The Gallerist and Lisboa designer brings the Railways of Portugal to Railways of the World in new expansion

Portuguese designer Vital Lacerda is bringing his home nation to much-loved train game Railways of the World in the form of a new expansion.

Railways of Portugal is up on Kickstarter now – where it’s already been funded three times over at the time of writing – and introduces a portrait game board that includes cities spread across the coastal mainland of the European country as well as routes to the island regions of Madeira and the Açores. Reuniting with Lacerda for the box artwork is Ian O’Toole, illustrator of Lacerda’s The Gallerist, Lisboa, Vinhos and more.

It’s more than just an alternative map in the expansion, though. The gameplay of Railways of the World has been tweaked to suit the region, with the off-shore islands gathering goods as the game progresses but needing increasing amounts of money to access, and black cities only appearing on the map through urbanisation and once the Industrial Age has begun.

There’s also a deck of new operations cards and concepts, the replacement of baron cards by goal cards and major train lines with intermediate connections between them.

Overall, the board is a tighter-knit jostle for space than other Railways of the World maps, with the designer suggesting a greater likelihood of player interation and competition.

Of course, as an expansion rather than a standalone game, you’ll need a copy of Railways of the World of Railways of Nippon – the Japan-set spin-off that we recommended as the perfect entry point to the series for newcomers and smaller groups – to use Railways of Portugal.

While Railways of Portugal is due to pull into shops after its stop on Kickstarter, the crowdfunding campaign includes a free three-card promo pack with Government Subsidy and State Treasury Shares cards that will be given to backers. The campaign runs until January 21st.