Board Game: Chicago Express

Thread: Re: It looks like I forgot to announce that Queen Games has licensed the Wabash Cannonball - Erie Railroad expansion.

Sorrellbo — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:23:39 +0000

That is great news, I can't wait to get both of the expansions for this outstanding game!

Thread: Re: I can announce that Queen Games has licensed the Wabash Cannonball - Narrow Gauge Railroads expansion.

John Bohrer — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:59:21 +0000

Zimeon wrote:
garygarison wrote:
Split entries forcing this double-up is silly.

Yes, it's making no real sense.

I still can't believe that Scott Alden signed off on the idea.

Thread: It looks like I forgot to announce that Queen Games has licensed the Wabash Cannonball - Erie Railroad expansion.

John Bohrer — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:56:03 +0000

It looks like I forgot to announce that Queen Games, a German firm, has licensed the Wabash Cannonball - Erie Railroad expansion.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/36607

Thread: Re: I can announce that Queen Games has licensed the Wabash Cannonball - Narrow Gauge Railroads expansion.

Zimeon — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:05:23 +0000

garygarison wrote:
Split entries forcing this double-up is silly.

Yes, it's making no real sense.

Thread: Re: I can announce that Queen Games has licensed the Wabash Cannonball - Narrow Gauge Railroads expansion.

Lawnjob — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:49:54 +0000

I look forward to seeing this in action. I played CE with the Erie and found it a worthy edition.

Thread: Re: Pettiness and bickering will get you nowhere.

Alexfrog — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:26:25 +0000

milank wrote:

Opening Stocks:

Jonas: PRR $18, NYC $20
Justin: CO $18
Erich: B&O $19

From the initial stock auctioning it appeared Jonas got the upper hand. All three being newbies, I think we undervalued the stock.

Round 1 highlights: Jonas expands NYC and Justin Expands CO. I capitalize for NYC and win it for $18. Justin capitalizes for B&O and wins it for $16.

I dont understand why Justin would pay $16 for that B&O when he could win it for like $5 instead because you guys are broke. Gaining $10 on everybody would be a huge win here. The amount of money the company has isnt as important as how much you have, especially when it already had $18 and there are more shares to auction.

I dont think you undervalued the initial shares, that seems pretty fair to me.

Thread: Re: I can announce that Queen Games has licensed the Wabash Cannonball - Narrow Gauge Railroads expansion.

garygarison — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:18:12 +0000

John Bohrer wrote:
I can announce that Queen Games, a German firm, has licensed the Wabash Cannonball - Narrow Gauge Railroads expansion.

Actually, announce twice. Split entries forcing this double-up is silly.

Thread: Re: I can announce that Queen Games has licensed the Wabash Cannonball - Narrow Gauge Railroads expansion.

metelo — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:05:49 +0000

Great news.

Is there any news about the Availability of the expansions from Queen games?

- date?
- Will it be 2 separate boxes? Will it be a single box?

I'm thrilled about getting the parts matching the Chicago Express graphical design

Thread: I can announce that Queen Games has licensed the Wabash Cannonball - Narrow Gauge Railroads expansion.

John Bohrer — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:00:28 +0000

I can announce that Queen Games, a German firm, has licensed the Wabash Cannonball - Narrow Gauge Railroads expansion.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/42602

Thread: Re: Has anyone actually played 2 Player?

Karlsen — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:05:11 +0000

I have played it two player, once. A bit like Power Grid really. Two player is a way of learning the game, but if you want to actually play the game find more people. If you only have two players, play something else :meeple:

Thread: Re: Has anyone actually played 2 Player?

rockusultimus — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:30:31 +0000

Chess is a good comparison to 2-player CE in a way.

Also, see here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/388865
And a variant, here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/390877

IMO, Wabash/CE is best with 4.

Thread: Pettiness and bickering will get you nowhere.

milank — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:25:19 +0000

Chicago Express

Two co-workers and I have been playing games regularly over the past month or so in hopes to really nail a game down (or that's my intent, anyway). We've been going back and forth between Dominion and Chicago Express (although Dominion's short play has definitely eclipsed CE's longer set up and play time). Here's the session report for our second game of Chicago Express.

Opening Stocks:

Jonas: PRR $18, NYC $20
Justin: CO $18
Erich: B&O $19

From the initial stock auctioning it appeared Jonas got the upper hand. All three being newbies, I think we undervalued the stock.

Round 1 highlights: Jonas expands NYC and Justin Expands CO. I capitalize for NYC and win it for $18. Justin capitalizes for B&O and wins it for $16. I do expand B&O out to the first city and then develop to make sure I'm not last in the 2nd round. At this point, Jonas, with shares in NYC and PRR pulls in the most.

Round 2 highlights: Jonas and I expand NYC while Justin happily expands CO. It seems to be working well but both Jonas and I get worried about Justin's sole ownership in CO and it is doing well. I put one share up for auction and Justin wins it. Jonas puts up a share of B&O up for auction and I take that. This was the beginning of our degrading partnership. With B&O significantly dilluted and funds short from overpaying, The NYC honeymoon was about over. It's about to get nastier.

Round 3 highlights: NYC is amazingly near Cleveland after a route through Pittsburgh. I put another CO up for auction in hopes of something ... anything ... but Justin buys that one as well. He now has three shares in the company and picks up a fourth when Jonas puts it up. At the time I was thinking that his lack of a partner would be the end of him but never underestimate the power of my pettiness. While Jonas and I had expanded NYC sufficiently, he takes time to use his action to expand PRR ... much to my dismay ... and I follow suit by expanding my B&O into Altoona, thus making PRR pretty useless after that (NYC went straight West from New York and PRR would have to go farther North through the forests and lose out on a lot of income).

At this point CO is in Indianapolis. I push B&O out through the plains from Youngstown. B&O is the first railroad to Chicago and Jonas wins the Wabash share for around $15 (Fort Wayne had been developed). CO makes it in next followed by NYC in the 5th round (Jonas and I finally made amends to make it work).

In a desperation move in round 5, I put the fifth CO up for auction and Jonas drives the price up to $21, which Justin bites (sucker! I thought). The next player is Jonas and he puts the final CO up and drives the price up to $18 ... but he gets stuck with it. Justin sees the end and auctions the other Wabash share.

The final score 113 Justin ... 89 Erich ... 47 Jonas.

I wish I could remember more particular parts of this session, but the most interesting part was how the bickering between Jonas and me pretty much set up Justin for the win. To Justin's credit, he did end up with two shares of B&O and helped it get to Chicago, so basically I couldn't surpass him if I wanted to. CO toward the end was paying dividends of $30+ to him alone.

This is a fun game. I think I prefer four player to three player because the alliances seem a little more fair when you can shift to 2 v 2. I've also noticed that the game can be decided early ... usually by round two with craftily created alliances and the manipulation of turn order.

Writer's Note: I'm pretty sure I got most of the facts down correctly. Next time I'll take notes.

Thread: Re: Has anyone actually played 2 Player?

John Bohrer — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:02:26 +0000

Sure, and it is a chess game, very different than the multi-player game, but very demanding in its own way.

Thread: Re: Has anyone actually played 2 Player?

imyourskribe — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:51:47 +0000

My wife and I played 2 player once. I was entertained, but it was not anywhere near as engaging as the game I played with 6. (Note: I've only played those two times, so this is the opinion of somebody without any real CE experience to speak of)

Thread: Re: Has anyone actually played 2 Player?

Coca Lite — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:30:20 +0000

Different
people
have
different
opinions.

Thread: Re: Has anyone actually played 2 Player?

clearclaw — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:29:02 +0000

Suppe Kasper wrote:
I would like to know if anyone has actually played this game with two and if it works for them?

Yes, I've done it. No, it wasn't worth it.

Thread: Re: Has anyone actually played 2 Player?

tryggvib — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:23:15 +0000

I have, it wasn't really fun but that isn't the game's fault. It was really my opponents fault. This game has no luck so one should be careful when playing (kinda like chess, don't mess up or it'll get you in the back).

Don't misunderstand me. The game is fun, but both players (in a 2 player game) should know how everything works and actually think a little bit a head when doing something.

In my only 2p game I was playing against my friend. He bought a shares for a lot of money which left me with a bunch and him with nothing (that was a bad move on his part - which ruined the game). So when it was my turn I just auctioned off a few off his shares and some new shares and gained majority in everything he owned plus something more. I therefore ended up getting more money than him for the rest of the game (until he gave up) and everything he did benefited me so I focused on my own company.

So you should practice a lot before you get good at a 2 player game in my opinion. Small things might ruin the session.

Thread: Re: Has anyone actually played 2 Player?

thepackrat — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:22:36 +0000

There have been several threads on this. I think the conclusion was 'not if you like the interesting auction/alliance game that CE is supposed to be'

B>

Thread: Re: Has anyone actually played 2 Player?

BrenoK — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:20:34 +0000

I've never done it, but considering most ofthe game consists in which opponent you ally yourself with at what particular moments of the game, I think it would feel kinda pointless (or at least it would be a significantly different game). I'd recommend against it.

Thread: Has anyone actually played 2 Player?

Suppe Kasper — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:09:26 +0000

I really want this game; however, due to some uncontrollable circumstances I will be mostly be playing 2 player games in the near future.

I would like to know if anyone has actually played this game with two and if it works for them?

Thread: Re: Chicago Express at Coolstuff Games (6/24/2009)

clearclaw — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:56:43 +0000

Our fastest game was 20 minuets. Our longest was ~90 minutes. Game lengths climbed steadily for a while as we learned more and thought more, averaging 60-75 minutes for quite a while. More recently they've fallen back again to the 45-60 minute range.

Thread: Re: Chicago Express at Coolstuff Games (6/24/2009)

doubtofbuddha — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:20:34 +0000

My experiences converge with those of Justin.

Thread: Re: Chicago Express at Coolstuff Games (6/24/2009)

jrebelo — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:12:14 +0000

At my office we play CE on average 2-3 times a week and with all the usual guys our games run from 40-45 minutes on average now. Occasionally there's the freakishly fast game done in 30 minutes but not common at all.

Thread: Re: Chicago Express at Coolstuff Games (6/24/2009)

Deaddogdays — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:13:22 +0000

How long does your group take to play a game with experienced players?

Thread: Re: beginner strategies?

scottandkimr — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:31:48 +0000

Thanks, Alex, sounds good.

Image

hzenha — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:35:13 +0000

hehe... A train crash simulation...

Image

hzenha — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:34:24 +0000

Ohh... TRAINS!

Image

Sentieiro — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:46:26 +0000

Chicago Express - Box Front

Image

HRune — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 12:38:33 +0000

...and Chicago is far away...

Image

HRune — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 12:36:37 +0000

Board detail - Queen edition

Image

fabricefab — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:23:12 +0000

nice artwork on the box

Image

koiyu — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 08:50:37 +0000

Mmm, coffee in a boardgame mug.

Image

koiyu — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 08:46:18 +0000

The Chicago Express mug roundabout

Image

Toynan — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:53:48 +0000

close up on blue trains

Image

Toynan — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:46:10 +0000

close up on the hand of the development Gauge

Image

Toynan — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:38:47 +0000

Blue share and money

Image

Toynan — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:30:07 +0000

Auction for a yellow share

Image

kilroy_locke — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 04:46:54 +0000

It's crowded getting into Pittsburg!

Image

kilroy_locke — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 04:45:32 +0000

The board at endgame...

Image

kilroy_locke — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 04:44:07 +0000

Driving towards Chicago!