All original 1835 rules are followed except where contradicted and replaced by rules 1 through 3 below:

1. Choose the original Start-Packet rules or one of the variant Start-Packet openings.

2. Make the following changes to rule XV.2:

A. Once all Start-Packet certificates have been purchased, during his or her turn a player may select for purchase any available certificate in any share company, except the Preussische Eisenbahn (PrE).

B. The four purchasable shares of the PrE cannot be bought by players until the first 3+3 train has been purchased by an operating company.

A. Except for the PrE which always follows its own special rules for coming into service (rules section XIII), a share company cannot be floated and cannot lay its home station token until its own turn of the Operating Round.

B. As soon as any player acquires the first certificate of a share company, that corporation's marker is placed on the Share Price Index chart. When it would be that company's turn in an operating round, the share company's director checks to see whether the company "must" be floated or "may" be floated. A non-Prussian share company that does not meet the requirements of rules C or D below, is not required to float.

C. A non-Prussian share company "must" be floated if at least 50% of the share company has been sold. (Shares acquired with private companies as part of the Start-Packet count as "shares sold.") An operating company's first act is always to lay its free home station.

D. In addition, a non-Prussian share company "must" also be floated if less than 50% of it's shares have been sold but it nevertheless has sufficient cash to buy the most modern of the currently available trains. The company must reserve enough of its initial capital to buy a train, thereby perhaps preventing other potential expenditures. Although the company must float because it can afford to buy the most modern train available, the company may still opt to buy an older train at less expense, either from another company or from the bank.

E. If less than 50% of it's shares have been sold, a non-Prussian share company which has sufficient cash to buy "any" available train, whether owned by the bank or by another company, "may" float and operate provided that it actually does buy the train. The director, however, is not required to float the company unless as noted previously (D) it has sufficient cash to buy the most modern available train.

F. A non-Prussian share company with less than 50% of its shares sold "may" also float provided that its director can ensure that the company will receive the necessary funds to buy a train. The director "may" opt to contribute to the cost of the company's first train by making up the difference between the actual train cost and the available company funds. However, the director may not sell any of his own shares in the new company in order to finance the company's train, nor may he place himself in bankruptcy to assist with such a train purchase. He can only contribute as much cash as is necessary to buy the train, and whenever this is done, the company should end the turn with no remaining cash in its treasury. The director contributing cash may choose which type of available train to purchase, regardless of whether it is the latest model or is an older one owned by the bank. However, the director may not contribute toward buying a train owned by any other operating company. Whenever the director will be contributing his own cash to buy a train, the company may first purchase an extra station or pay for terrain costs associated with track-laying provided that only company funds are used for this purpose. No cash can ever be donated by the director for these other purposes, but the director must still be able to supplement the remaining company funds (if any) with enough personally donated cash to successfully buy a train. If the director will not be able to ensure that a train is bought for the company, then the company cannot spend its own cash on one or more of its other intended expenditures.

G. Once it has begun operating, a company remains in operation for the reminder of the game.

In January of 1999 my wife, Judy, and I played a game of 1835 with our friends Lisa and Steve Stroup. Unfortunately, this turned out to be one of the few boring 18xx games my wife and Steve ever played. Judy found herself cash-poor despite running the Bayerische Eisenbahn (ByE) and never could achieve much of consequence. Steve didn't manage to control a share company until gaining the MSE in Stock Round 9. (The game had only 10 stock rounds!) We had used the Thompson variant with the initial purchases following a 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1-1-2-3, etc., pattern.

After the game, Steve commented that he liked 1856 best of the several 18xx games with which he was acquainted. Mention of 1856 led to contemplation of its many desirable qualities. From there, it was an easy leap to seek to improve the enjoyment of 1835 by borrowing key concepts from another 18xx game.

The chief frustration of 1835 is the fairly rigid sequence in which share companies must be started, for this can easily result in a player being unable to be the first to buy a directorship simply because he or she consistently is not sitting in the right place when the opportunity arises. We had experienced similar frustrations with 1853, the game of Indian Railways, and knew one of the solutions lay in being more flexible in starting the share companies. This alone didn't seem enough, but 1856 provided a solution.

In 1856, companies may operate whenever the number of original shares purchased is at least equal to the number of the current train type. For example, three shares must be sold to operate a company when type "3" trains are available for purchase.

This concept was borrowed for the Stroup Variant with a minor change. Because 1835 has the "+" trains, such as 2+2, 3+3, 4+4, etc., rather than match the numbers of the train type, it seemed better to require the company to start with sufficient cash to buy the most modern train type available. The result is similar to that in 1856: share companies may float and operate when they have sufficient cash to buy a train, even if only a few original share certificates have been sold.

In practice, this means that even if only the director's shares have been bought, the Sachsische Eisenbahn (SxE) will be able to operate during the first Operating Round as long as there is a type "2" or type "2+2" train available for it to purchase. Early in the game, players should be able to raise enough cash to start additional companies of their choosing even without the help of other players. By allowing players to choose from any of the remaining directorships, players can be far more flexible in their game strategies and should therefore derive more enjoyment from playing the game.

The original 1835 game rules tie the sale of the four PrE shares which players may purchase to the sale of the director's certificate of the Badische Eisenbahn (BaE). Since the BaE directorship in the Stroup Variant can now be bought at any time after the Start-Packet sales are finished, yet may also be the last share company purchased in the game, another method was necessary to trigger the availability of these PrE shares. Tying their availability to the purchase of the first "3+3" train places the PrE purchase options at the right point in the game compared to overall track, train, and stock development. It does mean, however, that when the first "4" train appears in the same set of operating rounds in which the "3+3" train first appears, the PrE may sometimes begin to operate before the stock round occurs in which the four purchaseable shares first become available. We have found that this does not detract from the playability, balance, or enjoyment of the game.

Playtest results have been quite favorable. All players have had exciting positions to play, and the winner can remain in doubt until game end. The game length is likely to be shortened by a turn or two. Track development occurs more quickly because companies tend to start two or more stock rounds earlier than when playing by the original rules. Whereas in the "boring" game described above no company ever felt it was in a position to make purchase of a "6" train desirable, the rapid development of companies in the Stroup Variant is more likely to lead to purchases of even the "6+6" trains. There also tends to be more player interaction and trading of shares. In fact, players are more likely to find opportunities to steal away the directorship of another company, simply because players will be more tempted to overextend and consequently less able to defend their under-capitalized companies from being taken over by someone with more cash and the right opportunities.

Incidentally, the original Start-Packet rules work fine with the Stroup Variant. For further discussion of the Start-Packet rules and variant openings, see my Start-Packet Variations and Other Variants discussion.

Copyright 1999 by Lou Jerkich. These variant rules may be copied for personal use provided authorship and date lines are included.