Game Preview: Age of Steam: Secret Blueprints of Steam, Plans #1 & 2

By W. Eric Martin
August 18, 2008

Publisher: Bézier Games
Designer: Ted Alspach
Players: 3-4
Release Date: Spiel 08
Price: $80 (for all three Bézier AoS expansions)

Each of the Secret Blueprint of Steam Plans contains four maps that work together as a set, and each player takes one of these maps, then secretly places goods cubes on its three cities. When building track, each player builds on his own map, and when delivering, he delivers only those goods on his own map.

The idea for this expansion came to Ted Alspach by going back to the fundamentals of Age of Steam. “Look at the game, and you realize that you’re really planning out a railroad system when you play,” he says. “At least, that’s how I think of it. So why not set up something that’s closer to simulating the planning process than regular AoS, where everyone mucks with your track builds?”

Initially Alspach used a common map with the players all building on it secretly, then revealing the builds simultaneously – blind-building, as it were. “It was more annoying than fun, and productionwise it was ugly, so it never really got far in that direction,” he says. “The ‘building sections individually’ thing was really interesting, though, and eventually I tried out everyone building on copies of exactly the same maps. That result was interesting: Because of random cube draws, no two maps ever had the exact same track builds. From then on it expanded to the blueprints (which look kind of cool, too).”

Sounds like a heads-down solitaire exercise, right? Not so fast, says Alspach. “Interactivity exists in several ways: Action selection is still determined by turn order, which is determined by bidding. Because money is hidden, it adds an extra dimension to standard AoS bidding. The new Production action” – which lets you take goods directly from another player – “is really neat; just last night we were playing and there was a clamor from the players who didn’t have the action all hoping and praying and chanting that the cube color called wasn’t one that was critical to their success.”

Adds Alspach, “Outthinking your opponents when it comes to action selection is much more interactive as well because instead of being able to glance around and figure out which actions everyone probably wants that turn, you have to figure it out by their previous activities, action selection, deliveries, track builds, and income track location.” Players do have to state how many tracks they build, what they cost, and what color cubes they’re delivering for how much income. Clue in to these notes, and you’ll catch on to what others might do.

With the twelve cities scattered across four maps that don’t connect, Alspach admits that a player could run afoul of the production dice and never have goods cubes added to his cities. “In practice, however, that doesn’t actually happen, and instead the dice rolls have the same sort of impact they do on the regular game,” he says. The Production action also helps level those odds.

The simultaneous building and moving means that a four-player game of Age of Steam can take less than an hour. Says Alspach, “At the end of the game everyone reveals their maps – this isn’t in the rules, but it just kind of happens – for two reasons: (1) for players to check out the winners’ map and his builds and the cubes he has left and (2) to whine about why they didn’t win because of (a) initial cube distribution, (b) bad goods growth rolls, (c) being outbid by a ‘mean’ player for an action they desperately needed, or (d) because the fates, as always, conspired against them. Implied unfairness is of course an essential part of any AoS expansion...”

This expansion, printed on full-color stock similar to Bézier’s 1830’s PA/Northern California Expansion, includes new full-color player income and goods growth charts that allow for up to eight players. The maps in Plan #2 are tougher than those of Plan #1 as they have only two city colors instead of three, leaving players fewer delivery options in the early game and a more intense fight for Urbanization. Sharpen your knives first…

This expansion is initially available as part of the preorder through the Bézier Games website. A price for just this expansion will be set at a later date.

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