British Rails

[epi_lj]

[crossposted from my journal]

We (myself, clawfoot, taffer and kristnaskelfir) gave British Rails a partial spin last night. It's actually kristnaskelfir's game, but since we usually game at our place, he's left it there with our games. I read through the rules a couple of weeks ago and today was our first try at it. It was a partial run through only because we started fairly late.

Comments

[theshadowsfall]

I am a big fan of all of Mayfair Games, "train games", especially British Rails. It has the advantage of being the shortest of the series to play. I highly recommend the originag game Empire Builder. It is the same game in the United States.

[midnightmadness]

I love the Mayfair train builder series. Many think it's outdated, but I like that it's simple and easy to teach and leaves open a large variety of strategies and options. IMO British Rails is the toughest of them all because it locks out cities and options quicker than the others... some think Eurorails is. Give Empire Builder a try, and I HIGHLY recommend Iron Dragon - since that one didn't have to conform to any existing map, they were able to balance the game and options out pretty evenly.

[stm4e]

I second Iron Dragon- it has lots of cool aspects that you don't see in any of the other games.

And we use dry-erase markers for our games, and they work really well. Yes, you may accidentally erase some stuff, but the pain of re-drawing a couple of lines is outweighed by the benefit of easily drawing and erasing large portions of the board- when a flood came and we were using crayons, it took a long time to remove everything.

[epi_lj]

Do you use a particular kind of dry-erase marker? Do you have any problems with it not completely erasing?

[stm4e]

(runs downstairs to find his markers)

We seem to be using Crayola, but I don't think there's anything innately Crayola-ish about them that we need. We do need to replace them every so often though- the lines start getting a little light.

As for erasing, a damp paper towel is best, a dry paper towel is ok (just don't try to rub it out with your fingers!). And every few games, if you wipe it down with rubbing alcohol, it'll look like new.

[epi_lj]

Thanks! That's awesome to know. I think it will enhance our gameplay considerably.

[anyeone]

Love the crayon rails!

The rule of thumb for playing time for all the crayon rails is 1 hr per player, so 3.5 wouldn't have been all that far off for 3 players new to the game.

Add my vote to Iron Dragon as a fun variation on the theme.

Also, there is a variation that I like a lot where instead of dealing out cards, there is a card draft. Basically there are a whole bunch of cards (12 I think?) that are in the pool, and when you pick up a good for one you can grab the card from the pool? Or it might be you take the card when you deliver? I can't remember which way it goes, but I would be willing to bet if you look at Boardgamegeek someone wrote up the drafting rules. But this gives you a lot more option plus reduces the "multiplayer solitaire" effect by sometimes creating "races" for valuable and/or convenient runs.

[gozer2048]

Thanks for the review. I just bought British Rails since I've been wanting to try one of them out. I chose British since it is one of the fastest and most suitable for 2 players. (Nippon might edge it out on both counts, but the box and goods chips won me over.) Hopefully my GF and I will both enjoy it.