Welcome to the Age of Steam!

Hey there! In Age of Steam, you’ll be stepping into the shoes of a pioneer, leading one of the biggest railroads in the untamed plains. Get ready for an exciting adventure! We’ll be focusing on the bustling cities of Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati – the powerhouses of industry in our growing nation. So, are you ready to face the fierce competition and prove yourself as the best of the best? One thing’s for sure, every game is unique, and just because you win once doesn’t mean you’ll win every time!

Getting Started

Alright, let’s dive into the setup! First, put the gameboard at the center of the playing area. Alongside the board, you’ll find all the essential items: 8 Town Disks, Dedicated Town Track Tiles, New City Tiles, Money, Income Track Display, and the Goods/Actions Display. The Turn Track marker is placed in the start circle of the Track. Now, grab all those cubes and put them in a bag. Draw one cube for each available space on the Goods display.

So, here’s how the game goes. First, we fill up all the spaces in Wheeling with three cubes. Then, for the other cities on the board, we draw two random cubes and place them there. Simple enough, right?

Now, it’s time to choose our colors. You pick one color that will represent you throughout the game. You’ll get 5 wooden disks and 20 Track Ownership Locomotives, all of the same color. Your first disk goes on the Engine Track, in the first link space.

Now, it’s dice time! Each player rolls three dice, and the player with the highest roll gets to place their disk in the first space of the Order Track. The rest of us follow suit, putting our disks in order based on our dice rolls. After that, we all put a disk on the two shares box of the Issues Shares Track and get ten dollars. Nice!

With everything set up, it’s time to start the game. Let’s go!

GAMEPLAY

When we’re playing the game, we all take turns doing different things. First, I’ll do my actions, and when I’m done, it’s your turn. We keep going around in a circle, like we’re spinning in a clockwise direction. At the beginning of my turn, I’ll get some money from my railroad and my shares. Then, we’ll all compete to determine the order in which we play. We’ll bid against each other, trying to decide who goes first. But at some point, everyone has to drop out of the bidding to figure out the final order.

So, here’s how it works: You’ll see seven actions displayed in front of you. Each player gets to choose one action, but no two players can choose the same one.

Once everyone has made their choice, it’s time to start building the track! You’ll be placing track tiles on the map, but be careful because each tile has its own requirements for placement. And remember, we build the track in player order and must follow the rules of the track.

After the track is built, we move on to the next step: moving goods. We’ll do this two rounds, again following player order. Here’s the catch – the goods need to be moved along completed stretches of Railroad Links in order to count. And the best part? Moving goods increases our income for our track!

Lastly, after we’ve moved all the goods we want, it’s time to collect our hard-earned income. But don’t forget, we still follow player order when collecting income.

And that’s the game! Simple, right? Now let’s get building!

In the game, once I complete my turn, I have to take care of a few things. First, I need to pay my expenses and reduce my income. This is an important step because it helps me keep track of my resources and plan for future turns. Then, I advance the turn marker to indicate that it’s now the next player’s turn. This process repeats until all of the turns have been played.

When Does the Game End?

The game ends when the final turn is played. How many turns we play depends on how many players are participating. You can find this information on the Turn Track, which is shown on the Income Track. Once we reach the end of the game, it’s time to tally up our Victory Points.

What Are Victory Points?

Victory Points are a way to measure how well we have done in the game. The player with the most Victory Points is the winner! So, throughout the game, it’s important to make decisions that will help me earn Victory Points and come out on top.

My name is Ellie! I live in Northeast Tennessee and there are a few things that I love. I am a huge fan of animals, whether they are big or small. I also enjoy reading fantasy fiction novels and spending time outdoors. But most importantly, I am lucky to have a loving husband and two adorable pets. Being a part of this amazing community brings me so much joy.