Game: 1889

Thread: Re: Initial Stock Round when all players pass

TheCat — 2008-03-15T22:59:56+00:00

18Scan works reasonably well as a two player game.

Thread: Re: Initial Stock Round when all players pass

clearclaw — 2008-03-15T20:43:32+00:00

seharris wrote:
If there are any in-print 18xx games from a publisher other than Deep Thought Games that would work with two players, I could get started sooner.

1825 Units 2 and 3 both work well with 2 players, in fact Unit 3 is only playable with 2 players. However the 1825s are very different games to the other 18XX, play very differently, involve significantly different decisions etc. 1825 will not prepare you for playing the 1830 branch of the 18XX and will in many ways setup the wrong expectations and wrong mental models.

But they are still great games, just different great games.

Thread: Re: Initial Stock Round when all players pass

seharris — 2008-03-15T15:20:35+00:00

Excalabur wrote:
18AL is the best starter game, but it's out of print (you can print-and-play it still, I think). 18TN is it's newer brother, and while I haven't played it, it looks like a good learning game. 18FL is farther away from the mainstream but is another 'small' train game.One of my criteria in selecting an 18xx game to start with is that it must work with two players. There are plenty of Euro-style games out there that would be far easier to acquire, but they don't work with less than three players. 1889 came highly recommended as both a good introduction to the system and suitable for two players. With that criteria in mind, would your recommendations change?Excalabur wrote:
Be aware that John Tamplin is several months behind making games, and while he doesn't ask for money until your game is built that may be a while.Yes, I'm expecting about a three month wait. If there are any in-print 18xx games from a publisher other than Deep Thought Games that would work with two players, I could get started sooner.

Thread: Re: Initial Stock Round when all players pass

Excalabur — 2008-03-14T23:18:58+00:00

I would strongly recommend starting with one of the 'small' games unless you're quite attached to Japan: IIRC 1889 is pretty harsh due to the high cost of track.

18AL is the best starter game, but it's out of print (you can print-and-play it still, I think). 18TN is it's newer brother, and while I haven't played it, it looks like a good learning game. 18FL is farther away from the mainstream but is another 'small' train game.

Be aware that John Tamplin is several months behind making games, and while he doesn't ask for money until your game is built that may be a while.

Good luck!

Thread: Re: Initial Stock Round when all players pass

seharris — 2008-03-14T20:08:11+00:00

Excalabur wrote:
Cool?Yes, I get it now. Reading that other thread shows that it's neither easy to understand nor agree on exactly how it should work, but it does finally makes sense.

Almost everything about these 18xx games make sense after enough thought, which is why I'm now pining for the chance to play. I'm going to order one of the fat-'n-sassy "Ready-to-Play" copies from Deep Thought Games:
http://www.deepthoughtgames.com/#games%2F1889%2Forder

Thread: Re: Initial Stock Round when all players pass

Excalabur — 2008-03-14T20:00:53+00:00

Apologies for misleading you: the 20 currency-unit private company in almost all 18xx games is designed to 'hold up' the private auction for a while for things to occur; thus it's a failure in design when it's actually better than any of the other ones. It is thus known as the 'blocker private' since it has no powers and its primary function is to block the auction. Usually it is the case that noone buys it until (almost) all of the other privates have at least one bid on them, though in some 18xx games this isn't true (1856, for example). I don't offhand know the values of the other privates in 1889, however.

So no, once the, er, Takamastu E-Railroad (whatever that is) is sold, the other ones don't become cheaper: incentive to buy further privates is provided by 1. they're probably pretty good and 2. someone is making more money than everyone else: thus, everyone else is incentivised to cause this situation to change.

Cool?

Thread: Re: Initial Stock Round when all players pass

seharris — 2008-03-14T19:53:32+00:00

seharris wrote:
I'll go look for the thread there to see how it relates.The juicy stuff starts here:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2143243#2143243

Thread: Re: Initial Stock Round when all players pass

seharris — 2008-03-14T19:45:32+00:00

Excalabur wrote:
Your final conjecture is correct: there will be an OR during which any privates that have sold pay out (this can be none), and then, if still available, the blocker private gets cheaper.By "blocker private", it sounds like you're suggesting that whatever the currently-cheapest private company will get cheaper. In the rule book for 1889, though, it only mentions the Takamatsu E-Railroad as qualifying for this reduction. That covers your "this can be none" case above. Your more generalized explanation makes a lot more sense than one company being special, in that it helps any pause make forward progress -- if that's the intention of the rule here.Excalabur wrote:
There's a long thread about this going on over in the 1830 forum, as this exact rule is in use in almost all the games that use the 1830-style auction to sell off the privates.I'll go look for the thread there to see how it relates.

Thread: Re: Initial Stock Round when all players pass

Excalabur — 2008-03-14T17:43:11+00:00

Your final conjecture is correct: there will be an OR during which any privates that have sold pay out (this can be none), and then, if still available, the blocker private gets cheaper.

There's a long thread about this going on over in the 1830 forum, as this exact rule is in use in almost all the games that use the 1830-style auction to sell off the privates.

Thread: Initial Stock Round when all players pass

seharris — 2008-03-14T16:28:48+00:00

Rule 5.7, Initial Stock Round, specifies in its third paragraph a provision for the case where all players pass before the last private company is sold. This rule appears to limit stalling to no more than three rounds, as the Takamatsu E-Railroad declines in price by 5 yen so long as it is still for sale, and must be acquired by player with the Priority Card when its price hits zero.

What I can't figure out is the interaction between the operating round "in which only the private companies run" and the decline in price of the Takamatsu E-Railroad. If the companies must be purchased in increasing price order, and the Takamatsu is still for sale, doesn't that imply that none of the other companies have been sold either? And if none of the other companies have been sold, then what can happen during the operating round? I assume that the companies that have not been sold do not generate any revenue.

It does seem possible that a few of the private companies could have sold, in which case the operating round could give some cash and motivate finishing off the buying and bidding on the remaining companies, but in that case the Takamatsu E-Railroad would -- by order -- have already sold.

Thread: Re: How would 1889 be for a first time 18xx player?

clearclaw — 2007-09-02T04:07:44+00:00

John's post crossed to the 18xx recommendation thread here

http://boardgamegeek.com/article/1699434#1699434

Thread: Re: How would 1889 be for a first time 18xx player?

jtamplin — 2007-09-02T01:41:04+00:00

1889 also has beginner rules which simplify the privates and make the contention for tiles less severe. I have successfully used it to teach new players who have never played 18xx before, and I think it works reasonably well. The one caveat is the stock market can still be pretty cut-throat which might turn off new players. Other suggestions would be 1846, 18FL, or 18Scan (18AL/18GA are reasonable too, though the stock market is no more sedate than 1889 and they are harder to get in fully-assembled form).

Thread: Re: How would 1889 be for a first time 18xx player?

Tulkas — 2007-08-18T00:24:34+00:00

Thank you both for your responses. Fewer rules and a shorter time was what I was looking for; and as long as I can tell that I will or won't be hooked from this version I am good.

Alas, an experienced player is out of the question.

Thanks again!

Thread: Re: How would 1889 be for a first time 18xx player?

tdewey — 2007-07-30T17:39:14+00:00

It is okay for two players learning how to play. Biggest issue I can recall (haven't played it in ages) is that the flotation rules differ from the norm.

Not as deep as other 18xx games but enough going on to give you a feel for the genre.

Thread: Re: How would 1889 be for a first time 18xx player?

IcemanCU — 2007-07-30T17:17:48+00:00

I haven't played this, but I've read the rules. It seems like it would be a decent first time 18xx game. There are very few rules differences from 1830, and I think that rule set is pretty easy to learn. Also, it seems that the game is playable in a shorter amount of time than most other readily available 18xx games, so that could be an added plus.

If you've never played ANY 18xx before, my first recommendation would be to find someone who knows the series to play a game with. This is easily accomplished at conventions, or at an outside session if you're willing to do the work to find one. Things will make much more sense and you'll end up learning the game much better if you can focus on playing your game and not hunting through the rule book for clarifications constantly.

Thread: How would 1889 be for a first time 18xx player?

Tulkas — 2007-07-30T14:42:06+00:00

I was intrigued by the descriptions of the 18xx series as a whole and read a Blog Post from Chris Brooks about playing 1889 with his son. But frankly I am overwhelmed... is this really the best jump on point for the series?

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CaptainCaveman — 2007-04-16T22:45:00+00:00

View of the map board

Thread: 1889 - A Solid 2-player 18xx Game

loiosh13 — 2007-02-05T17:54:09+00:00

1889 is a descendent of 1830. Apparently, the original rules were just a list of differences from the 1830 rules – they’ve been re-written to be complete and stand-alone, but that gives you an idea of the development of the game. Major differences are the size of the map (much smaller than 1830), the duration of the game (much shorter – we finished our two player game in right at 3 hours). The privates in effect are fairly similar to those in 1830. As in 1830, one city on the map needs to be the focus of development (Kotohira), as it develops into by far the most valuable city (akin to NYC in 1830).

The other element of the game is how tight initial cash is – it’s been awhile since I’ve played 1830, but I think this is pretty similar, if not slightly more tight. In a two player game, it requires serious management of resources in the initial auction to insure having enough funds to start up a public company. In general, I like this element, although it certainly does make this a game that will take a play or two to get a good feel for.

The map is also interesting – there are two separate areas that are relatively easy to develop in, separated by mountainous terrain (which is expensive to build in). As already mentioned, I believe the rail and companies around Kotohira need to be hotly contested, similar to NYC in 1830.

This game definitely was a good two-player 18xx – I suspect it would work well (although be tight) for three or four, but I don’t think I would want to go higher than that in player count, as I suspect that the money constraints and the smaller map wouldn’t handle a larger player count very well.

Thread: 2-player 1889

loiosh13 — 2007-02-05T17:51:49+00:00

First, duration – we started just about 8pm (possibly a bit after, but not too much), and pretty much dived right in after discussion what rules differences there were, and covering the private companies and their special abilities. We finished up right at 11, for a total duration of 3 hours – not bad at all for an 18xx game, and likely to be slightly shorter in future plays (as we’re both more familiar with the privates and map).

In the initial auction, I ended up picking up the company that provided a free mountain track builds (once owned by a public company), and another private who either didn’t have a special ability, or it was a special ability I don’t recall and/or didn’t use! I then opened up the Uwajima Railway, and Eric was able to open up the Iyo (mainly because he had the private that could be turned into a share – otherwise he would not have had enough money to start a public company). Initially, I was producing better dividends than Eric, but that brief advantage didn’t last long, as his company was near Kotohira – which ends up being the biggest city on the map, and doesn’t take long to ramp up – as well as a couple of the strong off-map areas. From this point on, I was behind the eight-ball the rest of the game – the one chance I might have had is if I had been able to get to having enough cash to buy a Diesel fast enough to actually hurt Eric’s railroads . . . but that was not to be, as I had to do a lot of shuffling to get trains that would survive the arrival of the Diesel (which made 4-trains obsolete) in my other railroads. As it turned out, Eric ended up picking up the Diesel just before I could – I believe it was in the same operating round, but he operated before the company that had the cash in it did – and all in all, I suspect it worked out to Eric’s advantage.

The final result was: Eric 12,377, Tim 11,259. Despite having two of the three top valued shares as my companies, this advantage was muted by Eric having 4 shares in each of them, and my NOT having participated in much of the run-up of his highest valued company (the Iyo) due to having dumped it earlier in the game in order to start up another railway, and never having had the free-cash and/or certificate slots to pick it up – in retrospect, I should have forgone some other shares in order to buy into it, as the appreciation on the high-end of the stock market is significantly stronger than the lower valued areas.

Thread: A quick review of 1889

Basilius — 2007-02-05T15:24:42+00:00

1889 is a recent (2005) 18xx game published by Deep Thought Games. It was previously available as a DIY kit from Wild Heaven in Japan. It was designed by Yasutaka Ikeda.

This is a smaller 18xx game set on the Shikoku island of Japan (the smallest of the four main islands). It's estimated at 3-4 hours, and supports 2-6 players. The rules are nearly identical to 1830. Very few (if any) chromy bits or oddities to differentiate itself from other 18xx games.

The map is dominated by a large mountain range in the center. This can make building expensive, but a private company is available that allows free builds on mountain spaces to the company that owns it. After a couple playings of this (one solo mocking four players, and one two-player game) a small number of items pop out for this title in particular:

1. There is heavy competition for tiles. By design, the tile selection is very tight. You will occasionally run out of gentle bends or yellow city tiles. There are extra tiles included for a “beginner game” that lessens this somewhat, should you be feeling friendly that day.
2. The token density is very light. You have to work to token out sections of the board. There are around 30 possible token locations by end of game, but only 15 tokens to place and 15 cities on the board. This makes free running for Diesels a probability.
3. The share limits are high. It likely won't be until very late in the game when you actually have to make decisions about swapping ownership in one company for another. (There are 7 companies in the game – 63 total certificates.) The total ownership limit per number of players is 2-50, 3-57, 4-56, 5-60, 6-66.
4. The game seems very balanced. I don't see any massively under or over priced privates, but you do have to watch the number of tokens each company gets when making your decision which company to open. My opinion on this might change after repeated play, but nothing seemed glaring.
5. This would be a difficult game for 5-6 players. Somebody is likely going to end up running the Kuroshio (which only has a single token in a fixed location) without running another company. They are likely to lose. Opening the Kuroshio without also controlling either the Uwajima or the Tosaden is a dubious strategy.

Overall, this game is worthy of a place in any 18xx player's collection. It plays very well for two, and should scale well to four players. I would hesitate to recommend it for more than four players. Many tough decisions are provided in a game lasting under 4 hours without being overly brutal. It should also prove to be a good introductory 18xx game as there aren't any odd rules that don't apply to other games. I also expect it will have good replayability as there aren't many scripted build situations as in other smaller games such as 18FL.

As usual, the Deep Thought Games production quality is top notch. All the visual cues we've come to expect from John Tamplin's work are here. His games take a while to reach you as they're built by hand to order, but they're always worth the wait.

Thread: A 2-player session of 1889

Basilius — 2007-02-05T15:23:02+00:00

This week's gaming session saw us pulling out 1889, a newer entry in the 18xx series set on the Shikoku island of Japan. This has been listed as a shorter 18xx game, and some have commented that it's very good for two players.

The rules to 1889 are nearly exactly the rules to 1830. There are very few, if any differences. That made it easy for Tim and I to dig right in. (When I refer to stocks opening below, I'll also mention their starting hex on the board.)

The first thing I pointed out, and Tim had surmised the same, was that opening money is very tight with 2 players. There is a total of 840¥ available at the start, and the initial private companies have a minimum cost of 200¥. That leaves a max of 640¥ left for us to each try to start a company. Minimum starting share price is 65¥, and 10 shares have to be bought for two companies to float. At first blush it looks like you'll come up short, but fortunately one of the privates can be exchanged for a share of the Iyo Railroad.

The initial stock round left me as President of the Iyo (E2) and owning the cheapest two privates and Tim with the other two privates and Uwajima (B7) as his initial company. I had IPO'd at 75¥ and Tim at 65¥ (as I had to buy one fewer shares) so the Iyo went first in the initial stock round.

I started building across the top of the map to the right while Tim was building out the bottom left. After a couple SR/OR cycles, with each of us owning 6 of our own company and 4 of the other, Tim decided to sell out of the Iyo and open the Tosaden (F9). This company has a lot of synergy with the Uwajima. It was starting to shape up like a “you have your half, I have mine” game, and for the most part this was true.

Tim's decision to sell out of the Iyo and open the Tosaden had a couple repercussions that really dictated the course of the game. First, the Iyo (which by this point had four trains, three 2s and a 3) was putting a fair amount of money into its treasury through the dividends it was collecting via the shares in the open market. A long-term side effect of this was that I was able to avoid withholding dividends except for one situation late in the game. I was always able to get money transferred around where I needed it. The other effect Tim's decision had was to ensure he'd end up running four companies to my three.

So, things slowly progressed with Tim focusing on the left and bottom sides of the map while I focused on the top and right sides. I opened the Kotoden (K4) as my 2nd company, and Tim opened the Awa (K8) as his third – this was the first time he ventured onto the right side of the board. I was noticing around this time that I was consistently going into stock rounds with more cash than Tim. We weren't logging the state at the end of every turn, but it seemed like most times I either had equal or more shares, and nearly always more cash. Now, stock prices can make up for this, but I was pretty sure I was leading after the first third of the game or so.

The last two companies to open were the Kuroshio (C10) and the Sanuki (I2). The Kuroshio only gets its initial token – no more. This makes it a very difficult company to build out to any size – you nearly have to have help from another railroad you own. This meant there was no way I was going to open it. Tim, on the other hand, owned two other railroads operating in that corner. I'd leave it to him. I eventually opened the Sanuki. This was about the time the 4s and 5s were out, and there was a bit of a train rush triggered by the appearance of these two new companies. Nothing unmanageable, though.

I had ended up in a situation where the Kotoden was generating cash, and the Iyo was appreciating a lot. My goal with the Sanuki was to have it run a single train for a decent amount (Kotohira, the city in I4, is the city that provides the highest income on the board.) I started the Sanuki just as the 5s were coming out, allowing Kotohira to be upgraded to a brown tile – this is the only real way to hook the Sanuki into that city as the earlier Kotohira tiles don't have enough access.

By this time, we were down to only two tokens remaining to be placed – the Awa and the Sanuki. We made a deal to not token each other out of passing through Kotohira. I suspect after a few more plays of 1889, this deal might not be made

There are 15 cities on the 1889 map. By the time brown tiles are out, there's space for around 30-33 tokens. However, the 7 companies only have 15 tokens total between them. This leaves a lot of open cities. As it turned out, not a single meaningful city was fully tokened out. This allowed for a lot of open train running.

The toughest decision making came after the first 6 train appeared. This rusted the 3s and made the Diesels available for purchase. Those Diesels are great, but they're pricey. (1100¥, but you can trade in a train for a 300¥ discount. The first Diesel purchase also rusts the 4s.) Both Tim and I were doing some serious train shuffling in order to ensure we didn't end up with a company with no train, little cash, and having to buy a Diesel. This was exacerbated by his withholding earnings on the Awa at one point. This forced my hand as he now had enough cash on hand to buy a Diesel and put me into a world of hurt.

I managed, thankfully, to shuffle all my company cash into the Kotoden by buying its two trains. This left it with about 900¥ or so, and no train going into a stock round. The Iyo had a 4 and a 6, and the Sanuki had a 5. I managed to get the running order such that the Iyo was first (as it had been most of the game) and the Kotoden second. This allowed me to run the Iyo with both trains, have the Kotoden buy the 4 off the Iyo and trade it in for a Diesel. By this point, however, Tim had also maneuvered his trains such that the only one left without a train was the Awa, and it had enough cash to buy a train outright. So, we both dodged a big bullet, but it took a lot of planning to pull it off. It also happened that each company had exactly one train.

One more set of ORs with the Diesels running twice put us to the brink of breaking the bank. A quick stock round to position ourselves and it was into the final set of ORs done on paper.

The companies ended up in the following situation (President, Final Share Price, Final Dividend)

Iyo, Eric, 315, 32
Tosaden, Tim, 255, 28
Uwajima, Tim, 255, 33
Kotoden, Eric, 225, 63 (can you tell this was a Diesel?)
Awa, Tim, 140, 63
Kuroshio, Tim, 125, 28
Sanuki, Eric, 125, 28

Final scores ended up Eric 12,377 and Tim 11,259. I believe this was the first time I'd beaten Tim in a 2-player 18xx game. We finished up in right about 3 hours. This probably would go faster next time, as we were both pretty unfamiliar with the map and the implications derived from it. I'll call it a 2.5 hour 2-player game.

Thread: 1889 with 3 players. My first 18xx game.

jcurtis55 — 2006-11-25T04:51:38+00:00

A few of us on the 18xx Yahoo group decided to try a game on Vassal. 1889 and 18Scan were discussed and we decided on 1889. 1889 covers the development of railroads on the Japanese island of Shikoku, the smallest of the Japanese main islands. The game was designed by Yasutaka Ikeda and is available from Deep Thought Games. Deep Thought also makes the rules available on their web site, which is enough to get you started with the Vassal module. This is a nice way to try the game and learn the rules. I’ve since ordered a copy of the game from Deep Thought.

The game is supposed to support up to 6 players, but I think it would be really tight with more than 3 or 4. We were supposed to have 5 players, but Mike got stuck in traffic and we had a no-show, so Ricky, Ian and I started a 3-player game. This was my first 18xx game, but everyone was quite helpful, and Mike, a very experienced 18xx player, logged on when he got home and help explain some strategy for us.

I will note there is one challenge with playing 1889 on Vassal. The Vassal module was created in Japan and the town names are all in Japanese. Fortunately, there is a clear scan of the Deep Thoughts map on BGG which you can use to locate the starting cities for the companies. This is a fairly small map, so it is not too difficult. Fortunately, we were using Skype, so Ricky was able to tell us where the cities were and did not have to type a description into the Vassal chat box.

1889 uses rules based on the 1830 rule set. Seven private companies are available. When your turn in the initial stock round comes up you can purchase the available private company at its stated price or you can pass on that private company and bid on another private company. The minimum bid in this case is $5 over the listed price or the current bid, should another bid already be in place. When a private company is sold, if only one person has placed a bid on the next private to be sold, that player immediately buys the private company for the amount of his or her bid. If multiple players have bid on the private company, then an auction ensues.

The private companies have some interesting capabilities. These include blocking the start of a private company until the Takamatsu is purchased, a private with mining capabilities that eliminates the cost of building through mountains, another gives you a rail tile when it is purchased, and one other gives you a share in the Iyo public company when the private is purchased.

When the initial stock rounds were over, I had the privates Takamatsu and Sumitoma Mines Railways. Ian got South Iyo and the Mitshubishi Ferry, while Ricky had Ehime and Douga. The Uno-Takamatsu Ferry is not used in a 3-player game.

I then launched the Sanuki Railway. I set the par value at $65, which allowed me to buy the 5 shares needed for Sanuki to begin operations. Ricky purchased the President’s share in Iyo and Ian started the Tosa Electric Railroad. Ian and Ricky had paid more for their private companies and had set their shares at a par value of $75, so they did not have enough to purchase 5 shares so their companies could operate. Ian and Ricky made a gentleman’s agreement and Ricky bought one share of Tosa so it could begin operations.

I had selected Sanuki because of its starting location on the map. It’s starting station was only a couple of hexes from the starting hex for the Takamatsu and Kotohiro Electric Railway, but as long as the private Takamatsu E-railroad operated the T&K could not begin operations out of its starting station. This allowed Sanuki to lay track as I pleased, and I quickly connected to an off-board destination.

Ian started Tosa Electric, as he owned a private company that gave him a free connection to a port. Ricky started up Iyo. It looked like Sanuki would be the only company to float on the first turn, but Ricky and Ian came to an agreement to help each other float their companies. Ricky bought a share of Tosa and it floated. Unfortunately for Ricky, Ian bought two trains after Tosa floated and did not have enough money on turn two to buy any shares of Iyo, leaving Ricky in a bind. Ricky had to trade his private Dougo Railway for a 10% share in Iyo to float his company.

As stage three started everyone sold their private companies to the public rail companies, transferring large sums of money from the public companies into private hands. This triggered the next round of stock purchases. Ian started Uwajima, giving him the only two companies that had three station tokens. Ricky started Tosa Kuroshio and I started Awa Railways. Tosa Kuroshio only has one station token, which would be extremely limiting in a game with more than 3 players. With three players, very few routes were cut off because of cities filling up with stations, but with 4 or more players this would definitely become a factor.

Later Ian would start Takamatsu and Kotohiro, which put him firmly in control of the game. Tosa Electric would be the only company to max out its stock price at $360 a share. Sanuki had the best route for producing income for a few turns, but got caught with rusted trains and had to retain earnings a few too many turns to upgrade its trains. Much of these financial difficulties were undoubtedly due to my lack of experience playing 18xx games. Sanuki shares also got dumped onto the market, driving the stock price lower.

An interesting thing happened as the end of the game neared. We broke the bank without anyone purchasing a diesel engine! A couple of companies had adequate money to do so, but when it became obvious the diesels would probably only get to run once, it did not seem like the investment could be profitable.

The final accounting was:

Ian - $5380 stock + $3842 cash = $9122

Ricky - $4545 stock + $3198 cash = $7743

Jeff - $3365 stock + $3402 cash = $6767

This is a pretty quick 18xx game and did not seem too difficult for a beginner, The inland hexes were heavily mountainous, so the rail lines tended to make a big circle around the coastline. This did make the private company that could build in non-river mountain hexes of special interest. I do think this game could be brutal with 5 or 6 players.

1889 may be obtained from Deep Thought Games.

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kirkusmaximus — 2006-10-15T07:24:16+00:00

Game Box - 2 piece

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kirkusmaximus — 2006-10-15T07:06:55+00:00

Map and Stock Market

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kirkusmaximus — 2006-10-15T07:06:50+00:00

Charters

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FredhoT — 2006-08-21T21:53:59+00:00

1889 - map (closer view) (Deep Thought Games english version)

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FredhoT — 2006-08-21T21:45:44+00:00

1889 - map, initial offering and stock market table (Deep Thought Games english version)

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FredhoT — 2006-08-21T21:34:16+00:00

1889 gamebox (Deep Thought Games english version (it helps...).

Thread: Longer Review

tdewey — 2006-06-26T21:20:36+00:00

I've edited my quick review after a few more plays.

1889 is by a new 18xx designer and Mr. Ikeda has done a pretty good job first time out. It's a small game quite suitable for 2 (indeed this may be the best 2 player 18xx game I'm familiar with) or 3 players but (as discussed further below) runs into problems with four or more persons.

First the twist - stock market is 1830 style (though companies can't close and there is no brown-equivalent) - track, however, is _very_ limited. This is by design (I understand that going forward new versions of the game will have additional track for the "beginners" version of the game which greatly simplifies play). There are a few companies that seem significantly better to start than the others (notably the Sanuki, Kotoden and Iyo RR companies) - but the "special bus" award goes to the Kuroshio RR (KU) a major company that (and I think this is a first for any 18xx game) has only ONE token.

I think most people will immediately see the problem with a 1 token major - it's never going to start early and late it can (and will) get tokened out of a decent run. I assume there is some historical reason for this but this is a case where gameplay should have trumped historical accuracy.

There are seven companies in the game so for 2 and 3 player games everyone will have decent companies (and I suspect that the KU won't start in the usual case - like the WR in 1856). In 4 and 5 player games - someone is going to have to start the KU - and that person isn't going to win the game (and will probably come in last or 2nd to last).

All that being said - don't let the KU dissuade you from what is otherwise a fast and fun game - that is very suitable to 2 or 3 players.

Edit:
Wanted to update the review after a couple more plays.
1. I continue to believe that the KU needs a token - besides not running well early. The KU is located near the Tosaden RR and the Uwajima RR - the two companies in the game with 3 tokens. Additionally, the limited track lays means that that KU can get tile-hosed.

2. That being said - I take back my comment about the KU not starting. It will always start (though always last) at least one player will need it to help him get a 5 or 6 train. Additionally, in a friendly game the KU should get a decent 5 run.

3. Be aware of some tricky rules that effect the privates. Companies float with _five_ shares but are capitalized with _six_. This rule directly effects the usefulness of the Dougo private which comes with a share of the Iyo RR - under this rule and the free exchange rule of the private you can float the Iyo in the stock round and then exchange the Dougo private in the Operating round - and still get one more OR of 15 yen.

4. Unlike 1856 and other games with extra tile-laying privates. The Ehime tile-laying private is pretty useful (plays a green city on Ohzu) particular to the Iyo for its early start.

5. The Sumitomo Mine Company (no pay for mountain hexes) seemed overpowering to us at first - now seems difficult to use well (though to date the Tosaden - the company that seems to need it most hasn't owned it).