We have very fresh news from Marflow Games about its plans for the upcoming Spiel ’18 in Essen.
It looks that only 18BL – Bergisches Land will be definitely available in Essen this year. 1895 Namibia is still in the testing phase. It has turned out that due to the changes (one additional railway corporation and two mine corporations) the number of trains available needs more testing than anticipated. Unfortunately, there is a lack of test teams.
The announced publication of 1876 Trinidad may be postponed as well due to time limitations.
About 18BL:
This game is largely based on the rules of 1830, but has a number of new elements that make it a standalone game.
First, the 6 private companies, all of which have a specific function, will be auctioned among the 3 to 6 players. Then the 8 railway companies can be opened. The special feature of 18BL are the rail buses, which are available as an alternative to the normal locomotives. The rail busses reflect passenger transport by rail in rural areas of the Bergisch Land, which was not attractive enough for the use of normal passenger trains. The challenge for 18BL is to find the right mix of locomotives and rail busses according to the available rail network and the connected cities and towns.
Thanks to Wolfram Janich we can show you the map from 18BL and its box.