Village Rails has players build out rails in the countryside.
But who will do it the best?
In the sleepy English countryside, life continues undisturbed as it has for centuries. It is up to you to travel to every corner of this land, bearing the promise of modernisation, accommodating the oddly specific demands of the locals, and ushering in the age of steam.
Village Rails Game Overview
Quick Rules Summary
Players have a frame that gives them a 3×4 grid. Each turn players must draft from a row of face-up cards, paying money to skip those at the bottom.
Those cards are placed into the grid and continue railways that start printed on the frame itself. When a rail is complete, meaning it goes out of the grid on any edge it is scored.
Barns score for the resource types on that track, farms for different terrains. Halts score the shown point value and signals score the more you have on the line.
You may also plan a trip by spending money to buy a card that goes on the outside of the frame and will score the route it is attached to.
Finally, a player may reveal a Terminus card if they have satisfied the condition on it to gain money.
How do you win?
After each player has played and scored 12 cards, players score points for each line with a siding and gain 1 point per 3 money and the player with the most points wins.
Main Mechanisms
Route building is the main mechanism. There is open drafting which is how you get the rail cards and “tile placement” which always feels weird to say when placing cards not tiles.
USP
I’m not sure there is one. Games like Railway Ink and Mini Rails exist in the “Small railway” space.
Theme
It’s a nice cute theme, I do like seeing trains in the countryside.
Setup
A bit of shuffling and laying out cards. Nothing too bad.
Components & Artwork
Everything is pretty standard but the graphic design is quite good. I would say, the symbol for the different terrains could be much clearer, that would help a lot.
Players have dials for points which are quite nice.
Ease of Teaching
It’s very easy to teach and also, almost everything in the game is face up so questions can be asked.
Similar Games
I already mentioned 2 train games, but anything like Cascadia or Welcome to… or anything that’s pretty short with a “score with what you have” style. I played Quadropolis a week or so after this and that does the same thing too.
Village Rails Review
Positives
Building out the lines is a fun challenge.
Trying to score and plan ahead without knowing what might be available to you on your turn gives you plenty to think about.
The railway looks quite cute on the table.
Negatives
The graphic design in certain areas could be clearer.
Not sure about replayability.
Summary
A very fun game.
Jesta ThaRogue