1830: Railways & Robber Barons

Having played 1829 to death this was also a must buy. Much more cuthroat than the original but still holds true to the genre.

Dynamic, dangerous and exhilarating. A ridiculously quick and savage game of this at ColCon cemented this as a Hall of Fame game for me. Can plod along in 2nd gear with new players but shifts into 5th once players understand the incentives for pushing the game forward. Now begins the ominous task of learning how best to manage the chaos to come out on top :D

There are tons of decisions to be made for the finances, but the biggest trouble I had was with the rail tile placements and figuring out optimal routes. The game really drags in the last few rounds, because choosing routes and totaling incomes can take for damn ever.

A surreal experience. I'm very torn about this game. On one hand you have the perfect mix and the excitement of investing, embezzling, building routes, buying trains... and on the other, a sheer sluggishness of a very old design that is hard to teach, slow to play and takes ages to actually finish. But I love it. It is not your everyday game, but if you find people who will appreciate it for what it is, the enjoyment really peaks.

It opened the door into the world of 18XX for us. We are very afraid to explore it, but we will dare to try. Next on the list is 1889.

The financial aspect in stock market manipulation and portfolio management part is awesome but the nerdy train theme and tedious track placement & revenue calculation is a barrier to entry for many people I find. The main downside is that it takes a long time to play, but for a 5 or 6 hour game there's probably nothing better. The best hex and counter wargame I have played, A Victory Lost, takes longer and is less satisfying, most war games I used to own took three times as long to play as this game.

Mayfair

Very cool system! Retains a good amount of historicity while keeping the level of uncertainty needed to make it an interesting investment game.

Probably will move onto other 18xx games - even after one play - as many seem to offer more instability in the companies, which leads to a fiercer and more dynamic stock market.

Always luv to play. But only with Rail Java app.

Fantastic game - like the stockmarket part