I was very happy to see your videos focusing on the "game of operations." I am a fairly serious gamer (euro-games and war games) as well as a model railroader. I have felt for a long time that one of the best and most fun games I have ever played was the prototypical operations game. Like the very best games it creates a series of problems that need to be solved. Thoughtful gamers enjoy games that present "meaningful decisions or choices" that must be tackled by the player. Prototypical operation does that in spades! Many games designed today minimize the zero-sum, I win-you lose, nature of game playing. There are multiple paths to victory and two different players can have different "victory conditions." All of that fits prototypical operation to a tee. Thanks for spreading the word!
When my daughter was heavy into the wooden Thomas Tank Engine trains, I created a simple card system for us to use. It was basically just 'Take car X to location Y. but it worked and it was fun.
How do you decide which cars you are going to use per session? Do you just rotate from your collection? How do you decide what cars you want / need to add to your collection at the trainshow?
Great job Jimmy… I was thinking about doing something similar but on a smaller scale (I only have 2 spurs)… Maybe I can incorporate your ideas on my layout. I can’t wait to try, but I still have more scenery and vehicles to add to my layout
WOW! That looks super fun! I can't wait to have my layout up and running. Thank you Jimmy, your layout has given me a TON of inspiration for my own, I wish I had the space for an L shaped layout, I'm stuck with a 4x8 for now. I was wondering, on the parts of your layout that are just a single track main, what do you do for passing? if you have a train going up the 4% grade behind the mountain, and a train about to go down, do you stop one and back up? or do you just plan your moves so that wont ever happen? I am drinking an assortment of black teas, and lemon balm. -Calum
an interesting idea would be to have each industry with a number, then having some different rolls. First roll is for the number of cars your train will have, you can use whatever dice number you want based on the max size your layout is designed to handle. So for example, say 10 is the max, so you roll a D10. Then the next roll is a die for the number of industries you have to switch out, so if you have 12 industries, roll a D12. After that you then need to roll for each industry you got, to find out what industries you will be doing. So if you rolled 5 industries, you will roll the die 5 times to find out which ones you need to do. With these limits in place you will need to complete the job with the number of cars limited to you, meaning you might need to make multiple trips to the yard to complete the job. Would make for some interesting switching op's instead of having a standard list.
Really off topic question: what couplers do you use? Your trains couple so easily! Looking to switch all mine to one type but can't make sense of all the options from Micro Trains (78 products on their N-scale coupling page!!!).
Very interesting concept. Like how you explained then showed the process. Great job! I was thinking of using something like this process for detectors on my layout--like hotboxes, dragging equipment, etc. As well as getting the signal at the diamond that is controlled by another railroad.
Okay, your podcasts are about as high quality as it gets, awright? But that doesn't mean there isn't still room for improvement. Here is what shows on MY radar: It would be really awesome to see your locomotives and built trains behave like the real thing! There is NO real life locomotive or switcher that goes from 0 to 20 mph in only 1 second regardless of load it's pulling OR pushing!
I was very happy to see your videos focusing on the "game of operations." I am a fairly serious gamer (euro-games and war games) as well as a model railroader. I have felt for a long time that one of the best and most fun games I have ever played was the prototypical operations game. Like the very best games it creates a series of problems that need to be solved. Thoughtful gamers enjoy games that present "meaningful decisions or choices" that must be tackled by the player. Prototypical operation does that in spades! Many games designed today minimize the zero-sum, I win-you lose, nature of game playing. There are multiple paths to victory and two different players can have different "victory conditions." All of that fits prototypical operation to a tee. Thanks for spreading the word!
What would you do differently?
Are we allowed to have this much fun, Jimmy? You betcha we are! ...Roy
Super helpful!
The Christmas music was a fun addition, too!
Happy Christmas - The music is the melody to once in royal davids city!!!
That was awesome!! Gave me some ideas to do some different ops sessions on my layout. Thanks for sharing and stay safe. Happy modeling!! -Jason
I love strategy wargaming and trains. This is a video made just for me.
Jimmy: Good video. Enjoyed seeing the Atlas Beer Can tank cars. 👍
Appreciate your videos. Thanks for producing them. You've inspired me to build my own operational layout.
Very cool Jimmy! Sitting here on a Sunday morning with my Nantucket blend enjoying the video!
Great idea! Thanks for sharing.
That was fun watching!!!! Looking for the shorter versions. Stay Safe & God Bless!!!
When my daughter was heavy into the wooden Thomas Tank Engine trains, I created a simple card system for us to use. It was basically just 'Take car X to location Y. but it worked and it was fun.
Very interesting Jimmy, looked like a lot of fun. Thanks.
Looks like a lot of fun!
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing your work. David@LCRR
This gave me an idea for my small layout when selecting what locomotive to use, and how much rolling stock for that locomotive to pull.
Looks like you had fun in the overall process, aside from the filming challenge :) Thanks for sharing the encouragement.
WHAT A LOT OF FUN!
cool vid thanks lee
Yes, but you showed me how to operate by myself
Loved it
Very interesting and fun. I never considered mixing a game format with prototypical operations. I'll give it a go sometime. Thanks.
jimmy love the game and you great its fun I have already play tried it out
I came up with something kind of like this. It's great for if you have only a small place for your trains.
Wow enjoyed the video you done thanks for sharing.
this is a great way to run! I'm hoping to employ stuff similarly at train shows so me and my club can have some more fun than constant running!
Very innovative for sure.
Very cool 😎 Jimmy
How do you decide which cars you are going to use per session? Do you just rotate from your collection?
How do you decide what cars you want / need to add to your collection at the trainshow?
Great job Jimmy… I was thinking about doing something similar but on a smaller scale (I only have 2 spurs)…
Maybe I can incorporate your ideas on my layout. I can’t wait to try, but I still have more scenery and vehicles to add to my layout
Well done, and what scale is this layout, love the idea of making it like a board game, i may try it out on my own layout.
WOW! That looks super fun! I can't wait to have my layout up and running. Thank you Jimmy, your layout has given me a TON of inspiration for my own, I wish I had the space for an L shaped layout, I'm stuck with a 4x8 for now. I was wondering, on the parts of your layout that are just a single track main, what do you do for passing? if you have a train going up the 4% grade behind the mountain, and a train about to go down, do you stop one and back up? or do you just plan your moves so that wont ever happen?
I am drinking an assortment of black teas, and lemon balm.
-Calum
an interesting idea would be to have each industry with a number, then having some different rolls. First roll is for the number of cars your train will have, you can use whatever dice number you want based on the max size your layout is designed to handle. So for example, say 10 is the max, so you roll a D10. Then the next roll is a die for the number of industries you have to switch out, so if you have 12 industries, roll a D12. After that you then need to roll for each industry you got, to find out what industries you will be doing. So if you rolled 5 industries, you will roll the die 5 times to find out which ones you need to do. With these limits in place you will need to complete the job with the number of cars limited to you, meaning you might need to make multiple trips to the yard to complete the job.
Would make for some interesting switching op's instead of having a standard list.
Enjoyed the video.
Jimmy that was neat.
I feel like I mentioned the 12 sided dice in the last video
Really off topic question: what couplers do you use? Your trains couple so easily! Looking to switch all mine to one type but can't make sense of all the options from Micro Trains (78 products on their N-scale coupling page!!!).
With your sheets generator does the entire layout need to be reconfigured or do cars move from where last spotted?
That’s a good question. You can modify the generator to do destination only.
Truly enjoyable. I guess it's more fun to perform than to edit the video?
This was a looong edit,
Very interesting concept. Like how you explained then showed the process. Great job!
I was thinking of using something like this process for detectors on my layout--like hotboxes, dragging equipment, etc. As well as getting the signal at the diamond that is controlled by another railroad.
D&D Train yard. Lol
Okay, your podcasts are about as high quality as it gets, awright? But that doesn't mean there isn't still room for improvement. Here is what shows on MY radar: It would be really awesome to see your locomotives and built trains behave like the real thing! There is NO real life locomotive or switcher that goes from 0 to 20 mph in only 1 second regardless of load it's pulling OR pushing!