Quick game commentary

[dzm]

1825, Unit 2. Played a 2-player game over break. Just like unit 1 but with a different map and companies. Actually ran pretty reasonably with 2; we wound up, approximately, with the great western rail empire and the great eastern rail empire, of which the east won. One of unit 1's big problems is that the price-banding rules means that the

Comments

[dariaphoebe]

There are 2 expansion sets (new boards) for power grid. The Eastern Europe/Benelux board (on opposite sides) is sort of neat.

[fredrickegerman]

Been meaning to investigate the Power Grid expansion possibilitites. Haven't really exhausted US/Germany yet, though. Agree that the energy market and build market are utterly different at 4 players than at 5/6 (where I'd played all my previous games). I fear the game will be dysfunctional at 2, though it claims to be possible. So far only Thurn and Taxis has made the grade as a multiplayer game which works with 2.

Am interested in playing 1825 units 1&2 at some point. "Shorter than 1830" is a bonus. Alas, I am getting the impression that none of the other 18xx variants has quite such a rich "great stock market game with, by the way, railways" as 1830 does.

[dzm]

Thurn and Taxis is vaguely dissatisfying with 2, though it's great with either 3 or 4. With 2 you can always get the card you want (playing yesterday with 4 there were multiple instances of desirable cards appearing and vanishing before my next turn) and getting there first vs. second isn't a huge deal.

I'll probably try to get a combined 1825 game going sometime before too long. I'm not clear that the combined game will be shorter than 1830 (there are 11 public companies between units 1 and 2). I might be up for a shot of 1830 with people who haven't already played it to death...have also heard that 1870 is good, and it's readily available at GPP.

[dariaphoebe]

I play Power Grid with 2. It's a different strategy. I just lost majorly at 4 player because of a single bad decision at the start.