Review
18Chesapeake
18Chesapeake is a lighter 18XX without sacrificing the genre’s necessary disasters. A wildly speculative opening with privates and starting companies made that especially clear.
- Published
- 2018
- Designer
- Scott Petersen
- Publisher
- All-Aboard Games, Game Harbor
- Players
- 2–6
- Playing time
- 180 min
I finally got 18Chesapeake to the table. It is noticeably simpler than the 18XX games we usually play, but it is still a proper meal: share crashes, company funerals, stations closing vital routes, and a running time that earns its place.
Its structure is familiar 18XX territory: privates and starting companies shape the opening, and those early choices write the first chapter of the game. The interesting decision is how much you commit to that initial position, and how much room you leave for the others to build on your mistakes.
The interesting decision is how much you commit to that initial position, and how much room you leave for the others to build on your mistakes.
TheTrainSpotter
After that, the interaction is not ornamental. You block with stations, watch companies crash or die, and discover that a poor start is a public problem spread across the map. We treated the privates and starting companies with complete YOLO confidence, so the opening became a kingdom of the one-eyed.
I would certainly play it once more, this time to see what a more competent opening with companies and privates looks like. Probably no further than that, but 18Chesapeake does its job cleanly: a less weighty 18XX that still lets the trains, and the people running them, do real damage.
Probably no further than that, but 18Chesapeake does its job cleanly: a less weighty 18XX that still lets the trains, and the people running them, do real damage.
TheTrainSpotter
Source: BoardGameGeek
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