|
Played 1830 again on Saturday. Definitely engaged a bit more with the stock market this time. I spent a whole OR trying to figure out how to pull off a three company train shuffle so I could dump the NNH on someone to force them to buy a diesel. Then, when the round was over and I had pulled it off, I realized the priority deal was to my left. The guy I was trying to dump it on sold down to two shares and the guy to his left sold enough that I couldn't dump due to the pool limit. But then the player to my immediate right bought two shares, which of course let me dump it on the guy I wanted to in the first place, who then couldn't afford to buy the one share to make himself president, and the guy to my immediate right took the presidency and his free diesel train. It was hilarious. I guess if you're going to divest yourself of a corporation you shouldn't get cute. I was planning on four players this time but one player's friend wanted to see what the fuss was about so we had five again. He'd never really played a board game aside from Lord of the Rings Risk. He came in second by getting 40% of the PRR which I rode to victory. 1830: Gateway game. I'm really impressed with the amount of strategic space there is to explore in this game. One of the players commented that it's the kind of game you want to play again when you're done. If it didn't take so long (for now) I totally would. I know I'm already thinking of stuff I'd like to try out next time. I'm sure I could get hooked on the whole series but for now I'm content to really get to know this title. Everyone seems like they're jonesing to play again so I imagine we'll be playing as frequently as possible. We got the playtime down to about five and a half hours, including teaching the new guy and slowing the game down a bit while eating. I remembered a pic this time! 
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2013 01:22
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 23:50 |
|
|
Looks like you had a lot of fun! I'm glad to hear that your group has managed to get into the spirit of the game and that the market shenanigans are already starting to take shape. If you gonna sell down, you might as well sell down to 10% since it means that something unexpected can't screw you over later on: to clarify, though, did the guy get the NNH dumped on him, bought a diesel for it at 20% in the subsequent OR and then had it stolen from him in the SR following that? That's pretty funny to be honest and one of the reasons why I love 18XX, although I hope he didn't take it too badly. I almost had one of the best company dumps ever the other day: since in 1824 certain companies float in the middle of an OR depending on which trains get bought, if I had priority I could have stripped an entire company of it's entire capitalization and left it with a really really lovely train, which would have doomed it completely. Shame I didn't get the priority though. Did you do a fast money strategy? I would recommend it next time if you haven't tried it yet. It's especially effective if people are thinking long-term and saving money in their first company, since then they aren't rushing trains and you get even more money compared to them: the only problem is that once everyone is following a strategy of fast money into second companies to fund train purchases, it's likely someone will get the sharp end of the stick and either be forced to sell down to buy a D train or end up bankrupt. EDIT: Also, play 'spot the illegally placed tile in the 4P 1824 game!
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2013 01:40
|
|
|
Tekopo posted:EDIT: Also, play 'spot the illegally placed tile in the 4P 1824 game! Looks like there's a )( double town tile running off the board at the top-middle. Clearly this means your win is invalid and you must confess your shame to your group when you see them next.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2013 02:25
|
|
|
Yeah, that's how it went down. His cash was wrecked from the diesel and the the priority started left of him anyway. He didn't take it poorly at all. My group is basically just my friends and he and I are the guys who are serious about board games so I'm sure he just chalked it up to a learning experience. We're all really chill. He also kicked my rear end in three player Imperial later that night so he got a little bit of revenge. I'm not really sure I would have called my strategy fast per se. I bought the C&A and used it to float the PRR first and made a beeline for New Jersey so I could cut it off from the B&O early. Coincidentally the B&O president was same guy I dumped the NNH on. I bought a couple of shares in something, probably the C&O and flipped them for cash. I used that cash plus my revenues and the bit of cash from selling the C&A to open the NNH and use it to buy a train that eventually got shuffled to the PRR. I don't really remember the specifics but I eventually floated the Eerie to get that three company chicanery going. I know I bought the first diesel during that company dump to rust out the fours and I probably rusted either the twos or threes as well since I cottoned on to floating new corporations for easy train money faster than everyone else did. I'm sure I could have moved faster by looting the PRR more thoroughly and selling down its shares but I was making so much more money than anyone else from it I figured I'd get it stolen from me. You can also see in the pic that I ran it up to $350 per share. Whatever I did it worked out because I won by over $1800, which I imagine won't happen too often once we get stuff more figured out. Your 4P illegal tile is the double town near the top of the map. Oops. edit: that's what I get for taking so long to make my post semi-coherent. 
cenotaph fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Apr 17, 2013 |
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2013 02:33
|
|
|
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1992425277/mike-huttons-1862-railway-mania-in-the-eastern-cou 1862 kickstarter. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2013 07:50
|
|
|
Yeah, we were talking about it on IRC. Some of my group are going to get copies so we are going to bundle up to get them cheaper. We might have a few spare if anyone in the US is interested: it'll probably be cheaper for me to ship it instead. Also, it wasn't me that placed the track wrong, it was the guy in last place so no harm done 
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2013 08:39
|
|
|
cenotaph posted:Yeah, that's how it went down. His cash was wrecked from the diesel and the the priority started left of him anyway. He didn't take it poorly at all. My group is basically just my friends and he and I are the guys who are serious about board games so I'm sure he just chalked it up to a learning experience. We're all really chill. He also kicked my rear end in three player Imperial later that night so he got a little bit of revenge.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2013 10:33
|
|
|
Gonna get to try 1865 (Sardinia) today, will report and provide pictures as usual. 1865 is an unusual one in that it uses a completely different system for calculating revenue. Should be intereting to try it out though and will certainly make a change from the norm.
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2013 11:27
|
|
|
Weekend before last I got to do a game of 1830. It was originally going to be a 4 player game with everyone having played the game before, but then three players new to the game joined in and now it's a seven player 1830 game  Despite the seven hour playtime (give or take considering a dinner break and such), I think people had some great fun. Unlike my first game with the players who played it before, this match of 1830 was a vicious stock-market trading extravaganza. The purchase of the 4 train and the 6 train really caused some near-bankruptcy, but in the end all of the players still were in the game (despite two players dropping out early by selling all their shares and just ending early with the money they had). Even with all the setbacks, I had a fun time and so did the (remaining) other players. Also, I recorded bits and pieces of the game, so I do intend to make a video of this play soon.
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2013 17:18
|
|
|
Sounds good, can't wait to see the video, although I didn't think you could even do 7P 1830! So yeah, 1865, no pictures, sorry. I don't think it's actually a 18XX game (at least, I didn't feel the same pressures that I did playing other 18XX games) and although it is interesting I don't know if it is something that I would play again and again. It's got a weird system where you don't actually find routes, just build up 'traffic' cubes which are then compared to your capacity to work out how much you run for. It makes it easy to work out how much you are running for but makes all companies feel the same. As well as that, tokens are placed to get new traffic cubes and there are enough slots in towns that you never really feel the pressure to token someone out, since there are so many alternatives present and you don't actually need to find ways past stations. I think I found it interesting but the game felt like 18XX solitaire, it just didn't engage me as much as usual, although I was curious at how the game would run. On the other hand, the components were beautiful! Still, I don't know if I'd be willing to play it again immediately, it's just too weird to be a regular feature.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2013 01:19
|
|
|
Alrighty, the video of my 7-player game of 1830 has been uploaded! It has a little stuff for non-18XX gamers to gain some context. Either way, I hope you enjoy it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9Aemvdm6_Y
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2013 21:47
|
|
|
Picked up 1853 (India) at my FLGS a week ago and ran a quick solitaire game to see how it played. It's definitely one of my favorite 18xx's already - there's a lot of thought that goes into the railroad companies, and there's always interesting stuff going on on the board (unlike some games where the endgame can degenerate into repeatedly running companies with no more board development). It's a very unique example of the genre too, with expensive trains (2's cost $300), two gauges of track, and a cool start procedure. Hopefully this picture shows up ok - you can see a lot of the unique track elements going on and how the board develops nicely. Make sure to check the very top left for the turntable tile and the bottom for the special metre gauge track.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2013 06:56
|
|
|
I was strongly tempted to buy 1853 last week since I saw it in a shop, but I was put off by the fact that the rest of my group was unlikely to play it with me. They have played it and although they confirm that actually building the railways is more interesting (I actually had a look through the rules and it seemed pretty cool), the problem is that the market section of the game isn't that interesting and usually resolves to buying one or two shares at most without any sort of market manipulation. I'd still be interested in giving it a go, is it on Rails?
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2013 10:02
|
|
|
Temptation turned into an actual purchase: now I have 1853 to add to my collection of 1860 and 1870. The board just looks so pretty so I do want to get it on the table at some point. Had a game of 1861, three player. I only got a single private at the start but I managed to secure the southern Moscow Minor, the Kharkov Minor and the Eastern Kiev Minor since I had the cash to bully people out of the bidding: I connected them up easily and was running for megabucks early on. Once the threes came out, one of the people in my group hadn't shuffled to force buy a 3, so once the new minors came out, which all bought three, since my companies where in the lead I did a shuffle and ended up buying a four on the operating round just before people wanted to merge: I lost a single company to the State (not big deal really, since I was in a good position anyway), the player in second lost two (one of his moscow minors and another good company) while the one that hadn't shuffled lost four companies to the state. We called the game then because I had a pretty unsurmountable lead at that point. I do like 1861 but you can really gently caress up your game if you aren't careful at the start. It has the best minor companies system (although now that I've played 1824 I think I prefer the latter) but the game can really snowball since the Nationalisation mechanism is ruthless.
|
|
#
?
May 13, 2013 12:54
|
|
|
If anyone is looking for a relatively complex but fast-playing 18xx game, 1824 appears to be still available.. 1848 is also available but I think it only really plays with 3.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2013 17:15
|
|
|
I have been occasionally checking the kickstarter for 1862, but it isn't looking good. I was hesitant to sign up, as I am not sure I can afford $100+ for a game that may not get much play. Also, I think someone else in my 18xx group said he signed up for a copy. Has there been any other information about the game if the kickstarter fails?
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2013 16:52
|
|
|
10k with only about 70 hours to go? Seems unlikely to go ahead. I haven't really been keeping up with the kickstarter so I dunno what will happen if it fails: since they lost so much money out of the 1860 printing, it might be likely they will print on demand, but that's just speculation really. EDIT: Also I ordered my copy of 1824, it's kind of funny that I had to contact one of the designers directly in order to do it, as well as paypal him money directly. Can't wait to get it.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2013 17:25
|
|
|
So I played 1854 this weekend: [timg]http://lpix.org/1241923/IMG_0111[1].JPG[/timg] Lessons learnt? Don't build railways in Austria, it's not worth it. The final scores were 5700, 5100 (me), 4900 and 4200. The game is really weird: there's standard privates but there are also minor companies that operate on a completely different board until phase 5-6 upon which they become a major company but with only two shares, each worth 50% and they can only buy rusted trains. The map is what makes this game stand out: you need tunnels in certain areas, but they can be built anywhere you want for 100, useful for missing the many dots. Double dot spaces can become 20 single-token towns which are extremely annoying. Some dots can be upgraded to cities in phase 5 but cannot be upgraded to brown, limiting them to 30. Two towns can go to 50, but runs are really low since the biggest trains are 8s. The name of the game is screwing over other people with track lays/token placement, something that's incredibly easy to do in this game (I got screwed 5 rounds in a row as I was attempting to create my runs). It's a really weird game, especially due to those minors working on a seperate board until phase 5. Would like to try it again but it played really long so maybe we'll wait before giving it another go.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2013 22:25
|
|
|
Some pictures: This is 18RHL (Rhineland), a pretty strange game from a relatively unknown designer/self printer. It's a 50% float partial capitalisation game with 100% share limit with some interesting privates and strange rules (f.ex. you can't cross the rhine river except at certain towns. It's actually pretty fun and we already had a 3P and 5P game of it, in which I came 2nd and 3rd respectively. I also played Poseidon, which is a really weird game. It uses merchants instead of shares and your merchants are both used on the board as trading posts as well as being used as shares (so there aren't only 10 shares per company). It's a pretty crazy game and completely different from any other 18XX game but it was still pretty fun. Managed to win my very first game.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2013 22:57
|
|
|
It looks like the 18OE kickstarter is getting close to starting up. The video for the future kickstarter page is on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtKwZLQDhng quote:Price levels will range from $160 plus shipping for 1 copy, to $150 per copy plus shipping for 6 copies. Two copies bundled is enough to drop the price below $200 per copy shipping to Europe, and it gets better with volume. Not going to be cheap, but the sheer scope of the game makes it understandable.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2013 17:30
|
|
|
The only thing this has done is make me find out that 18C2C is out of print before I could snag a copy. 
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2013 17:35
|
|
|
The Journey Fraternity posted:The only thing this has done is make me find out that 18C2C is out of print before I could snag a copy. I am really looking forward to giving OE a shot as well. In other news, I just got my own copy of 1830 because why the hell not, it seems like an obligatory purchase for an 18XX fan and I really like Mayfair asthetics.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2013 17:39
|
|
|
The 18OE kickstarter went live yesterday, and it is already at 60% funded. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/387059881/18oe-on-the-rails-of-the-orient-express I am considering backing this one, but I am a little heaitant. I am unsure I will ever actually get enough people willing to play this monster of a game. The group I usually play with has lots of 18xx gamers, but they can be really picky on which ones they will play.
|
|
#
?
Jun 18, 2013 15:24
|
|
|
My group is discussing that, actually: if I had the money spare i'd jump onboard but I'm a bit tight at the moment so I'll have to wait. The components look proper good though, so I will be interested in trying it out. I'm sure at least someone in my group that is going to get it, though, just not sure who, but it shouldn't be too difficult to get enough people to have a go at it. Going to have an 18XX weekend, our group all booked to go to a local con and fill it with 4-5 18XX players. On the possible menu of games being brought we have ): 1817, 1824, 1825, 1830, 1836 (custom game made by someone in our group), 1844: Switzerland, 1846, 1853, 1854, 1860: Railways on the Isle of Wight, 1865 Sardinia, 1870, 1880, 18Ardennes, 18EU, 18MEX, 18NEB, 18Scan and 2038. I'm looking forward to 1817, 1844, 1853 especially, since I haven't tried them before. Also really want another go at 1870 since i only played it twice.
|
|
#
?
Jun 18, 2013 16:08
|
|
|
No '41? That's the one I really want to play.
|
|
#
?
Jun 18, 2013 16:50
|
|
|
My group played that once and now whenever I ask about playing it they say it's too difficult and not worth playing. I'm really keen on trying it though since it's my home region and all.
|
|
#
?
Jun 18, 2013 16:57
|
|
|
It's Tom Lehmann's favorite (Tom designed 1846, 2038, and Race for the Galaxy among a lot of others) so I want to try it.
|
|
#
?
Jun 18, 2013 17:12
|
|
|
The main thing about it seem to be that certain specific companies merge to form other companies which then also merge with other companies, while also allowing companies to buy shares in other companies themselves: it's all a bit convoluted. I do want to try it but it sounds like a handful.
|
|
#
?
Jun 18, 2013 17:15
|
|
|
Mayfair is releasing 1844 later this year. A wouldn't say no to a nice looking 1844.
|
|
#
?
Jun 19, 2013 08:05
|
|
|
Tekopo posted:Mayfair is releasing 1844 later this year. A wouldn't say no to a nice looking 1844. I wonder why they chose that game to rerelease? Maybe I need to try it again, but I remember it having way too many odd mechanics that made it hard to pick up. Tunnels, Mountain mine companies, minor railroads, and regional railroads add up to a lot of fiddly stuff to mess with early in the game. Maybe it will be streamlined somehow, but with the map the way it is, I think it needs a lot of that stuff to be able to work.
|
|
#
?
Jun 19, 2013 14:22
|
|
|
I'm thinking that as well: it's an extremely niche choice to make when there are plenty of other 18XX which aren't as fiddly as '44. Maybe they made a deal with O&O, but even then there's stuff like '24 which is more playable than '44.
|
|
#
?
Jun 19, 2013 14:41
|
|
|
Alright, some weekend of 18XX pics from me: we ended up playing 6 games of 18XX (and two games of automobile) and I managed to win 3 of them, so pretty good going for me. Also, I managed to get a used (but in almost pristine condition) copy of 1856 at the convention for only 25 quid, a real bargain! On the friday we had only three people up so we decided to play a game of 18Neb, which we hadn't played for a long time: it plays best with 3 and is a pretty nice little game that plays pretty quick but can be extremely vicious. I managed to win with a pretty good lead running the Burlington and the Chicago North-Western:  We had more people arriving later on Friday but since they arrived late we didn't have time for a full day game, so we decided to have a 5 player game of 1824. It was fun but choices are very limited with 5 players: the game might be better suited for 4 players but still plays decently enough with 5. I managed to tie first by running a strong Ungarische throughout the game:  On Saturday, we gathered to play our first long game, 1817, which I had never played before. We played 5P and man, what a game it was. I really liked how the companies progressed from small companies who where then merged to form large ones. There are so many choices to make in this game: taking loans, paying them back, buying trains, deciding when to merge/upgrade companis, deciding which privates go where and how much to pay for them etc etc. It was an incredible amount of fun and I'm really interested in trying it again. A real highlight of the weekend. Ended up with a company on the top of the stock chart with a route that went through Boston-New York-Baltimore-Upgraded Pittsburgh-Coal Mines. I still only came third, though.  The game of 1817 was followed by one of 1846, in which I managed to get a close victory with running a strong NYC with two east/west routes. It's a good game but it feels so by the numbers that I'm starting to tire of it slightly. Still, it's relatively short. The only real highlight was me spilling water on the board, although we managed to dry out the board and nothing was damaged thank god (we weighted the game down to prevent warping).  This was followed by a 4P game of 1861 which we started at 9:00 pm, which was slightly ambitious. I think it's likely our group won't play 1861 again: the start of the game is interesting but by the end, after the first 6 is bought, the game is so by the numbers and with such limited capability of interesting play that we gave up completing it since the end was such a foregone conclusion. I don't think we are going to get it on the table again, it's the second time when we didn't finish a game of 1861 due to how rigid the end game is.  The next day we had the choice between another long game, so we decided to give a 4P game of 1853 a go. As expected, there was pretty much no stock manipulation present but the track laying was really interesting and there was some fierce competition in laying track/tokening stuff that overall made the game feel interesting and fresh. I really want to give it another go because the game seemed to allow for a lot of room to maneuver and there is an interesting choice in going for meter or broad gauge track. The fact that you can pay out of hand even without emergency train buying can really change the game. Would like to try again.  Overall, a really good weekend!
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2013 22:34
|
|
|
Fantastic post, and you really give a decent sense of how each game was different.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2013 01:39
|
|
|
How is 1853 vs other popular 18xx's like '56, '70, '46 or '30? I got 1853 but haven't broken the shrink yet.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2013 02:06
|
|
|
I really liked 1853 but he focus on it is really heavily skewed towards developing track rather than any attempts at stock manipulation and in that it's a very devisive game, since 18XX groups that like the stock manipulation won't find much to like in 1853. The game is designed so that it's almost impossible to decrease the value of a share (the only situation in which this happens is when you have shares in the pool and a company witholds). As well as that, it's possible to sell down even if there is no one to take over the presidency (in which case the company is run by a 'manager' instead), making it impossible to dump a company on anyone. Finally, it is possible to pay out of hand even if you aren't emergency train buying in order to buy a train, making it viable to just keep running your trains and paying out dividends while still buying a train for your companies. Overall, it is good but it's a pretty weird game. It's a pretty relaxed game, the sort you would play while smoking a cigar and drinking a glass of Cognac. You pretty much don't need to worry about going bankrupt, it doesn't have the frantic pace of 1830 because the train rush is non-existant (2 trains cost 300). It does have the careful track laying of 1870 but doesn't have the associated train rush and feeder companies that you need in 1870. It doesn't have the 'create to fail' nature of 1856. It doesn't have the mad rush for Chicago of 1846. It's just a leisurely paced game filled with gentlemen's agreements. It somehow feels quintissentially British (in view of a distorted British stereotype, that is) as opposed to the more rough, American capitalism of 1830. I love it to bits.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2013 10:50
|
|
|
Tekopo posted:I really liked 1853 but he focus on it is really heavily skewed towards developing track rather than any attempts at stock manipulation and in that it's a very devisive game, since 18XX groups that like the stock manipulation won't find much to like in 1853. The game is designed so that it's almost impossible to decrease the value of a share (the only situation in which this happens is when you have shares in the pool and a company witholds). As well as that, it's possible to sell down even if there is no one to take over the presidency (in which case the company is run by a 'manager' instead), making it impossible to dump a company on anyone. Finally, it is possible to pay out of hand even if you aren't emergency train buying in order to buy a train, making it viable to just keep running your trains and paying out dividends while still buying a train for your companies. I endorse this post wholeheartedly and it perfectly puts into words the aspects of 1853 that I really like
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2013 02:54
|
|
|
I should have some time this weekend to run another game, anyone interested in a skype/irc/dropbox?
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2013 13:15
|
|
|
Depending on when you get started, I would be willing to play again. I do have some time on Friday evening, Saturday evening, and Sunday morning.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2013 13:43
|
|
|
I finally made a decision on which new 18xx game to fund in kickstarter. I asked my group if anyone would ever play 18OE, and it was pretty much a unanimous no. I guess a couple people would play 18C2C, but one of the guys is no longer in town. Also, they were pretty much told to go play somewhere else, as it would fill up the big table at one of the host's house all day for just a few people. I really liked the look and concept of 18OE, but I can't afford to drop that much money on a game I will never get a chance to play. So I saw that 1862 is having another attempt at a kickstarter, and I signed up for that one. The designer set the bar much lower to fund, and I think anyone not in the UK has to pay shipping now (not that it matters to me in the US). It has already reached its target, so now it is just a matter of waiting for it to get made.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2013 19:06
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 23:50 |
|
|
I did the opposite: I originally was on for 1862 and 18OE but I had a look at my finances and I could only realistically get one, so I decided for 18OE because I'm a sucker for good looking games. 1862 still reminds me too much of 1860 and that game isn't the prettiest in terms of board design.
|
|
#
?
Jul 5, 2013 22:25
|
|