Age of Steam is Warfrog's first foray into railway games.
It is developed from the well received Lancashire Railways, published by
Winsome Games. The game combines the cube movement system from LR with a
track tile placement system that gives you greater freedom over where you
build your routes. The core of the game involves trying to move colored
cubes to destinations of the same color, so red cubes want to move to red
cities, blue cubes to blue cities, and so on. By moving a cube along your
own track you increase your income level, (note that this is a permanent
increase). You can also move goods along other players' track but that
means they will gain the increase in income.
Age of Steam also includes a number of other interesting features,
namely the action selection phase. An auction determines the order of
play, following which players select one action each. Actions allow
players to convert a town to a city, making a new destination for goods,
to increase the distance their trains can travel, and to build additional
track. However, each action can only be selected once, and some are more
powerful than others. Another important feature of the game is the fact
that money is in short supply and players have to issue shares to raise
more. You have to be careful not to issue too many shares, as you have to
pay a dividend on them each turn and they count as negative victory points
at the end of the game. As the game progresses players should be aiming to
move goods along longer routes and opening up new sources of goods.
Eventually the supply of goods cubes will run low, which could severely
hamper a player, even if his network so far has been very successful.
The game will end after a set number of turns, depending on the number
of players. At the end of the game players score victory points, which are
calculated by subtracting the number of shares you issued from the amount
of income you attained. Constructed track also contributes towards your
victory point total.
The map covers the heart of industrial America, centering on the Great
Lakes and stretching out to incorporate Wheeling, Kansas City, and
Minneapolis. Warfrog intends to publish new maps each year which will add
to the designs longevity.
Author: Martin Wallace
Length: 2-3 hours
Vendor: Warfrog
Contains:
