Giugno 2009: omaggio ai ….”trenisti”….

1830 ? stato uno dei miei titoli pi? gettonati nei lontani anni ’80; credo di averlo giocato fra i primi, in Italia, con Manlio M. ?durante una ModCon, poi presentato e “insegnato” ad alcuni attuali soci ora superappassionati del sistema!

Come gi? anticipato, questo articolo ? un omaggio ad alcuni soci ed amici?che amano tale sistema ferroviario/azionario; spero che loro stessi integreranno con dovizia di particolari queste righe, grazie alla loro grande esperienza sui vari giochi presentati!

Prima di continuare la lettura dei vari articoli, invito a visitare la pagina di boardgamegeek che elenca le simulzioni e altro pubblicate ad oggi: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/18xx

Irrinunciabile, poi, una visita al sito http://www.pbemitalia.it/figf/index.html, gestito da alcuni soci e amici e che tratta i giochi della serie, permettendo di giocare incredibili partite on-line!

IL SISTEMA

[This review originally appeared in The Game Report, Issue 3.4, Fall 1995. Afterwards I put it on my website and have updated it from time to time. I’ve updated this for BGG, mainly trimming extra words.– Brian]

Francis Tresham’s 1829 spawned one of the biggest and most popular genres in modern gaming — the 18xx series. Each game sets the players the goal of earning the most money by managing one (or more) train companies. For the last decade or so, only 1830 (by Avalon Hill) was available in the US. However, this has changed in the last year or two. 1835, set in Germany, was imported by Mayfair games about 2 years ago. And recently, three new games have been added to the series: 1856 (which is in Canada), 1870 (set in the MidWestern US) and 2038 (set in the asteroid belt!). 2038 is made by TimJim games, while the other two are made by Mayfair. 1835 is made by Hans im Gluck and imported by Mayfair.

For those who haven’t played 1830 (or one of the other 18xx games) before, an overview. The game is divided into two types of rounds: stock rounds and operating rounds. In the stock round, the players may (in order) buy or sell shares of the various public companies. Players may only buy one share on their turn, but may sell as many as they like. This continues until all players are satisfied with their position and pass. Then the game has one, two or three operating rounds, the exact number depending on the current point in the game.

In each operating round, each company may lay track (which is done by placing a hex on the board), claim a station (or railhead) then determine it’s income. It’s income is based on the number of stops the company can reach, which depends on the track, railheads, and number (and type) of trains the company has. After the income is determined, the company may pay dividends (to the shareholders) or put the money in the companies treasury. Paying income drives the price of the stock up, while withholding lowers the price. Finally, the company may purchase trains or small companies called private companies (which do not have turns, and are typically auctioned off at the beginning of the game). All of the company’s decisions are made by the majority shareholder. Trains are limited in number, and get better as the game goes on. However, older trains become obsolete and must be replaced. If a company has no trains, the president must typically buy a train with his personal money, which could lead to bankruptcy. The game ends when a player goes bankrupt or on the turn when the bank runs out of money. The player with the most net worth (cash plus stock value) wins.

There are more rules, but the rest vary from game to game. The main appeal of the 18xx series is that the only luck in the game is determined by seating order. Otherwise, chance plays no part (with the exception of 2038). Despite the lack of luck, the games are very different, because of the previously mentioned ‘small changes.’ Going through the games in chronological order for a synopsis review:

1830 was the game I and most of my friends started with, is easily the most brutal game of the series, and has a true feel of robber barons. Companies can be easily looted and ‘dumped’ by the president (transferring money and/or trains out of the company, then selling off shares before any of the other shareholders can. This transfers the presidency to another player, who may be forced to purchase a train with their own money). The map is small and companies can easily cut off other companies from lucrative markets (such as New York). The ‘theme’ of 1830 is brutal competition, both in the stock market and on the board.

1835 is set in Germany. Unlike the other 18xx games mentioned here, 1835 forces the players to open the companies in a set order. This, in my mind, leads to each game feeling similar. The sprawling map also means that companies aren’t in the instant competition that you find in some of the other games. The stock market, which allows for wild swings in 1830, is a bit more stable. Selling off a large percentage of the company does not drive the stock value down as much as in the other games, so there is less room for maneuvering in the marketplace. 1835 introduced the concept of “minor” railroads (who operate on the map, but do not have shares on the stock market and are instead owned wholly by one player). Typically, the person who gets more than their fair share of minor companies wins the game, because of good earnings and having more influence on the tiles on the board. In addition, 1835 takes much longer than the other games. Experienced players can play most games of the series in 3-5 hours, but 1835 takes about 5-7 hours. All of these points make 1835 my least favorite of the series. If I had to pick a theme for this game, I would have to say subtle maneuvering. Some players of the series really like the small tricks in the game; I am not one of those people.

1856, set in Canada, is a fairly forgiving game. Unlike any other game in the series, companies may take out loans. However, players start with very little cash, and companies do not get all of the cash from sales of shares when they open. 1856 is a fight to capitalize your companies. Since the companies are typically under funded, looting them (like in 1830) is much less profitable. In addition, while companies that take out loans may be on the verge of bankruptcy, these companies can choose to fold into the Canadian National Railroad, so new players always have an easy way to avoid bankruptcy. 1856 also has a plethora of companies to choose from: there are 11 companies as compared to the typical 8.

1870 is set in the Midwest, and the most recent release in the genre. The first thing I noticed is the huge sprawling board. Companies have a lot of ground to cover, but the companies are forced to interact by the ‘destination rule.’ Each company has a destination on the board. While this is also true in 1856, in 1870 the destination is very far away, usually the length of the board. While reaching a destination isn’t required, there are significant bonuses for doing so. These leads the companies into conflict as they try to reach their destination and simultaneously cut off their competitors from doing so. 1870 also has other new rules which allow presidents to ‘protect’ the stock value of their company when other players sell. This rule also changes the turn order in the stock rounds. While there is still no chance, the order can jump around the table. This makes planning much more difficult and makes dumping companies harder to plan. I have only played this game once, but it seems to be a good game.

2038 is basically an 18xx game in space. However, 2038 is significantly different from the other games in that the map changes from game to game. Players explore the asteroid belt, building the map as they go. This makes 2038 the first game of the series to have a luck factor, which some people may like and some people may not. The biggest failing of the game, in my opinions, is that the order in which the companies start up is, while not fixed, significantly controlled and that the minor companies; which I feel may have unbalanced 1835, are also here and are also a very dominant factor in the game. I’m not yet convinced that control of more minor companies is the only path to victory, but it is certainly a viable path.

I haven’t yet seen the re-release of 1829, which is supposed to have modules (much like Advanced Squad Leader) that add more and more companies and maps to the game. The basic module allows 4-5 players, and each module makes the game bigger, and allows for more players. From what I have heard of the original 1829, it was a huge game, with very little emphasis on the stock market and more emphasis on track laying. Trains had two different ‘gauges’ of track and a train of one gauge could not run on the other type of track. In addition, there are 18xx games (the exact numbers escape me) set in Italy. However, these games have a very small print run and I have not yet been willing to pay the high prices associated with ordering directly from Italy. Perhaps another reader can inform us about them.

All in all, I enjoy the 18xx series. The reviews of these new games should be taken with a grain of salt, however. Because the games have come out so fast, I have been unable to play each game more than a few times, and I’ve only played 1870 once. If you are considering getting one of these games, then I would suggest starting with 1856 or 1870. The rules for those games are well written, they are readily available (in the US anyway), and they are probably the ‘friendliest’ for the new player. Unless you are a hard core fan of the series, I would avoid 1835, and the Italian series (and 1829) may be too expensive. 2038 is a decision that depends on your tastes, I still haven’t made up my mind whether it’s a good game, but it’s definitely in the middle of the pack. Anyway, if you like business games or stock games, you should definitely try to play one of the most played series of games in the world…

Update 2000

I don’t play 18xx games as much as I used to. The games are long, too long for my tastes these days. However, I could be talked into playing these (along with Age of Renaissance,Time Agent, Republic of Rome and Titan). I’ve decided that I don’t really like 2038. Mainly because of the way the opening packets are dealt and the fact that the randomness increases playing time. I still avoid 1835. I have played the mini-game (Trinidad, only 11 hexes on the board) and it was interesting, but I never played it again. So I guess it wasn’t that interesting, after all. I think that 1870, 1856 or 1830 are still good games if you are interested in the genre. But they are just too long to play frequently. At least for a new father.

Update August 30th, 2001

Earlier this year when a few people wanted to give 1830 a play. Some of our group had played once or twice, some had never played. It caught on fast. So, it’s time to update thoughts.

Playing Time — Experienced gamers all, we can play 1830 in 2.5 – 3 hours. A few 2 hour games. The first few games were obviously slower, but there you have it. 1856 usually clocks in at 3 – 3.5 hours, although a recent 3 player game went over 4. Incidentally, I’m not sure that’s unusual. With only 3 players, each player can control 3 companies, which really increases the possibilities. I probably took 3-4 minutes to debate a move several times. In most games, I can make my decisions very quickly. 1870 has us playing at around 4 hours, although it has gotten the least play of the above mentioned games. 1899 (set in China, basically 1830 with a different map and companies) took us over 4.5 hours for the first play, but that should drop down to 3. (The bank has more money, accounting for the extra time over 1830).

Learning Curve — I didn’t emphasize this, and I should. The rules to 1830 aren’t too difficult, and common strategies are grasped fairly quickly. Nevertheless, getting used to the timing takes several plays. 

Italy and other corrections — I implied in my article that the kits were “Italian.” One of the designers indeed is Italian, and 1841 is set in Italy. There are plenty of kits out. I own China, Trinidad and Italy, and there are at least a dozen more. Many playtests kits are out. How are they? OK. A nice change of pace. I also called the 18xx serious wildly popular and huge. While I love it, it is definitely an acquired taste. And not popular enough. 

Per una descrizione dettagliata dei giochi pubblicati, vedi anche: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/716

1830: the game of railroads 
and Robb Barons (1986)?

1830 is one of the most famous 18xx games. One of the things some gamers like about this game is that the game has ‘no chance’ element. That is to say, if players wished to play two games with the same moves, the outcome would be the same also. This game takes the basic mechanics from Tresham’s 1829, and adds several new elements. Players are seeking to make the most money by buying and selling stock in various share companies located on eastern United States map. The stock manipulation aspect of the game is widely-regarded as one of the best. The board itself is actually a fairly abstract hexagonal system, with track tiles placed on top of the hexes. Plus each 18xx title adds new and different elements to the game. This game features private rail companies and an extremely vicious, ‘robber baron’ oriented stock market. A game is finished when the bank runs out of money, and the player with the greatest personal holdings wins.

Chugga-chugga, train, train, train! I’m the CEO of two successful railroad networks. I’ve showered stockholders with trillions of dollars in dividends while stuffing away enough to buy a mansion or ten. So why the hell am I losing?

Welcome to 1830, a train-game that’s so much more than running a railroad network. If you’ve followed the current boom of train games, 1830 is the exact opposite of Ticket to Ride, somewhere on the very, very far side of Railroad Tycoon and Age of Steam.

1830 is all about money. No good cubes, no route tickets, no plastic locomotives. Money. Greed, for a lack of a better word, is good. Even if you have to run your company into the ground to suck the last cents out of it. And then you sell all your shares, dumping the worthless husk of rusting tracks on an unsuspecting investor. Congratulations sir, you’re the new CEO. Now please pay our wages.

By rights 1830 should be a horrible game. It is mind numbingly slow, with games lasting six or even ten hours possible and half an hour waits between your actions not uncommon. It requires a pack of pens, a sheaf of papers and either a scientific calculator or the mathematical genius of an Einstein to play. It should have flopped, a big bellyflopp into the concrete of catastrophic sales figures.

It didn’t. 

For despite being as far away from current popular games as the moon is from Andromeda, 1830 is a great game. It rides high on its possibilities to backstab and royally mess your opponents over. It doesn’t matter how good a railroad company you run when your enemies can dump your stock on the open market, eroding investor confidence to the point where it’s cheaper to fuel your engines with your stock certificates than coal. The trick is to make the company so lucrative that they won’t want to, then suck it dry and dump it on them.

Components
1830 was manufactured in the 1980’s and it shows. The box and hexes are thin cardboard, the board is prone to breaking and warping (don’t ever get it wet, accidents will destroy it) and the manual is a photocopied booklet in the traditional Avalon Hill 11.4.5A rule style (but surprisingly easy to understand even by modern standards). 1830 hasn’t aged well, and replacements are difficult to get by ? a copy can run into the hundreds of dollars on Ebay.

Gameplay
Train game. You begin by building your rail network. *Bling*, wrong, not in 1830. The central mechanic here is the stock market. To build a railroad you have to start by issuing an IPO (that’s stock market talk for “convince folks with money to give you some”). You buy a 20% ownership president share, set the nominal stock price and hope that others will follow your lead. In games with few people (up to 4) you can start up a railroad on your own, but in games with more players you need the support of at least one other player or you’ll be stuck with stocks in a company that doesn’t exist.
Once you’ve got a company running you get to build rails (one hex per turn, a slow but steady growth requiring solid planning and long term strategies), buy engines and, most importantly, earn money. The more engines you’ve got the more revenue you can earn.

But investing depletes the company’s initial capital (which is based on the size of the nominal stock price) and you can’t put more money into the company voluntarily ? only when it’s completely bankrupt, and in such a situation the drain of keeping the company alive will be enough to bankrupt you, or at least pull you out of the lead. And as technology rolls on older engines become obsolete, forcing you to buy new ones and further depleting the company’s bankroll.

On the bright side: a company which earns money may pay dividends. Not only does this put money in your pocket, money you can use to invest in other companies, but also increases the share value. And share value is how you win the game. Buy low, sell high.

Here’s the catch. You can’t keep part of the money in the company. Either pay out everything it earns as dividends or withhold it all, making the share price plummet and your fellow investors go “boooo”.

And every so often there’s a stock market round. This is when the true cut-throat nature of 1830 rears its ugly but undeniably interesting head. Yes, you may keep investing in successful railroads. Yes it will make your stock increase in value. But if you can force its price down by dumping a stock on the open market, it will take a long time to recover thus hindering other players who own stock in that company. After all, you can use the money gained from your unscrupulous tactics to invest in other railroads ? or start one of your own. You don’t win by only doing things which are good for you. You win by combining good for you with catastrophic for your fellow players. The dirtier the trick the better.

Not only that, you can start a second company, convince other players to invest in it and then, in your railroad operation round, shift all its money to your “real” company and hopefully sell off enough stock to strand another player with the presidency in a now empty and worthless company while at the same time rescuing your good one. Good for you, bad for them, let’s hope they don’t get back at you.

Remember, you don’t need to control a company to win. It’s possible and even likely that a smart player who invests wisely without ever controlling any companies will win. Buy low, sell high and dump the stocks on sentimental players who like to keep their companies healthy. Sentimental people don’t have what it takes to be robber barons.

Conclusion
1830 is not a game for everyone. If you don’t like to spend hours and hours gawking at a maddeningly slowly changing situation then stay away. If you like fast and furious games, stay away. If you like games where you can build and expand then be cautious for you’ll make the newbie mistake of thinking that 1830 is about operating successful railroads. It’s not. It’s about making money from a cut-throat stock market.

But if you like games where you can be a weasel, where you can legally cheat your fellow players, where you can trick, connive and where there are no random elements to hinder your progress then play 1830.Play it, love it and spread the gospel: 1830 is a game for Gamers with a capital G.

?1870 

This extension of the 18XX game takes players to the Trans- Mississippi Valley of midwestern America. 1870 combines the successful 18XX system with a new geographic venue and new custom rules while still allowing players to build railroad and enter into share speculation. The ability to engage in the infamous abuses of corporate power only add to the fun. 

1870 is a 15 year old game that takes 4+ hours to complete (perhaps as much as 8 for the group of new players), it uses fairly unattractive components and can be very unforgiving on a beginner.

Considering the above facts – why would anyone, in this day and age of elegant and fast economic games, want to commit (considerable) time and effort to learning and playing this old clunker ? As a lover of Euro games who recently discovered the immense joy that is 18xx system I will try to explain it.
I will assume no knowledge of 18xx and will approach the review much as I approached game itself some two months back – as a blank slate.

Physical Appeal:

The components of 1870 are a throwback to a different era in gaming. Everything is cardboard ranging in thickness from a very sturdy board to flimsy rail tiles. Those, some monopoly-like money and business-card like share certificates are the bulk of the physical components of the game. Map is clear and very solid but by no means decorative and certificates can at best be called spartan. All components, however, are very functional. With exception of some shuffling through tiles to find a right one game play will at no point be slowed due to components. Everything, from the size to rather stark color coding is devoted to making the game pieces facilitate game play and to this purpose they perform admirably. 

Learning/Teaching the rules and game setup:

This is a bear. Rule book that comes with the game is OK but not great. It certainly beats the AH rulebooks of yore but could definitively stand to gain from more examples and clearer presentation. Even allowing for the mediocre rule book this is not an easiest game to teach. Large part of what drives the game comes from the phase succession which is itself triggered by purchase of trains by various companies. This entire mechanism is fairly unintuitive (at least until one has seen it work) and that means that until one has played a game for a bit one has only a dimmest idea as to the game’s main engine. This hit us particularly hard because we approached game as 5 18xx virgins and had our entire first attempt (3+ hours of playing) canned because no one has understood the phase rules. Having a newbie learn from an experienced group would ameliorate this but is all but guaranteed that the newbie will be at significant disadvantage in their first game. Same applies to a lesser extent to the subtleties of the stock market. While basic mechanics there are easy to grasp the small things such as the fact that company receives the payout due to the stocks in the Public Offering (but not in the Open Market) and that one can buy and sell on the same turn are easy to miss and influence the game play fairly significantly. It took us 3 full games and one abortive attempt (starting from absolute zero) before I am fairly confident that we have all the rules straight. 
Setup on the other hand is very simple and components intuitively help with it. Fair bit of table space is required but nothing out of the ordinary. 

Gameplay:

A game turn consists of a stock round and one or more operating rounds. 

In stock round player (most usually) acts in their own name buying and selling shares in 10 different rail companies. There are certain limitations to stock ownership (total number of certificates owned is limited as is a maximum share one can hold in a given company) which are subject to change due to circumstances of the stock market. This trading will be one way to influence the stock price and will – crucially – determine the ownership and control over the companies themselves. Contrary to most stock-ownership games (Imperial and Acquire come to mind) the stock manipulation in 1870 feels very natural. With exception of the above mentioned restrictions players are given freedom of the market and the price responses of the shares while very simple algorithmically are expectable and logical.

In operating round(s) (of which there are between 1 and 3 per turn depending on the phase of the game) players act on behalf of the companies they control. They lay track, purchase trains and conduct runs which bring in revenue. All of the above are very simple natural operations. As a great fan of Age of Steam I expected that a great deal of strategy will be going into making most optimal tracks for the company I controlled. While there certainly is strategy involved in constructing one’s rail network this part of the game feels much more forgiving then AoS (though this is not necessarily the case in other 18xx games). Money-making runs are also much simpler affairs then in AoS or even crayon rail games. There is no supply/demand simulation, one simply counts out the number and kind of cities on a run and collects the appropriate amount of money. Only complication to this is a certain bonus company gains if it manages to connect its starting point to a pre-set destination with a single train run. This serves to give some basic dynamic to the company development and is very intuitive concept. This all means that most companies are practically guaranteed steady and rising profitability – particularly in the early game. 

There are, however, three key decisions made during the operating that will affect the viability of the company: station placement, paying dividends and train purchases. Station placement is the key factor in the control over the map. While the track laying is simple and forgiving the key concept is that track once laid can be used by all companies that have access to it. This means that, much like in Puerto Rico, players must always be on the lookout as to whether a move that is of benefit to them gives even greater benefit to their competitors. Stations act as buffers to this common use of track. Once all station spots in the city are taken (most cities will end up having two of those) companies without a station in that city can no longer make routes through it. At the same time every run has to include at least one station of your own company. With number of stations a company can put down being limited and the cost of placing them fairly high this is one tactical decision that can in the long run make or break the company. The decision is made all that more interesting by taking into account that the player controlling the company has potential and future interest in other companies. As every station placed reduces freedom (and potential value) of every other company in the game it becomes quite a challenge to make a decision as to when is the right time to lay them down.

While station decision comes into play only so often, question of whether or not to pay dividends after company performed a train run is one that has to be made in every operating round. In short, player in charge of the company can decide to either hand over all the money just made to stock holders (himself included) in proportion to the stock they own, to keep it all in company treasury or to split it half and half between the two. This decision influences the stock price of the company and provides (or not) the capital with which players can participate in further stock rounds. 
There is a number of considerations that go into this decision, I will list some to try to represent the sort of thinking that underlies the game. Firstly, the president of the company will (by definition) have largest number of shares of that company of all players therefore they will always gain some marginal benefit to themselves when the dividends are paid out. Likewise, as paying out dividends increases share value of the company it helps out not only the current funds of the players invested in it, but also their long term value. On the other hand, president has much greater control over the company itself then any of its other investors therefore having the company treasury full can still benefit them (by having the company for example support another company in which president has an even greater share) while giving absolutely nothing to the remaining shareholders. This on the other hand can prompt shareholders to dump the company shares during the next share round potentially destroying its value. But that potentially allows president to acquire yet greater share of what is now well funded and consolidated company. This sort of considerations are just a sampler of the kind of thinking that is core of the 18xx games. 

Final decision of the operating round is whether or not company will purchase a new train. Trains are necessary to perform runs with the quality of the train determining the length (and thus profits) of the run they can do. Higher quality trains became available in order starting with 2s which connect two neighboring cities and (potentially) ending with 12s which can span almost the entire map. Train purchases will be almost certainly be the largest outlay for the company and will to a large extent dictate just how much revenue company *must* withhold from the shareholders. Furthermore, the purchase of the first train of any new quality level triggers a new game phase – which means a change in some rules. Later phases bring more operating rounds, more complex track tiles and – perhaps most importantly – make some of the older trains obsolete. This means that the train purchasing decisions will be the engine (pun sadly intended) that dictates the pace of the game and that manipulating this pace to suit one’s own companies and maximally hurt the opposition is a very important strategic consideration.

The game ends when the bank runs out of the pre-set amount of money and at that point all player’s assets , cash and stock add up to determine the winner.

The above does not cover full rules of the 1870. Stock limits and their avoidance through yellow and green share-price zones (if company price is low enough its share are not counted against limits) are one important strategic consideration I have not mentioned. Other are so called “private companies” whose auction primes the game up and sets the asymmetric situation between the players from the outset. Likewise for the president’s ability to “protect” the share price from the dumping investors, and a number of other items.

This should, however, give a feeling for the strategic depth of the game. While an excellent game (Puerto Rico for example) can be made around a variation on a single tough strategic decision point (Role selection) 1870 interlocks at least 4 different and equally deep decisions points (stock manipulation, track laying/stations, dividend payout and train purchase) and the result is the game with strategic depth that is almost unparalleled. Finally as a (practically) total information game 1870 allows for grand strategies which – due to its great interactivity both on player level and company level – have to be constantly modified in response to other players’ action. Add to that a clever mechanism of initial seeding and 10 different companies to run and the number of potential strategies becomes staggering. We have only played 1870 for a few months but with every game a new onion layer of possibilities opened for us and it is quite obvious that we are nowhere near to seeing the full potential of the game. I may be too smitten by it at this point to be able to objectively declare it the best game I have ever played, but I will gladly say that – now at least – it is a game I would most rather play given the opportunity and – perhaps even more importantly – it is a game I would most rather think about when I am not playing it.

Play-time and the number of players:

The incredible depth of 1870 comes at a price and that price is the play time. First game by a bunch of newbies will likely take 8 hours or so. Experience with the game will reduce this somewhat but to get the most bang for one’s time one should devise clever accounting strategies. In our group we tally the dividends paid on a piece of paper and only hand the cash out at the end of the operating round(s). This reduces money handling down-time. I heard that using poker-chips instead of the paper money provided also helps a fair bit. Do not be ashamed of having a calculator handy, my first though was “I should not need a calculator in a game” as it turns out it is a valuable device that shaves off some time. We have thus managed to reduce our games to about 4-5 hours which is, in my opinion, a reasonable afternoon of gaming. Finally I have heard that some groups use a freeware computer program to do all of their accounting dropping the game length to about 3 hours or so. I am somewhat leery of that idea as I am not sure that the hour or so saved would compensate for the reduction of physical interaction with the game but am sure that it is a viable option that ultimately does not detract for the main appeal of the game.

We have so far played games with 4 and 5 players and while the experience was certainly different, game worked very well in both cases (with 4 feeling much more forgiving then 5).
For beginning players I would certainly recommend lower number of players because recovery is much easier with more companies available. I would not expect game to play as well with 3 and certainly not with 2 but would have to play before I can report on that. 6 is certainly viable number though I would expect that it would be a very cut throat game in which mistakes are paid for dearly. 

Theme:
For what it is worth, the game has a very strong theme. All the companies involved are real and their destination governed development does simulate their historic progress. Peculiarities of the game make the companies feel very distinct and gives them a very sympathetic aura. After only a few games it is almost impossible not to think very individually (and fondly or otherwise) of KaTy, MoPac, Frisco and all the rest. The whole process of rail building, expansion, stock manipulation and speculation has a very strong period feel., Overall, I would say that the 1870 has as much theme as such gems as Republic of Rome and Paths of Glory and much much more then even the most accomplished Euros.

Conclusion:
1870 is a find of the year for me. It requires certain level of commitment, both in terms of time per game and number of repeated plays needed to understand its depth, but it repays that commitment with incredible depth and intensity of play. Physically it is fairly ugly but it packs exceptional (and fairly optimistic) theme. I enjoy it immensely and while I continue to play and enjoy Euros and wargames, 18xx has definitively become a genre I wish to delve deeper into. I hope that this review convinces at least some of my fellow Euro fans that that is a worthwhile journey.

?1856 

1856 is Mayfair Games’ version of the critically acclaimed 18XX railroad game system for lower Canada, including the upper reaches of the St. Lawrence River, and the Toronto to Detriot area fo southern Ontario. Players use their initial money to capitalize railroad companies, which can in turn build track, buy locomotives, and generate income. Players may engage in corporate raiding, stock manipulation, and insider trading to take advantage of their opponents and win the day. 

Intro

I must say that at first I was a little bit hesitant to play 1856 since it is said to take over 6 hours and if you don’t like a game after 15 minutes, 6 hours can seem like forever. I am happy to say that I am glad I played that first time and every time since.

Gameplay

There is a lot of detail to go through here, lots of specifics that change throughout the game so I will keep it simple. Mainly, you operate a train company. There is one specific thing though that sets it apart from most other games: The goal is not to have your company do well, but for you to do well. In 1856 you are separate from your company (or companies) and you need to run them successfully in order to end up with the most cash. That’s the overview, now a few more details.

At the start, you must buy a private company. There are six in total and there is an auction for each one. The cheapest one is $20 and only gives you $5 per operating round, while the more expensive ones can give you up to $20 per operating round and other benefits. Once a 3-train is sold (meaning a train that can visit 3 cities), the private companies can be sold to public companies, which are the train companies that you operate and are the key focus of the game.

After that quick auction, each person choses a public company to open. There are 13 companies in total and all are the same. The only difference is their location on the board. To start a company you set the initial stock price and buy 2 shares of the company (the president certificate). This money goes from your personal stash to the companies treasury. Thus it will also be the amount of money that it has to start up. In the first operating round it will need to buy a train.

Each turn consists of buying and/or selling shares and then a set number of operating rounds. As the game goes on, there are more and more operating rounds per turn, going up to 3 once the first four train is sold. The operating rounds consist of the following actions:

Step 0: Private companies pay out
Step 0: Private companies may be bought/sold between players and companies
Step 0: Take loans
Step 1: Lay track (optional)
Step 2: Place station marker (optional)
Step 3: Operate
Step 4: Pay interest on loans
Step 5: Pay dividends or withhold
Step 6: Adjust share price
Step 7: purchase train (optional)
Step 8: Pay loans

The Step 0’s can be done at any time during your turn, while the others are done in their specific order. The player with the highest share price gets to go first and performs all the steps above and then the play continues in share price order.
There are many other rules to remember, but I will not list them all here. One thing to note is that when you run your trains, the main way to earn money, you must start from a city that is in your reach. Meaning that you cannot be blocked off by another players tokens, which are placed in cities as blockers. You also cannot use the same track twice, but you can use the same city twice. So you must decide where you are going based on what track is available to you. Once track is placed, it can be used by any player.

For the loans, you take them any time on your turn, with a max of one per turn and a total of six outstanding loans at one time. Also, the interest must be payed on each turn, including the turn you take the loan. Your company must also pay the interest, but if your company is out of cash, the individual can cover it.

Laying track and laying markers is optional and may not always be beneficial. Initially, you must ensure to reach your destination location. This is a location that each company has that is needed before receiving the cash from the sale of the sixth share. Otherwise, the money is held in escrow and only received once the destination is reach.

Once you operate, you can decide to either pay dividends or withhold. If you withhold, your companies share price is reduced by one square and the cash goes all into the treasury of the company. If you pay dividends, each shareholder receives 1/10 of the operating amount, this goes to the individuals and also causes your share price to rise by one square. Individual money and company money must be kept separate, since individuals buy shares and start companies, while companies buy trains and pay to lay track.

You may then also purchase new trains. One important thing to note is that old trains become obsolete as new ones are sold and thus are removed from the game, so you must ensure you will always have a train to operate. You can also have more then one train, with a limit based on the availability of trains.

As the game progresses, the Canadian Government Railway comes to life and these shares are exchanged 2 for 1 to any bankrupt company.

This is by far not a complete rundown of the rules, but just the basics. There is a lot more to it and specific rules that will guide the game. However, the game is pretty open and you can build track and operate pretty freely. Other players actions are the real issue, since they will greatly effect you.

Strategy/Comments 

This is where the game gets really interesting, the strategy. This is a real player versus player game, no solitaire play here, since everything you do effects other players, since they can use your track, fight for strong share prices, pay dividends to each other, etc. At first, the instructions and length of the game may scare people off, which it did in my group as well, but after one play, people tend to want to play again. There are a lot of decisions to make and each time the game is different, quite different. The length even changes, with a game lasting as little as 2 hours and going to over 5 hours. Depending on the end game trigger, which can be the bank running out of money (longer games) or a company going out of business (shorter game).

The decisions start right away, with the purchase of the private companies, since this will tend to effect which railway company the player will select. This also effects the order of play, since the more you spend on a private company, the less you have for share purchases and will likely cause you to set a lower starting share price. In games with 5 or 6 players, these decisions are huge, since there will likely not be enough 2-trains for everyone and thus, three shares will be needed to start your initial company, since you always need a minimum amount of shares equal to the lowest available train type to start your company.

The train purchases also cause older trains to go obsolete, so you need to make sure you always will have a train to operate, since your train can suddenly be removed from the game. The same goes for the track laying, since the green tiles are only available once the 3-trains are purchased and this may slow you down if all the city tiles you need in yellow have been taken. Tracks are often used to block also, since existing connections can never be removed, if you use track to block someone, they may have no choice but to upgrade that track and thus also help you. As an alternative, you can also chose to build together, but watch out for those tokens, which can block you out of an area you helped build.

You can also benefit from another players success by buying their shares and getting dividends from them. You can even try to takeover another company, but this is tough since players will see it coming and you tend to focus on your own shares first. At the end, all your shares are sold, so a company paying out dividends helps you get cash during the game and pays out big at the end, so focusing on your own company may not always be the best idea.

As the game goes on, you can also chose to open another railway company (or even have two early on) and with the Canadian Government Company (CGC), you can chose to run one or even both into the ground and take control of the CGC. Yet the CGC may not always be created if no one goes bankrupt during that phase.

The choice of paying dividends or withholding is a tough choice during each operating round, especially if others also own some of your shares. The fact that paying dividends gets the player cash and raises the share price versus withholding which gives the company cash and lowers the share price, poses quite a decision. There are good and bad things for both, so you must think ahead and you also do not want to make others rich off your operations. With two companies, you can also use one to help the other and then have one string company and turn one into the CGC, but be careful not to go bankrupt before the CGC is created.

Getting others to buy your shares is also helpful, since the money goes into your company’s treasury and thus prevents you from having to withhold operating earnings and keeps your share price rising. Since new shares are always bought at the initial par value of the shares, a company doing well is more likely to be bought by others and thus will continue to rise since it can pay dividends more often. You may want to sell your company’s strong points if you are doing well to get some cash for your company. Since you are likely the majority shareholder, you benefit the most from the continuous dividend payments.

There is a lot more to it then listed, but to go through it all would be a little bit long and dull. Above is the basic information and as can be seen, it is quite the strategic game, with all actions having consequences for all the players, either right away or later on, since the tracks will all meet at one point and everyone will run into other players markers and start buying other players shares. There is a lot of math here, you need a banker that can calculate dividend payments (basically multiply by 10%) and this may put off some people since a bad calculation can hurt.

Conclusion

I cannot say enough good things about this game. Sure it is long and the last few operating rounds take forever, especially if you play with diesel trains, but the flow of the game is great and the build up, interaction and calculation is unmatched by most other games. It may seem like a lot at first, but after one round, you see that the main decisions are simply where to lay track, pay dividends or withhold and what to buy / sell in the market. It just takes a while to teach since there are a lot of exceptions and special cases that need to be explained. But well worth it once you have that out of the way. 

Rating: 9/10

?1835 

In 1835, the length of the railway system throughout Germany was a respectable six kilometers. Today’s network consists of a good ten thousand times more.

1835 is set in Germany. It added a third type of company, the “minor” (owned by one player like a private, but operates like a major and eventually folds into the Prussian National RR), “nationaliztion” rules (which allow a player holding a large number of shares to forceably buy out his rivals), “plus” trains (which run a number of large stations plus a number of small stations), and the Prussian railroad (which forms from the 6 “minors”)

Money Unit: Prussian Marks? (Since Germany was not one country at the start of this game, this is the most logical assumption)
Off-board Connections: Three levels
Stock Market: Square (1830-style)
Stock Purchase order: Start packet
Tile Colors: 3 (Yellow, Green, Brown/Russet)

Alcune interessanti FAQ:
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arena/5276/depot/1835f.htm

2038 

2038 is a space mining adaptation of the 18xx series of games. First, you have the ever important stock trading rounds followed by operating rounds where you try to deliver commodities mined from the asteroid belt.

Imagine my surprise while perusing the geek that 2038 has no reviews! 
2038 is part of the “18xx” family of train games. The goal is to make the most money via owning shares of corporations. There are two types of turns — stock rounds, where players buy and sell stock, and operating rounds. During an operating round each company runs, with all decisions made by the player owning the most shares (the president). 

You can read a general review of all 18xx games by me, which summarizes numerous games. If you just want to see what I wrote about 2038:

Quote:

2038 is basically an 18xx game in space. However, 2038 is significantly different from the other games in that the map changes from game to game. Players explore the asteroid belt, building the map as they go. This makes 2038 the first game of the series to have a luck factor, which some people may like and some people may not. The biggest failing of the game, in my opinions, is that the order in which the companies start up is, while not fixed, significantly controlled and that the minor companies; which I feel may have unbalanced 1835, are also here and are also a very dominant factor in the game. I’m not yet convinced that control of more minor companies is the only path to victory, but it is certainly a viable path.

I wrote that in 1995. It’s been a long time since then, how do I feel about 2038? Well, I like the 18xx series, but it’s long. That being said, a few years ago I went through a phase where I played 1830, 1856, 1870 (the three most easily available games, IMO), as well as some of the kit games (1876, 1899, 1841). I never got around to playing 2038.

I personally don’t care for the luck. The other issue is that 2038 takes about 1-2 hours longer than most of the “mainstream” 18xx games. This is mainly due to the novel delivery system, which I’ve never really gotten used to. 

I actually wouldn’t mind playing this again, possibly using a variant starting packet (these don’t seem to be posted on the geek).

If you like heavy economic games, then it’s worth checking out the series. I’d start with 1830, 1856 or 1870 first. If you want a bit of luck (to mix it up), then 2038 is a good choice. If you don’t like heavy economic games, you’ll want to avoid this (and the series).