I don't need to play a game before I buy it.  In fact, sometimes I prefer not to.  A large part of my enjoyment of board games is the acquisition.  I love doing research on BoardGameGeek and other sites, reading reviews, checking out lists, and asking other people about their thoughts.  Occasionally I get a disappointing game because of this (i.e. Hansa or Shadows Over Camelot), but I'm finding out that trading games is a great way to recycle them into new titles.  I just finished up a trade on BoardGameGeek where I got rid of 3 games I didn't care for (including Hansa!) and got Duel of Ages and Princes of Florence.  (a game I haven't played, and a game I have played and love)

 

All that was to preface the fact that I got a chance to play Age of Steam on Tuesday, which I was considering buying.  Brandon's friend Eran had just bought AoS, so we met up with Jay on Tuesday at Borders to play our first game.

 

Eran did an admirable job with the rules, but I was left with lots of questions about the mechanics.  This is a complicated game!  I needed several clarifications during the first two rounds, and might have played differently based on my understanding of the rules.  But for games like Age of Steam, the first play is always a learning experience.

 

 

At its core, Age of Steam is a transportation management game.  Cities on the board house goods of several colors, which need to be shipped to cities of the same color.  Players use their meager income to build tracks between the cities, which can then be used to ship the goods to earn more income.  For each leg of the trip the good crosses, the player who owns that leg has their income increased by one.  It is possible for players to cooperate, shipping a good that crosses legs of more than one player.  There are a lot of tricky rules, like special roles, selling shares of your railroad, bidding for turn order, etc.

 

In our game, I played first and opted to build tracks in the NW corner of the board where two goods could immediately be shipped.  Jay jumped in to claim the second good.  Eran used a role to place an extra city on the board and immediately connected three cities on the first turn, setting him up for a powerful network that would last the entire game.  Brandon chose the South and East sides of the board, foreshadowing his spread-out network of rails.  From there, things got interesting.

 

Eran continued to build onto his network, making lots of short hops between cities.  Jay and Brandon divided up the East side of the board, sharing lots of routes.  I stuck to the West, as there was a good to ship nearly every turn.  Unfortunately for me, I didn't understand that cooperation would net more income.  If there are three tracks between two cities, and I own two and you own one, I could ship a good giving me 2 income and you 1.  I would be willing to do this because I get 2 income.  You, for doing relatively nothing, get 1 income.  Brandon and Jay chose this strategy, and to a lesser extent Eran (only because he needed little help).  I was left by myself on the West side (represent, yo!), struggling to come up with the money to build tracks every turn.

 

 

That leads to another interesting point about the game:  money.  I have never played a game where money is so tight.  Connecting cities usually requires 4-6 dollars, yet connecting those cities may only incur an income of 1.  Granted, you get that 1 income every turn for the rest of the game, but that is large investment when you only start with 10 dollars.  This is where shares come in.  A player may sell shares of his railroad to immediately earn $5 per share.  However, at the end of each turn, the player must pay 1 dollar for every share they have sold (cumulatively).  If you sell 2 shares immediately when the game starts, you'll get a windfall of $10, but you will wind up paying $2 every turn for the rest of the game.  Money management in this game plays out like a small investment simulator.  You must raise just enough money that you can start your train business, but must become profitable enough so you can repay that loan over a long period of time.  We joked that we hadn't been that strapped for cash since college.

 

Unfortunately, we didn't get to play the last 2 turns, as Borders was closing.  I was finally able to connect my Western cities and ship 2 full turns of goods over my own 3-link network, making up for my early mistakes and catapult me into second.  Eran wiped the floor with us, shipping long routes of goods over networks he owned by himself.

 

 

It is also interesting to note that we played a very friendly game.  No one intentionally blocked anyone else, and although there was competition for the routes, it wasn't cutthroat.  However, I can easily see how more aggressive play with blocking strategies could make things interesting.

 

So how did I like it?  Very much, thank you.  It was 2 full hours of brain-burning fun, and it was a game I'd very much like to own.  I might have purchased this without playing, but I definitely have more confidence that I will enjoy owning this game.  The hard decision is figuring out what else to include on the order.