Intro:

18USA has become one of my all-time favourite 18xx games. Playing it for the first time was an eye-opener, and even though sometimes I have a hard time committing myself for a 10hour session when the opportunity comes up (rarely enough), when I actually do it I enjoy every minute of it.

Naturally, I started researching if there are shorter variants for it to get a similar experience in a shorter period. And there are! As also mentioned in my initial 18USA review, besides 18Hiawatha, I know of:

• 1877: Venezuela
• 1817WO
• 1817NA

The first hasn't been published or finished its development, and my first contact with it went very poorly. The second, I have no interest in because of its abstract map. And the third one I had no chance trying out, but is listed as still taking 6+ hours.

Since it was also available on 18xx.games, trying out 18Hiawatha was easy, and a first online live session went well and was super quick. So, after we got our yearly 18USA fix at our last 18XX Franken Convention, our monthly 18XX group was ready to try out 18Hiawatha during our next session. This impression is based on that, and my 2 online playthroughs.

📋 What's the game about?

Generally speaking, we do very similar things than in 1817/18USA. You start companies, evaluate all of them, and try to leverage the money you get by shorting overrated companies by investing it in better companies. The big changes are:

• The endgame is triggered when the first 4-trains are purchased. This means the 3-trains are already permanent and the playtime is around four hours, although this could be less for faster players.
• 2-share companies don't exist, and everything can be shorted directly after the company started. Yes, that means shorting starts in the first Stock Round!
• Trains are always bought for face value (bye bye train shuffling).

Given these changes, did we get what we were looking for?

🛤️ The Map

The map shows the region from Milwaukee in the north to Chicago in the south. There are offboard-connections in all corners/sides of the map, while the values change greatly.

Additional points of interest are the Milwaukee-tile in the North, which is a grey tile that gets a second token spot in green (+60 value) and also is the destination for 2 connection bonuses. One of those can be achieved with a 3-train, the other requires a 4-train. The two Chicago tiles in the south are special because they start at 40 revenue in yellow, but goes back to 20 in green, to then get to 60 in brown.

The rest of the map doesn't have much features, and also almost no terrain cost. Especially the whole area in the middle north of Chicago has plenty cities, but was very uninteresting/uncontested in our live playthrough.

🏢 The Companies

18Hiawatha uses 12 of the Companies of 1817/18USA, and all Companies start as a 5-share with the purchase of the Director Share. The acquisition of one additional token is mandatory.

Because of this, all companies can be shorted (in contrast to the 2-share companies of 1817/USA), and a lot of thinking goes into which companies have the best positions and how you can screw a company you've shorted even further.

In our playthrough, for example, we were able to exclude a company started in the bottom left from getting to Chicago.

The other big factor are the 8 private companies that are auctioned off at the start of the game and have a nice variety of the stuff you're used to from 1817, like non-upgradeable track tiles with bonuses, special tiles, additional trains, additional revenue tokens, and so on. Making the most of those in combination with the starting position is one of the key elements of a good start in 1817, and definitely can be found here as well.

📈 Values

So clearly, this game should be about values, as you try to parse current with future earnings to determine how you can gain an edge versus your competition. The one rule that really threw me off was the strict sales rule of trains for always face value. I still don't know why it exists, as it makes a lot of strategies existing in the full game irrelevant. There's little value in friendly sales if you can't mess with what you're selling beforehand. If you are shorted, you have fewer options for making those who shorted you pay.

I am sure there's a reasoning for that rule, maybe tied to the shorter playtime and less ORs, but I don't really see the benefit so far. Would be interesting to try without.

On the other hand, this made me realize the benefit of the housekeeping turn that Venezuela introduces, as here, if a new company is opened later at a higher price to pay for the more expensive trains, in a probably worse position because the others are already taken, it becomes a clear short target with little to do, as it surely falls back once and then can only jump forward once max.

After thinking about this now, my preferred solution would probably be the usage of the 18USA up to quadruple jumps, if you stay with the option to short something the minute it opens, as then a lucrative new company that maybe runs the route bonus could do well in its second OR. Still, excluding getting additional trains from other companies seems weird.

🎲 Player Count

So far, I've only played this at 3 players, which was very fine. I totally see this working out at 4. 5 should work as well, but I am bad at projecting this. Maybe it's even more interesting because the money for 2 companies is tighter.

📦 Production:

Oh, well. This is a hobby product which cost 30$ at the time (crazy to look at this price after the latest issue clocked in at 90$!) for several games in the magazine. I also think that the magazine is not available at the moment – maybe the digital version still is.

Nevertheless, out of the 16 components (7 track tiles, 8 privates, 1 game map), 4-11 – depending on how you counting – were faulty. That's...not good. The full list is:

• Map / rulebook having different starting money values
• missing brown CHI tile
• very unsharp printing of the privates
• stock market not aligning when putting the map together

In the end, I don't care. The game is perfectly playable. Actually, it was quite revelating to see how little is needed to tune an existing game into something different with just a board and a few paper sheets — given that you need to own a copy for 1817 or 18USA to play this.

💭 Final thoughts:

In the end, I am not sure what to make of it. My initial impressions are good. You're definitely getting some of the 1817 vibes, especially at the start. It does start to feel weird when you realise that the 3s are already permanent, and we wondered where the pressure would come from. However, buying the 3s turned out quite stressful on the loan market, and 35$ per loan made surviving — especially once the 2s died — quite challenging. It might have been different if I had not opened one more company, which also bought a 3 but never ran good and was rightfully shorted, but put even more loans into play.

When looking at the BGG comments about 18Hiawatha, I found this comment about 1817 game length and how you need the later trains to make the main decisions around the 3s more opaque. The more I think about it, the more I tend to agree.

Still, I cannot stop hoping for a great, short 1817 like experience. Is it 18Hiawatha? Not to the full extent, but definitely something to start the journey and form an opinion to better understand what it is that drives the main games' perfection. I am happy to have played it.

If you want to want to start your search for a short 1817 like experience but have no player nearby, go check out https://18xx.games/ and start playing online. For support of the designer/publisher, please head over to Traxx

#18xx #boardgames

A great title for #18Korea that I think I heard somewhere else before is Unbalanced Privates – the 18xx Game and that hits the nail on its head. There are also other McGuffins, but this is its core identity. At the beginning of the game the players do a snake draft (e.g. 1-2-3-3-2-1-1-2-3 for 3 players) for the private companies which are split across 3 categories. Every player must have 1 of each category in the end. Then, you go away and earn ~500 in the first OR set. 🎉

Part 1 of these high earnings are because the privates seem crazy overpowered compared to your standard 1830-type private. You just want to sell your train for the full price whenever you want during your turn? There you go, draft this private. You just want 80 income for your company every turn? Also fine, take that private. Adding a whole new tile with new expensive destinations to the board? Yeah, i thought so, here you go.

Part 2 is that the game begins with the whole of Korea available to build track on. The north is very profitable (some offboards are 70 in yellow), but after the 3rd 4-train the Korean war happens and all tracks and companies (if they didn't manage to token in the south) are destroyed and you play the game on half of the map, if even.

Seems crazy? Yeah, crazy fun! Lets dig deeper:

📋 What's the game about

• Variable setup in
  • available companies (5 North Korean, 3 South Korean pre- and 3 South Korean post war)
  • (Snake) Draftable private companies (3 per player out of 75 total with expansion)
• Always 1 stock round followed by 2 operating rounds. Phases change when new trains become available, NOT when first train of new phase is bought. All 2 trains exported after first OR, so OR2 = always green phase
• 1 non-permanent train export per OR set
• 60%max shares, higher if bought from market
  • incremental companies, 20% to float
• Linear Stock Market:
  • Two sections (pre/after war) for IPO prices
  • up to double jumps
  • Stock loses value only when President sells

🛤️ The map

The map or rather its dynamics is one of the USPs of this 18xx. As mentioned above, the map is split into two parts. The second half of the game (after the Korean war) is only played on the lower part, and the north is completely removed from the map.

Moreover, the North also follows the logic that the further North off-boards are, the more lucrative they become. Offboards start from 40 up to 70 in the furthest north-east corner of the map. The reason is, that the more distance between the offboard and the south, the harder it is for a North Korean company to make it to safety, i.e. place a station marker in the south. City tiles are also worth more in the north, ranging from 30 in yellow to 50 in green. The south follows the usual logic of normal cities being worth 20 and 30 in green.

While all of the north can earn massive income during the first few OR sets, be aware that there's still a huge difference between companies from the middle area of Korea and, for example, the most north-eastern company with basically two routes to the 70 off-board and another off-board in the south of it with 60.

🏢 The companies

So what do you do, when one of these great north-east companies is in the game? Well, luckily the game also has a bidding mechanic for every company put up for auction during the stock round. This means that you have to make sure that the potentially very profitable company is not bought for cheap. And while you're at it, you're probably also advised to cross-invest into this company while they're cheap. By doing this you make sure you're earning a piece of the massive cake while at the same time making it harder for the owners late game, as there is no redeeming of sold stock into the company, so once the money's gone, it's gone. As an investor, you have to be super careful though to make sure that you sell these stocks in the stock round before the Korean war. Understanding how fast companies can push through the 3s and the first 3 of the 4-trains (remember the export) can be the difference between a good position for the win and a lost game.

However, there's another caveat: when buying from the stock market, you're allowed to exceed the 60% max stock limit that you may own of a company. So if you are able to make it to the south with your North Korean company, weather the midgame storm that is the war and the train rush and get your permanent train(s), you might have 80-100% of a very profitable company.

Now that i have talked a lot about the North Korean companies, lets turn our view to the other half of the map, because the South Korean companies are important as well. Since the 2nd half of the game is only played in the South, having tokens in the best locations can be crucial to make the best of your E-Train runs in the late game. You always have to balance earning money early in the north while making sure you get a company in the south in time. Also, you're only allowed to put your super powerful privates into companies from the north or the 3 pre-war South Korean companies, leading to a competition over the best South Korean companies as well and having the timing right, when to put up one of those while having enough funds to secure them in the bidding round is a necessary skill to play this well.

📈 Values

Understanding the puzzle of available companies, which player owns which privates and their individual potential is one of the most fun things about this game. Sometimes you follow the rules I lined out above and make sure to have enough shares of the very profitable north-eastern companies, while at other times you see that another player has a private to add a special tile to the map in the south, completely altering your most profitable routes there and therefore also the value of the available companies.

Just be aware that this is not a 18xx title driven by its stock rounds. Yes, you auction the companies, but apart from that there's not much happening. There's rarely any dumping (since you can't move the privates out from a company once you've put them in) and because of the stock price not being affected by non-chairman sales, there's little to do with the stock values.

🎲 Player Count

Having played this at 3 and 4, I am pretty sure that i prefer the 4 player game over 3 player. While totally fine at 3, it shines more at 4 because of the higher competition for token slots in the South, which is one of the key parts of the late game. For the same reasons, it might also work great at 5 but I haven't tried it.

📦 Production

I was totally unsure what to expect, but the production quality of this is great and on par with for example, All-Aboard Games. Map is nice, tiles are sturdy, fine charters and shares. My only complaint is that several of the companies have similar colours and the company logos are also sometimes hard to distinguish, but this might be a cultural thing of not being used to the letters. Yet, I often struggled looking from afar at the map to immediately be able to tell, which token belonged to which company.

And the big elephant in the room: the production in in korean. This is not a problem for the revenues of the offboards, companies, the market, trains etc. but all the rules are in korean and also all the text of the privates. To me this was not a major problem, as you'll also receive a translation of the rules and the privates, but it might turn off some people. To me, this was a non-issue in all of my players and my co-players.

Speaking of production, given that this is produced by a Korean guy, getting it might be a bit trickier that your normal webstore order.

As far as I know, right now there's only one way:

Contact Jack from Artnpiece through BGG (user kyungjung kim ) or mail him. He will ask for pre-payment but so far i heard nothing negative about it not working out. Our copies were brought by himself to Essen for a handover there. Total for main game + expansion was 126$ in 2024.

Clearly, all of this is at your own risk.

Apart from that there's a constant talk about a Kickstarter happening for the english version of the game, but this did not happen for a few times now already. Latest estimate was again Q1 2026, so keep your eyes open.

💭 Final thoughts

When I heard first about #18Korea it sounded like this obscure speciality which is hard to acquire but worth it. Given that i love variability and puzzles, it sounded like a great game for me. After i bought it, the first play was fun but not necessarily the great game i hoped for. After a few more plays, the game has definitely risen in my ratings and i really like it right now and am super happy to have it in my collection.

I think its an absolute novelty compared to what 18xx games usually do and i happily take this over one of the endless 30 clones out there. Also, it plays relatively quick and can be done in 3,5 hours. Full recommendation!

If you want to desperately play this game now, the game is also available on Steam but i never tried it and it has mixed reviews.

#18xx #boardgames

Disclaimer: I am no 18xx expert by far. I have maybe 25 live 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 but read this more like a first impression than a full review.

Later in my first year of 18xx i ended up in one of the many rabbit holes of new and old titles and this one led me to 1817. I still wasn't convinced, not even really interested. The outlook of playing 8+ hours, being shorted out of the game and even more complexity didn't really pick my interest. Lately, my preferences saw me seeking for shorter titles. I also had a bit of a disaster with my first play of #18Venezuela (partly because the 1817 system doesn't make for great 18xx.games asynch titles).

Nevertheless, I knew that i had to try this once. Continuing down this rabbit hole i ended up with #18USA. And oh boy, I was intrigued. Highly variable setup? Up to 4 stock market jumps? And loads of interesting posts on BGG by the designer about the differences between 1817 and 18USA and the game in general? I was sold.

I started looking at second-hand market prices for the game and luckily, someone put up 18USA for half the price you would normally pay. I bought it in a heartbeat. And funnily enough, this all happened shortly before the VPS Con and the game arrived just in time. I didn't have high hopes for being able to play it, but because all other games i owned were already brought by other people, i packed it in. Then, one thing lead to another and Friday morning sees Matthias Cramer, his partner, another player from our gaming group and me unboxing and punching the still-in-shrink game to get it going asap. Half a year later I was able to play it a second time during our own 18XX Franconia Con two weeks ago and now I feel like i HAVE to write about the game, as it takes up so much property in my brain.

📋 What's the game about

• Highly variable setup. Off-boards, city-subsidies (first SR starting bonuses) and privates are all randomised.
• Always 1 stock round followed by 2 operating rounds and 2 merger rounds
• All 2 Trains export after OR1, all 2+ trains after OR2. All 3 Trains after OR4. Then one train always is exported at the end of each OR. Pullman trains add 20$ to each stop of a train, buyable starting in phase 5 for 200$.
• 2, 5 and 10 share company sizes. Depending on the phase you're in, you can start, convert or merge companies to the size you want. These companies are incrementally capitalized.
• Loans: Every company can take out 100$ loans until the max number of its shares (2 loans for 2 share companies, 5 loans for 5 share companies...) but the total number of loans taken out by all companies dictates the interest you have to pay every OR!
• Up to 2 yellow or 1 yellow and 1 upgrade per OR, (costing 20$ if you want to take both). Some additional building rules starting in phase 5 to speed up the track laying.
• Linear Stock market:
  • Stock prices are only adjusted at the end of the stock round by the number of stocks in the market (every share is 2 steps down), sold out companies rise by 1.
  • you can short companies: starting with 5 share-companies, you just sell a share you don't have for the current price, but will from now on have to pay when the company pays out instead of receiving money. When a short and a real stock exist at the same time in your portfolio, they cancel each other out.
  • loans cost or give 2 steps back or forth when taking them out and paying them back.

🛤️ The map

The map's key strength is the variability in the setup. Every game you have to analyse in the beginning, which opportunities the map offers this time around in which area, even more so depending on the privates that are in play. Yes, there's New York which is always strong, but so-called metropolis tile cities also have a high revenue and upgrade up to 80$ in grey. Normal tiles on the map can have resource symbols like ore/oil/bridges which – if used with the appropriate private – will then in the future add 10$ or even 20$ to every route run over it. Tokening is important, as in the later rounds having a 5+ train will only benefit you, if you have the route to run it on, which with the plethora of companies being opened (and closed) during the game, might not be so easy (though according to BGG easier than in 1817).

From a aesthetical point of view this is no #1822PNW map, but probably still one step above #18MEX. I guess no one cares about this stuff except me :)

🏭 The companies

As already mentioned, the general structure is that there are 2,5 and 10-share companies. You can upgrade them into the next tier by converting the existing company or merging two separate companies. This is an excellent way of getting rid of the train debt (which doesn't exist here, but your company might get closed without a train) and injecting new capital. Just be aware of your new share value, which is in the case of merging two two-share companies the sum of both companies! Such a juicy shorting target...

The downside, however, is that you lose percentage of ownership when going from a 2 to a 5 share company (100% to 60%). I have no idea if its a valid strategy with more experienced players, but i somehow managed to keep a 2-share company till the end of one game, having super sweet 100% payouts with maximum share density.

However, if things are not going so swimmingly, a company might end up being liquidated or acquired (or fabricated to do so). In both cases, players bid with their companies for the assets of the company – a great way to get tokens and trains. That said, my brain can't grasp the possibilities that this opens up. When and how to liquidate/acquire your own company and get the timing right. You could also force other companies to the same fate, but this might be hard to achieve because of the quadruple-jumps (and the market only having 3 acquisition steps).

📈 Values

Ok, so here's the kicker. Forget everything you learned. Shut out that nagging voice in your head that says you need to quadruple-jump just because you can. This is what I adhered to in my first game, and I paid for it. The great thing about this system is that companies need to be close to what they are actually worth. And it's interesting how it took decades for 18xx to arrive at this very basic premise.

If your companies are overvalued, others will short them, create new companies with that money, push the trains and watch misery love (your) company.

I think sooner or later, every player of this system will watch with awe how people are starting to short one of your companies, and you look around, trying to do the same. And then the horrible realization sets in that there's nothing to do, because the only company you would short yourself is...your own.

This was one of the moments when first i was angry at the world and then just couldn't help but admire the brilliance of this system.

🎲 Player count

I played this now 2 times at 4 which worked splendid. I would be hesitant about playing with 3, but it might work. 5 is probably a no brainer. 6 I don't know. There are already so many companies in the game at 4 that if you just spread them out over 6 players, it might not add much to the playing time and it might work.

📦 Production

The production is good, as we've come to expect from All-aboard productions. It definitely benefits from some Cube4me trays and boxes for all the companies, but that's another 50$ on top of an already expensive game. Some of the companies could have been easier distinguishable (like the two brown ones, for example). The box cover is not a favorite of mine. Well, you see, this is all the nit-picking I've got for today.

💭 Final thoughts

Oh boy, what a game to explore. Its just fantastic, how a genre of games like 18xx can be so diverse. And how fantastic is it, that after trying out 25+ different titles, you still can have that moment when a game completely blows your mind and makes you rethink everything you think you've learned?

That is what this game is. And call me ignorant, I somehow have no need to go back and play the original 1817, because this already has so much of what I love: Instead of learning patterns through repeated plays, gaining an edge through knowledge, 18USA presents you a jigsaw that you have to solve. Fresh and new, every time.

Do you need this in your collection? Hell, yeah! That is, if you see any chance for a 8-12 hour session of mean competition to ever take place. Which brings me to the one and only complaint I really have: why does this have to be so long? But then last time i played it, I remembered a comment by the designer:

In the end, I measure my enjoyment during an 8 hour period by the number of interesting decisions made over that time period. I'd rather play one great game than 3 mediocre ones.

I have nothing to add to that.

Secret Bonus-Section

Ha, of course you didn't believe me when I wrote that last sentence, did you? No no, as expected, I went and tried some of the supposedly shorter alternatives that are out there. Here's my drive-by review of two of them:

18Hiawatha

#18Hiawatha does 1817 on a tighter map, has only 5 and 10-share companies and ends with the 4 trains. Its super quick, playable in 2-3 hours. The privates i saw were interesting and you definitely get some of the 1817's feels out of it in a much shorter time. Shorting starts as early as the first SR (which I am not a fan of, because deep down I am a care-bear). If you mess up, you get murdered, but well, that's what this system does best. Made me realize how much i like the up-to quadruple jumps of 18USA which are absent here. Unfortunately, it's only been released in the first issue of the Traxx-Magazine and its probably hard to find. It is currently available during the currently just started next issue kickstarter as digital addon.

1877: Venezuela

#1877 Venezuela does what 18Hiawatha does, just even shorter and having a housekeeping round when a new company is created, including buying trains. It claims a 2 hour playtime, and since its without privates and their auction, i am inclined to believe that. But without privates and very little randomization, I am not sure how much this has to offer, if you've got down, what and where to start and my one online play of it was horrible and boring. That said, i had not properly played the 1817 system before and this game could actually be ok. Its not on the market at the moment and might never be, as its not even part of the next All-Aboard wave, so release date might be never or 2035.

Then there's #1817WO and #1817NA. I am not interested in the first one at all, because it plays on a map of the whole world which is way too abstract for me. The second one might be interesting. Again, its a different, smaller map and has a few different privates, claiming to be suitable for 3-players and having a shorter playtime then 1817. I never tried it but would like to.

And, lastly #18DE which is 1817 without shorting. Not sure whats left then, as merging is also done by other games but I would like to try.

If you want to read more about the variants, theres a excellent blog post by the much better than me player Victor. Go check him out!

And there you have it! My superficial review of a game that I'm not sure I'll ever fully understand, but that I'm smitten by.

If you want to dive into shorting companies and have no player nearby, go check out https://18xx.games/ and start playing online. Which for this title, i cannot recommend doing in an asynch game, but maybe you can play an online, live session (for 8 hours 😆 ). For support of the designer/publisher, please head over to All-Aboard Games.

#18xx #boardgames

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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