- BGG rank
- BGG #12,918
- BGG rating
- 6.2
Asgard's Chosen
- 1–4 players
- 90 min
- Complexity 3.2/5
- 2013
- BGG rank
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- BGG rating
- 6.3
Spectral Rails
2011
Rules assistance for Spectral Rails
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 3–4 players
- 60 min
- 12+
- Complexity 2.5/5
For 3 players
Rules assistant for Spectral Rails
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Spectral Rails is a board game released in 2011 for 3–4 players, 60 minutes per game, and ages 12 and up. It was designed by Morgan Dontanville and its main mechanics are Hand Management, Auction / Bidding, and Pick-up and Deliver.
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About the game
For years prospectors, speculators, and frontier folk flocked to remote areas of the American Southwest in search of their fortunes. Makeshift towns cropped up around rich mines of copper, silver, gold and other precious commodities, only to fade away as the resources ran out. Now only ghost towns are left as testament to the community that once lived there. While the lucky ones made their fortunes; most folks barely scratched out a meager existence in these harsh and lonely towns. Some died lonely deaths in these places far from home, and now their souls wander around these ghost towns haunting them until the day when their soul can return home to achieve final peace. The ghost trains are these lost souls’ ticket to rest. These spectral trains glide majestically along ethereal rails looking for lost souls and give them passage homeward. You are the engineer of a ghost train. Your job is to find lost souls in various ghost towns and deliver them to their home towns so that they can achieve final peace Players are Engineers of Ghost Trains traveling through the American Southwest. Each player uses their standard set of Ether cards (1-4) to move, picking up souls and delivering them to Ghost Towns. As you move, you expend Ether to lay track behind. Other players can move along on your Ether track for free, but you may never travel along your own Ether. As you lay down more track, your old Ether disperses -- you can pull up your track to clear the way for yourself or to leave someone in the lurch. A portion of the game revolves around managing your discard pile, as you only get half of your ether cards back each turn. But most of the game comes down to proper planning along with timing your movement to take advantage of what other people have left you, while trying to disallow easy passage for others.
Categories
Designers
Publishers
- Z-Man Games
- Cafe Games
Questions and answers
Spectral Rails supports 3–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Spectral Rails is 60 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Spectral Rails for ages 12 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Spectral Rails has a complexity rating of 2.5 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Spectral Rails belongs to these categories: Horror, American West, and Trains. Its main mechanics are Hand Management, Auction / Bidding, and Pick-up and Deliver. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Spectral Rails are: Morgan Dontanville. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Spectral Rails as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.