Gone Cardboard News: Rails of Europe - Coming in February 2008

Rails of Europe, an expansion for Railroad Tycoon designed by Glenn Drover and published by FRED Distribution, is on the boat to the U.S. and should be on sale before the end of February 2008.

Unlike the giganto box that held Railroad Tycoon, Rails of Europe is a slim package as it reuses many of the components from the base game. What’s included is a new six-fold gameboard, a short rules manual, ten new tycoon cards, and a new deck of event cards. While Europe is somewhat larger in area than the United States, the Rails of Europe gameboard is smaller than that of the original game, so you won’t need to push tables together in order to play. To avoid the warping board problems that some encountered with Railroad Tycoon, the gameboard in Rails of Europe has been humidity tested, is thicker, comes black wrapped on the back, and is shrink-wrapped.

I played the prototype once and found the game play just as interesting and tense as in the original. Europe is permeated with rivers, mountains and hills, which force you to think a bit more about costs, and Italy and the neck of the Iberian peninsula provide good choke points. Rails of Europe is designed for 3-5 players, and five players on the smaller map will have you throwing elbows almost immediately to make room.

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