For a new approach to games 18xx is Poseidón. 16 years ago I tried an 18xx and failed. This year I tried again, following the suggestion to start with Poseidon. It worked. The last few weeks we have played 7 games of 1830, at 5 and a half hours each. Perfect! Epic!
I am becoming more and more interested in trying other games she's designed. I remember learning a bit about "The Field of the Cloth of Gold" last year and being intrigued, and now that I look into her list of designs I can see lots of intriguing stuff.
I’m very happy Capstone booked you to do the tutorial for Iberian Gauge. I got it on pre-order, so I’ll definitely be watching your video before my first play 😁
I'm looking forward to it too. These games are a bit outside my wheelhouse (or, more specifically, they have interested me for a while but I'm not sure I could convince anyone to play them with me!). Of the ones discussed here Iberian Gauge sounds like the best possible fit so I can't wait to see it in action.
Fantastic video, I think your move towards keeping your impressions vlog purely positive gaming experiences is good for you and that comes across in the quality of the vid. Was cool to have two games and then a look at then overarching mechanic - great format. Also, love the honesty when you point out how winning a game can influence how much enjoyment you’re getting!
Great to see your excitement in this video! Rio Grande put out another auctionless cube rails game a few years back: the minimalistic Northern Pacific… also by Tom Russell. This is a genre I’m keen to try out myself.
It looks like I might be making a sponsored video for that one actually, though it hasn't been fully confirmed yet. I am certainly looking forward to trying it
So glad to hear you're enjoying a renewed foray into cube rails, it's such a fun and rewarding genre! In such a short financial sandbox, trying new things and seeing whether your gambit pays off is exciting and often shakes up a group meta. And if it fails, as a friend of mine always says, the catch-up mechanic is that the game's an hour. I hope you continue exploring the genre, and perhaps auctions will even grow on you. I personally love auctions and still find Irish Gauge in particular underwhelms me. I enjoy others by Tom much more, including these two, but my favourite two cube rails are by John Bohrer: GM&O and Chicago Express. Fair warning though, both are very dependent on auctions. Anyway, thanks for your thoughts!
I've read the rules to GM&O and watched a full playthrough of Chicago Express. They are both games I'd like to try along with so many others that have been recommended. GM&O seems straight up whacky, with all funds being used immediately in the auctions. Seems like there'll be some explosive growth on the map.
Wacky indeed! It's very different from most other cube rails I've played but man is it something. Hope you enjoy them as you play more, there's so much flexibility and creativity in cube rails design these days. Especially thanks to some new designers like Travis Hill, who's got two games coming out this year you might find interesting (there's no auctions in his Union Station except the initial auction).
I have played Age of Steam (or maybe it was just Steam?) a decade ago or so. I'd be up for trying it again, I'm trying to soften-up on my anti-auction stance.
@@JonGetsGames Auctions are tough, especially on the first play of a game. Overbidding can quickly lose the game for a single player. Usually, when teaching new players cube rails with auctions I'm very careful to caution them against making huge bids. I would highly recommend giving 1846 a try sometime as it's one of the shortest 18XX games and also starts with a draft instead of an auction!
Great! I've been playing Iberian Gauge too :) the whole thing starts colaborative, yes, but then as you mention the mean streak can appear. For example what you mention - if you and I both have 2 stocks on the same company, well, we may be game-long best partners, but if you have 3 and I have 1... that one can strategically mean I lose money but you lose 3x more, and the game is to be first, not to have a bigger profit at #2 :P. Of course, as you say, it also depends on perceived risk - but again, company ownership will push you toward collaboration or betrayal.
Based off your thoughts, I'd highly recommend Tom Russel's most recent train game: Dual Gauge. Player decisions early on strongly effect the way the game plays out, while giving enough power to the players to try and leverage their own position even in the late game. Plus, it's a multi-map system like Ride the Rails or Concordia, where each map has small rule additions that change the way the game feels.
LOVE the curling analogy Jon! It is very much like that: openness and jostling for initial positions, and then the whole game changes from how the cubes ended up and where.
Totally with you. I jumped in over my head with both Chicago Express and Irish Gauge. Both feature auctions for every share in the game. Since then, I have played Northern Pacific, Paris Connection, and Ride the Rails. You should give Northern Pacific a shot sometime if you can. It really boils down the shared incentive fun of these games to just two possible actions per turn -- place a cube, or move the train along. I'm most excited to try Iberian Gauge, as it looks the closest to 18xx while fitting in easier rules and shorter time.
I've played NorPac, Paris, and RtR actually. I made sponsored tutorial playthroughs for Northern Pacific and RtR on the channel and both are fun games. RtR may have more calculations and procedural things to do than I like overall so I wouldn't say it's my favorite though. NorPac is great, I just played it again this weekend with friends and it went well. Iberian Gauge is great and I'll say that Dual Gauge is another "cube rails-esque" game that has more 18xx trappings than most and still plays in about 60m.
Dual Gauge is a wonderful game, though I personally think it starts to really shine with the first map pack vs the maps that come in the base game box.
@@JonGetsGames good to know! Have been debating picking up the expansion with the base game. Also considering Iberian Gauge partly due to lower cost of entry (and doesn’t require poker chips). Both of those games look great and hope I get a chance to play them both. Thanks for the excellent tutorials for those!
Iberian Gauge is super solid, and if you are looking for a game to start this genre out I highly recommend it. Very light on rules, but has tons of great moments. Dual Gauge is super cool, but has more mechanical moving parts, and as you said no money tokens.
Wow, now I need to try Trans-Siberian Railroad. While I enjoy 18xx games, the shorter play time and boiled down nature of cube rail games means they get played more often. My favorite has been Chicago Express (though leans heavily on auctions), but really enjoyed Iberian Gauge and might have found my new favorite of the genre. I didn't care too much for Irish Gauge though for some reason, and Paris Connection is a bit too simple for my tastes. ...but love the idea of the Russian Government nationalizing the companies you're trying to make profitable!
If you enjoyed Iberian Gauge then I even more strongly recommend Trans-Siberian Railroad. They have similar leasing mechanics and while being quite different do have a familiar similar feel (they do have the same designer). There is an initial auction and one mid-game auction in TSR but it's still mostly not an auction game overall. I don't mind auctions, but in general prefer cube rails games that leave them primarily to the setup.
As a solo player I'm always looking for games with very low count of auctions, One is OK as I can dice it out and then best play the rest of the moves. Alas, I miss out on player interaction, but have always enjoyed the route building aspect
They are very very different games. TSR isn't very complicated, but it's certainly more complex than Ticket To Ride. I filmed a playthrough of TSR, I'd suggest watching some of that to get a feel if you'd enjoy it. I still really like that game.
Yeah, I've played Chicago Express twice now. I like it, but I don't love it at this point. I recently played a second game of Southafrican Railroads and I think I prefer that one (they are quite similar).
Ah, I actually have already. I forgot about that one when I was discussing my small amount of cube rails experience. Unfortunately in our one play it fell flat for all of us, though I don't exactly remember why now.
Unfortunately it's the only option UA-cam has allowed me to be able to put corrections on screen after a video is uploaded. I agree, it's a flawed fix and I wish there was another way to do it.
For a new approach to games 18xx is Poseidón. 16 years ago I tried an 18xx and failed. This year I tried again, following the suggestion to start with Poseidon. It worked. The last few weeks we have played 7 games of 1830, at 5 and a half hours each. Perfect! Epic!
A good friend of mine picked up a copy of this, I do hope to try it at some point.
Very glad to see more people getting into Tom Russell designs. I think she is one of the best designers out there.
I am becoming more and more interested in trying other games she's designed. I remember learning a bit about "The Field of the Cloth of Gold" last year and being intrigued, and now that I look into her list of designs I can see lots of intriguing stuff.
she?
I’m very happy Capstone booked you to do the tutorial for Iberian Gauge. I got it on pre-order, so I’ll definitely be watching your video before my first play 😁
I'm looking forward to it too. These games are a bit outside my wheelhouse (or, more specifically, they have interested me for a while but I'm not sure I could convince anyone to play them with me!). Of the ones discussed here Iberian Gauge sounds like the best possible fit so I can't wait to see it in action.
Fantastic video, I think your move towards keeping your impressions vlog purely positive gaming experiences is good for you and that comes across in the quality of the vid. Was cool to have two games and then a look at then overarching mechanic - great format.
Also, love the honesty when you point out how winning a game can influence how much enjoyment you’re getting!
Great to see your excitement in this video! Rio Grande put out another auctionless cube rails game a few years back: the minimalistic Northern Pacific… also by Tom Russell. This is a genre I’m keen to try out myself.
It looks like I might be making a sponsored video for that one actually, though it hasn't been fully confirmed yet. I am certainly looking forward to trying it
@@JonGetsGames Northern Pacific is fantastic and is even quicker in my opinion than the two you mentioned here. Can't wait to hear your opinions
So glad to hear you're enjoying a renewed foray into cube rails, it's such a fun and rewarding genre! In such a short financial sandbox, trying new things and seeing whether your gambit pays off is exciting and often shakes up a group meta. And if it fails, as a friend of mine always says, the catch-up mechanic is that the game's an hour.
I hope you continue exploring the genre, and perhaps auctions will even grow on you. I personally love auctions and still find Irish Gauge in particular underwhelms me. I enjoy others by Tom much more, including these two, but my favourite two cube rails are by John Bohrer: GM&O and Chicago Express. Fair warning though, both are very dependent on auctions. Anyway, thanks for your thoughts!
I've read the rules to GM&O and watched a full playthrough of Chicago Express. They are both games I'd like to try along with so many others that have been recommended. GM&O seems straight up whacky, with all funds being used immediately in the auctions. Seems like there'll be some explosive growth on the map.
Wacky indeed! It's very different from most other cube rails I've played but man is it something. Hope you enjoy them as you play more, there's so much flexibility and creativity in cube rails design these days. Especially thanks to some new designers like Travis Hill, who's got two games coming out this year you might find interesting (there's no auctions in his Union Station except the initial auction).
Just picked up TSR. Can’t wait to get it to the table. Great discussion!
I'm glad you are enjoying these. Was thinking of recommending Age of Steam until you went off on auctions...
I have played Age of Steam (or maybe it was just Steam?) a decade ago or so. I'd be up for trying it again, I'm trying to soften-up on my anti-auction stance.
@@JonGetsGames Auctions are tough, especially on the first play of a game. Overbidding can quickly lose the game for a single player. Usually, when teaching new players cube rails with auctions I'm very careful to caution them against making huge bids.
I would highly recommend giving 1846 a try sometime as it's one of the shortest 18XX games and also starts with a draft instead of an auction!
Great! I've been playing Iberian Gauge too :) the whole thing starts colaborative, yes, but then as you mention the mean streak can appear. For example what you mention - if you and I both have 2 stocks on the same company, well, we may be game-long best partners, but if you have 3 and I have 1... that one can strategically mean I lose money but you lose 3x more, and the game is to be first, not to have a bigger profit at #2 :P. Of course, as you say, it also depends on perceived risk - but again, company ownership will push you toward collaboration or betrayal.
Based off your thoughts, I'd highly recommend Tom Russel's most recent train game: Dual Gauge. Player decisions early on strongly effect the way the game plays out, while giving enough power to the players to try and leverage their own position even in the late game. Plus, it's a multi-map system like Ride the Rails or Concordia, where each map has small rule additions that change the way the game feels.
Based off this recommendation I read the rules and watched a playthrough of Dual Gauge over the weekend. Hoping to play it soon, maybe even tonight :)
@@JonGetsGames I hope you love it as much as I do!
LOVE the curling analogy Jon! It is very much like that: openness and jostling for initial positions, and then the whole game changes from how the cubes ended up and where.
I give Irish Gauge a 9 and Iberian Gauge a 10. I practically begged Capstone to issue Iberian Gauge!
I should give Irish Gauge another shot now that I am much more familiar with cube rails games. Haven't had a chance to try Iberian Rails... yet.
@@JonGetsGames Sorry, that should have been "Gauge", not "Rails". The names confuse me.
Totally with you. I jumped in over my head with both Chicago Express and Irish Gauge. Both feature auctions for every share in the game. Since then, I have played Northern Pacific, Paris Connection, and Ride the Rails. You should give Northern Pacific a shot sometime if you can. It really boils down the shared incentive fun of these games to just two possible actions per turn -- place a cube, or move the train along. I'm most excited to try Iberian Gauge, as it looks the closest to 18xx while fitting in easier rules and shorter time.
I've played NorPac, Paris, and RtR actually. I made sponsored tutorial playthroughs for Northern Pacific and RtR on the channel and both are fun games. RtR may have more calculations and procedural things to do than I like overall so I wouldn't say it's my favorite though. NorPac is great, I just played it again this weekend with friends and it went well. Iberian Gauge is great and I'll say that Dual Gauge is another "cube rails-esque" game that has more 18xx trappings than most and still plays in about 60m.
Thanks for the video! One of the game stores here finally has Trans-Siberian on stock. Think I’m going to get myself a copy tomorrow :)
Awesome, I hope you enjoy the game :)
Got TSR based on your playthrough. I've enjoyed it, thx!
That's great to hear :)
Appreciated your musings and analogies! :) very curious to try this genre myself, and leaning towards Dual Gauge first
Dual Gauge is a wonderful game, though I personally think it starts to really shine with the first map pack vs the maps that come in the base game box.
@@JonGetsGames good to know! Have been debating picking up the expansion with the base game. Also considering Iberian Gauge partly due to lower cost of entry (and doesn’t require poker chips). Both of those games look great and hope I get a chance to play them both. Thanks for the excellent tutorials for those!
Iberian Gauge is super solid, and if you are looking for a game to start this genre out I highly recommend it. Very light on rules, but has tons of great moments. Dual Gauge is super cool, but has more mechanical moving parts, and as you said no money tokens.
@@JonGetsGames Thanks, Jon! Helpful to know :)
Wow, now I need to try Trans-Siberian Railroad. While I enjoy 18xx games, the shorter play time and boiled down nature of cube rail games means they get played more often. My favorite has been Chicago Express (though leans heavily on auctions), but really enjoyed Iberian Gauge and might have found my new favorite of the genre. I didn't care too much for Irish Gauge though for some reason, and Paris Connection is a bit too simple for my tastes.
...but love the idea of the Russian Government nationalizing the companies you're trying to make profitable!
If you enjoyed Iberian Gauge then I even more strongly recommend Trans-Siberian Railroad. They have similar leasing mechanics and while being quite different do have a familiar similar feel (they do have the same designer). There is an initial auction and one mid-game auction in TSR but it's still mostly not an auction game overall. I don't mind auctions, but in general prefer cube rails games that leave them primarily to the setup.
As a solo player I'm always looking for games with very low count of auctions, One is OK as I can dice it out and then best play the rest of the moves. Alas, I miss out on player interaction, but have always enjoyed the route building aspect
My favorite train game is Ticket-To-Ride .. is Trans-Siberian Railroad much harder to play than that?
They are very very different games. TSR isn't very complicated, but it's certainly more complex than Ticket To Ride. I filmed a playthrough of TSR, I'd suggest watching some of that to get a feel if you'd enjoy it. I still really like that game.
Have you tried Chicago Express at all? Auctions obviously a part of stock purchases there but I enjoy it a lot.
Yeah, I've played Chicago Express twice now. I like it, but I don't love it at this point. I recently played a second game of Southafrican Railroads and I think I prefer that one (they are quite similar).
@@JonGetsGames Ah cool, I'll have to check that one out. I've been enjoying CE a lot on bga, it seems to go in so many directions every game.
I much prefer Ride The Rails over Irish Gauge. From what you said about Irish and Iberian, I’m quite confident you will really like Ride The Rails.
Sounds good, I do hope to try it soon.
Glad you came around on Ethiopian food :P
It's so good! After talking about it yesterday while recording this I ended up getting a veggie combo with sambusas for takeout :)
Imagine if there was 'Ethiopian Gauge' 😉
Try Mini Express
Ah, I actually have already. I forgot about that one when I was discussing my small amount of cube rails experience. Unfortunately in our one play it fell flat for all of us, though I don't exactly remember why now.
fyi the default subs being klingon is an extra waste of time for people who actually need subs.
Unfortunately it's the only option UA-cam has allowed me to be able to put corrections on screen after a video is uploaded. I agree, it's a flawed fix and I wish there was another way to do it.