Tabletop_Gaming__April_2019

tabletopgaming.co.uk 71

While the randomness of rolling

dice and drawing gears is deftly

balanced in the rules – two unwanted

resources can be converted to any one

alternate and saved for future turns,

and gears must be drawn together

and can only be used once per turn

for a gear link or factory development

• City of Gears can still occasionally
  fall prey to the luck of the draw. e
  blunt conclusion means that a lucky
  scoring bonus drawn in the last few
  turns can suddenly swing the game
  in a player’s favour, while the limited
  number of resources still makes du
  rolls frustrating to a degree.
  ese small and shared frustrations
  pale in light of the game’s well-
  considered mixture of points-
  gathering and player interaction,
  leaving the cardboard machinery
  running smoothly with nary a hitch.
  It’s wrapped up in an impressive
  presentation that provides the
  pleasure of plonking the chunky
  plastic gears into star-shaped
  holes along the edges of the tiles to
  link them together – although the
  iconography used to denote certain
  development eects could be clearer
  at points.
  City of Gears is a well-oiled
  machine built with dependable parts.
  It might not feel like the freshest
  experience on the tabletop, but
  there’s a certain charm to its sheer
  reliability as an enjoyable, if not
  outstanding, hour of gaming.
  MATT JARVIS

F

or a game that looks and runs

like clockwork, City of Gears has

plenty of electrical spark running

through it.

Behind its steampunk appearance

is a tting mechanical meshing of

gameplay. ere’s the management

of resources as players roll dice to

gather steam, gears and electrical

charges. Gears can be spent to

connect up the central nine-by-

nine grid of city tiles (randomly

placed during setup and revealed as

they’re explored), creating bridges

for meeple-like workers – powered

by steam or more potent electricity

• to travel along and extend their
  owner’s network of tiles. e gear
  links double as a way of activating
  ability combos on connected tiles
  when resources trigger one location’s
  ability, granting the chance to
  reap bonus resources and victory
  points along a well-constructed
  web. Gears also feature an optional
  ‘development’ ability that can instead
  added to a factory, building up an
  array of bonus actions and scoring
  opportunities that gently expand the
  initially simple loop.
  What begins as a relatively docile
  expansion out of your factory quickly
  becomes a scrappy tussle for control
  of each city tile. e robotic workers
  can zap rival automatons into a pile

of scrap, sending them back to the

factory and forcing them to traverse

the board once again. Zaps can also

be spent to destroy the gear links

connecting tiles, cutting o rivals’

valuable networks. With workers and

gear links determining ownership

over tiles – and their victory points – at

the end of the game, City of Gears’

latter half can be surprisingly blood–

erm, oilthirsty. Luckily, getting zapped

isn’t a game-ending setback, so the

heated competition never feels cruel.

e comfortable combination of

spending dice results, expanding

your presence on the grid and

activating tiles zips along surprisingly

quickly – playing on the standard

board (a low-conict option for

bigger groups is included), the

endgame can come around before

you know it. e random nature of

the sudden nish – which is triggered

by pulling three white gears from

the bag, and immediately ends the

game – can be a bit jarring, especially

as multiple (or even all three) white

gears can be pulled on the same

player’s turn, leaving little chance

to react or make good on certain

scoring requirements.

Clockwork, not hard work

City of Gears

TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED... LORDS OF WATERDEEP

Supposedly an inspiration for the dice-rolling steampunk game, this

Dungeons & Dragons spin-off remains a reliable strategy hit years later.

PLAY IT? PROBABLY

City of Gears is as solid as they

come, combining conventional

route-building and scoring with a

surprisingly heated level of player

interaction towards its slightly jarring

end. Like its clockwork visuals, it’s an

experience you can count on to run

dependably, even if there are more

modern-feeling successors out there.

WHAT’S IN

THE BOX?

◗ 16 production dice

◗ 24 automaton

worker pawns

◗ 80 ownership markers

◗ 36 resource tokens

◗ 30 movement tokens

◗ Four converter

development cogs

◗ 40 standard cogs

◗ Four opening day cogs

◗ Gear bag

◗ 18 city tile boards

◗ Four factory

player boards

◗ 60 prestige markers

◗ Nine discovery tokens

45m 2-4 8+ £55

WHAT’S IN