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.

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