Russian Railroads

Many 'euro' games get labelled 'strategic' when in reality, they are just tactical.

Russian Railroads is one of those true 'euro strategic' games in the sense that you need to identify your strategy early and focus on it even if that means you have to pass on taking a few other lucrative options along the way. Those last couple of turns are where you score the majority of your points so you need to have got your, ahem, engine, up and running by that point.

Having said all that, you can’t ignore the peripheral areas in which you can score almost to the point that you have to adopt not one but two strategies - if everyone plays well then it will be the points from this second strategy that are often the differentiators.

Last round already? I always feel like this game is too short. Again! Keep coming back for more.

My early impression felt strongly that a lot of the decision space was... on rails -_- But open to trying some more, particularly with expansion(s)

Worker placement with a railroad theme and very unforgiving exponential scoring.

The game plays over 6 rounds, scales very well from 2-4 players, and uses the classic worker placement mechanism. Each player has their own personal board which shows three major railway lines and an industry track; the goal is to progress on at least some of these tracks by moving up lower value rails in order to allow for forward movement of higher value rails. The industry track works differently in that there is no upgrading but instead lower points are paid out quicker and key bonuses can be unlocked earlier. The main rails also unlock bonuses and scoring multipliers but this usually takes some time to achieve.

There are several different actions to choose from, including many rail movements (black, grey, brown, tan, and white which are listed in ascending value), money (which serves as a worker placement but is also required for some actions), train engines/industry cities (needed to score your rail tracks or advance your industry marker), engineers (this is one of the few innovative features of this game; there is a stack of engineers of which only a few enter a game and they can be used when on the board but once they are hired they serve as your own private, generally superior, worker location, as well they serve as the round counters and score endgame points), as well as a few other actions.

Scoring occurs every round and it starts slowly but ramps up massively as players start to push their valuable train tracks forward. This is where the game can be a turnoff to new players; final scores can differ by several hundred points(!) buts that's just how it works in this game. If you can get past your first few games, it's surprisingly addictive and "fun" and it should be noted that all of the expansions really make the game shine by increasing variability significantly.

Own the [boardgame=181693]German Railroads[/boardgame], and [boardgame=206944]American Railroads[/boardgame] expansions and the [boardgame=166410]Mini-expansion[/boardgame], as well as the [boardgame=234335]Juri Dreigleisky[/boardgame] and (homemade) [boardgame=325037]Manufactory Train[/boardgame] promos.

Love it!

Russian Railroads has little to no theme, but the puzzle that it presents you is exciting to solve anew every time. This is my favorite way to exercise my brain with some tough reps, alongside two or three other workout buddies. Highly recommended.

How do I love thee, let me count the ways? My father-in-law recommended Russian Railroads to me, and I bought it tentatively, because it's rather heavy compared to what I normally play. Despite this, RR has blossomed into my favorite heavy game (with the possible exception of Terra Mystica) and I always relish a chance to dive deep into its inner workings.

Russian Railroads is, at its core, a collection of point-scoring mechanisms; but unlike a Feld game, these pieces all come together into an engine-building experience that's even thematic. You start out very slowly, earning 3 points here, 4 points there, but by the end of the game your engine has been built to full potentially and you are harvesting whole swathes of points, pulling in 60, 80, even 100 or more points per round.

People have called this the best 'pure' worker placement game and I'm compelled to agree. The board is completely open and your only obstacles are the other players. Russian Railroads will reward players who can evaluate what everyone else is doing and construct an engine that zigs when everyone else is zagging -- this will let you take spots that have gone unnoticed and sneak into a lead!

The base game is interesting and exciting, but a few initial moves can be on rails (the engineer/gold/double workers spaces will always be among the first picks), and German Railroads, the first expansion, totally shakes that up. You now have variable player boards, that let you specialize your tracks to meet your particular strategy. This mitigates opponents blocking you a little bit, and opens up your options. The second module, coal, also provides more spaces on the board and more ways for you to earn points.

Let's be clear: this is multiplayer solitaire. But it's multiplayer solitaire at its absolute best, and that's OK -- sometimes you just want a puzzly game where the winner is not the one with the biggest fists, but the most finely executed strategy, brought to completion with ruthless Russian (or German!) efficiency.

May '18: Rated 8 Oct '21: Rated 5 Dec '24: Rated 4

I don't like how routine the decision-making is: one or two action slots are clearly better. Also, it's a solitary Euro with nothing more than space-blocking to interact with the other players.