Age of Steam Variants

The following is a collection of variants for the boardgame Age of Steam. Many of these variants were designed to soften a very economically unforgiving and potentially unfriendly game. Some of these variants were collected from the web while others are home-brew. Enjoy!


A1. Fair Production.  When a player chooses the Production Action used at the beginning of the Goods Growth phase, the acting player randomly draws 4 cubes from the cube draw cup, then selects 2 cubes to place on the Goods Display and returns 2 cubes to the cup. Reason: it helps unlucky players by giving them a bit more choice and it makes the action a bit more attractive.[from web]

A2. Controlled Production.  When a player chooses the Production Action used at the beginning of the Goods Growth phase, the acting player selects two cubes from the cube draw cup to place on the Goods Display. Reason: this level of goods control completely removes luck from the Production Action. This variant makes for a much more attractive action.[from web]

B. Seed Money.  Players initially receive $10 as per the rules and this money is marked off as 2 shares. Players also receive $5 of Seed Money that is not marked off the shares' track. Reason: this makes the first turn not as die-hard with less possibility for an unfortunate bankruptcy. Plus, it gives players initially further back in the first turn bid order the ability to bid more effectively. [GLG]

C1. Honest Transport.  When moving a good, at least one link on the transportation route must be owned by the moving player. Reason: this reduces the possibility that someone will play Kingmaker by moving a good to affect another player's finish or play Spoiler by simply denying someone a large payoff. It also allows, to a very small degree, some goods protection.[from web]

C2. Realistic Transport.  When moving a good, at least 33% of the links on the transportation route must be owned by the moving player. Reason: this greatly reduces the possibility that someone will play Kingmaker by moving a good to affect another player's finish or play Spoiler by simply denying someone a large payoff. This follows a more real-world model of goods transport and offers players goods protection in certain cities.[GLG]

D. Emergency Shares.  These shares are only available on a player's turn and during the Pay Expenses phase. A player can ask for emergency shares at $3 per share (instead of the usual $5) to cover expenses. Reason: this ability will help a player avoid bankruptcy early on but the player is penalized for his lack of planning. [from web]

E. Weaker Urbanization.   When choosing the Urbaniztion action, a player counts the city tile placement towards his track tile builds on that turn. Therefore, a player gets only two track builds if he chooses the Urbanization action. Reason: Urbanization is a powerful game tool that if monopolized by a player for consecutive turns can lead to a runaway victory. This variant slightly weakens the action. [GLG]



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Page Last Updated: 5/5/04