Uploaded March 2019 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
GAME 1 MAP CONFIG: Yellow-Aqua-Purple
GAME 2 MAP CONFIG: Red-Yellow-Aqua
Enjoy a double feature of 2ers on the rarely-seen Baden map!
As i mentioned in previous Baden videos, the turn-order rules make 04 much better and 03 much worse. You'll even see Shiang buy 05 instead of 03 in one of these games, as he feels the first city isn't especially strong on the 2nd config. i'd actually argue 05 might be better than 03 for the first config as well...
The first game is a textbook example of how to play 04 & 03 on this map. The 03 player needs to pay a lot for the 05, while the 04 player should pass on plants after giving up 05 and stay at 1 city. 04's money advantage gives it the ability to make these long-term plays for turn order, which isn't really an option for 03.
Also tend to prefer 08 over 10 or even 13 when both players have 2 cities; i value turn order a lot in the early game, and you shouldn't need to run 08 for more than a couple turns.
The first game was one of those occasional 2ers where the 20 makes a big difference. The early plants sucked so much that being able to run 20 + 13 right away was huge money. It meant Shiang got 25 at cost afterward, but i got 21 at cost that same turn so that didn't hurt too badly. Was able to bid 26 up to a good price for Shiang, then opted for 18 over 28. That may seem like a strange play with uranium so cheap, but i wanted to keep running my fossil-fuel plants as much as possible since Shiang was so dependent on fossils as well.
Step 3 in the first game presented an interesting conundrum with 39 vs. 38. 39 made a bit more money per turn overall, but 38 meant that i wouldn't need a 6-capacity plant to close it out. That held a lot more value for me than for Shiang since my base capacity was 1 below his, so i was content to give up 39 near $50. Didn't work out great for me since 50 came on the next turn, but the deck was full of lower-cap plants so i have no regrets. Good process, kinda bad result. Not bad enough to cost me the win though!
The second game was one that i feel i played well for the most part, but made a couple debatable bids that cost me. The first one was bidding for the 28 when i already had the 11. Was well ahead at this point, but the plant on deck (30) was terrible then and there were many lower-numbered duds. That ended up giving Shiang a 25 drop out of nowhere! Since 18 was also on the market, i guess it was probably better to give Shiang 28 and just grab that green if nothing good came.
The other one was toward the end of the game, when i outbid Shiang on the 31. Coal was fairly cheap then, and i needed at least a 6-cap plant that turn to have any chance of winning. Unfortunately 50 dropped for Shiang, and that sealed it for him.
...Except it almost didn't. On the last turn i opted to pass on plants since i couldn't end the game yet and my existing plants made good money. This gave Shiang an opening to buy a cheap plant and end the game then, but he chose the 20 instead of the 27. i bought a bunch of coal in the hopes of stopping him from ending, but he barely made it. Had i bought 2 more coal that turn, he couldn't have ended and i would've won on the following turn with 36 or an even better 7-cap plant. =( The lesson here: always play to your outs!
If you'd like to learn more about Power Grid, please check my blog for strategy articles on each power plant as well as a guide to 2-player games:
maninmotiongoingnowhere.wordpress.com/power-grid-strategy-individual-plant-articles
If you want to step up your game even further and set up BSW or Tabletop Simulator games with us, come join our Power Grid Discord server:
discordapp.com/invite/pSq9qp9
GAME 1 MAP CONFIG: Yellow-Aqua-Purple
GAME 2 MAP CONFIG: Red-Yellow-Aqua
Enjoy a double feature of 2ers on the rarely-seen Baden map!
As i mentioned in previous Baden videos, the turn-order rules make 04 much better and 03 much worse. You'll even see Shiang buy 05 instead of 03 in one of these games, as he feels the first city isn't especially strong on the 2nd config. i'd actually argue 05 might be better than 03 for the first config as well...
The first game is a textbook example of how to play 04 & 03 on this map. The 03 player needs to pay a lot for the 05, while the 04 player should pass on plants after giving up 05 and stay at 1 city. 04's money advantage gives it the ability to make these long-term plays for turn order, which isn't really an option for 03.
Also tend to prefer 08 over 10 or even 13 when both players have 2 cities; i value turn order a lot in the early game, and you shouldn't need to run 08 for more than a couple turns.
The first game was one of those occasional 2ers where the 20 makes a big difference. The early plants sucked so much that being able to run 20 + 13 right away was huge money. It meant Shiang got 25 at cost afterward, but i got 21 at cost that same turn so that didn't hurt too badly. Was able to bid 26 up to a good price for Shiang, then opted for 18 over 28. That may seem like a strange play with uranium so cheap, but i wanted to keep running my fossil-fuel plants as much as possible since Shiang was so dependent on fossils as well.
Step 3 in the first game presented an interesting conundrum with 39 vs. 38. 39 made a bit more money per turn overall, but 38 meant that i wouldn't need a 6-capacity plant to close it out. That held a lot more value for me than for Shiang since my base capacity was 1 below his, so i was content to give up 39 near $50. Didn't work out great for me since 50 came on the next turn, but the deck was full of lower-cap plants so i have no regrets. Good process, kinda bad result. Not bad enough to cost me the win though!
The second game was one that i feel i played well for the most part, but made a couple debatable bids that cost me. The first one was bidding for the 28 when i already had the 11. Was well ahead at this point, but the plant on deck (30) was terrible then and there were many lower-numbered duds. That ended up giving Shiang a 25 drop out of nowhere! Since 18 was also on the market, i guess it was probably better to give Shiang 28 and just grab that green if nothing good came.
The other one was toward the end of the game, when i outbid Shiang on the 31. Coal was fairly cheap then, and i needed at least a 6-cap plant that turn to have any chance of winning. Unfortunately 50 dropped for Shiang, and that sealed it for him.
...Except it almost didn't. On the last turn i opted to pass on plants since i couldn't end the game yet and my existing plants made good money. This gave Shiang an opening to buy a cheap plant and end the game then, but he chose the 20 instead of the 27. i bought a bunch of coal in the hopes of stopping him from ending, but he barely made it. Had i bought 2 more coal that turn, he couldn't have ended and i would've won on the following turn with 36 or an even better 7-cap plant. =( The lesson here: always play to your outs!
If you'd like to learn more about Power Grid, please check my blog for strategy articles on each power plant as well as a guide to 2-player games:
maninmotiongoingnowhere.wordpress.com/power-grid-strategy-individual-plant-articles
If you want to step up your game even further and set up BSW or Tabletop Simulator games with us, come join our Power Grid Discord server:
discordapp.com/invite/pSq9qp9
