18XX Overview:
Description by Richard Irving
These games were first developed by Francis Tresham from England and they
involve similar rules to run railroad companies from their earliest beginning
into the 20th century.
They all involve buying and selling stock in various corporations. Who ever
owns the most stock in a company is its president and during the operation
rounds may perform ALL actions on for that company: building track and
stations, running the trains, buying new trains (which can force older trains
to become obsolete), and (Most importantly) whether or not to pay dividends to
the stockholders (which raises the stock price) or retain the earnings for
future corporate investment (which lowers it).
The unique thing about this series is that each game not only has a unique map
to play but adds nuances to the rules which provide for the "flavor" of rail
building in each respective company: 1829 (England) has a rather sedate stock
market with main fight over securing right of way for building. 1830 has a
much more active and volatile stock market where new corporations can be
formed quickly and their value is lost even faster. This creates the feel for
the days of robber barons. 1835's main focus is on the formation of Prussian
National Railway which is formed by the nationalizing of 8 smaller railroads.
1829 England
(I've only played the Southern Board and only a couple of times):
- It's unique element is the "survey parties" which move around the board to
secure right of way for the company to build. This creates an interesting
battle for key locations just outside of cities.
- The stock market is very sedate. The share price never changes on sale or
purchase of stock (as it does on other games of the series). In addition
often only one company is available as each company is initially sold one
company at a time until it is sold out. This creates a sedate stock market at
least early on. After a few companies are formed, the market picks up as the
opportunities to sell stock in one company in order to form another.
- Probably the best 18XX games for more than 6 players as there are 10 companies
to choose from.
1830 NE United States
This game introduced 3 new elements in the stock round.
- Sale of stock
lowers the price (often drastically).
- The first president of a
corporation sets the initial price of the stock: set a low price - easy to
start the company by yourself, but its small initial capital may not be
enough. Set it too high, it may not start for a LONG time as you won't have
enough cash to buy up enough shares to start it.
- Any corporation may be
purchased at any time, adding a difficult choice for the players and adding
more variety in the style of play.
Pay VERY close attention to play order, both in stock round where your company
can drop quickly in value or you could be forced to take over a financially
doomed company and in the operation round where trains can quickly become
obsolete leaving you with a debt you have to pay out of your own pocket.
Basically each company has a specific character (in no particular order)
- Penn - Starts in the west. Since it starts in an isolated area, it can take
a while to build into the NY area and often has very small payoffs for a long
time. But if it can get into NY & Chicago, it can be one the strongest RR in
the game.
- B&O - Starts in Baltimore. Generally a good payoff early, but it needs to
reach NY to do well at the end. Generally started at $100 (because the effect
of the B&O private company) it often takes a while to start. It generally has
a difficult time making to NY, but really needs to.
- C&O - Starts out west. Generally builds to Chicago first to claim good early
payoffs. If it can works with Penn, it can sometimes get to NY. (But if the
Penn blocks the C&O from NY, C&O block Pen from Chicago. Can claim good
payoffs simply by staying out west.
- NYNH&H - A excellent early starter as it starts in NY and can build quickly
to Boston allowing it to use 2 large cities early. Generally limited to this
NE corridor. If it generate early dividend it holders can dominate play.
- B&M - All the bad parts of NYNH&H, with few of the good parts. It often gets
trapped and it rarely does anything except trips to NY.
- NYC - A tricky RR to play well as it has difficulty in getting into NY but
also has a hard time getting to the west. Probably should be avoided except if you
own the M&H private company which can be traded for a NYC share.
- CP - The CanPac does well if it can get to the Toronto/Buffalo area. It must
build west ASAP. A good RR to start as a second.
- ERIE - A lot of the same can be said for the Erie. If it starts relatively
late and uses its trains to make a lot of money in the Toronto/Buffalo area it
can do quite well.
1835 Germany
1835's main strategic variable is how to handle the formation of the Prussian
RR. Since the minor companies that form most of it are usually split on the
start, it actually has less impact over what it normally might. Generally it
is very difficult to acquire more than 35% of the Prussian. So even though it
generates a good income and has plenty of trains and stations. It tends to
get split. Only buy the Prussian shares if you already have minor railroads
(at least worth 15% of Prussian) that combine in to it.
The stock market is similar to 1830, since sales do force the price down. But
in 1835, the price can only drop 1 level per turn (instead of 1 level per
share sold.) This makes in harder to drive a stock price down without
retaliation from the intended victim. Also a player may hold as much of a
company's stock as he wants and can buy out (at a premium) another player's
shares if he 60% of company (instead of buying/selling only from the
exchange.)
The stocks are sold in a complex ordering scheme: The Bayern & Saxon are sold
first generally have the highest stock values at the end and generally
dominate their area. The Baden, Werttemburg & Hessian generally finish with
the same amount and generally fight each other over the western part of
Germany. They are all very similar, with a slight edge to the Baden as it
opens first. The last 2 majors (not counting the Prussian) are the Oldenburg
& Mecklenburg. Both of these are difficult to develop and are generally only
used late in the game as an aid to one of the RR's. The Oldenburg is probably
better for this purpose.
by Richard Irving
Additional Note from Andy Lange:
The described relative values
of the different railroads (both 1830 and 1835) are somewhat subjective,
and each gaming group (usually) has its own opinions about
which are better. These opinions are almost always of the
'self-fulfilling' variety, as a RR that everybody is convinced will do well
starts early, is well-funded, and (not surprisingly) does well; while those
that are perceived as 'losers' tend to start late and not do as well due to
under-capizalization, etc. Plus, different early strategies can make huge
differences in how the board looks in the mid- and late-game stages,
seriously affecting the relative values of the RRs.
