Private jobs
Each card lists start and destination, size of the transport – from two to six units of wares – and the maximal profit. Each player receives three of these cards, after he has put his truck on the starting space. These are his very own job orders and he must fulfil them. The gameplay is rather easy to manage. With multiple die rolls the haulier drives his truck to the starting point, revealing his job/transport orders he loads his truck and starts the trek to his destination. As soon as he reaches it he receives his cash from the bank. On certain spaces you have to draw action cards, which may disturb the journey quite heavily. The roadwork sign is also quite annoying. It is moved with each roll of "1" and it blocks roads, so that the trucks have to make detours.

Gambling for the public job offers
Of course there are also jobs offered by the state. Four of them are always placed face up on the gameboard. The design of the gameboard is quite abstract and not fancy at all, but this helps in keeping an overall view of the situation. If a haulier reaches a city he may try to get one of this jobs, which should fit into his transportation concept. This is not so easy, however. Now the players are gambling for the job – in a kind of bidding contest. The cards show five different sums, which you can bid for receiving the job. For easy reference each bid also lists the remaining net profit if you successfully complete the job. If it is your turn you have to make an offer and the other players can try to outbid you. If your bid is accepted you have to pay immediately. You must have enough cash on hand, it is not possible to pay on credit, as it is usual in the real world of cargo transportation. You are of course lucky if the other players are not trying to outbid you, since the job does not fit in their route planning. In such a case you get the job for free and you can cash in the full fee offered as soon as you complete it.

Truck-trailers from the bank
It might happen that a public job offer would nicely fit into your plans, but your cargo space is already used up. In this case you are allowed to buy trailers from the bank. These trailers have space for four or six units of cargo and cost 2.000 or 3.000 cash respectively.
If you have already used up your starting cash of 5.000 for getting jobs or paying fees and are tight on money you might still get a trailer. The price, however, is step. A credit for buying a trailer costs 100% in surcharges. Nevertheless, the trailers are in most cases a good deal. Especially if you buy them later in the game. They remain in the game (and therefore in the hands of the haulier) till the very end and increase the space for disposition remarkably. This is especially true, if you manage to buy more of them at once.
How long this exciting game, revolving around logistics, trucks and cash, takes, depends on the skill of the players and on the number of jobs used in the game. If at least one player has done all his private jobs and all public jobs have also been used up the game is over and the haulier with the largest profit is the winner.

Two versions
In addition to the standard rules, you can play the game with a simplified rules set, which is easily managed by children of age 8 and up. In this version there are no trailers – limiting the carrying capacity of a truck to six units of cargo. Furthermore the public jobs are not auctioned but can be bought simply if you reach the proper destination. The starting cash is limited to 2000. Both versions of "Auf Achse" convince with clear and simple rules that result in an exciting and diverting game. In each game the routes differ, the action cards with traffic jams, fees and diversions affect different players and the luck of the die is with another "King of the Road". Thus "Auf Achse" does not get boring easily. To win the game does, however, not depend on pure and blind luck, but rather on a clever plan and decisive actions.

(Hans Christian Winters)