First Class: All Aboard the Orient Express!

Board Game Geek Reviews

1. 6 out of 10

   BennyD

   11/16: Surprisingly entertaining. The modules seem like they could give a lot of replay value to a group that got into the game. It still has all of the things I dislike about Russian Railroads, but in a more elegant package. More fleshed out: I was pleasantly surprised by this. I don't like Russian Railroads, but First Class has a couple of things that raise it in my estimation: 1. It's at least half as long. I don't find engine building to be particularly interesting, but First Class's arc is more compact, amplifying the effects of decisions. 2. The variability of the decks. While I haven't played them, the built-in "expansions" seem to do more than just shake up previous strategy evaluations. It looks like they create entirely new areas of play and strategies. When the majority of interaction between players is in the drafting of cards, it's nice that the cards have built-in replay value.

2. 8 out of 10

   ajewo

   First Class is the a more streamlined, accessible spiritual successor of the engine building game Russian Railroads by the same designer Helmut Ohley. Instead of worker placement, First Class makes use of card drafting. Each turn, a player simply drafts a card and places it. [b]What makes it special?[/b] * Card drafting from a common market in which cards are distributed in 3 rows. A row is discarded when a certain number of cards have been picked in that row. * Building own tracks and moving over them [b]Pros:[/b] + Artwork is good (Michael Menzel) + Theme (building tracks and trains, but more about strategy than telling a story) + Components (wooden tokens, cards) + Many paths to victory that provide options: focus on train building, line building, or collecting coins. Each path unlocks various bonus actions and victory points. + Train building: each player can build two separate trains with cards. Each train scores victory points by advancing a conductor meeple. Players upgrade train cards and add celebrities/passengers/luggage to increase victory points (engine building). Players also unlock bonus cards if a train gets longer (race for the engine bonus) + Line building: advance train token on a separate line that provides bonus actions during scoring. The line can be extended and customized by adding drafted cards (engine building) + Coin management: public objectives can be picked by spending 4 coins. 1 coin can also be exchanged with 1 victory point. Players can collect coins and consecutively fill up the 3 columns on their player board. If a player takes a coin from his board, he activates a special associated action which can create nice combos. + Card drafting: a lot of cards are available (distributed in 3 rows) but players can only draft a limited number of them which requires a lot of decision making + Drafting a certain number of cards from a row will erase the row from the market (denial play and race) + The "first player" card can be drafted from the market. It provides different boni to most players depending on the new player order + Contract cards are also drafted from the market and provide short-term goals that provide various boni on fulfillment + Instead of playing a card, it can be discarded to upgrade a train card (flexibility when there is no good card left in the market) + Each player has a secret objective card for end game scoring + [-]3[/-] 2 of 5 decks (modules) are used each game (modular, 10 potential combinations, variability) + Scales well with all player counts + Quick playing time: turns play fast and smooth (small downtime: just draft a card and resolve it) + Nice plastic box inlay + Well written rules + Easy to teach [b]Neutrals:[/b] # A lot of iconography (requires some learning) # Language independent # No hidden information (except for secret objective cards) # Luck of the draw (drawn cards and card distribution in market rows) # Player interaction by card drafting and denial # Three era decks, if one runs out, there is a midterm scoring # Requires plenty of table space (player boards plus train lines, the card market, scoring board, objective cards) [b]Cons:[/b] - Murder deck (module C) is an interesting idea by introducing secret roles with token management (have to collect and getting rid of them). However, these evidence tokens add some randomness (luck) to the game. There is no real deduction "Who is the murderer?" - the player who collected the most fingerprints is out of the game (a kind of end-game "player elimination"). [thanks to Nate Dorward] - Set-up and tear-down takes a while (sorting cards) [b]Thoughts:[/b] First Class plays really smooth and provides a lot of satisfying fun in such a short time. The modular system ensures enough variability and high potential for future expansions. The card drafting is the heart of the game and constantly creates new interesting decisions - I like it more than the worker placement in Russian Railroads. First Class is an excellent game, but I still like Russian Railroads better because the Russians are tougher, heavier, and escalate more, even though some turns feel scripted. [b]Similar games:[/b] * Russian Railroads (similar mechanics, worker placement instead of card drafting, engine builder, greater escalation, tracks on player boards instead built by cards, more complex, longer playing time)

3. 7.5 out of 10

   BadMadDog

   Good game, it plays faster than expected. The ideia of using diferent modules each game is very interesting, still have to try them all.