Rules are being cleaned up, clarified and corrected in Bindle Rails this week.  This will involve changes to the base components for new downloads, however, it's still the same game as before - merely disambuiguated.  The write up will also include new scenarios for starting out and a few variants for new railroads (E&L, NYNH&H) for player control which should give you a couple more plays for your cards!

The Colorado/Utah map has not been playtested any more this week and will need a little more work.  It is a difficult map, which is what I was hoping for.  I like the toughness on it, but I want to see if I can introduce some things to make it easier for those who do not enjoy getting kicked in the teeth as much as I do.  This, too, should be done by the end of the week.

From there, I would like to round out my expansion maps and bundle as one package.  I may do more with the Bindle system.  I am trying to formulate some other ideas for another game (not train related if you can believe it) that needs a lot of old fashioned design and experimentation to see if it will go anywhere.

I've had a few spare moments this weekend around Mother's Day (complete with visits, cooking and gardening) to work on the next map for Bindle Rails.  It will be set in Colorado and Utah and will follow the lead of the Eastern Canada expansion.  All of the charts and commodities from BR3:EC are used - just the map is different.  There are a few rule changes, namely that there is a chance for all the resources to be placed at the beginning of the game and there is only one chance to add and one chance to subtract each turn.  Other than that, game play is identical.

The map itself, however, is a little bit more difficult.  I've been pleasantly surprised by it.  The map is a lot more mountainous and is generally separated into the front range of Denver, Pueblo, Colorado Springs and Cheyenne and Salt Lake City and Provo to the west.  Ore, Coal and Lumber are scattered in the mountains - Grain is in a couple river areas and to the east.  The demand for Grain is internally at some wayward unnamed towns.  The Ore,Coal and Lumber are spread out for demand as well.  Loads that were easy to transport around Eastern Canada need bigger trains (with higher maintenance costs) to make points.  Less cities make the game harder as well.

The topography of the region is different enough from BR:IMR that there are often two different forks that look pretty inviting to build through.  Depending on how the resource picture looks, either way is viable.  It comes down to a little bit of luck and some gutsy play to win the thing - which hasn't happened yet.  I got 28 points the first time through and got booted out of my second game because I wasn't able to turn a profit in the third turn so I automatically lost (even though I kept playing it out and ended up with 48 points - so close!). 

More playtesting this week.  Some more maps will be worked on as well and I'm hoping to come up with some true 2-player rules for this version of the game.  From here, I may try a run of self-publishing the expansion or move on to something else.

More playtesting of Bindle Rails #3: Eastern Canada.  What a rough night....

• Game #1.  Started from Montreal, made it to Three Rivers and was building toward the Northwest towards ore and coal, the best commodities.  Turn #2, #3 and #4 I had Inefficiency Events!  Worse yet, I drew a '6' for #2 and #3, meaning I could do absolutely nothing to advance technology to build in the hillier terrain!  The fourth turn I was able to draw one card, but could not build anything with it.  It also had only $2 on it so I moved my Company Value to $4.  That turn, I drew a 'Loss' card which dropped my Company Value to $0 for an automatic loss.  Egads.
• Game #2:  I figured I'd start in Chicago and work my way through or across Michigan.  I drew metals and ores north of Timmins, so I started building that way, made it to Grand Rapids to get my initial passenger deliveries and turned north.  Over a couple more turns I made it across the UP and into Canada.  Further technology and I finally hit the fields I wanted.  The only problem was, I did not research my Engines that well and I forgot to take into account I had to run across 2 bridges (+2 BP) and pull from terrain that was 3 BP, 2 BP and 1 BP back to Chicago for a total of 8 BP on a Basic Engine which could only pull 9 BP.  Long story short, first shipment was worth a measely $11 or so by the time maintenance was taken out of it for a whopping 2 BP.  I decided to turn back toward Toronto to avoid the bridge crossings and had enough to make it there.  My second mistake ensued here... I had run out of black cubes to build and I had not done much research this game, so there was no way to free any of them up with the Surveying advance!  So, ran a couple more deliveries, drew only one Engine on eight cards on my final turn.  I ended up dumping everything into increasing my company value and stepping my engines up so I could earn more VP.  My coal and iron run to Toronto payed well, but it was much too late.  I had earned 22 VP total, some from deliveries, 6 VP from Engines and maybe 2 VP from a company value in the $20's.  No points for not building in the U.S. since I started in Chicago.
  

Toronto is the easiest town to build out from, Ottawa a close second - although, depending on where resources end up being placed, they sometimes have a long road to hoe to start making a profit.  Montreal is boxed in on the map and it is quite a feat to pull enough money to start a company out (at least $5... subtract out the Basic Engine at $4 and you are praying NOT to get a 'Loss' card.)  The bridge out of Montreal is a killer as well.  

My next trials will probably be Buffalo and Detroit, although a Sault St. Marie start point might be interesting.

In general, I like the balance in this expansion.  L&N felt scripted and IMR was light, albeit it was meant to be that way.  This game plays very fresh and although the rules are slightly more involved than the other expansions, they are easy enough to pick up on and work well together.  So far I'm 2-3 with a win from Toronto and Ottawa.

I will say that the game plays hard... Innefficiency events in this version are absolute killers.... Loss events are rough... and losing market value on a valuable commodity when you've just spent six turns getting there just plain hurts.  I have not had a crucial resource depleted yet, which is somewhat suprising but good. 

On the flip side, pulling some good cards (Innovation always feels great when it comes up) is especially sweet.  One other nice thing is that the markets for the most part correct on their own.  If you haven't made a deilvery on a resource the entire game, odds are good it will be worth a fair amount of money when you build to it.  If it's in an easy to reach place with a big locomotive before the last turn, you may be on the way to winning.

The only tweaking that may need to be done is with the grain and lumber markets, but I'm not sure if I want to tinker with these much.  They have the potential to be worth more than coal (or oversold ore) for at least one or two deliveries a game, so I may leave them in place.  Passenger traffic feels about right in terms of giving a start up company just enough money to get started and it doesn't really turn into a money earner at all - unless a player is fortunate enough to start up another resource and can come back to it later.  

My only complaint has to do with the limitations of the components I sent out with the original Bindle Rails.  I wish I had done the cards slightly differently in that the Events probably could have been split into their own deck.  The Goal and Manager cards have been a waste for usage outside the first game.  The 20 white and black cubes are okay, but I wish I would have included more of them.

Other than that, the mechanics are solid and it is time to formalize the rules, draw up examples and present it to everyone who might want a crack at it.  I will probably generate a few other maps to go with this specific ruleset.  I tried tweaking L&N with its Private Companies to this version of the rules, and it felt stilted, and IMR does not have enough variety on the board to warrant changing how the resources are doled out.  Next maps will probably be based in the Pacific Northwest, California and perhaps Colorado.  I'd like to do something with England or South Africa as well, but I'd like to know more about their railroad history before even touching them.  Just making a map without doing the proper amount of research is too much like cheating.

Gorgeous weekend.... bike riding, walks in the park... sunshine.... a good weekend...

Maps and rules being worked on the next installment of Bindle Rails, set to Eastern Canada - mostly Ontario.  Many of the ideas from L&N #2 will carry over unscathed.  This game is more of a train gamer's game than the other versions.

You start the game with nothing.  It is up to you to build up enough company value to get started, purchase your first engine, and make a delivery between two points.  You have the option to move passengers, coal, grain, lumber and metals.  Grain are volitile and drop quickly when delivered.  Coal stays more constant, but isn't worth as much as metals - which stays higher and depreciates slowly.  Passengers are chump change, but they are easier to run and typically run through portions of the country that are flat and easy to build through. 

The latest changes involve developing resources that are placed semi-randomly on the map.  Resources are now on the main ladder instead of companies.  Locomotives are used to reach these resources and payouts are made based on the terrain the resource is found, the destination, and the most difficult terrain between them.  The power of the locomotive (say 20 BP (Build Points)) carrying grain ($7) between two flat areas (3 BP) would work out to 6 loads * $7 = $42.  This $42 could be immediately traded in for 8 VP or $4 in Company Value.  The value of grain would go down after you make a delivery on the chart, so maybe the delivery next time around would only be worth 6 loads * $4 = 24 for 4 VP or $2 in Company Value.  Locomotives are researched through the tech tree and you may own up to two of them.  Maintenance for each locomotive would also weigh in on the final delivery of the resources.  Resources may appear during the game and they may also disappear.

Another changes include a "Surveying" advance that allows you to place a white cube on the board anywhere you have built a route.  The BP for that space would be reduced by one.  This comes in handy if a resource has one hex of 2 BP between 1 BP and 3 BP.  Reducing the 1 BP would help make more money on certain loads.

Like former versions, you can lose the game all at once (I lost one game at the end on the last turn).  If your Company Value ever reaches $0 or you are unable to make a delivery, you are out of luck and lose the game.

VP are earned primarily by trading in resources, acquiring more powerful locomotives, connecting to cities (some far-flung ones are worth more) and staying within Canada.  VP are awarded for each $10 of Company Value you have and for each white cube you lay by Surveying. 

Most of the playtesting has involved getting all the balances down of VP, engine deilvery, translations of company value, etc.  A lot of playtesting, actually.  Still more needs to be done and I'd like to work a couple of other maps out with the current iteration of the system to see how well it scales.

For those of you who do like playing train games, there are ideas inspired by Silverton and Age of Steam.  Not wholly, not completely, but within the constraints of the existing Bindle Rails framework and pieces.  I think this version of the game is heavier than the other two, but only marginally.

More details soon!

The game has solidified enough that it merits a space on the web.  More playtesting to follow, but for now, feel free to download what this version and give it a whirl!

Playtesting to continue on #1:IMR and #2:LN while I figure out what I want #3:? to be.  :)

Fiddled some more with L&N.  It was kind of like moving back home with your parents... not what you wanted to do, but there are probably a few good reasons to do it every now and then.  Sometimes, it's good to go home again.  :-)

I took out the game and started over... back to the original BR rules jiggered on a hex map.

After more false starts, things started coming together with some modest tweaks.

For example, the tech tree I was quick to remove...  why not flatten the tree?  I did not need many of the effects from the original game.  Public company stock maneuvers were not working so I wanted to get rid of them.  I juggled things around, scribbled on the back of my first go around on rules sheets and came to the conclusion that I could flatten the tech tree and change the benefits to only number of cards and the maximum BP of terrain you could build in.  I could use the Event round of the turn again (yay!)  This would also get rid of using Engines to move up/down the terrain steps which for some reason worked in Mexico (#1:IMF), but not here.  And I could still leave the 1 VP for each Tech earned.  All of these were wins in my book while keeping true to the original game and even simplifying things slightly.

The next thing to get tweaked was ditching the competitors as Public Companies.  This got rid of the whole lot of nothing going on with the stock ladder and actually let me get rid of the Competitor Round at the beginning of the turn.  Treating the competitors as Private Companies helped, but they needed tweaked futher.  I then forced them to come into existence based on what turn you were in.  This was more true to history.  It fixed my company valuation/fluctuation/availability problems.  The VP's for these companies are lower relatively speaking compared to BR because there are less places to go on this map.  They hook up to key places very quickly and it didn't make sense to give the VP boost just for buying the companies in addition to connecting to cities.  All in all, another win.

Speaking of the cities, the VPs were changed for these were changed.  Basically, the far-flung towns of New Orleans, St. Louis and Tallahassee were made 3 VP towns.  Most of KY/TN were made 1 VP.  The two remaining 2 VP towns are Birmingham (for historical reasons) and Atlanta (due to size).  I am considering bringing Engines back into the game to allow for stations to be built on the big cities (Nashville, Atlanta and Birmingham).  Engines double the value of these big cities to 4 VP - if you've built to each of the big cities.

As for the Event Card round, I will be able to do this again.  The L&N will be the Red Cube for draws.  All other colors will be ignored.

And the Stock Card.... it stays, although it is only for one company and the penalties for not keeping your stock price high are much, much steeper (cue evil pinkie).

Finally, I might sneak the coal mines back in for a reward of 1 VP each and allow them to be scattered in the mountains.  

What does all this do?

Well, there is finally some assymetry in how to win.   There is benefit to purchasing the Private Companies to quickly expand your route, although this is a very expensive way to win and requires investment in your company and ignoring route building for a while.  There is benefit to increasing your Technology because it gives you more cards which can lead to more cards and more money.  Finally, the map itself presents solid opportunities for scoring in the upper part of the map with the coal mines and stations if you've built to all the main cities the real life L&N built to.  However, the M&O and S&M make it possible to go to the Gulf quickly and hit New Orleans for 3 VP (6 VP with a Station!).  Finally, the old fashion Stock Market can give you up to 5 VP if you choose to run your own routes - but purchasing a route might be quicker and force your stock price down.  

This makes for some interesting strategies to try out, some easier than others...

• Aggressively invest in technology, buy the T&C, build in the NE and hit the coal mines.
• Aggressively save up enough money for the M&O, stab southward and build to New Orleans with the hopes of building a station there (or in Nashville).
• Aggressively invest in technology, pick up the NC&StL and pick up enough mines and/or stations since cash will be low.
• Buy both the NC&StL and T&C and hope that enough cash comes through to pick up some other towns.
• Build south on your ow, buy the S&M and make a turn to Florida and Mobile, circumventing the Smoky Mountains?

I may end up removing the stations or removing the coal mines, but I think the 6-turn limit (or even 8 turn limit) does enough to stop too much happening too quickly.  I may also do away with keeping Birmingham and Atlanta as 2 VP cities - or, I may get rid of Huntsville to make up for it since the northeast corner of the board is target rich. 

Finally, the phased in nature of the tech tree slowing down growth in the beginning mirrors the real life L&N as it started out slowly reaching to Nashville and then exploding southward. 

I think all of these things, combined with higher penalties and tighter costs will work well.  If I can get at it with a slightly easier set of rules (namely, removing complexity in the tech tree and competitor rounds), this game could be compelling.

The proof will be in the pudding with more playtesting this weekend.

I finally had some time to get away and spend some time with my latest design, expansion #2 for Bindle Rails.  The premise behind the game was to expand the L&N in 1830 all the way to 1900 by acquisition and route building.  The feel for the game was suppoesd to be like Expansion #1- Imperial Mexican Railways, except with competitors.  VP are earned by connecting to different cities and purchasing competitors.  If you have 10 VP after eight turns, you win.. 

The map was easy enough to create.  I enlisted Hex Draw again to put together a swath of 1860 territory running for Louisville to Mobile, Memphis to Atlanta.  I also threw on a couple of prominent competitors to the map.  I touched things up in Inkscape, created a separate tracking spreadsheet in OpenOffice, and I was off to the races.

The idea seemed simple enough, but things seemed to fall apart. 

I initially wanted to use coal mines dropped as white cubes in the Smoky Mountains to reward the use of Engines, but it seemed hokey.  Fetching engines in the coal mines as a reward proved to be problematic and more of a pain in the butt to keep track of than it was worth.  There goes that idea.  Out go the coal mines - for now.  I could go ahead and leave them as a 1 VP reward for building to them, particularly if one is inclined to buy the Tennessee Central.

I wanted to reward extra long routes by using white cubes.  Turns out I was dipping into the cubes a lot earlier (turn 4 versus almost all the way through the game in IMR) so that ballooned up things artificially.

The competitor round seemed somewhat rigged, but that's because the odds of each competitor coming up are even.  It also didn't happen often enough.  So, move the competitors up by $2 each time they are drawn - but I'm still stuck with competitors that move too predictably upward.  I then let the larger competitors start a little higher.  This helped, but still didn't offset the company values rising up predictably.  I could resort to the Event Cards and reintroduce them from the original, but the wording on the cards is overly specific and generally trended the markets down because there were VP rewards for higher company stock values for everyone.  So that isn't going to work unless I redo cards - which goes against the idea of doing an expansion. There was also the problem of buying a competitor as soon as they were founded.  I moved the time frame to 1870 before allowing the buyout of a company, but the values were too inflated by that time to make this realistically possible.

I went ahead and played under these modified rules and the game was better, however, play became predictable in terms of setting up routes, trying to build through Nashville, Birmingham and then to Atlanta on my own.  I would usually get the T&C and build to Knoxville and that would be an easy 11 VP.  So I either have to move the VP goal up some (hokey) or need to come up with other things.  But what?

My one lament with the original Bindle Rails was that it was too specific with some of the cards.  Fortunately I used different cube colors for the corners, but the Event portion of the cards probably should have been moved to a different deck.  I guess that's one of the big problems with multi-use cards for this type of game - they seem like you could use them elsewhere, however, if you need to use them for a similar purpose, you are painted in.  If you print it out, that's one thing, however, at $6+ per deck for whoever bought the game, it's not right to keep adding on cards to the system for something that should just "work" right off the bat.

One other area where I hosed myself was on the Goal Cards, which worked really well for the Northeastern US but don't work anywhere else.  I have never really liked the Manager cards, but they do fill a void in the original game.   The Technology Mat is also geared tips heavily to the original Bindle and doesn't adapt as well to the other games I have in mind.

So do I create a new game with new mats and create a new system?  Do I drop the expansion completely?  Do I work on some other ideas instead?

Choices, choices, choices...

For now, L&N will continue to go through the paces.  I think I will add some way to introduce varying goals to the game, probably via chart and roll (ugh).  I may add a limited tech tree to this expansion (smaller than the original version of Bindle Rails which fit comfortably on one page).  I think varying the goals of building to certain destinations, buying certain companies, forcing different company values and tinkering with the win condition will go a long way to making this particular iteration more enjoyable.  

I am somewhat surprised that this iteration is taking longer than #1:IMR took.   IMR, in retrospect, came together in roughly a week of thought and maybe a half dozen plays.  It was an easier beast, however, I lucked out on the balancing act of BPs, VPs and some of the other mechanisms in the game.  

Onward and upward.