#string railway

Some background about my gaming situation: The little town in which I live (roughly 35 minutes NE of Columbus, OH) has two FLGSes within walking distance of each other. When framed in this manner, many people think I am living the dream, that the presence of multiple stores of this nature within close proximity means I have my choice between myriad Euros, DBGs, and Ameritrash (oh my!).

The truth, however, is far from this. Of the two stores, one skews heavily toward the comic book side of things and operates under the mindset that the only games worth stocking are CCG/TCGs or things promoted by Wil Wheaton. They do have a demo library of about ~50 games, but... 40 of those are games I've culled from my collection to make space in my closet; so there's that. Similarly, the other shop in the area is an awkward amalgam of VFW and Game Store, filled with veterans telling war stories to Reservists. This store, much like the first, only sells games if they have been promoted by Tabletop or vomited into existence by Games Workshop.   This is not to say that there aren't some really good stores around, as The Soldiery and Guardtower are excellent alternatives; I just don't have the option/spare gas/or free time to drive 45-60 minutes on a whim, just to sate some "cult of the new" cravings.

Luckily, my friends and fellow gamers are amicable people who love getting together to play games. Once per month, several friends and I get together for something we call "PaneraCon." When that's not going on, my wife and I get together with her college roommates for something I'll be calling "WadCon" (b/c it occurs in Wadsworth, OH). WadCon, typically, revolves around lighter fare than PaneraCon, but is equally enjoyable because playing games, any games, is 100% better than not playing games.

At this month's WadCon, 5+ games hit the table:

Ha Ha Moustache

Sushi Go

String Railways

Splendor

For Sale

Various Digital Games (Culdcept, Hearthstone, SolForge, Ascension)

Here are my impressions of those aforementioned titles:

Ha Ha Moustache (played once): I don't know that I'd call this one a game so much as a pleasant distraction, but it's a silly distraction at that, and certainly something to break out early in the evening to get people in a good mood. For those of you who haven't played, the premise of HHM goes something like this: 100+ cards are shuffled into a pile. 1 by 1, the dealer will hold a card up to his/her face. On one side of the card is a black and white facsimile of a famous person's moustache. On the other side are 5 clues that can be given out to aid players in guessing the person to whom the facial hair belonged. Cards can range from the Easy (Wario, Hitler, Hulk Hogan), to the disgustingly difficult (Frida Kahlo, Heinrich Himmler, etc.) Our group was abyssmal at this game. Nonetheless, lots of laughs were had before we moved onto "serious fare." While this game is enjoyable, bear in mind that it works best with a group of casual or party gamers. Also be mindful that the novelty factor is severely determined by how often you play, as once you memorize the ~100 characters and their cards, the "game" loses its appeal rather quickly. Until that point, though, it's definitely worth the 10$ or so dollars you will spend to acquire it.

Sushi Go (played 2 times): Knowing that most members of the WadCon group prefer lighter games, we subsequently cracked open the non-Gamewright version of Sushi Go. While I have a bad habit of derisively calling Sushi Go, “baby’s first drafting game,” doing so undermines the fact that this game is somewhat of a perfect stepping stone from the ground level of drafting mechanisms into more complex iterations  (e.g. - 7 Wonders). From the utterly adorable art that catches the eye, to the very easy to grasp scoring system, it’s easy to understand why this title has become so popular. Though right on the border when it comes to what I consider “too light,” I certainly appreciate the role a game like this plays in getting friends to the table and then getting them to stay at the table to play other games.

String Railway (played once): One of the things other things we found out about the WadCon group (aside form the fact that they like to play games) was the fact that they like to play train games. Though not yet up to the task of something along the lines like 18XX, Ticket to Ride maps like Legendary Asia, Europe, and Africa went over well at our New Year’s party; so we were eager to try other games with the same theme. That said, one of the first names that comes to my mind trains are mentioned (other than Alan Moon) is Hisashi Hiyashi (designer of String Railways and the 2013 hit TRAINS!) Though I, personally, think Trains! is somewhat overrated, I was eager to play Hiyashi’s other offering after seeing it featured on SU&SD.    We read over the rules, set up the river and mountain and proceeded to play the game… and were left horribly underwhelmed. To me, String Railway isn’t so much the strategic game I was hoping it to be so much as it’s a faux-dexterity game that gets a bit too much credit for using unorthodox components. It also seemed to be overbalanced, with many of the cards giving 2 points (+/- 1) and no real incentive to connect to particular stations other than the fact that it gained you points or took points from your opponent in such a small/marginal manner that you didn’t really feel it was important to take certain options into consideration. I assume that I, and the members of my group, missed some nuanced strategy of this game, but I don’t think this one will be hitting the table again for quite a while (I may even donate it to our library, which is trying to cultivate a collection). I’m also starting to gain the opinion that Mr. Hiyashi is a relatively overrated designer when compared to some of his other Asian brethren like Seiji Kanai and Jun Sasaki.

For Sale (played 2 times): There are oodles and oodles of reviews and strategy articles about this Stephen Dorra, 2-phased auction game, so I won’t bore you by adding a long-winded discourse. I will simply leave it at this: If you haven’t played For Sale, you need to. And, after playing it, you don’t feel a need to purchase it… I’m not sure we can--or should be--friends any more. It’s streamlined, accessible, and deep; three qualities every great game should have.

A game of String Railway starts by laying the long loop of string out on the table in your preferred shape (the rulebook suggests a “potato-shaped" map, which is my favorite phrase ever in a rulebook), then placing a smaller loop inside - the mountain - and a long blue string - the river. It’s all quite adorable.

Player turns consist of drawing and placing a station card, then laying a bit of string - the tracks. Each track must start on a station in the player’s network, and end on another station. The first player to build into a station becomes it’s owner. The stations all score in different ways. Central stations score big points but allow other players to get points from them as well. Transfers score no points for the owner until other players build into it, so best to get it out early and in the middle of the play area. An added twist: every time a track crosses another string, either another player’s track or an environmental element, the player loses a point.

It’s far think-ier than you’d expect given that its primary component is a bunch of strings. Players must account for multiple scoring rules when laying tracks in later rounds, and big combos of stations are a must for winning the game.

The art on the station cards is pretty great, featuring perspective drawings of stations to give the map the players build a realistic feel. The cards are also surprisingly on-theme, which adds to the fun of building a world together. The terminal will be jam-packed by the end of the game.

The components are of decent quality. The cards are a little flimsy, but it doesn’t interfere with gameplay. It’s a little bit too easy to bump the strings around on the table, which can make the spatial domination aspect a little fuzzier. But if players are fair it’s not much of a problem.

SU&SD reviews String Rainway! it seems like a nifty little game, but it looks a bit like something you could do yourself with a little bit of string and imagination. I'm always a tad torn about simple games like this.

What you're paying for here is high component quality, packaging, and a well-tested rule-set. If you can do without those things, then here's an excellent idea for your next home-made board game project! I haven't the foggiest idea what a good balance of stations and point totals and whatnot would be, but  that's the sort of thing you buy the game for.

It really is an elegant collection of nicely made things, and the gameplay seems incredibly accessible. This is something you can just break out and play like Apples to Apples, Liar's Dice, or Whist. It's not a party game, exactly, since it isn't party sized--you're looking at a 2-5 player experience that's aimed primarily at 4 but apparently works nicely at the other numbers.

This is, mostly, a game of calculation. How do I maximize my points and minimize theirs? Is it worth going over the river or mountain to get to that station, or does the extra cost make it a wash? Yellow only has a short string left. Where can I put this so that yellow can't possibly reach it? As the video warns, that means that turns can take a few minutes per player; this is a light matter in games like Cosmic Encounter where at least two players are involved directly in every turn, or in games with simultaneous play like Libertalia, Ghost Stories, orpretty much any cooperative game. In this sort of game it can be a bit of a turn-off.

I already see some variants that could toy with that delay. Imagine a queue of stations. You know what's up next. What your opponent might be able to do. This could create more analysis on your turn and paralyze you, but it might also allow other players to be engaged on your turn, considering their next move. Playing with some sort of auction mechanic that allows you to pick a station that would be drawn later in the game at the cost of a few points might alleviate some of the guesswork. Throwing a timer into the mix might speed up the process and up the tension in the process.