New Age of Steam Expansion - Montréal Métro

Michael Webb (aka CortexBomb on BoardGameGeek) has become the latest Age of Steam fan to design an expansion for the game, and the setting is the Montréal Métro system. “The map is explicitly designed for three players only,” says Webb, “It includes numerous tweaks to increase competition amongst the players, and this affects the track building phase in particular.”

The core twist in this expansion is the neutral track—called “Government Track"—that criss-crosses the gameboard. Each round, one player is allowed to build Government Track prior to anyone issuing shares; this track is usable by all players, but it provides no income.

Still, the Government Track can be quite useful, says Webb, as the expansion uses a new split-level Locomotive. “The Locomotive is now expressed as, say, ‘3+2’ rather than just ‘3’. The number to the left of the plus is the normal links capacity—that is, the number of links that a player can use to move goods for income—while the number on the right is a special, dedicated Government Track allotment. This allows a player to use that number of Government-owned Links without having them count against their engine allotment.”

Although moving goods on the Government Track nets you no income, boosting your Dedicated Government Engine Level extends your reach, giving you access to more goods while simultaneously denying income to other players since the goods are moving over state-owned property. “There are a number of other minor changes to the map as well,” says Webb, “but the Government Links and the split-level Locomotives are the centrepiece.”

Age of Steam: Montréal Métro will be released at the beginning of August 2007 and will be self-published in the style of early AoS expansions from Bézier Games on heavy card stock. “The map set will include the large, two sheet map and a special Income / Locomotive / Action / Shares display on a legal-sized sheet of similar quality to the maps,” says Webb. The price is $15; preorders will be available through the BGG Marketplace once the game is listed on BGG, and the game will also be sold through Boards & Bits.

Source: Michael Webb

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