Route/Network Building

In 2001, 2F-Spiele published the original Funkenschlag.

In 2011, it is time to look back...a long time back! To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the original Funkenschlag, designer Friedemann Friese will take you back in time and let you relive the early beginnings of mankind. True to the name of the German edition (a literal translation of which is "Flying Sparks"), it is time for Funkenschlag: Die ersten Funken, or "The First Sparks".

The First Sparks transports the Funkenschlag mechanisms into the Stone Age. The order of phases during a game round, the player order, the technology cards: you know all these parts from “Funkenschlag”. But what is new? What is different?

The First Sparks is much faster and far more direct. You are immediately part of the action. Each turn, each decision is important. As a clan leader you decide on the well-being of your clan during the Stone Age. You need to develop new hunting technologies and get new knowledge - to successfully hunt food or to learn to control fire. With the help of these skills, you will harvest enough food to feed your clan and spread it far enough to reach new hunting areas.

In a game of The First Sparks you are always confronted with many decisions: Which technology cards offer you the biggest advantages? When is the right time to spread your clan on the game board? Which hunting areas will grant the most food? Reaching new hunting areas or trying to secure parts of the game board for your own clan are important factors for your strategy. Empty spaces are cheaper for you to settle compared to spaces in which other clans are already settled. If you are the first to increase your clan size to 13 clan members, you win The First Sparks.

Take your Age of Steam experience to the next dimension! Age of Steam: Time Traveler Expansion comes with several new maps that represent not only different locations, but also different times as well, and adds an exciting twist as players travel from one map to another using time portals. Rather than the usual board with one single large map, the game features multiple considerably smaller maps, each representing a different era of time, and together make up the game board. In addition to building routes within a particular smaller map, players will be able to `travel' from one map in time to another map.

Game-play and theme is similar to that of Railways Through Time, the forthcoming expansion for Railways of the World.

Players place track and cities, create routes, and deliver goods. Bonuses are awarded to players who deliver multiple types of goods. This game requires careful management of steam to move your train as well as hand management to thwart other players as well as enable your own route.

500 copies manufactured for Essen 2008.

Days of Steam is #5 in the Valley Games Modern Line

Martin Wallace's streamlined redesign of Brass.

Players are tycoons in the early days of the Industrial Revolution; a time when traditional craftsman were being rapidly replaced with steam-powered machines. Players invest in the production of raw materials, the manufacture of goods, and the transportation networks needed to connect them to their markets.

Like Brass, the strategic space is vast, and player decisions are limited by cards. In Age of Industry, however, cards are color-coded to regions rather than specific cities, allowing the players to be more flexible with their plans, while at the same time continuing to limit the decisions available. The color-coded region cards will also support expansion maps.

In addition, the original Brass rules were simplified by eliminating the canal period; there is only one period, the railway era. There is also a new, non-specific industry, which will change with each map.

According to Wallace, "You can now play something with the depth of Brass, but in half the time. The game will have a double-sided map, with Germany on one side and southern New England on the other."

Two new maps for Power Grid. This is an expansion pack, so you will need the Power Grid game to play with it. As with the original, the board has a different map on each side: France and Italy. Along with the maps are small rule changes to reflect the power culture in these two countries. France, a land that has embraced nuclear power, has an earlier start with atomic plants and more uranium available. Italy has more waste, but fewer coal and oil resources. The result is not just new maps, but new ways to play this great game!

Expands:

Power Grid

Online Play

BrettspielWelt (real-time)