not in the „classic“ 18XX sense, i would say… i really appreciate the design work here, which is not your typical euro game mechanics mix! have played it twice and like it a lot ^^
It feels like it has some form of all the classic "cube rails tropes", but euro-ified. Stocks, shared incentives, route-building, pick-up-and-deliver, even an auction... so, maybe? None of those things work the way they would in the main cube rails games, but they're all at least here in some form, so I think this would be a real challenge for the semioticians...
I found your channel just before christmas when I was searching for boardgames to play with my family. Now I have almost watched all your videos :) Thanks for your efforts! I enjoy the chemistry between you both!
Thanks for a great playthrough! I think you're missing one aspect of the value of selling shares to the investors. You say that selling at 90 gulden is only worth it if you end up at 900 or less in the end, but the 90 gulden you get in hand will (hopefully) be invested (i.e. used to take actions that will generate more income/points) in such a way that the worth they have produced is more than 90 in the end. Unless you do it as your very last action of course, then the money you get will only be worth its face value :)
The steam engine (aka locomotive) uses coal to heat up water, which becomes steam and pushes the pistons, which then move things around. In a gasoline car, the engine uses gasoline, which burns up and becomes gas and pushes the pistons, which then move things around.
Ahh Imperial Steam. Played it three times so far, and still working through some strategies. An enjoyable yet "crunchy" game! Looking forward to watching this playthrough!
There's only one strategy if you want to win, sadly a super scripted game where initial turn order matters way too much (and the more players, the more it matters)
@@morecoffee998 Interesting. I do feel the opening seems to be the same, where you need to hire workers round one before they get expensive. But I have tried with two different groups, and I have seen some different strategies that I had not considered. One 3 player game we all went in our own directions, and one game we clustered together and had decent interaction with trading of money for tracks. I have seen a player almost beat me with no investors, and I did not think that would be a viable strategy. I am going to try heavy investor/contract next go around. Have not done 4 player yet. I guess time will tell....
@@Pryde551 Key word in your post is; almost. There clearly is one strategy which is much stronger than the others, which means that starting turn order gets extremely important, which means that the start bidding is extremely skewed because of the tiebreaker being randomly drawn (and with no compensation for the person who goes last). I am sure an experienced player can beat a novice by another strategy, but as soon as all players know what they are doing, the game gets super scripted. In my board game club I've played and seen it played in multiple constellations and the highest rating amongst us is 7/10, the lowest 4/10.
We just got this game and I'm watching this to see how it all works and y'all, I'm almost certain I'm going to end my first play of this with negative money. It seems real tough
I finally played my first train game on BGA last week, The Railways of Great Britain. I loved it! I would like to try this one whether it classifies as a train game or not.
This seems right up my alley ! The only thing that i am a bit skeptical about is the "always start in Vienna and end in Trieste" thing. I am worried that with standard starting and ending locations the game and some strategies can get repetitive and stale after a while. Of course this is just a thought i haven't played the actual game. Unrelated but, may i suggest a game for you to play on the channel ? How about Clinic Deluxe from Alban Viard ? Great video and explanation thank you guys !
One thing I was thinking by the end there, Monique took twice the 10 bucks action, while she could build a train station on "Murau"(?) and connecting to the white city via the royal/public (is that the name?) track, then she could deliver one coal to get the Big Key to that city. It would require a lot of money, but the station was only 20 and the White city has a big value, so I guess it would get her more money by the end then the 20 she got from her actions... I think it would require two actions, one to build the station and another to get coal, either buying or producing...
She already delivered the coal to the green city right? So she would have to deliver it to the white instead of the green. Looking at that loss (40 points) plus the cost of the city and track (20+40) and loss of that 10 gulden action, it would have come out to be the same as selling to white and getting the 110 extra instead. Or even if my math is a bit wrong it would probably just be 10/20 better.
Hi Kurt! Actually, all players start the game with a station in Wien (thankfully, lol), so there's no limit specifically for that city. Thank you so much, we're so happy you enjoy our videos =)
Thx for your videos. Really love them. I was wondering for a long time what table are you using or what additional map this is on your dining table. Look great.
Love the series and the playthroughs! Very difficult to find these types of boardgames and people to play with where I live, so I'm living vicariously through the channel lol. Just a quick question: wouldn't delivering coal to a hub require two coal tokens instead of just one (ie one for fuel, the other to deliver)? Seems like it would be considerably overpowered in terms of points otherwise.
Hi Roy that's too bad you can't play the heavy crunchy ones :( !! Yes delivering coal to a hub city requires coal from a factory location as well as one as fuel from the train. I believe we did this unless one of us made a mistake at some point. All deliveries to the hub cities require coal for fuel that is stored on a train or in your warehouse. Hope that helps, and if you did notice a mistake, please let us know the timestamp so we can see what possibly happened. Thanks!!
@@BeforeYouPlay Nope, you're absolutely correct and I just didn't notice both of you potting the coal and placing it in the city slot even having gone back multiple times to confirm before I posted, duhdoy, sorry about that! Thanks for the reply and hopes for the continued success of the channel, all the best!
lol! Yeaaaah we know it’s ice cold. Next one should go live by the end of next week, and we’re hoping to do 2/month so Feast will be here way sooner than that!
I missed it, did you guys count those keys as part of your scores? Also it feels like you should be able to make way more than 700 total score :) But that's just a feeling I'm getting based on this playthrough.
Hi there, yes we did. We both lost 30% of our net profit due to both having 3 investors. Not quite sure what a “good/great” score is. Our best we have scored ever was about 870 or so in a previous play.
I don’t like train games, but I am intrigued by this game as it offers more than boring route making. I was wondering if the stock aspect of the game could be ignored and won’t punish your strategy? How much element of this game is like other train games as they all seem to do the same thing with route making.
The "stocks" are just potential loans. If you end up wanting to connect to Trieste you will get contracts, which give you investors, which means it's a net positive to up your "share" value and maybe sell a few shares to those investors. Can you win without that? Probably, if players don't reach Trieste and you focus on things other than contracts (deliveries, early income, city keys?). But I feel like with experienced players every play will end up with people delivering to Trieste, so contracts will matter a lot, so stock will matter a lot.
Would you consider this a train game?
not in the „classic“ 18XX sense, i would say… i really appreciate the design work here, which is not your typical euro game mechanics mix! have played it twice and like it a lot ^^
Every time I deliver goods from my factories I go choooo choooo…. So yes? 🤷🏽♂️
It feels like it has some form of all the classic "cube rails tropes", but euro-ified. Stocks, shared incentives, route-building, pick-up-and-deliver, even an auction... so, maybe? None of those things work the way they would in the main cube rails games, but they're all at least here in some form, so I think this would be a real challenge for the semioticians...
I found your channel just before christmas when I was searching for boardgames to play with my family. Now I have almost watched all your videos :) Thanks for your efforts!
I enjoy the chemistry between you both!
Aw thank you so much! We’re both so happy to hear you enjoy them!
As always you both make these crunchy games manageable. Great playthrough!
Aww thank you so much! Hope you had a great weekend!
Glad to see ya’ll haven’t abandoned the crunchy euros quite yet, that vlog had me worried ;D
No NEVER!!
Thanks for a great playthrough! I think you're missing one aspect of the value of selling shares to the investors. You say that selling at 90 gulden is only worth it if you end up at 900 or less in the end, but the 90 gulden you get in hand will (hopefully) be invested (i.e. used to take actions that will generate more income/points) in such a way that the worth they have produced is more than 90 in the end. Unless you do it as your very last action of course, then the money you get will only be worth its face value :)
No for sure we get that. We just want the investors to lose money lol. 😆
@@BeforeYouPlay 😆
This one is coming to my collection TODAY 💪I didn't know about the existence of this game till now...
Exciting!
Hey! I played this at PAX Unplugged, was behind all game and then made it to the last city and ended up crushing it! So much fun!
Perfect explanation of the game! Thank you for this video :D
The steam engine (aka locomotive) uses coal to heat up water, which becomes steam and pushes the pistons, which then move things around. In a gasoline car, the engine uses gasoline, which burns up and becomes gas and pushes the pistons, which then move things around.
Ahh Imperial Steam. Played it three times so far, and still working through some strategies. An enjoyable yet "crunchy" game! Looking forward to watching this playthrough!
There's only one strategy if you want to win, sadly a super scripted game where initial turn order matters way too much (and the more players, the more it matters)
@@morecoffee998 Interesting. I do feel the opening seems to be the same, where you need to hire workers round one before they get expensive. But I have tried with two different groups, and I have seen some different strategies that I had not considered.
One 3 player game we all went in our own directions, and one game we clustered together and had decent interaction with trading of money for tracks. I have seen a player almost beat me with no investors, and I did not think that would be a viable strategy. I am going to try heavy investor/contract next go around. Have not done 4 player yet. I guess time will tell....
@@Pryde551 Key word in your post is; almost.
There clearly is one strategy which is much stronger than the others, which means that starting turn order gets extremely important, which means that the start bidding is extremely skewed because of the tiebreaker being randomly drawn (and with no compensation for the person who goes last). I am sure an experienced player can beat a novice by another strategy, but as soon as all players know what they are doing, the game gets super scripted.
In my board game club I've played and seen it played in multiple constellations and the highest rating amongst us is 7/10, the lowest 4/10.
We just got this game and I'm watching this to see how it all works and y'all, I'm almost certain I'm going to end my first play of this with negative money. It seems real tough
LOL it could happen... but we believe in you! (Hot tip: Just collect $10 then pass the whole game and you can't go bankrupt!)
I finally played my first train game on BGA last week, The Railways of Great Britain. I loved it! I would like to try this one whether it classifies as a train game or not.
🤘🤘🤘 one of my top 3 from Essen: coffee traders, ark nova and imperial steam
Nice!! We have heard so many good things about Ark Nova. It’s high on both of our lists to play.
This seems right up my alley ! The only thing that i am a bit skeptical about is the "always start in Vienna and end in Trieste" thing. I am worried that with standard starting and ending locations the game and some strategies can get repetitive and stale after a while. Of course this is just a thought i haven't played the actual game. Unrelated but, may i suggest a game for you to play on the channel ? How about Clinic Deluxe from Alban Viard ? Great video and explanation thank you guys !
One thing I was thinking by the end there, Monique took twice the 10 bucks action, while she could build a train station on "Murau"(?) and connecting to the white city via the royal/public (is that the name?) track, then she could deliver one coal to get the Big Key to that city. It would require a lot of money, but the station was only 20 and the White city has a big value, so I guess it would get her more money by the end then the 20 she got from her actions... I think it would require two actions, one to build the station and another to get coal, either buying or producing...
She already delivered the coal to the green city right? So she would have to deliver it to the white instead of the green. Looking at that loss (40 points) plus the cost of the city and track (20+40) and loss of that 10 gulden action, it would have come out to be the same as selling to white and getting the 110 extra instead. Or even if my math is a bit wrong it would probably just be 10/20 better.
@@ambarishprakash16 yeah, i haven't mathed it out. But i find difficult to not feel bad doing that twice haha
Very nice, very clear. Thanks a lot !
Thanks Greg!!
Got this one for Christmas, still waiting to play it. Probably print an insert 1st.
The game desperately needs an insert!
I noticed Naveen built 3 track out of Wien, which he can't do unless he has a station there. Love your videos!
Hi Kurt! Actually, all players start the game with a station in Wien (thankfully, lol), so there's no limit specifically for that city. Thank you so much, we're so happy you enjoy our videos =)
Nice. I just ordered this game yesterday 😎
Awesome!
That one was fun :D Thank you all
Thx for your videos. Really love them. I was wondering for a long time what table are you using or what additional map this is on your dining table. Look great.
Love the series and the playthroughs! Very difficult to find these types of boardgames and people to play with where I live, so I'm living vicariously through the channel lol. Just a quick question: wouldn't delivering coal to a hub require two coal tokens instead of just one (ie one for fuel, the other to deliver)? Seems like it would be considerably overpowered in terms of points otherwise.
Hi Roy that's too bad you can't play the heavy crunchy ones :( !!
Yes delivering coal to a hub city requires coal from a factory location as well as one as fuel from the train. I believe we did this unless one of us made a mistake at some point. All deliveries to the hub cities require coal for fuel that is stored on a train or in your warehouse. Hope that helps, and if you did notice a mistake, please let us know the timestamp so we can see what possibly happened.
Thanks!!
@@BeforeYouPlay Nope, you're absolutely correct and I just didn't notice both of you potting the coal and placing it in the city slot even having gone back multiple times to confirm before I posted, duhdoy, sorry about that! Thanks for the reply and hopes for the continued success of the channel, all the best!
About time! ❤️
Yeah, getting back to the heavies was a challenge!
Bro. The Uwe series is getting cold. There's so many games left to go! If you do one Uwe a month, we can have Feast for Christmas...
lol! Yeaaaah we know it’s ice cold. Next one should go live by the end of next week, and we’re hoping to do 2/month so Feast will be here way sooner than that!
Thanks guys
Hi guys! Why no review? What are your thoughts on this game? Thanks for the hard work in all your videos!
They didn't have enough play throughs to give an official rating. They mentioned that in the new years vlog
@@Jessi.Z.H_17 thanks for the response! I didn't see that vlog.
Great video… but… what did you think of the game? Best of 2021?
It’s a solid game, really places some serious stress on you from the get go!
Very nice review! Thanks )
How many games have you already played?
Will you plan to play this game again?
Did you like the game? Was missing that part in the end or do you not suppose to give your opinion with a playtrough video?
I missed it, did you guys count those keys as part of your scores? Also it feels like you should be able to make way more than 700 total score :) But that's just a feeling I'm getting based on this playthrough.
Hi there, yes we did. We both lost 30% of our net profit due to both having 3 investors. Not quite sure what a “good/great” score is. Our best we have scored ever was about 870 or so in a previous play.
I don’t like train games, but I am intrigued by this game as it offers more than boring route making. I was wondering if the stock aspect of the game could be ignored and won’t punish your strategy? How much element of this game is like other train games as they all seem to do the same thing with route making.
The "stocks" are just potential loans. If you end up wanting to connect to Trieste you will get contracts, which give you investors, which means it's a net positive to up your "share" value and maybe sell a few shares to those investors. Can you win without that? Probably, if players don't reach Trieste and you focus on things other than contracts (deliveries, early income, city keys?). But I feel like with experienced players every play will end up with people delivering to Trieste, so contracts will matter a lot, so stock will matter a lot.
I thought Cooper Island felt constrictive…geez!!!
So overall would you recommend this for two players?