Dale Yu: Quick Photo Preview of the New Age Of Steam Edition
Well – here is what you have all (well, maybe not all) have been waiting for… I’ve taken my trusty point and shoot camera with me into the kitchen to share the experience of opening the new version of Age of Steam from Eagle Games / FRED Distribution. I apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures, but my Digital SLR is having a lens issue and this was the best camera I could come up with on short notice!
Before I get into the photos, let me start by saying that I won’t be reviewing the game itself. The reason for this is that there really aren’t any gameplay differences from the 2nd edition of Age of Steam released by Warfrog. The game remains compatible with all of the expansions that have been developed for the previous versions of Age of Steam.
What I do want to focus on here is the new design and the differences that you’ll find from the Warfrog version. Many thanks to the guys at FRED for allowing me to get a chance to see the game up close. The game should be available for purchase very soon (if not already available!)
Here it is – the new box – still in shrink wrap. The artwork appears to be the same as that previously seen for Rails of the Eastern US (also by FRED). The box itself is the same size as the older versions of Age of Steam.
Look carefully, the shrink has been torn. There goes at least half of the value! While part of me wanted to keep the game in shrink forever – it would have made for a lackluster photo review…
Here’s a picture of the back of the box – As you can see, it’s a bilingual version with text in both English and German. You can also see the image near the top of the box which shows the new tiles and new trains. That’s right… no more wooden disks to mark your track; now you’ll be using plastic trains for that purpose! There is some really nasty play going on in this example as the blue and purple players are each on a spur with nowhere to go…
More proof of the bilingual-ness of the game – 2 rulebooks included in the box…
Well, one significant improvement from this version (at least in my humble opinion) is the rulebook. While, I’ll admit that there is a certain elegance in the simplicity of a Winsome ruleset, the new Eagle/FRED rules are a glossy 4-color affair. While I certainly want to respect the rights of Winsome and FRED by not posting the rules online, this close up of the rules shows the most important feature of the new rules… photo examples! The rulebook looks to be well written and the examples really help to illustrate some of the finer points of the rules that were admittedly more challenging to learn from the Warfrog rules.
Well, the cardboard charts for goods growth as well as score/shares looks about the same. Of note, the scoreboard wraps around at 50 and not 48 (again echoing the 2nd edition version from Warfrog). While the charts may look the same, they are much thicker than the previous version. I’d estimate that the charts are about 200# (about the same thickness as the 16 page rulebook). Additonally, the Eagle version of Age of Steam comes with two expansions previously released by Bezier Games. Age of Steam: Barbados and Age of Steam: St. Lucia are both included with the game. The production quality is the same as the Bezier release – the boards come on glossy 20# paper. For more details, click here for the Bezier Games page on these expansions
A close up of the new tiles (yet to be punched). Notice anything different? For some, the new tile design is an improvement. For me – I didn’t even notice it until Sean Brown and Ted Alspach told me what to look for…
More views of the new tiles – the acute curves are still acute and the town/spur tiles all look similar to the original version… with one big exception (Figure out what it is yet?!) Also, the city tiles now have a different graphic in the center than the stylized city outline.
Here is a picture from the old version. Now do you see the difference? No more red background to the track! After all, it’s not like the entire US had track beds made of cedar or redwood! You can also compare the graphics on the older city tiles to the newer ones.
Here’s a closeup of the six different colored player trains. They do look a lot like the trains used in Railroad Tycoon. Unfortunately, the trains do not solve the problem from the older versions of having the player colors be the same colors as the goods cubes.
Here are some of the new trains placed on the new tiles. As you can see, the trains are a little bit bigger than the old version wooden disks. However, the trains still fit upon the tiles OK. I can certainly see times where it will get a bit dicey – especially in close quarters – but for the most part, I think that the trains look pretty good on the tiles.
My favorite space on the board. I have done a lot of searching, and I can’t seem to find this building anywhere in the city though. ;) It probably would have been a lot of work, but it would have been clever to have actual buildings from the time period in the little art circle. It is still a little disturbing to me that the city is still Dodger Blue and not red, but I guess that’s life.
One other glaring difference from the Warfrog version – as you’ll surely note, the Detroit space is obviously missing the handmade “3†sticker which adorns almost all of the existing 1st edition Age of Steam boards. Furthermore, in breaking from tradition, a close inspection of the board does not show any areas which will later need to fixed with stickers.
A wider angle of the map just so that you can take in the Rust Belt in all of its new glory.
While the map may be the same, the money is most certainly different. No more fiddling around with the silver and copper tiddlywinks. In this version, there’s good old fashioned paper money in pastel colors for your enjoyment. I have no idea who the people are in the portraits on either side of the bill, but the picture in the center bears a striking resemblance to a certain Sales Manager that works for FRED < g >
The goods cubes, however, remain the same in both size and color. This is a good thing as it ensures that the new version will play just fine with the ever growing list of expansions for Age of Steam.
The dice are a bit more rounded than those found in the original version of Age of Steam, but they seem to roll just fine (and just as randomly). The dice are laid out on the bag which is provided for the cubes. The bag is certainly smaller than that in the original version. You’ll probably want to have someone with skinny fingers do goods growth as there isn’t that much space to get into the bag!
Overall, the production quality is quite good, and I’m especially happy to see that the goods growth chart and the scoreboard placed on thicker stock. While, I have actually grown accustomed to using Ted Alspach’s redone versions of the charts (here and here), using the original art is just fine as well.
I’m glad to have a copy of the new version, and I’m sure it will get lots of play soon. I still have about 6 expansions that haven’t yet seen the table!
Until your next appointment,
The Gaming Doctor
© 2009 Dale Yu
Posted by Dale Yu on Feb 4, 2009 at 01:00 AM in
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Dale Yu / 2552
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Comments:
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Cool, thanks for the detailed overview!
Posted by Surya Van Lierde on Feb 4, 2009 at 05:46 AM | # |
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Paper money....blech!
Posted by Brandon Pennington on Feb 4, 2009 at 12:16 PM | # |
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Yeah, i kinda liked the plastic coins better than the paper money—mostly because I would nervously play with them while I was thinking about my turn
dale
Posted by Dale Yu on Feb 4, 2009 at 12:46 PM | # |
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Dale that last image seems to be a repeat of one further up and not the dice one.
Posted by Lee Fisher on Feb 4, 2009 at 01:02 PM | # |
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Lee,
thanks—i had missed that typo
The dice pic should be up now
dale
Posted by Dale Yu on Feb 4, 2009 at 01:04 PM | # |
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Looks neat! Can’t wait for this one to make an appearance.
Posted by Ed Bryan on Feb 4, 2009 at 01:37 PM | # |
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This looks really nice, and the inclusion of rewritten rules, plastic trains and extra maps is also nice. Does anyone know the F.R.E.D. MSRP?
Posted by Mark Crane on Feb 4, 2009 at 02:56 PM | # |
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per Funagain.com, it is $59.95
Dale
Posted by Dale Yu on Feb 4, 2009 at 03:08 PM | # |
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What bag in the original version? Neither the 1st or 2nd edition came with a cube bag. Also the rules speak of a drawing cubes from a “cup”.
Posted by J C Lawrence on Feb 4, 2009 at 09:03 PM | # |
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Wow, the blue and purple cubes look nearly indistinguishable!
Posted by Joshua Miller on Feb 4, 2009 at 11:45 PM | # |
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The cube colour-similarity is likely a camera artifact rather than reality.
Posted by J C Lawrence on Feb 5, 2009 at 01:31 AM | # |
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Plastic trains, harder-to-see tracks, and paper money. Three strikes.
Posted by Jim Cote on Feb 6, 2009 at 12:58 AM | # |
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I don’t care if the money is printed on the thinnest paper imaginable, it’s STILL got to be better than those Warfrog plastic disks. That’s a set of currency I won’t miss.
Posted by Larry Levy on Feb 6, 2009 at 01:11 AM | # |
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I have honestly never understood the beef with the Warfrog plastic money. I think it works fine and is easy to use.
Posted by Brandon Pennington on Feb 6, 2009 at 01:17 AM | # |
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Speaking of money, if FRED is selling this the price won’t drop below $60, even for online retailers.
Posted by Mark Crane on Feb 6, 2009 at 10:18 AM | # |
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As Mark says, the preorder price from Funagain is $59.95, which figures to be the price everywhere else.
As a point of comparison, Steam will list at $55 and Funagain will sell it for $44. Since it’s from Mayfair, $44 figures to be the standard online price.
Posted by Larry Levy on Feb 6, 2009 at 11:53 AM | # |
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That means my FLGS will carry Steam at $40. Price isn’t the only consideration of course, but it does matter.
Posted by Mark Crane on Feb 6, 2009 at 11:55 AM | # |
