Kings of Air and Steam was a Kickstarter game but is now in general distribution, the quality starts with the box itself which has great artwork and feels well made. The components are also of high quality and the artwork throughout is of a high standard.
The rules are split into a basic game, there to teach you the core mechanics, and a more advanced game which adds to the basic game to enhance the gameplay. The player boards are two-sided to reflect these differing versions, though so far I have only played the basic game in order to get a feel of how this plays.
I really enjoyed this and it has a lot of potential especially with the ability to factor in the more advanced gameplay. The board itself is modular, made up of various large hexes, the number laid out depends on the number of players. The game can play with up to 7, though I suspect the sweet spot will be around 3-5. The basic idea is that players use their Airships to pick up and drop goods to their depots from which they use trains to then transport the goods to Cities demanding these. During the game you get the option to upgrade your Airship, which allows for using better movement cards and carrying more goods, or to upgrade your train, which allows you to transport goods over more stops. Money is used to upgrade and is obtained by shipping good, the value of which is determined by the market which is updated every turn.
Great fun and even though this is not a short game, as it was the only game we played that evening, there is little downtime so it does not feel like it drags. There is plenty of player interaction as you have to pre-plan your moves for the whole turn, meaning that sometimes you have to alter you actions as another player beats you to your destination. Excellent game and will certainly see more table time in the future.
