Wallace-a-thon: Steel Driver
Nov. 30th, 2008 09:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aI played the other new Martin Wallace game yesterday, which was Steel Driver. As I wrote previously, it's his newest iteration of the Prairie Railways system, and the only one that's been professionally produced (as opposed to the quasi-profession Winsome Game productions).
As with the other games in the series, it's a game of stock purchase and rail improvement. No one owns any individual railway line, but you're instead auctioning off who gets to buy the stock for each railway each turn. The most unique feature is probably the fact that the purchase price of the stock is what's then used to build the railway--which both provides for some interesting game tactics and also feels realistic.
I liked the main gameplay quite a lot, as we fought over the railways and then built them out, sometimes blocking other lines. Turn order is controlled by a "pass" mechanic which adds yet another decision point to the game.
I'm unconvinced if I like the end game, where you determine the final value of all the stock by picking up cubes off the board, because it's very chaotic. You can lock in some cubes, but after that it's all about order. I'll need another play to see what I think there.
In any case, it's another fairly heavy economic game from Wallace, but a relatively short one at 60-90 minutes. There was some disagreement about whether the optimal player number was 5 or 6. There's also some opportunity for AP. I thought the decisions were pretty easy, but we had one player who really dragged them out.
As with After the Flood, I want one more play before I write my full review.
As with the other games in the series, it's a game of stock purchase and rail improvement. No one owns any individual railway line, but you're instead auctioning off who gets to buy the stock for each railway each turn. The most unique feature is probably the fact that the purchase price of the stock is what's then used to build the railway--which both provides for some interesting game tactics and also feels realistic.
I liked the main gameplay quite a lot, as we fought over the railways and then built them out, sometimes blocking other lines. Turn order is controlled by a "pass" mechanic which adds yet another decision point to the game.
I'm unconvinced if I like the end game, where you determine the final value of all the stock by picking up cubes off the board, because it's very chaotic. You can lock in some cubes, but after that it's all about order. I'll need another play to see what I think there.
In any case, it's another fairly heavy economic game from Wallace, but a relatively short one at 60-90 minutes. There was some disagreement about whether the optimal player number was 5 or 6. There's also some opportunity for AP. I thought the decisions were pretty easy, but we had one player who really dragged them out.
As with After the Flood, I want one more play before I write my full review.