Mar 15, 2021
First Impressions – We talk about the first time with a title, from the acquisition to the first look, to the first play.
This Episode: Maglev Metro By Ted Alspach Published by Bézier Games Released in 2021.
WOW. This is an Alspach, and what I mean by that is, while not easy to learn, per se, it IS able to be grasped with moderate effort. BUT then in playing, the intricacies of what you are doing fits together in such a well thought out way that the complex is made simple. Now WHY you are doing what you are doing, and WHAT you can do just continues to blossom as you play. Also once you have an idea and some experience, playing with a non experienced gamer to this game, gives them a huge disadvantage. But this is the nature of the design, (his other designs also do this in my opinion, Castles and Suburbia) Now having said that, this is such a fun game, from the tactile look of the kit on the table with the clear tiles, the double thick station tiles the recessed main and player boards with cutouts and the metal trains, it is impressive on the table indeed. The meat here is the engine and the delightful twist of when to transition from building out your network to moving passengers is satisfying. Played at two players it was taught, pretty civil until the end, but even that has the random draw of the bag on where the meeples come out, so it's not totally personal. The feeling that the rules have so many areas where they were polished to remove extra steps that could easily exist here is liberating. For example, movement is handled by station count, no matter how many connected track tiles are between them. Also the actions you take are based on points that give you a certain number of those moves to make in that category. You get to drill down and manage how many passengers you can pick up, drop off, carry, etc. so you are doing a lot, but the mental math is elegant and simple. The entire design is like this, so you know you are playing a headier game than it feels like at the moment. When you push back from one of Ted’s heavier games and this one is my favorite so far, you DO feel it, you need that break, you need that mental rest, but you had a ball. At least I know I did. So much more to come on this one in the future, including reports about solo play, so stay tuned.
-Larry Neal