin
Steambrothers

Thread: Re: Mexico, Spain/Portugal, India, Austria maps

Excalabur — 2007-03-25T06:24:48+00:00

Pierre,

Do you plan on posting the rules here in english?

Cheers.

Thread: Mexico, Spain/Portugal, India, Austria maps

dedefortin — 2007-03-25T05:50:04+00:00

Steambrothers are proud to announce the release of their new expansions maps for Age of Steam.

This edition will include 4 new maps: Mexico, India, Spain/Portugal
and Winsome’s Austria map (which was available only at Essen 2005). This last map combines the excellent 2-player rule set John Bohrer with the Steambrothers' design. Many thanks to John for his incredible support!

As in our first expansions, you will experience new and exciting actions and mechanisms in addition to this great game, Age of Steam.

We hope that you’ll have as much fun playing these as we did creating and playtesting them.

These new map sets will only be available at our excellent partner, Boards & Bits (www.boardsandbits.com).

Enjoy!

Pierre and Martin
Steambrothers