Railroad Revolution

Very enjoyable worker placement game with the color of the workers having a fundamental effect on what you get for placing them.

Lots happening to tempt you into being distracted from your long term goals to respond to what's on offer in the short term - you have to keep aware of which first-player-only bonuses are on hand and what "deals" may shortly be actioned by you or another player. Should you divert from your strategy so that you can take advantage of them or stay focused on the end game?

Players cannot block each other. The workers are placed on your own player board and the building of track and stations does not preclude other players from building them in the same places - it's just that the first player to build a station in each city/telegraph location gets a bonus.

My only slight reservation is replayability. Having won by pushing my marker to the maximum value on two of the three performance tracks (for connecting level 5 stations and for the number of telegraph houses) and then connected to the 3 level 5 stations (which was never really in doubt as track placement cannot be blocked) and getting 5 of the 8 telegraph houses built, in the next game I'd be tempted simply to pursue the same strategy. Hopefully the slightly randomized station bonus tile placements and different initial milestones each player is given might nudge me into following a different path.

In any event I thoroughly enjoyed playing the game. You have a wide variety of choices on each turn, made wider each time you acquire or change the color of another worker. Yet the mechanism remains extremely simple: on your turn, place a worker.

The production is fabulous: the components are of very good quality, the artwork is lovely, the rule book is excellent, the icons and wording are clear and the game flows really well.

PS Our four player game lasted 3 hours, including setup and reading the rules. AP was occasional.

Interesting, albeit mostly solo, efficiency puzzle. We implemented the Western Union 'hotfix' and it seemed relatively balanced, although building the telegraph stations is still the easiest thing to do. Came a comfortable 2nd.

With Railroad Revolution expansion.

I really love the twist on action selection, with different coloured meeples giving different bonuses on the same core action. Surprised this hasn't been used in more games.

Like most games from What's Your Game, Railroad Revolution is a little dull to look at, the board being a vomit of bonus iconography and shades of yellow-brown. It is definitely a themeless Euro which I don't mind, but some better art would stop people from turning away.

When I was first taught the game, it was hammered in how overpowered the Western Union strategy is, and now I can't unsee it. Every game since then, this has proven it to be true, with the player focusing on telegraph poles winning easily. A shame, as this could have been a great game with a bit more polish.

Rating is for the variant with higher costs on Western Union track. Really enjoy the combo building in this game.

Some nice mechanics included and solid gameplay - but the game is completely broken. There is one mcertain strategy which is much stronger than everthing else and wil always win.

2nd problem: almoste no interaction, which is relevant for choice of strategy 3rd problem: There is hardly any variation in starting setup and the course the game is taking.

Because of those 2 points combined, you would have no reason to explore different strategies from game to game, even if there were severals balanced possibilities.

Yet, the game has one dominant strategy, and starting setup and other player's strategic approach makes no difference, so every game is the same and the same strategy wins always and nothing can change that.

Faulty design.

Espace jeux janvier 2017

1 play / 3 players

LIKE: Solid medium-weight game, I really liked how the workers were needed and used. There are good combo moves to explore everywhere in the game. I like how the workers started to run out, which added a small amount of tension. Quick game.

DISLIKE: Points seemed easy to come by and it was a matter of min/maxing. I wish some elements were more difficult to obtain. Not really an engine builder. Not much interaction.

OVERALL: Hoping the expansion improves the gameplay. We played with the 500/500/1000 Western Union variant, which seemed almost necessary. I wonder if removing a set number of workers from the game at the beginning would create a tighter game?

Even though I rate this a 7 and really enjoyed my one play, I don't have much desire to play it again. This really pushes the upper limits of multiplayer solitaire.