The Webbers graciously opened their home for a Saturday of railroad gaming, and when I arrived at 20 minutes past the appointed hour of 10 am, Mark and Tom had the game 1861 spread across the table.

The game looks like the 18xx series of games, with a game board map of western Russia covered by a hex grid, and with named cities and start-points for various railroads, and off-board arrows (for Poland and other places) that, when connected, pay increasing amounts as the game progresses. The game also has the familiar array of locomotives, most of which will go obsolete as the game progresses.

In the classic 1830, there is always a sense of urgency about keeping one's trains up to date, and/or dumping under capitalized companies with nearly out of date trains onto another hapless investor....

but 1861 is different in that regard. I don't remember feeling that 1830-style "train rush" where you race to get control of a late-game firm so as to keep control of which trains go where...indeed - several times through the course of the game, companies found themselves without trains at the end of their turn, and were simply nationalized by the Russian State Railroad - and their former directors get paid off! This is a huge departure from the norm, and one that I don't really grasp. In the 1830, if your company cannot afford a locomotive, you dig into your own money...but in 1861, you can write off the shortfall AND get remunerated (partially) for your stake.

Thinking back - several 'tried and true' 18xx manuevers simply do not apply in 1861; among these - stock manipulation is much more controlled (only the actions of the Director affect stock value; if he dumps, the value plunges - but if an investor dumps, they hold steady); late game start-ups make less sense (I think); and as discussed - the obsolesence of trains is very far from catastrophic.....in fact, writing off a has-been firm that has made money for a player earlier in the game could be all part of a winning plan.

In very basic terms - 1861 starts with players auctioning off private companies, just as in other 18xx games. These companies provide income, and in our game I ultimately didn't buy ANY of them, preserving my cash for later. This was a mistake (I don't know if it was a fatal mistake - but I was a non-factor until way late in the game, when I became at least credible!). Then the Minor Companies go up for bids. These companies lay track and buy trains. They have no stock; the money they make gets divided between the company and the owner.

The tricky part is, a player will want to bid high and set their value high - because the minor companies eventually hit a 'phase line' on the stock value charts that, once reached, allow the owner to decide whether to seek a merger with other qualified minor companies, or whether to 'go public' and sell shares. (If the company remains a minor, its value is cannot advance beyond the line)

In our game, no mergers were ever done; in every case, we took the minor companies public. Mark hit on the idea of driving his minor company all the way to the top line of the stock value chart....a good move, since the Director gets the 20% Director's share for free. Thereafter, the Director gets 'first dibbs' on buying more shares, and then others may buy in - with money going into the companies coffers.

Beyond that much, I will leave the rest of the narrative to Mark, other than to report that Mark and Tom both 'got' the game much quicker than I did! In the middle part of the game, Mark began selling shares of a good firm that Tom controlled, so as to raise capital for his own operations, and owing to the seating order, I was able to buy them as he sold them!

Consequently, Tom lost control of a well-situated, well funded railroad, and I utilized its strength to fund three other public companies that I controlled (although as I say - it may have been better to write off at least one of those!)...so that Mark won the game, Tom was about $900 behind him, and I climbed from oblivion up to a respectable last place finish, $1000 behind Tom.

The game encompassed a fascinating mix of familiarity and new wrinkles; it was a little dis-orienting, which is a high compliment, when discussing an 18xx game!

This sounds very interesting indeed. I am sorry to have missed out on the day. William plays Upwards basketball and I am assistant coach, so I could not skip the 11 am game.

How long did this game take to play?

Is it a candidate for a Friday GN sometime?

Brian provided a fine summary, and I will add only a few "housekeeping" items and a comment or two.

(1) We spent a bit of time Saturday looking for the gray Kiev tile. I have ascertained positively that there is no such tile. Only St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kharkov have gray tiles, so the "missing" tile had no effect on the game.

(2) I missed a rule that in its operating round, a railroad may elect to spend $20 for a second tile placement, so long as only one of the placements is an upgrade, and a just-played tile isn't upgraded as the second placement.

(3) The rules also state, in direct language, that a railroad may buy a train only when it has fewer trains than the current limit. When this came up in the game, we all agreed that buying a train that obsoleted a current one was acceptable, but I think the rules intend otherwise. This might have changed things a tad, as I believe I was the only player to ultimately do this.

(4) When privates are nationalised into the RSR, the owners should have been paid face value for the companies, which we did not do. I don't think this made a significant difference in the game given the small amounts involved, but it's worth noting for the future.

(5) The game lasted about 6 hours, perhaps a bit more. I think this is due in part to the different play of the RSR as well as the different geography. A second play should take less time, if most players are experienced already. We spent some time making decisions that would have gone quickly in 1830, because it was harder to weigh the ramifications in 1861. The game itself moves pretty quickly, especially once the RSR starts buying trains and accelerating the phases.

1861 is very much about building railroads and timing conversions, mergers and train purchases. It does not have the danger that comes from the stock manipulation of 1830, which I missed, and is very forgiving of mistakes. But the flip side of that coin is that 1861 does not provide an easy way to climb back into the game after a setback. Tom took a major hit - a hit that might have been a game-breaker in 1830 - but survived nicely. However, though he did not go bankrupt, he was essentially frozen out of RR control at a time in the game when no new companies were going to start. All he could do was invest, which he did well; but this could not provide a means to climb back into the game, as every investment paid at least one of the other players even more than it did Tom. I will state for the record that I had a hand in Tom's downfall, as Brian has described, so there is some room in 1861 for causing pain to an opponent. But I must also admit that the move was not brilliantly aggressive play, but entirely accidental.

Lastly, we played the game not with the play money included in the set, but with good quality poker chips. I don't know if it sped up play any, but I think it added a great deal to the feel (and sound) of the game, and I recommend poker chips for every 18xx game. Fortunately, they all take the same $15K total bank, so we should be set.

One other 1861 wrinkle to add to Mark's list -

companies may elect to buy it's own stock (with company capital) - "redeeming" it - when it appears in the bank pool (ie - when people sell it).

this would have the double effect of earning the company more dividends (and not paying opponents) and also increasing the company's potential capital, since as you continue paying dividends the value of the stock will continue to rise. If opponents want to buy the stock, they can - but they will pay the increased prices into the company's coffers.

What I do not know is whether it would be legal for a player to sell his own stock (lowering the price), and then in the same turn have the company buy it back (at the new lower price)... I suspect that that would be illegal, but I cannot find the rules online

The rules are online at http://www.zmangames.com/boardgames/fil ... H%20v7.pdf

A company can redeem shares as stated, but it does so in its operating round, I believe after paying dividends. We covered this rule before the game, but I think it was largely forgotten. In any event, for much of Saturday's game, there was little or nothing in the bank pool for the RRs to buy, and no one chose this option.

A player buys and sells stocks in the stock round, so before the company can buy back stock sold by its owner, every other player will have a chance to buy it. Also, this strategy benefits the RR at the expense of the player, which runs counter to a winning strategy.

"Also, this strategy benefits the RR at the expense of the player, which runs counter to a winning strategy."

Well - speaking as the last place finisher, I suppose I am the most qualified expert on things that are counter to a winning strategy!

Still - if one is cash-short, or needs to buy other stock....and the RR has lots of cash just sitting there, one can imagine that redeeming stock could make sense....maybe

(in our game, only stock kof companies I controlled tended to land in the pool! Mark's & Tom's rarely ever stayed there long!)

I think redeeming stock could be a great move....I just don't think I would want to sell off stock in a good RR in the hopes that the RR could redeem it later.