18xoxo

From Thursday 28th November to Sunday 1st December 2024 I attended the VPS-Con in Verden (Aller) in the north of Germany. The location was beautiful. Several timber-framed guest houses with a chapel with a big fully windowed side as one of the locations to play games in. Food was also decent and the price for the whole weekend was a steal.

After a 5 hour drive from Bavaria to the con location, we helped set up the tables and hung around for an hour or two until most of the other guests arrived. Of course, we also set up the first #boardgames during this time, as we did not want to waste any time and wanted to get started as soon as possible. #brettspiele

Once everyone was there, we had dinner and then went back to the chapel for a short introduction from the hosts and off we went!

The plan was to play as much 18xx as possible, as this might be one of very few opportunities for me to play longer 18xx live. So following the plan, i hopped into a game of

1837: Rail Building in the Austro-Hungarian Empire

#1837 definitely is an older title and it shows. Yeah, i know. There will be tons of people claiming that 1830 is even older and still cream of the crop and yadda yadda. Well, i don't buy into that. In my humble opinion, the evolution of 18xx for my taste has only led to better, shorter, more interesting games.

You start with a big auction of small companies (most of which come with an attached private mountain pass company) and you build up your network. Later on, you can form the classic major companies and honestly, the interaction between those was one of the more interesting aspect of the game, as your small mining company could be forced to close and merge into one of the major companies. You clearly don't want that if theres still a lot of money in the small company. Then theres also 3 other big companies, that again merge from sub-companies, giving the director share to the player with the most sub-companies of it or the lowest company number.

There are also two different types of train, a plus train and a normal train, which makes for some interesting track-building decisions.

Generally speaking i seem to handle games with too many companies not too well. That's a pattern i realised over my time playing 18xx and it showed here again. All the different companies that didn't do too much felt just bland to me and the pacing was a slog. The hours went by and finally the forming of the national companies happened just to drag on further. At one point (ok, it was already 4.30 in the morning by then) i just wanted it to be over, but the other players insisted on calculation not only 1 OR set but 2. So we did that and then i finally could go to sleep, with a strong last place finish to make for sweet dreams.

I did want to experience this game but i can say with confidence that there is no need for a second time with it. However, i still might want to try out 1824 as it showed up on some Top-10 Lists a while ago.

18USA

Talking about COMMITMENT! Two long 18xx back to back and no backing down. 🤓

This was pure coincidence. . When we chatted about who would bring which game, almost all of my games were already brought by other people, so i decided to pack 18USA as it had just arrived a few days prior and this was probably one of the only chances for me to ever play it offline. When talking about it over breakfast, a nice couple chimed in and expressed interest in participating in a round. Turns out, the couple was Designer Legend Matthias Cramer and his partner. Well, here we go!

Honestly, this was probably the best experience of the whole con for me. Not necessarily in terms of how well I played or how much fun I had (I came in dead last again), but in terms of how mind-blowing the game was. I finally understood why people praise the 1817 system so much.

#18USA is not your average 18xx. Yes, you start companies and try to make a profit. But alle the other stuff doesn't work here. Just trying to make a profit to keep raising your stock value? The other people will short you to death and dance on your grave with the new company they opened with the funds they received from your shorts. More than anything i feel that 18USA puts laser focus on the real value of your company. If you barely scrape by, your probably better of withholding and getting some new trains into the company instead of making a quick dollar. Or you do that but then merge the shitty company into one of your new companies to avoid being shorted. I don't think any explanation of mine would do the system justice as i only played it once and barely started to see the light. But the mere glimpse of greatness left me aching for more.

On top of that i love the setup of 18USA. As you probably know from my review of 1822PNW (more on that later), i really dig variable setups and powers. There's plenty of that here. Most of the cities get random starting bonuses, the off-boards are randomized and the metropolitan cities are randomized as well. Then theres always only i think 15 out of 30 privates available. This is an incrediable amount of replayability, but also a bit of a front-loaded burden, as you have to wrap your mind around the initial starting puzzle.

We didn't finish the game as it became clear who was in the lead and people wanted to move on. I would have re-started in a heartbeat. This was my best 18xx experience probably since i started playing the series a year ago and i would love to dig deeper into it.

By the way: the poker chips you're seeing here are the small sized chips that originated from a BGG-thread. Everyone really liked them a lot and i think i can recommend them. I am not sure which design i would choose if i bought a set myself, but thats just personal preference. The form factor and production value are great.

18India

As it was after dinner, we just wanted to play something shorter and ended up on #18India. I know, I just bored you with my repetitive remarks about replayability, different maps, etc. But somehow that doesn't work for me with 18India.

For me it's one of the “party” 18xx. Not too long, you have a lot of money and can do a lot of different things, maybe some randomness. But having played it live for the second or third time now, it just never clicks for me.

One of the reasons is that you can end up in the corner of the map, and while everyone else is combining their routes for maximum profit, you're on your own with little chance of success. I suppose a better player would hedge his bets in this regard and draft differently positioned companies (my draft was terrible, as I found out), but still...

I can't put my finger on it, but I'd rather play something else.

1822PNW

#1822PNW is love, 1822PNW is life. I already wrote enough about this game in my review, but this game has delivered once again. It is such a relaxing experience, yet full of tension. You're forced to constantly adjust your bidding and merging strategy. You have to get the timing right (we played with 2 less L-train) and also develop your end-game routes.

The moment when the small train networks from all corners of the map crawl towards each other and finally connect is just so thematic (actually I have no idea how it worked in the past, but this is how I imagine it).

And since everyone was playing really quick, we were able to finish in just 4,5 hours. I got 3rd place. Hurray! Honestly, i don't mind at all, would play this every time.

18Korea

All the 18xx games left me a bit exhausted and I wandered around looking at the other games people were playing. This wasn't just an 18xx con, so there were plenty of Euro games being played and even a late night Social Deduction round. #bloodontheclocktower

Finally, i decided to play one final game of 18xx and since i just got my delivery of #18Korea from the Essen Spiel fair, this was a good one to try out. Also, it is supposed to be shorter, so perfect to end the evening with.

Another one of the aforementioned “party” 18xx games, it has a very strange arc. You start making huge money in the north of the map (North Korea) before the war takes place with one of the 4-trains and that hole area becomes unavailble and you only are playing in the southern part of the map. Companies, that don't make it south are lost, so you try to maximise you profits while also b-lining for the south. You earn very little until you develop your routes again and then run 2x trains in the endgame for again high profits.

But that is not even the core of the game. The beating heart of 18Korea is the dozens of super-powered privates that are drafted at the start of the game. Each of them seems so overpowered that you wonder how this is going to work. It does, somehow. Finding the right combination of privates and making the most of them is part of the charm of this game.

Unfortunately, we spent more time than we thought, as the rulebook is not great and the translation from Korean into English also doesn't help.

Still, fun experience and definitely would play over 18India. Hopefully i will be able to try this one out, soon and then maybe can write a full review. Also, winner, winner, chicken dinner!

1889 Shikoku

The next day saw me fully prepared to play nothing, maybe a small game of Arcs. Then i saw the Bat sign against the sky of Goth...ahem, someone setting up #1889 Shikoku and asking for players in the whatsapp group. I couldn't resist.

So i went and played a super quick round of 1889 (2,5 hours) which we unfortunately couldn't finish because it was time to leave. I think i was in a decent position for maybe second place and the game wouldn't have lasted much longer, as we were already buying the Diesels.

Funny to come back to this after one year and so many different 18xx games. I still like it for what it is and definitely would play it more often. Also, i still stand by my choice of this over 18Chesapeake anytime.

We packed our stuff and started the journey home with a deep fried brain, little sleep but dozens of good memories. Definitely looking forwad to come back next year!

Thanks to all the organisers, players and staff helping out at the Con, you made this the great experience it was.

#18xx #boardgames

Disclaimer: I am no 18xx expert by far. I have maybe 20 games under my belt and most of them spread out across different titles, as I love to explore new things. However, as there's usually little information on all the different 18xx games, I would like to provide some insight into how the games felt (to me) and what made them special.

#18RoyalGorge surprised me. I had never heard about it and when I looked at the rulebook, the section “hire gunslingers” made me shrug and envision a wargame/western/18xx crossover, where I roll dice when I attack the trains of my competitors.

How far from the truth! This is a super compact, interesting 18xx title that after 2 (online) live plays left me wanting for more.

Bonus points: When I did my through-hike of the Colorado Trail in 2017 I was actually passing through the very same region this game is set in! Oh, the memories of drinking beer with an oil field worker in Salida, who's working on a Marxist pamphlet in his trailer with the cayote howling outside in the dark... 🤣

What's the game about 📋

• Mixture of fixed turns (yellow is always only one set of 2 OR), train exports (permanents included) and overall very short length
• less public companies than players, so always 1 investor (at 3-4 players) at the start of the game
• incremental capitalization
• up to 6 tiles building per OR, you pay more the more you build. Yellow and upgrades can be built during the same turn when in the right phase.
• pick up and delivery of gold which is excavated when building over a mine tile
• 10-share companies that pay out based on track built and gold exported
• special feature where one company always gets a very lucrative train route built for it, but has to pay debt to another company
• 2-5 trains are plus trains (dits are not counted for stops), the last train is a 6x2 train (and its availability is limited to a relevant number!)
• linear stock market, double and triple jumps are possible
• stocks only drop when president sells

This is not everything but should give you a quick overview. Overall, it feels unique because of how fast it plays, its special mixture of set phases but still it's quite easy to pick up and get into it.

The map 🛤️

The map feels pretty good because of a mix of – interestingly developing off-board cities (one starts high and goes down, others go up) – terrain with several mountains and rivers, which can easily be overbuilt, – the special section where you can't really build but rather starting with the green phase only one company gets the route built, and only that company has access to it.

Combined with the variable setup (only 2 companies of the 5 that are in each game are set in stone) and some of the privates incentivizing certain regions, I can see a lot of differently developing games taking place on this map.

The companies 🏭

Public companies

There are two main special features concerning the companies:

1. At the start, there are only 2 public companies that can be opened. It's always the Rio Grande (which later gets a track built for it) and one random company. Starting with stock round two, two more public companies can be opened and in brown one final company gets added.

2. There are two more companies that can be invested in, one company pays out depending on how much and which track was built and one pays out, depending on how much gold got delivered. These two companies feel more lucrative early to mid-game but don't reach the heights of a 2 train end game “normal” company with payouts of 700-1000+.

Private companies

There seems to be a nice mix of those. They are always spread out across the phases, with 2 yellow, 2 green and 1 brown private being bid on at the start of the game. They deviate from the usual block one hex, get one share boring stuff and may incentivize certain strategies. You have the private which turns a dot into a town or pays out 50 when the dot is connected? Maybe try to incorporate that dot into your network. Have the private that doesn't close but always pays out 25? Maybe focus on investing early and then opening high to maximize your portfolio space.

Overall, the privates feel great and creative to me. I only wish they maybe went more in the creative direction for some of them, like the jeweler (get 5 every time a gold is transported offboard).

Values 📈

This game is tight! Partially, we've probably been digging our own graves by building too much track, on the other hand you want to make use of that mechanic and get lucrative routes as soon as possible. Because of the short yellow phase (only 2 ORs), the 2 trains seem very dangerous, as if you go for two of them at the start, you probably will struggle to get a ¾ train and might be without a train when the 4s rust them.

Also, there are always interesting decisions to calculate through (build track through the gold mine for maybe a higher cost, but also short term profit with the gold shipping?) The dynamics of when to open which company, what to do with your investments in the steel and gold companies etc.

Player count 🎲

According to the box, this plays from 2-4. I only played at 3, but that worked out perfectly. I also see the 2 player game working since there are the steel and gold companies and therefore the 2 players wouldn't always just be cross investing. 4 is probably also fine and would be interesting to try out.

Production 📦

This is currently being prepared for a kickstarter, supposed to happen later in 2024, so I have no clue what's the final product is going to look like. The rulebook however seems very nice so far, and I like all the graphics that are depicted in the rulebook for the cards etc. However, I have never heard of the designers before, so I would be cautious, as with all kickstarters of unknown entities.

Final thoughts 💭

As I already stated in the intro, this was a nice surprise! I like very much of what I found in this. Mostly stood out the combination of very short play time with a “full” experience of building companies and running big routes in the end, having lots of upgrades on the board and a nice story arc.

Also, the way track is built with the implications on the steel company is just very interesting, as you don't just build track, but rather take steel from columns that increase in price for every tile built. This is interesting on its own, but even more so when in later rounds several companies take away the available steel from each other, which again might influence your track building decisions etc. Just very clever. The only downside I see when playing on the table is that this could add some fiddlyness to the game.

The one thing I am not so sure about is that the Rio Grande always wins the royal gorge with its special track, which is super lucrative. In both plays it was always the company with high income in the end and the owner was the winning player. He's also the by far the best player of us, so that's not my point, but I might dislike the staleness this could bring to the game.

In regard to adding this to my collection: I am definitely considering this now! There's just nothing like it in my collection, and I gravitate more and more to shorter 18xx, as those have at least a real chance of actually getting played. Often, I feel I get less out of the “big” games compared to the additional time investment I have to make for them.

If you want to get your own impressions of the game before the kickstarter starts, go check out https://18xx.games/ and start playing online.

#18xx #boardgames

Disclaimer: I am no 18xx expert by far. I have maybe 10 games under my belt and most of them spread out across different titles, as I love to explore new things. However, as there's usually little information on all the different 18xx games, I would like to provide some insight into how the games felt (to me) and what made them special.

Ok, now it's getting serious. PNW is probably – SPOILER – my favorite 18xx as of now and I think I played it the most (which means still a lowly 5 times maybe?). Therefore, this is close to my heart and compared to other titles, I start to formulate strategies in my head and have a more accurate guess on values. But more on values later.

What's the game about

• part of the 1822 family. That means
  • a lot of bidding every stock round. You bid on minor companies and different privates
  • minor companies become major companies through various ways. In PNW you merge 2 (one “normal” and one associated) connected minors.
  • the privates have different powers. Those can be game/rules changing
• majors are #incremental cap and start when merged (until phase 5, then they can be started during stock round)
• Automatic export at end of stock round, permanents included.
• Maps medium-sized, different variant for 2-3 player that plays on the same map (without the north) though
• Major companies have destination tokens which pay an extra
• linear stock market, with double and triple jumps possible
• no stock market shenanigans where certs don't count or you can hold above 60% (which you can have in certain cases anyway)
• 2 big cities compete for the highest tile per phase
• a few special rules around building
  • building blocks that reduce the cost of future track laying
  • timber exists (building cost +10, receive +10 profit when a train runs through, can't be upgraded)

Whew. That list kept getting longer and longer and doesn't have all the details. And I have to admit, even in my now 5th play I still was unsure about certain rules (this time how to convert an associated minor into a major after phase 5). Nevertheless, this game feels comboish in an effortless way to me. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

This is one of the games I actually own. I bought it, after my first 18xx depression had ended, and I played like 2 games on 18xx.games. At that time I heard that 1822 might be good for Euro gamers like myself and less mean. Then, I looked at the different 1822 options:

• vanilla 1822 and 1822CA got discarded because of their size and length
• leaving me with 1822MX and 1822PNW.

Between the last two, 1822PNW looked pretty and I liked the region, so I bought it. If that sounds like a pretty superficial decision process, yeah, it was. Luckily for me, it turned out absolutely right.

The map

I love the map. As I stated in the disclaimer, part of the fun of 18xx is to always discover new things. That doesn't necessarily have to be new titles – new strategies or, like in this case, new map layouts, also count.

There are probably many different factors that play into why every game the map looks pretty different. The different timings of when minors are available. The mountain range in the middle and the water in the west and south. The privates, that allow crossing those natural dividers. Even the rules for timber might have a word in it. To me, this feels great and like a clear winner over maps with one big city like London in vanilla 1822. Yes, the area east of the mountain range might be weaker, but I still feel tempted to prove that wrong (and fail every time).

The companies

Part of the charm of 1822-games is the puzzle, how you use the different minors and private companies as combos. Again, with the different timing of when minors are bid on, you're constantly thinking which company you could build where, merge with which other company and so on. Take into consideration, that privates might allow you to declare a non-associated company to be associated with a major, thats not in the game so far or that you suddenly can route over water or impassable mountains, and you realize, how much this can be in flux at all times.

Values

This is nothing special to 1822 and its brethren. Since in every 18xx game, the winner is decided by how much value he/she was able to accrue, this is at the core of everything. But since you're constantly bidding on 3–5 items per stock round, this is much more enforced and brought to the front than in other titles. And it can be exhausting. Without a few games under your belt, 90-100 Dollar for a permanent or a Pullman might seem a lot. For a 100 you can start a new minor! And then those values change depending on the amount of players and current game state/phase. Yes, that still sometimes makes me feel lost and is probably also the reason why this is no good beginner title, besides the amount of special rules, that's in here. Also, there's a slight variation here to the usual rule that any capital should usually be invested (full credit for pointing that out to Tony from Wheel Tapping Podcast ): you have to plan ahead and therefore might want to keep money so you are able to bid in the next SR for certain Privates/Companies that you need.

Also, there was an interesting chat in the all-chat of 18xx.games about whether the lack of concessions to bid on makes the game more or less prone to too little/much policing. I think there's definitely a point to make that fewer items increase the density of bids on each single item, but I know too little about this game and its competitors to really give my own input.

Player count

One of the few games where I can state an opinion on this topic. Having played at 3,4 and 5, I feel 4-5 are great on the standard map. With 3 (only one play!), it feels too open and players have too much cash. There's a special variant for 2–3 players that only uses the south of the map and leaves the northern companies out of the game, but I couldn't test it so far, as the implementation was, at the time of me writing this, still in alpha and buggy on 18xx.games. If I had to make a call, I'd prefer 4 players.

Production

Great! I really like the All-Aboard Games titles I have seen so far. Would have been perfect with a tile holder (which you can order separately at All-Aboard, too, but the ones from Cube4Me look like the better set).

Final thoughts

Would I add it to my collection? Obviously, I did! So far, this is my 1822 (including the smaller 1822 MRS/NRS) of choice. I haven't played CA or MX, but CA I will never be able to play live because of playtime. So I will have to try MX soon and then update.

Playing this, I sometimes wonder what if, for example, destinations were also somewhat randomized. Wouldn't that be even more amazing? Or would it be helplessly imbalanced or hard to set up? I think I need to play 1862 soon to get more input into randomized companies and board setup.

Also, there are some things I am not too keen about. Why is, for example, Minor 6 always in the first bidding box at game start? It's a private that's heavily comboing with many good privates like Pullmans, lumber baron etc. and needs to be put in check through bidding. Wouldn't it have opened the map up even more, if that minor came (randomly) very late into play? Also, I am not so sure about regionals, which are minors that basically do not much except for value extraction from a major and providing a token. That might be not nothing, but a lot of times it's very unattractive in early-mid game. I really would like to be able to ask these questions to the designer, maybe one day.

If you want to dive into running trains in the Pacific Northwest and have no player nearby, go check out https://18xx.games/ and start playing online. For support of the designer/publisher, please head over to All-Aboard Games

#18xx #boardgames

Disclaimer: I am no 18xx expert by far. I have maybe 10 games under my belt and most of them spread out across different titles, as I love to explore new things. However, as there's usually little information on all the different 18xx games, I would like to provide some insight into how the games felt (to me) and what made them special.

This first session was not only my first play of 1888-N (and any “Lonny” 18xx games) but also the first of our local 18xx group. As I kept stumbling into the niche of 18xx, I ended up in a German WhatsApp group and on top of that happened to find a few players in the vicinity of myself. So clearly, we all wanted to play live and after a few weeks of planning, made it finally happen. By the way, the 18xx community is amazing and probably worth a post by itself, but that's for later.

Whats the game about

• Very close to 1830 by its core
• full cap game, 60% float
• Automatic export at end of OR-set until permanents
• Maps not very big, but still didn't feel very tight and not too much blocking happened
• Companies have destination tokens which pay an extra
• 2d stock market,
  • area where certs don't count against cert limit
  • no “you can buy more than 60% of one company area”

I have not played the OG 1830 so far, but only 1889. This felt similar in a lot of ways. Sure, the map is obviously totally different. I was expecting more focus on Beijing, but there's also a great area in the south-east and also the south-west was very desirable, especially in our end game. Just the north-west seemed bad.

After a very fast train rush at the start of the game, everything came to a stop at the 4-trains and it took a while for us to get into the permanents. Also, while we generally played very operational focussed, there were some shenanigans to dump one company tried at this point, which unfortunately (at least for the player owning the empty company) failed. 3 of 4 players had to force buy a Diesel in the end, which might have cost the second placed player the lead.

We didn't play all rounds but went to paper for the last 2 OR.

Overall, I liked the game. It seems to me a nice variation to playing 1889. I guess, 1889 might have a few more levers to pull with the stock market, which allows you to buy more than 60% of one company if the value is in a certain area. But this is just one strategy I saw once and never tried myself. Also, I am not so sure about automatic exports. I guess I will have to play more games with and without it, but if I had to make a call, I feel I prefer games without that mechanic. On the other hand, maybe it's just something to speed up games and doesn't really have to be judged.

The tile set didn't seem very restrictive (like 1882) to me. And the yellow city had all types of bents (looking at you, 18Ches).

Also, the privates seemed fine. Obviously, most of us had no clue how to evaluate and bid on them, but that's like in any other 18xx with privates. I just had no idea what really to make with the mountain private that's like a 40Yen dot, but the 40Yen go directly to the company and can't be paid out.

Components in general were nice. The map is two-sided, one being more beautiful and brown and one being more abstract. We played on the abstract one, but I can see both sides being totally usable. Everything else was well produced, though not quite on the wow level of 1889 for me.

Would I add it to my collection? No, I feel owning 1889, there's too little differentiation to justify the shelf space, but if I didn't have that, yeah, I could absolutely see me buying it, especially for a shorter (3-4 hours?) 1830 type game.

If you have no cool new 18xx players in your vicinity, go check out https://18xx.games/ and start playing online. For support of the designer, please head over to https://www.lonnygames.com/

#18xx #boardgames

I love board gaming. One of my first “real” experiences was playing Catan during one holiday with my dad. Some of the other kids introduced me to the Cities&Knights Expansion and it added a level of complexity, I had not seen in a board game before. I was addicted.

Fast-forward several decades: Following my first big crush, Agricola, many other games followed. As with most addictions, I followed the rabbit deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole, going from mid-heavy Euros to heavier and heavier Euros.

During that time, i made first contact with 18xx. Probably as part of Heavy Cardboard Youtube Channel, I dismissed it because of its reputation of being super complex and only something for the real nerds. That lasted quite a while until somehow I became aware of the 1889 Shikoku reprint Kickstarter by Grand Trunk Games. It got to me.

Mostly why it hit me so hard with the urge to immediately back it was because it was beautiful. I am always a sucker for great looking games, not necessarily just great graphics, but even more so if the whole thing just feels right. Pax Pamir 2nd edition is probably the greatest example of this that I own.

So I backed it and started reading Josh Starr's blog about the production and the game in general. And it dawned to me that more than just a train game might await me.

Again, fast-forward several months, 1889 finally arrived. The game was as beautiful as expected, so all I was waiting for was the right opportunity to play it with my usual gaming group who loyally had followed me through all my board game purchases I threw them into over the years. The day finally came and it was...

... a disaster. 5–6 hours and the worst thing was how you could feel over the course of the game, how people became less and less interested. I was devastated. So much, I actually was considering selling the game off again (something I rarely do, which is why I ran out of shelve space completely by now).

Then for whatever reason I started following the 18xx hashtag on Mastodon and found a group with whom I could play a few sessions online. And even more important: They introduced me to https://18xx.games/

18xx.games

This was a game changer. Not only suddenly I had access to dozens of games, more importantly, I had access to a huge amount of people eager to play at any given time. This, coupled with the possibility to play asynchronous, led to a big amount of rounds of 18xx in a short period. With more and more experiences under my belt, the urge arose to document some of my thoughts and write down possible strategies or considerations about where my 18xx journey might lead me next. Glad to have you aboard.

#18xx #boardgames