Age of Steam is in the house

Recently I sold my copy of Steam to a friend, and promptly bought a second-hand copy of Age of Steam.  I have to say owning Steam didn’t work out.  I believe I played it twice.  Once with the Bistro Players, which was a miserable play for me – nearly going broke and merely in the game due to the impossibility of completing a death spiral.  That particular play was also unfortunate as we played the advanced game, rather than easing into it with its base game. 

My second play was on a Monday night with the old guard gamers.  We did play the standard game, and it went over pretty well.  But we never came back to it – a decent game that failed to ignite enough interest to come back to it.  And on Tuesdays, Steam was never again considered.  So after nearly two years of ownership and just 2 games played, it was time to ditch it.

But then I turn around and grab Age of Steam…  This might sound nonsensical – and indeed it might be – but I have hopes that Age of Steam might actually be requested occasionally.  And truth be told, it was the game I originally wanted.  A rather ugly fracas between Martin Wallace and FRED was going on prior to the publication of Steam and the 3rd edition of Age of Steam – and like a bad car wreck, I couldn’t help but watch it.  I decided to support Martin Wallace and buy Steam.  Also pushing me into this decision was the fact that 2nd edition copies of Age of Steam were quite scarce, and commanding prices upwards of $100.

2 years later, I was able to buy a secondhand copy of 2nd edition Age of Steam for $30 -which seems like a reasonable price.  And while I could get a new 3rd edition copy for about the same price, I do like the spartan style of the Warfrog release.