Village Rails. It's the age of steam.

Across the English countryside, a network of railway lines expands, connecting villages and crossing diverse terrain in Village Rails. It's the age of steam, and you are responsible for planning the railway network. Add Trips to train lines to increase your points and finish routes with special cards to gain additional money. So, what are you waiting for? Get your ticket ready and embark on this delightful journey.

Village Rails is a tricky tableau-building card game of trains and personal agendas. Every action is a mini puzzle in itself, with many options and choices to take. I have to say that my opinion is biased because trying this game out was "love at first sight"; or maybe "love at first play"!

Village Rails is for two to four players, best played with three or four. It reaches a broad audience, from fourteen-year players to senior adults. Matches can take around 45 minutes.

How to play the game

The game setup is quick and straightforward. Deal each player with a random border piece (marked with a letter), which they use to build their empty Tableau. Create a shuffled deck of double-sided Railway & Trip cards, prepare another "Terminus Cards" pile, and place both in the middle of the table. From the Railway & Trips Deck, create a Track Market with Railway (also known as Track) cards and a Trip Market with Trip cards. Each player starts with £5 coins, three Terminus cards, a scoring dial set to zero and a reference card. This railway journey begins with the player whose corner piece is in the earliest alphabetical order and plays clockwise. Get ready and “Choo-choo”!

Players’ border pieces depict the start of seven railway lines. By placing tracks on their tableau, they will extend these train lines, and there is a 3x4 grid of twelve track cards to be built. Tracks can also have features that add to each train line score. Train tickets can be added to the railway lines with specific score conditions. Routes can cross villages, fields, pastures, forests, and lakes. Scoring conditions may be based on the types of terrains, features, train line sizes and other factors.

At each turn, players draft cards from the Track and Trip markets. Cards further away from the Railway and Trips Deck have no additional charge. For all other cards, players must place £1 on each card further away from the Deck until the one they are “buying”. Replenish the markets by drawing new cards and adding them close to the Deck. Slide all other cards before doing so. There should always be seven Track cards and Four Trip cards available in the markets. If a player take a card with coins over it, they also take those coins for themselves.

Tracks must be taken and built on players’ Tableau; Trips may be taken and "planned" before or after tracks are built. Players plan a trip by spending £3 and associate it with a specific train line. If they can't afford it, they can't plan a trip!

There is a limit of two trips per railway line. Each trip has a line-ending score condition to be met. Once a train line connects the border piece to one of the edges of a player’s Tableau, that line is complete; the player score points for all Trips and Features on it and earn money by playing a Terminus card at the end of the line. Then, they draw a new Terminus card so that they always have three in their hand. The game ends after twelve rounds, when all tableaus are complete with Track cards, and the end-of-the-game score is computed. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Game Experience

Village Rails is a spiritual successor, loosely inspired by the game Village Green. However, it was created by different designers and provides a novel and thrilling experience.

Village Rails delivers Tile Placement, Set Collection, Card Drafting, Tableau Building, Pattern Matching and other game mechanics. All these mechanics are used together in a clever and unique way. It feels like I am playing a breed, or crossover, of games such as: Village Green, Century: Spice Road, Carcassone, Isle of Cats, Canvas, Akropolis, Sprawlopolis, and other excellent examples of game design excellence. There are so many unique experiences packed in one small box! What's not to like about it?

The core gameplay is very straightforward, but you must consider many things at once and make intelligent decisions. It unexpectedly has a lot of tactical depth. This game perfectly fits my definition of a "Thinky Filler"; if you have at least forty-five minutes available, be ready for a brainy match. I deeply enjoyed each time I played it, and I'm always looking forward to playing it again!

Card Drafting mechanics balance the game's Designed Uncertainty. While the markets get filled with random cards, you have plenty of agency and options when buying the Track and Ticket cards to fit your plan and needs. That one card you have been waiting for may not be currently available, yet, you still have a lot of decision power because there are always plenty of different cards in the market, and good tactical choices can turn the game odds at any moment. Player Interaction is slightly based on Take That mechanics, but I have observed that players usually focus on their Tableau rather than on how their opponents are playing. Still, everyone keeps engaged during Downtime, hoping their opponents do not take the cards they have planned to buy.

Complexity, Setup time and Downtime are all low, the rules are straightforward, and Downtime is compelling. It is the perfect gateway game to introduce new players to several mechanics widely present in games of higher complexity.

The artwork is outstanding, neatly illustrated with clear symbols and terrain types, adding a lot of value to the game's Material Involvement. Independently of their placement (up or down), the cards are cleverly designed so that the train lines always align with the tracks. The game’s Fictional Involvement and the theme of building the village rails are very well represented. However, one minor gripe is that the cards are tiny, and there is some debate that symbols should be bigger because some people complain that they find it hard to spot and identify them. The artwork may not be for everyone's tastes, but I find the game gorgeous. Component quality is more than adequate.

While the game is neat and polished, some players may play it only a few times and may not find replayability a significant element of Village Rails. However, I can see myself playing this game in the long run because every match feels unique. There are many different ways to score points; numerous potential choices to be made each turn; and various options on what to focus on and how to optimise your game. Finally, the successful combination of diverse game mechanics adds a well-deserved variety to the gameplay.

Final Thoughts

What a surprise and a fantastic puzzly tableau builder about building railway lines! It surely builds tension, and it catches your breath. Village Rails perfectly fits the “LITE abstract game with DEEP strategy” genre. Indeed, it is an incredibly intense but “small game” that packs a big punch. If you like Tile Placement, this is certainly a no-brainer for its price and size. I highly recommend it!

You might like:

• It is a very tactical but straightforward game.

• Easy to learn, but hard to master. It brings a great challenge to your table.

• A brilliant  "Thinky Filler" if you have enough time to play.

• The perfect gateway game to introduce new players to advanced game mechanics.

You might not like:

• The game tactics may be too hard to grasp for beginners.

• The artwork may not be to your taste.

• The tiny symbols may be difficult to spot and identify.

My Score: 85%

I loved the unique combination of many game mechanics that I greatly enjoyed in Village Rails. The "small package" means that I can always carry it in my backpack and be ready to play with any group of people. It may not be to everyone's taste, but it is definitely my kind of game.