This is Eagles Games 3rd conversion of a PC software game to the board genre. This time the mighty Railroad Tycoon gets the treatment. The most successful railroad board game of all time is Age of Steam (AoS) and fans of that series should not act too superior as this game is created in part by the designer of AoS and in many respects Tycoon is better. Ooh ah, controversial I know!
In Tycoon, each player takes the role of a budding railroad baron in the earliest days of rail expansion across the US. The aim is to build the most efficient rail network in order to deliver goods to cities. The game begins with goods of various colours being placed on each city. The large centres will have multiple goods whilst the towns will have 1 good only - all goods are drawn randomly. Key cities in the game are coloured and this denotes the type of good that city demands. Smaller towns are grey and no goods can be delivered to them. The players must aim to link 2 cities in order to deliver goods. A green good in 1 city must be transported via rail to a green city in order to deliver that green good. A direct connection between 2 cities is called a link. However a good may reach a destination city by travelling through numerous cities on its journey. Each city that it passes through is referred to as a link and each link earns 1 victory point. This is the heart of 'Tycoon'.
Each player starts with no funds but they can issue shares at any point in their turn to cover costs. Each share will raise $5,000 in capital but at the end of each round $1,000 per share must be paid in interest. A player must be careful to not issue to many shares or risk their costs blowing out. On each turn a player can build track, urbanize smaller towns, improve their engines, deliver a good or take an operation card.
Building track is essential and the costs increase as more difficult terrain is encountered. Engines must be upgraded to enable goods to travel through multiple links in a single delivery (good can only travel through 1 link at the start of the game). Players can urbanize the smaller towns by drawing a new city tile and overlaying the old town hex. The new city has a colour designation so it can now be a destination for goods.
The Operation cards are vital and help separate Tycoon from AoS and other train games. Each round allows a player to take any 1 of the face-up cards and they can offer an immediate benefit, bestow victory points for completing small links or provide a more encompassing goal that whilst difficult will pay off if completed. Added to this, each player starts the game with a Tycoon card that outlines a major goal to achieve by games end. If completed the awards are enormous. The combination of Tycoon and Operation cards will direct and change a player's strategy down certain paths. This ensures that each game is challenging and unique.

Tycoon is just too big a game to review in one page. This game looks brilliant, plays fantastic and will appeal to new and experienced gamers alike. The components are of the highest quality and the board will be too big for the average dinner table! In short this game is on an Epic scale and will excite many people!