This article originally appeared in Pyramid #21

Pyramid Pick

Air Baron

Published by Avalon Hill
Designed by Evan Davis
$35.00

From the first time I heard Avalon Hill was going to put out a game called Air Baron, I was excited; I mean, Rail Baron is one of my favorite boardgames ever. And by calling the new game Air Baron, Avalon Hill is clearly hoping that fans of the rail classic will give this one a try.

But a marketing ploy like that can be two-edged; by invoking the spirit of Rail Baron, they've invited (nay, demanded) a comparison between the two games. And that's going to be hard to do, because Air Baron is nothing like Rail Baron at all. Other than the objective — make money — and the general theme of transportation, the two games have very little in common. Given the vast differences between the two games, I find Avalon Hill's decision to imply that they are similar by giving Air Baron a similar title to be a bit on the sneaky side.

But that's the last bad thing I'm going to say in this review, because the truth is that Air Baron is a fine game, every bit as good in its own way as the classic Rail Baron.

Each Air Baron player builds up an airline from scratch, buying spokes (smaller market cities, like Omaha, Buffalo and Austin) which feed into hubs (major cities, like New York, Miami, Chicago and Denver). Own enough of the spokes that feed into a particular hub, and you gain Dominance; own them all, you get Control. A counter representing each hub and each owned spoke goes into a cup, and at the beginning . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.



Article publication date: September 1, 1996

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