Recently played: 18EU

On the weekend, by way of offering farewell to the Resident Train Guru (who is decamping to Australia), we put his copy of 18EU on the table. What followed was roughly 6 hours of stock manipulations, track and token placement shenanigans, and feverish money counting. Thanks to the RTG, over the past few years, I have both managed to learn how to play 18xx games, and to get some use out of the copies of 1825 that I purchased.

I suspect that now that the RTG has left the country, the frequency with which I play these games will diminish, but hopefully I can teach 1825 to a few other folks so that we can play them from time to time.

Unlike my first time playing 1856 (where I came in a close second to the RTG), this time I got smacked around a bit and what seemed a good start got wasted and I ended up in second-last spot. Given the play length of 18EU, I'm not sure I'd buy it, but I wouldn't shy away from playing someone else's copy if I had the time and the inclination.

But my initial impressions are that the small amount of research that I did on 18xx games before I purchased the 1825 kits lead me to the right decision for me. I rather like 1825 more than any of the other 18xx games I've played: I like their relative brevity, I like their more constrained feel, I like their trackbuilding quirkiness, and I like the apparent volatility of their stock market (where devalued stocks can rebound relatively quickly if you've built the right track and invested in the right trains). All these conspire to keep one engaged from beginning to end, I've found.

Both 1856 and 18EU were fun, but I thought of both that they had a few twiddles and knobs too many for my liking, and as a result were not needlessly long (because they didn't feel that way: both games felt like they took as long as they needed to take), but a bit longer than I really would feel comfortable taking on a regular basis.

I can easily see playing 1825 with a small group regularly on Sunday afternoons, or at least adding it into the regularly "heavy" rotation alongside Indonesia, Le Havre, and Agricola.

If I have five to seven players and six to seven hours to kill, frankly I'd rather play Civilization than an 18xx game, but wouldn't be upset to play 18xx if the rest of the table pushed for it. Well, to be more specific, I would be OK with playing 18EU again, and perhaps 1856 in a pinch. My understanding is that the 1830-type variants are sufficiently different, and can get quite nasty, and frankly 1856 was as nasty a train game as I'd like to play, thanks very much.

All in all, we had a fun afternoon, and the RTG was able to drive off into the sunset with another clear win notched on his belt. It's been fun having him in my regular Sunday afternoon game sessions, but I look forward to future sessions with mixed feelings. His absence will almost certainly mean more games of the type that he doesn't like, which will mean more variety. His absence will also almost certainly mean less games of the type that he really does like (18xx games for example), so a portion of my collection will suddenly become less exercised, likely. One door closes and another opens.

I hope for his sake that the Resident Train Guru finds people to play trains with in Australia; I'm pretty sure that he'll feel his life is emptier without getting to play them.

Recently played: 18EU

On the weekend, by way of offering farewell to the Resident Train Guru (who is decamping to Australia), we put his copy of 18EU on the table. What followed was roughly 6 hours of stock manipulations, track and token placement shenanigans, and feverish money counting. Thanks to the RTG, over the past few years, I have both managed to learn how to play 18xx games, and to get some use out of the copies of 1825 that I purchased.

I suspect that now that the RTG has left the country, the frequency with which I play these games will diminish, but hopefully I can teach 1825 to a few other folks so that we can play them from time to time.

Unlike my first time playing 1856 (where I came in a close second to the RTG), this time I got smacked around a bit and what seemed a good start got wasted and I ended up in second-last spot. Given the play length of 18EU, I'm not sure I'd buy it, but I wouldn't shy away from playing someone else's copy if I had the time and the inclination.

But my initial impressions are that the small amount of research that I did on 18xx games before I purchased the 1825 kits lead me to the right decision for me. I rather like 1825 more than any of the other 18xx games I've played: I like their relative brevity, I like their more constrained feel, I like their trackbuilding quirkiness, and I like the apparent volatility of their stock market (where devalued stocks can rebound relatively quickly if you've built the right track and invested in the right trains). All these conspire to keep one engaged from beginning to end, I've found.

Both 1856 and 18EU were fun, but I thought of both that they had a few twiddles and knobs too many for my liking, and as a result were not needlessly long (because they didn't feel that way: both games felt like they took as long as they needed to take), but a bit longer than I really would feel comfortable taking on a regular basis.

I can easily see playing 1825 with a small group regularly on Sunday afternoons, or at least adding it into the regularly "heavy" rotation alongside Indonesia, Le Havre, and Agricola.

If I have five to seven players and six to seven hours to kill, frankly I'd rather play Civilization than an 18xx game, but wouldn't be upset to play 18xx if the rest of the table pushed for it. Well, to be more specific, I would be OK with playing 18EU again, and perhaps 1856 in a pinch. My understanding is that the 1830-type variants are sufficiently different, and can get quite nasty, and frankly 1856 was as nasty a train game as I'd like to play, thanks very much.

All in all, we had a fun afternoon, and the RTG was able to drive off into the sunset with another clear win notched on his belt. It's been fun having him in my regular Sunday afternoon game sessions, but I look forward to future sessions with mixed feelings. His absence will almost certainly mean more games of the type that he doesn't like, which will mean more variety. His absence will also almost certainly mean less games of the type that he really does like (18xx games for example), so a portion of my collection will suddenly become less exercised, likely. One door closes and another opens.

I hope for his sake that the Resident Train Guru finds people to play trains with in Australia; I'm pretty sure that he'll feel his life is emptier without getting to play them.