It's a while since we've played Age of Steam, which is surprising as we really enjoyed the last outing. We've never played any of the expansions so I brought along the first expansion and we played the England and Wales map.

I messed this up big time on the second turn by not taking sufficient loans to see me through what I wanted to do, after which I was always playing catch up. On the other hand, Mark K was the loan king and was always ahead in terms of the amount he borrowed. He couldn't seem to make it pay though and he and I seemed to be fighting for the same routes all the time. Nige, though, started the game on the South Coast and was allowed to expand at will, constructing a very effective network into London and the South East. Our laissez-faire attitude to his expansion was fully capitalised upon as he cruised to an easy victory.

I still like Age of Steam. There is lots to think about and it is a tricky game to play well. The England & Wales map seemed to work fairly well and we were hardly likely to resist it with one of the main towns on the map being Shrewsbury.