Railways Of The World Review

Hex Express

What is it about trains and boardgames? I doubt there’s another theme, outside of warfare, that has quite captured the imagination of designers as much as the Railway, and the number of germs without at least one train game in their collection must be pretty low. That being said, equally perplexing is just how different those games can be despite the shared theme. The spectrum runs from the super light but hugely popular route building of Ticket to Ride, to the complex and cut throat stock manipulation and boardroom shenanigans of 18xx games. In fact, the range of gaming experiences makes the term “train games” seem reductive and also also means that any discussions about which may be the best of them a little pointless as it genuinely depends what style of game you enjoy. But then again, trivial pursuits are very much “on brand” for board gamers and I’m nor going to buck that trend here. So allow me to weigh in with my submission for “Best Train Game” category: Railways of the World. Read on for my review and consider it an argument for why you (probably) need this game in your collection.

Station Approach: How to Play Railways Of The World

Railways of the World was developed by Glen Drover and Martin Wallace as a gentle introduction into so called “cube rail” games. These are games with some element of “pick up and deliver” mechanisms where the goods are represented by coloured cubes and delivered along an expnding rail network built by the players as the game progresses. While the box suggests the game is for 2-5 players, and both maps included have a perfectly adequate 2 player option, it is a more rewarding experience at 3 players or above. In this game, players take the roles of historical Rail Barons represented by cards given out randomly at the beginning of the game and which have secret objectives for end game scoring. The aim is to build their rail networks connecting cities on the board (these connections are referred to as “links”) and deliver goods between them.

In addition to the two included maps, there are a variety of expansion maps available, many of which are huge (such as the Eastern USA board included in the box) and add different rules to vary gameplay. Even on the larger maps, however, the space is deceptive as games tend to be very tight- there are only so many opportunities to build links between cities and some of these are both more expensive, such as those through the mountains, and also more tactically valuable. The main way in which players will earn points, however, is by delivering the cubes of various colours to their corresponding cities (so red goods cubes can only be delivered to red cities, for instance). These cubes are put out randomly during set up and are limited in number. Once a set number of cities have been completely emptied, the game will end.

Railways of the World has an unusual but straightforward turn structure. Firstly, Turn order is determined each round through an auction with the player willing to pay the largest amount going first. Players then take turns to take one action (see below) and, after everyone has had three actions, the round moves on to the last phase, taking income and paying out dividends. During this part of the turn, players take money from the bank with the amount dependent on their position on the score track. They then pay out money for any bonds they have taken out previously. Then, assuming the end game conditions haven’t been met, a new round is played.

Action Stations

Players of Railways of the World have a variety of actions they can choose to take in order to build their networks, deliver goods more efficiently and try to get the edge on their competitors. The first is to build track, represented by hex tiles denoting different track shapes and connections. A player will pay for up to four to be built in one action, how much depending on the terrain they are building on. Links between cities have to be built in one round so even though this can be done using more than one action in the round, players need to ensure they will have the resources to finish links before the round ends as any links left uncompleted are removed and building costs lost. Building is a crucial part of Railways of the World and there is a temptation to focus too heavily on this aspect of the game for beginners. Indeed there are bonus points available for the first player to complete certain longer routes however laying track is not the main way that players will gain points.

At its heart, Railways of the World is a pick up and delivery game and it is with the colourful goods cubes where the main game is won or lost. The second and perhaps most important action players can take, then, is to deliver one cube to a city which matches its colour. The board has a number of coloured cities and these will accept their corresponding cubes. For every one of their own links that the player uses to deliver a cube they will earn one point. So the further you deliver the more points you receive and the more efficient each delivery becomes. However, at the beginning of the game, every player’s trains can only deliver through one link. So another action players can take is to Upgrade their Engines to increase their delivery range by one. This becomes increasingly more expensive as trains improve and is only profitable if players are able to use their own links. You can use other players networks but then they get the point for that link instead of you, so… Boo.

Another action available is to take a card from an array of Railway Operations cards. These are free but take an action to pick up and can give a variety of benefits. These refresh at the end of the round and offer opportunities for additional scoring, bonuses on deliveries or discounts on building or upgrading. While most cards are useful, players will tend to take them sparingly as using up one action to take a card in a game where action economy and initiative is so crucial may not seem worth it. However, there are some cards which are so powerful they will instantly start a bidding war for turn order when they appear.

The last main action players can take is to Urbanise, which enables a player to convert one neutral “Grey” city on the board into a colour of their choice. This is another action which becomes more important as the game progresses as urbanising not only puts a new destination on the board, it is also one of the few ways that players can put new cubes onto the board and therefore more opportunities for deliveries or simply to delay the end game.

All of these actions, which are simple to take and seem so innocuous, can be game changers depending on when you take them, or just as crucially when you decide not to take them. Railways of the World is a game about momentum and a couple of unwise decisions can soon see you hobbling into last place. If you don’t build enough links you simply won’t get enough points through deliveries… however build inefficiently and you will end up without the money to take other important actions. If you don’t upgrade at a steady rate your opportunities to deliver will quickly dry up as easy to reach cities clear out while spending on upgrades too fast is inefficient if you don’t have the track to use it and may mean all the best links are taken before you get in on the fun… It is a seductive conundrum that never goes away from the first turn to the last and may result in some players suffering from the dreaded Analysis Paralysis from early on.

Railways of the world isn’t a cruel game but it can be unforgiving . Another example of this is in the loans system in the game. Any time a player needs funds, they can take a bond. These represent selling shares in the company and each one provides £5000 to the player. The catch is that they can never be repaid and at the end of each round, payers will pay £1000 for each bond they have.

Also, at the end of the game, players will be deducted one point for every bond they’ve taken. As each player start with no money, barring a very lucky draw with the Operation cards, the first thing a player will have to do is take a bond even if just to bid for turn order. The easy availability of money in the form of bonds is balanced by the long term effects of them. Too many and the building pressure they put on a players income and end of the game scoring can prove to be difference between winning and losing. But avoiding them at all costs can leave you lagging behind while other players are building their infrastructure and snapping up first player bonuses, and that lack of momentum can also rob you of victory. It is one of many decisions which the game casually tosses in your way which can seem innocent but which will bite back further down the track and it gets me every time.