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So you’ve reunited a fractured empire. Can you build one from the ground up? Take the role of one of history’s railroad barons and see if you have what it takes to become the next Railroad Tycoon in Eagle Games’ new release Railroad Tycoon: The Boardgame.
Revisit the early days of the Age of Steam as you begin with a locomotive (the venerable John Bull, the first locomotive to run in North America) and a vision (your Tycoon “mission” card). From there, build your budding railroad network into a vast empire. Connect New York to Chicago, earn the most money, develop bigger and faster locomotives and maybe even span North America and build the Transcontinental Railway!
You can issue shares of stock in your growing company whenever you want, but remember that shareholders expect (and will receive) dividends. If you build your network without delivering some goods to generate income you may find yourself struggling to make ends meet. Railroad Tycoon: The Boardgame rewards a phased strategy. Early in the game when cash is very scarce, make short deliveries to generate some income. Build your network and expand gradually to support your bigger engines and larger network. Once you have a strong network, look for the big payoffs.
Your choices are deceptively simple, build track, deliver goods, take an operations card, build an industry (urbanize) or upgrade your engine. That is it. What makes Railroad Tycoon: The Boardgame challenging is when to do these things and in what order.
Remember that other players will be competing for lucrative routes as well. You may think you have a profitable network locked up, but just as it was in the early days of the Age of Steam, success breeds competition, both fair and unfair. Don’t expect your opponents to idly watch as you build a powerful network in the Northeast. Resources are limited, so competition will be fierce.
Some classic railroad figures were as truculent in their private lives as they were in business:
"You have undertaken to cheat me. I won't sue you, for the law is too slow. I will ruin you." -Cornelius Vanderbilt, a letter to former business associates (1853)
Ruthless in business, some say Cornelius Vanderbilt made few friends in his lifetime but many enemies. His public perception was that of a vulgar, mean-spirited individual who made life miserable for everyone around him, including his family. In his will, he disowned his sons except for William who was as ruthless in business as his father and the one Cornelius believed capable of maintaining the business empire. At the time of his death, Cornelius Vanderbilt's fortune was estimated at more than $100,000,000.
Others were highly regarded both professionally and personally:
He was described as a "thoughtful, quiet man...". Neither colorful nor dynamic, Mark Hopkins was described by his associates as "one of the truest and best men that ever lived". Collis Huntington remarked that he "never thought anything finished until Hopkins looked at it, which is praise enough".
How will history remember you?
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