The Gaming Moguls

Episode 68: In Training Host: Mark Teskey  ·  Guest: Martin Fowler The Gaming Moguls return with Martin Fowler for an all-trains follow-up to last episode. We tackle the age-old debate of what is and isn't a train game, working through the three classic families (18xx, Age of Steam, and cube rails) and a long list of boundary cases. Like usual, we recap the recent train games we've been playing, including 18 Royal Gorge, 1890 Osaka, Stellar Ventures, Chicago & North Western, Railway Boom, and Imperial Steam. Chapters • 00:00 — Intro • 01:08 — What is a train game? • 04:20 — The three families: 18xx, Age of Steam, Cube Rails • 06:08 — Boundary case: Ticket to Ride • 15:18 — TransAmerica • 18:19 — Union Pacific & Acquire • 20:56 — Stephenson's Rocket • 21:27 — Amabel Holland's Gauge series: Ride the Rails, Irish Gauge, Iberian Gauge, Dual Gauge • 22:39 — Brass: Birmingham (and a Brass: Pittsburgh tease) • 26:31 — The Grand Trunk Journey • 28:35 — Russian Railroads • 29:21 — Indonesia (3rd Edition) • 33:12 — 18 Royal Gorge • 40:42 — 1890 Osaka • 44:00 — Stellar Ventures • 48:28 — Chicago & North Western • 55:43 — Steam Power • 56:00 — Railway Boom • 1:01:54 — Imperial Steam • 1:09:30 — Wrap-up Also mentioned 1830: Railways & Robber Barons  ·  Age of Steam  ·  Northern Pacific  ·  Baltimore & Ohio  ·  TransAmerica & Japan  ·  Brass: Lancashire  ·  Container  ·  Great Western Trail  ·  Shikoku 1889  ·  Wabash Cannonball / Chicago Express  ·  Age of Rail: South Africa  ·  Yokohama  ·  Across the United States  ·  Metro X  ·  Tzolk'in  ·  The Voyages of Marco Polo  ·  Grand Austria Hotel  ·  Barrage  ·  Food Chain Magnate  ·  Greed Incorporated  ·  Lisboa  ·  1849  ·  1848  ·  Mini Rails Connect Gaming Moguls BGG guild #3431  ·  @gamingmoguls on Twitter and Instagram  ·  [email protected]  ·  [email protected]

The Gaming Moguls return with special guest Martin Fowler. We talk about our Games of the Year (GOTY) and our Designers of the Year. Like usual, we recap the great games we've been playing recently and recap our major gaming events of 2025.

Mark, Sobhi and special guest Nick from Talking Cardboard engage in a lot of wishful thinking about what we want to play at Gaming Moguls Summer Muster 2024. As you could predict, Mark wants to play a lot of Euros, Nick wants to play a lot of Wargames, and Sobhi doesn't dare as long as there are trains.

Mark and Sobhi have a big announcement - MogulsCon 2.0 August 16-18 in Hopkins, MN! We also review games we've played and talk about three different space operas - two of which involve a dying sun or planet. We also talk about a couple of our favorite recent 18xx plays and rare Japanese trick-takers.

Sobhi and Mark head off for the First Minnesota Muster - a weekend of heavy games, war games and train games and live to tell the tale.. but not all the games could say as much. We also discuss a new favorite of the group - Praga Caput Regni. Finally - we introduce a new recurring segment called "What Makes This Game Great" - in which we write a love letter to Brass.