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1861: Railways of the Russian Empire
by Ian Wilson
Published by JKLM Games, Lookout Games, and Z-man Games, 2006
(This is the first review in what I hope to start as a regular series of 18xx game reviews, 18xx: Reviews for the Connoisseur. This particular series of reviews is aimed at the confirmed fan of the series, a person who is familiar with the basics of the 18xx games, and feels best served by a review that notes specific differences between this game and the overall 18xx system. These reviews will also give attention to the impact of the changes on overall game strategies. This series of reviews is loosely patterned after CortexBomb's series of Age of Steam expansion reviews, and I thank him for the inspiration.
For those who are not familiar with the 18xx series, I will be working on a sister series of reviews, 18xx: Reviews for the Uninitiated. These reviews will focus more on the overall rules structure of each game, including the rules common to other 18xx games, and focus on whether or not this game could make for a good introduction to the series.)
1861 is a competition to be "first against the wall when the revolution comes". Players in this 18xx build up minor companies early in the game, which either merge or convert into public companies in the mid-game. The public companies run until the first 8-train is purchased, which triggers the end of the game. Although the bank breaking can also theoretically trigger the end-game, this is rare.
Privates:
1861's private companies are notably weaker than most in the special power department, although for their price they earn fairly high revenue each round. 1861's private auction doesn't use the 1830 auction method, but instead allows a player to simply choose a private to put up for auction, with that auction being completed before any other privates are bid on. All of the privates except the cheapest allow the company to which they are assigned to add +10 to a route running to or from a specific city. Two such companies add a bonus for Moscow, which generates very high revenues in the late game. All privates may be bought by minor or public companies for up to face value. At the start of phase 6, the Russian State Railway nationalizes all remaining private companies, paying the face value to the owner.
Stock Round:
After the private auction, the first stock round commences with players stock turns comprising the privilege of choosing a minor company to be auctioned. The minimum bid for a minor company is $100 (for 2 shares), with the highest bidder taking the company and putting the money bid directly into the company treasury. The minor company's market value is initially set at half of the bid amount, rounded down. In this way, minor company values can be anywhere from 50 to 135, with the corresponding starting treasury amounts of 100 to 270.
During the stock round players may, in order perform the following actions:
-Sell any number of stock certificates (excluding minor companies)
-Buy one share certificate OR auction a minor company
After the initial stock round, public companies may be started, although this is not the most common way for a public company to be floated. Public companies are floated with the sale of only the president's share, and are funded incrementally, or when shares are sold. Until shares are sold, they remain in the company treasury and pay dividends to the company.
Stock sales do not affect stock price unless the company president sells his stock. Even then, the stock price only falls by one row, regardless of the number of shares sold. This is an absolutely key difference in 1861, and one that colors the tone of the game quite a bit.
Players must sell before buying, and may not sell-buy-sell, or sell stock in a company that has not yet operated.
Operating Round:
After each stock round, two operating rounds are completed, regardless of the phase the game is in. Operating rounds are conducted with each minor company concluding its operations in order of current market value, and then each public company conducting its operations, also in order of current market value. Minor and public companies perform the same actions.
Companies, both minor and public, perform the following steps, in order, during their operating turn:
-Redeem shares (optional).
-Lay or upgrade one track tile
-Lay or upgrade an additional track tile at the cost of R20 (optional).
-Place a station marker (optional).
-Run trains to establish earnings.
-Pay dividends, half-pay, or withhold revenue.
-Adjust stock price forward one square if total dividend is equal to or greater than the current market value, adjust backwards one square if no dividend or zero dividend is paid.
-Pay loan interest on old loans.
-Redeem loans.
-Buy trains (optional, except when mandatory).
If a public company has shares in the pool, it may buy them back into its company treasury for the current market value. It may not take loans to do this.
When laying tiles, companies may only upgrade one tile, even if the R20 fee is paid to lay a second.
The cost of station markers depends on the distance (in hexes, not track) of the city from the nearest other station marker of that company. Minor companies have only one station marker, and may not purchase others. Public companies have 3 station markers. The first is free, the second costs R20/hex, the third costs R40/hex. This leads to some very expensive token placements if the desired city is even remotely far away from the company’s existing tokens.
When companies operate trains, towns may be skipped. In this case, they do not count toward income but also do not count toward the train limit. Companies’ stock price increases if the dividend paid (either by half or full-paying) is greater than the current stock price. Minor companies always half-pay, giving half of their revenue to the owning player and half to the company treasury.
Loans may be taken at any point during the turn, which give the company R50, and have an interest cost of R5 per round. Interest is paid immediately upon taking out a new loan, so the effective gain is R45. Loans can be taken to fund track lays, token placements, interest payments, and train purchases. Minor companies may have at most two loans, while public companies may have at most 5. If a company has at least R50 in its treasury after paying interest on its loans, it is forced to redeem its loans. Note that this happens before train purchases, so significant planning is required.
Train purchases must be funded entirely from the company’s assets. Loans are allowed, up to the limits of 2 or 5, but the president may never contribute his own funds to the purchase of a train. If a company ends its turn without a train (when it has a legal route), it is immediately nationalized. A nationalized company forfeits all assets to the RSR, which pays the shareholders a reduced share price. The share price is automatically reduced once (to the left), and once more for each outstanding loan. This price is paid from the bank to the players, and all assets except loans are transferred to the RSR treasury. The owners of a minor company are paid twice the current market value. The company’s tokens are replaced by RSR tokens.
Merger Rounds:
A merger round is conducted after each operating round in phases 3-7. During a merger round, in normal operating order, minor companies that have operated at least once may convert (if eligible), or merge to form a major corporation.
To convert, a minor company must have reached a price on the stock market table between 100-165, marked by a yellow column. Depending on the original stock price, this can take some time to achieve. In this case, a public company is selected and its stock price is set at the current market value of the minor company being converted, and the public company replaces the minor company’s station marker. The owner of the minor company receives the director’s share (20%) of the public company.
Instead of converting, minor companies can elect to merge if the presidents of all companies agree to such a merger. The companies must be connected by track to merge, and are not blocked by station markers of other companies for the purpose of this rule. The stock price of the public company is equal to the sum of the highest and lowest priced minors involved in the merger. Each minor company merged in such a way gives its president one share of the resulting public company.
After either converting or merging, a sort of special stock round is conducted. First, each stockholder in the new public company, starting with the director, may buy as many shares as he or she wishes, up to the holding limit of 60%. Then, each player, starting with the director, may buy one share of the company. All money used to purchase shares is paid into the corporation treasury.
The Russian State Railway (RSR):
The RSR is formed at the beginning of phase 4, although it may nationalize companies found without a train before this point. When it forms at the beginning of phase 4, all minor companies caught without a train are immediately nationalized, without any chance to buy a train, even if they have the capital available. The exception here is minor companies that have not yet operated. This is repeated again at the beginning of phase 6. This makes the timing of train purchases and mergers EXTREMELY important.
The RSR has up to 8 station tokens, which it uses to replace the station tokens of the companies it assimiliates. Any further station tokens are lost.
Each round, the RSR runs all of its trains for max revenue, which it withholds. It is not subject to the normal train limits of public companies, and it will always buy the cheapest train available from the bank if it has sufficient funds. If it is found without a train, it will buy the cheapest train from the bank or bank pool, taking loans if necessary. At the beginning of phase 8, the RSR stops operating.
End Game:
The game end is usually triggered by the purchase of the first 8-train. If this happens during the first operating round of a set, then the current round is completed, followed by another set of two operating rounds. If it happens during the second round of a set, then three more operating rounds are completed after the current one.
If the bank breaks (unlikely), the game ends immediately at the conclusion of the current operating round.
Company stock prices are adjusted left one space for each outstanding loan they have at the end of the game.
Overall Thoughts:
At first glance, 1861 appears to be a game of track laying and operations, because of the very static stock market. In some ways, this is true. It is quite important to connect to key cities, such as Moscow, in order to have any shot at high value runs in the late-game. Much of the groundwork for the endgame is set up very early on by the minor companies, so it is vitally important to lay your track with some foresight to the runs of your later public companies.
However, although track building is important, the main subtlety that 1861 possesses lies in the mergers of minor companies. In general, it is more profitable in the short-term to run the minor companies for as long as possible, since players go from earning 50% of each company’s revenue, to 20% of the combined revenue of the public company, more if he can afford more shares. However, failing to merge minor companies before the start of phases 4 or 6, where some of the minor companies WILL be nationalized, can lead to the loss of extremely profitable company. The sting of this loss is mediated to some degree by the fact that players are compensated for their companies before they are nationalized, but the loss of revenue from dividends is tougher to bear. Also, this situation can leave players’ other minor companies in hopeless situations, with no other minor company available for a merger, and thus they are doomed to watch their remaining minor company (or companies) wither away and die.
The upside to all of this is that, if planned correctly, players can run their minor companies hard and fast, all the while planning to toss them into the all too welcome arms of the RSR, and receive a huge influx of money to simply start their own public company out of hand. However, since personal money can be fairly tight, especially in the early game, this may not give the company the capital it needs to fund its trains and token lays, and the public company may be doomed to nationalization as well.
All of this leads to an important corollary, which is contrary to the dogma of 1830. In some cases, it may be better to simply sit on your cash, as players must be extremely careful about helping opponents capitalize their public companies. Since personal cash can be tight, the president of an early public company may often only hold 30-40%. The shares that players buy will be the impetus for the mid-game train rush, and the obsolescence of minor company trains and resulting nationalization. Thus, if players are trying to hold onto their minors and ride them for all they’re worth, they should think twice before grabbing a share of the lucrative new public company.
Overall, I think that 1861 has something to offer the fan of 18xx. This certainly isn’t a game for those who prefer subtle financial maneuvers, but at the same time the merger situation gives players a lot of tricky decisions and, often, non-obvious decisions to make regarding their long term goals. While perhaps not as interesting as other games within the series, I think that 1861 will find a place in my game rotation for quite a while.
Overall rating: 8/10
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Posted Fri Aug 10,2007 11:33 pm
