18CZ 5 & wrap

[CrisWhetstone]

You're not wrong about a lot of newer 18xx adding lots of mechanisms and obfuscation. It's not surprising given the newish popularity in the midst of the direction of modern designs. It's a trade off. We get more titles and more people that want to play. But those folks are more into twiddling mechanisms than many of us are. I think most good classic 18xx have enough variability given players and things like privates to provide lots of good play. That's not necessarily enough for people that enjoy moving bits through virtual engine created from the rules. I think this is why 1862 proved so popular while I found it dull and mildly irritating. It's all about optimizing those contrived trains through that tiny board. It feels more like a Euro than an 18xx during much of the game.

[michaelrobertson]

Remember that privates are out of the game after the intial stock round so you don't need to keep the privates board on the table