18IA: Building Iowa's Railroads

When the railroads came to Iowa, what rail baron ended as the richest? Now you decide. Based on the 18XX series of rail games, 18IA is a 2-5 player game that should take about 3-4 hours to play.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

1861 got me confused.

I got in about half a game of 1861: Rails of the Russian Empire at OwlCon, and have to say it's a fine game indeed. I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head.

Stuff I liked:
  • lots of companies can be started.
  • good graphics on the train cards show you what's going on.

Stuff I didn't like:
  • stock market doesn't move down much when shares are sold, so no dumping takes place.
  • other than location, there's nothing to differentiate the companies.

Of course, it's crazily unavailable, with the cheapest copy I can find being 55 euros plus another 13 euros shipping.