2. Optional addition to the PORT
Variant Rule for 1825:
For each of a company's trains that runs to the Port, add
£10 to the £20 bonus. Once again, this is retained by the
company and not paid out as dividends.
4.
Stockton & Darlington Railway (costs £160; pays
£25): An Act of Parliament in
1821 approved a tramway between
Stockton and Darlington. The traffic was originally expected to
be horse-drawn, but under the influence of its engineer, George
Stephenson, the act was amended to permit steam locomotives and to
carry passengers. The 26 mile line of the Stockton and Darlington
Railway ran its first train headed by
Locomotion
No 1 on 27 September 1825. The success of the Stockton and
Darlington was also due to its specially designed malleable wrought
iron rails which were able to withstand the weight of the
locomotives. The name of the '1825' game derives from this
company's first locomotive run on 27 September 1825. For awhile
this company used both steam locomotives and horse-drawn trains, but by
1833 it had converted fully to steam engines. In 1863, the
Stockton & Darlington Railway was merged into the
North Eastern Railway.
5.
Cromford & High Peak Railway
(costs £75; pays £12): This line in the Derbyshire
Peak District began with an Act of Parliament in
1825 for a "railway or
tramroad" that would utilize "stationary or locomotive steam
engines." The first part of its line heading northwest from the
Cromford Canal at Cromford Wharf opened in 1830. The second half
to its ending at Whaley Bridge where it met the Forest Peak Canal
opened in 1832. Originally intended to convey coal and other
minerals on a more direct route from Derbyshire to Manchester, it later
became the object of several East Midland railway schemes looking for a
route between London and Manchester. The Cromford & High Peak
Railway ran its first locomotive,
Peak,
in 1841, and thereafter gradually replaced horses with
locomotives. The
London and
North Western Railway leased the line in 1862 and fully absorbed
the company in 1887.
6.
Canterbury & Whitstable Railway
(costs £130; pays £20): In order to shorten a 70-mile
meandering river route that brought supplies to Canterbury, the much
shorter 17 mile distance between Canterbury and the coastal town of
Whitstable was deemed a suitable route for a railway. Formed by
an Act of Parliament in
1825,
the Canterbury and Whitstable began
construction under George Stephenson in 1828. It began the first
steam-hauled service in southern England on May 3, 1830, but except for
some level stretches where a steam locomotives could be used, most of
the line initially used cable haulage by stationary steam
engines. The original locomotive, Robert Stephenson's
Invicta, proved unable to handle
the inclines so they reverted to horse haulage. This struggling
line was eventually taken over in 1844 by the
South Eastern Railway.
7.
Liverpool & Manchester Railway
(costs £210; pays £30): Although the Liverpool &
Manchester Railway Company was founded on 24 May 1823, it took two
attempts before an Act of Parliament in May of
1826 authorized it to proceed with
its plan of service. Opened for business on 15 September 1830,
this was the first railway in the world to offer inter-city passenger
service mostly through use of steam locomotives running on a
schedule. It also was intended to convey goods more cheaply on
the 35 miles between its two principal cities of Liverpool and
Manchester. The famous Rainhill trials were held in October of
1829 on the Rainhill portion of the track to determine whether or not a
steam locomotive would perform suitably enough for regular use on the
line. George Stephenson's
Rocket
0-2-2 locomotive won the competition and proved that a steam locomotive
could give consistent performance in service. The Liverpool and
Manchester Railway was absorbed in 1845 by the
Grand Junction Railway, the world's
first major trunk railway providing long-distance service of 82 miles
from Birmingham to a connection with the Liverpool & Manchester
Railway. The Grand Junction Railway, in turn, merged in 1846 with
the
Manchester & Birmingham
Railway and the
London &
Birmingham Railway to become the
London & North Western Railway.
8.
Arbroath & Forfar Railway (costs £30; pays
£5): This railway running from Arbroath on the northeast
coast of Scotland inland to Forfar, was incorporated in
1836 and opened
in 1839. In 1848 it was absorbed into the Aberdeen Railway.
That same year it also was connected with the Scottish Midland Railway
formed
in 1845 to link with the Aberdeen Railway at Forfar. The Scottish
Midland Railway and the Aberdeen Railway merged in 1856 to become the
Scottish North Eastern Railway which in turn was absorbed into the
Caledonian Railway in 1866.
Major and Minor Companies
(When
more than one company shares the same year of origin, the player has a
choice of which shares to buy.
Green = Unit
1,
Red
= Unit 2,
Blue
= Unit 3, italics = Minor Companies;
Magenta =
Variant Minor Companies, mostly from Mike Hutton's
Single
Track Variant [see also
Dave's
1825 Pages and also Dave Berry's
Variant
Kits].
1833
--London
and North Western Railway (LNWR) £100 [Also used in Unit 2]:
M-1846 (Grand
Junction Railway,
P-1833, S-1837; London
& Birmingham Railway,
P-1833,
S-1838;
Manchester & Birmingham Railway, P-1837, S-1840).
1834
--North Eastern
Railway (NER) £82: M-1854 (Durham Junction Railway,
I-1834;
Durham & Sunderland Railway,
I-1834; York & North
Midland,
P-1836, S-1839; Great North of England Railway, P-1836 authorizes line
from York to Newcastle, York to Darlington built); 1863 - Stockton
& Darlington Railway amalgamated..
--London and
South Western Railway (LSWR) £76: P-1834 as London and
Southampton Railway
,
S-1840 as London and South Western Railway.
1835
--Great Western Railway (GWR) £90: P-1835, S-1841 (London to
Bristol); S-1844 (Bristol to Exeter), S-1849 (Exeter to
Plymouth).
--London,
Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSC) £67: M-1846
(London and Croyden
Railway,
I-1835,
S-1839; London and Brighton Railway, I-1837, S-1841).
1836
--Great Eastern
Railway £76: M-1862 (Eastern Counties Railway,
P-1836, S-1839; Eastern
Union Railway, S-1846; and others).
--Lancashire and
Yorkshire Railway (L&Y) £71: M-1847 (Manchester
and Leeds Railway,
I-1836;
Manchester and Bolton Railway, S-1838; Ashton, Stalybridge and
Liverpool Junction Railway, 1844; Liverpool and Bury Railway, 1845;
East Lancashire Railway, 1846).
--Midland
Railway (MR) £82: M-1844 (Birmingham and Derby
Junction Railway,
P-1836,
S-1839; North Midland Railway, S-1840;
Midland Counties Railway, S-1840).
--South Eastern
and Chatham Railway (SECR) £71: M-1899 (South Eastern
Railway,
P-1836;
London, Chatham and Dover Railway, I-1853 as East Kent Railway).
--Taff Vale Railway (TV): P-1836, S-1841.
1837
--Glasgow and
South Western Railway (GSWR) £67: M-1850 (Glasgow,
Paisley,
Kilmarnock
and Ayr Railway,
P-1837,
I-1837, S-1840; Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway, I-1846, S-1850).
--Great Central
Railway (GCR) £71: M-1847 as Manchester, Sheffield, and
Lincolnshire Railway (Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne &
Manchester
Railway,
P-1837,
S-1845; Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junction Railway; Great Grimsby and
Sheffield Junction Railway; Grimsby Docks Company); 1897 - reaches
London at Marylebone Station and changes name to Great Central Railway.
--Maryport
& Carlisle Railway (M&C): I-1837,
S-1845.
1844
--North British
Railway (NBR) £76: P-1844, I-1844, S-1846
(Edinburgh to Berwick-upon-Tweed). Subsequent mergers
include in 1865 the Edinburgh and Galsgow Railway, P-1838, S-1842).
--Furness
Railway (FR): I-1844,
S-1846.
1845
--Caledonian
Railway (CR) £76: P-1845, I-1845, S-1847
(Carlisle to Beattock), S-1848 (Beattock to Glasgow and Edinburgh).
--North
Staffordshire Railway (NSR): I-1845, S-1848.
1846
--Great
Northern Railway (GNR) £71: P-1846, S-1849
(Peterborough-Lincoln-Doncaster), S-1852 (London to Doncaster, and
King's Cross terminal)
--Great
North of Scotland Railway (GNSR): P-1846, I-1846.
1854
--Highland
Railway (HR): M-1865 (Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway,
S-1858; Inverness and Nairn Railway,
I-1854, S-1855; Inverness
and Perth Junction Railway, P-1861, S-1863)
--London,
Tilbury and Southend (LT&S): I-1854, S-1856 (London to
Southend); 1912 - amalgamated with Midland Railway.
--Somerset
and Dorset Railway (S&DR): M-1862 (Somerset Central Railway,
S-1854; Dorset
Railway, S-1860). Became jointly owned by LSWR and Midland
Railway,
1875.
--South Devon and Tavistock Railway (SDTR):
I-1854, S-1858
(Plymouth to Tavistock) [make Plymouth the base] .
1855 and later
--Callander and
Oban Railway
(C&O):
I-1864, S-1880
(Callander to Oban) [make Oban the base].
--Cambrian
Railways (CRC): M-1864, 1865, 1904 (Oswestry and Newtown
Railway,
I-1855,
S-1860-1).
--Hull and Barnsley
Railway (H&B): P-1880
as Hull, Barnsley and West Riding Junction Railway; S-1885 (Hull to
just east of Barnsley) [make Hull the base].
--Manchester and Milford Railway (M&M):
P-1861 [make Milford
Haven the base].
--Midland
and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GN): M-1893 (several smaller
railways); jointly owned by Midland Railway and by Great Northern
Railway.
Additional Rule Changes:
1. The LSWR and NER are in the second group of companies to form,
immediately following the LNWR. They would be severely
handicapped by the rule requiring runs to end at large stations.
For the purposes of this variant, rule 4.5.2 is modified so that the
2-trains may legally end their route at a small station, but not if
running double-headed.
2. The LSWR, especially, could be hurt in the early game if it is
blocked by yellow tiles placed by the GWR. Hexag X16 may be
closed to the LSWR initially because green tiles aren't available, and
Brighton's tile placement is already reserved for the LBSC.
Rather than build tracks for the SECR and perhaps become confined to
the southeast corner of the board, the LSWR has reserved hexags that
lead out of London and then to the port of Southampton. This also
prevents the GWR from impeding the early-starting LSWR in this
area. On the other hand, the GWR has the hexags between Swindon
and Reading reserved for itself so as to place the initial track tiles
there since otherwise the LSWR might curve north and cut off the GWR
from London. Similar conditions could apply
for the CR and NBR since the GSWR starts earlier than they do.
Thus there are additional hexags to
those indicated by rule 4.2.8 that need to be reserved for specific
companies. They are as follows:
CR: H6
GWR: V16, V18
LSWR: W19, W17, W15, X14
NBR: F6
3. The turn order within an Operating Round still follows rule
4.1.3. Thus, even though the LBSC must now be formed before the
MR, the MR will still, by virtue of its higher initial share value,
operate earlier than the LBSC. However, the NER, by virtue of
forming earlier than the MR, will thus operate before the MR.
----------
1825 Maximum
Variant created 22 July 2008 by Lou
Jerkich. Refined November 1, 2008.
This set of variant rules was successfully used in a 4-player playtest
of an 1825 game that was completed in November of 2008. All
railways except the
Highland came into play, and the board was so covered with developed
track that only Oban and the small towns of Dumbarton,
Pitlochry, and Fort Williams in Scotland plus Barnstaple in the
southwest
were without track
connections. It took 11 stock rounds and 19 Operating
Rounds to complete the game. At one point on the last turn the
Caledonian ran an
express 4+4E "Royal Scot" train from Glasgow(70) to Liverpool(70) to
Wolverhampton(70) to London(100) for £620--a run value which
cannot be
exceeded in 1825 by any single train. Yes, it does take awhile to
work through 23 of 24 companies in an Operating Round. The winner
finished with assets worth £21,526 of which £9811 was in
cash. The last player had assets worth £1414 less than the
winner, so it was a reasonably even game. Players held anywhere
from 50 to 54 shares at game end. The winner had 52.
I have called this set of rules 1825 Maximum because the intent is to
max out the number of companies and trains in play and to foster a more
rational company development. One of the things in the 1825 game
that I find less than satisfactory is the Minor Companies. The
Minor Company concept is great but too often I have seen Major
Companies left out of
play because the Minor Companies were too great a deal to pass
up. This is chiefly due to the fact that one Minor certificate is
worth two or four shares. So players benefit from holding lots of
Minor Company stock, especially if it reaches high values. I have
seen Minor Companies started at such a high level that the game ended
after the company had operated one time, paid out dividends, and
reached the top of the market. Thus, in this variant, I do not
permit the Minor
Companies to be floated until all fourteen of the Major Companies have
been floated. This ensures that all the Major Companies come into
play. As it happened in the playtest, the Major Companies were so
heavily involved in acquiring larger trains that the players did not
have so much cash in hand that they could afford to shell out large
sums to float the Minors. Thus, no Minor ended up being floated
at more than £142 per share, and one, the LT&S, started at
£61 per share.
These are the variant rules for 1825
Maximum.
1. All components from all three units and all of the kits are
used. For a "Maximum" game, there should be four players minimum,
although three could experiment.
The game should work well with four or
five players. More than that may result in some initial
receiverships if no one has two shares of a company due to the 6 share
temporary limits that occur.
2. The player bank holds £24,045. (This is the cash from
all three units plus kit G1.) All the company credits from all
three Units also will be used.
3. To permit what will be a long game to progress more quickly, the
initial cash shown in Table 1 of Unit 3 should be increased to permit
each player to be running a major company at the end of the first Stock
Round. (For four players, £900 works well.)
4. The Certificate Limit is 3 more than printed in Table 3 of Unit 3's
rules.
5. Every available train from all Units, Kit K3 (Phase 4) and Kit K5
(Advanced Trains) is used.
This
will add to game length but will ensure a fully developed board.
Many
companies will own several trains at game end to benefit from the
extensive routes they have built. In the event players
use these rules with only two Units, rather than three, the trains from
the Unit not being used could be removed. But all the trains from
the kits should remain in play.
6.
Kevin Lorenz's 1825 Variant for
the Private Companies is used but
with the
following changes:
A. The distribution of private
companies is changed as follows: Players
are seated around the table. Shuffle and randomly distribute one
of the Private Companies to each player. In the event that there are
more than 6 players, use an additional 30-value Private Company each
for players #7 and #8. In the event that there are nine players,
add a single share of the LNWR to the mix. When there are less
than six players, one or two private companies will be left over after
the random distribution. (
If
played with three players, then each should be randomly given two
Private Companies.) Note that the seating order remains
unchanged after the initial distribution of the private
companies. Priority always goes to the player holding
the lowest-valued Private Company received during the initial random
distribution. For the three smallest companies of value
£30, priority goes first to the Leeds & Middleton Railway; if
it is not in play, it goes to the
player holding the Swansea & Mumbles Railway; if that is also not
in play, then priority goes to the person with the Abroath & Forfar
Railway. Any remaining Private Companies that were not randomly
distributed in a four- or five-player game must be bought before the
first LNWR share can be bought. Players must either buy a
remaining Private Company or pass until all are in player hands.
If all pass, then Private Company revenue is given to each player and
the game proceeds to another Stock Round, ad infinitum, until all
Private Companies are in player hands. At this point the LNWR
shares are available for purchase.
B. These variations occur to
the Attributes listed by Kevin Lorenz for
the Private Companies.
Canterbury and Whitstable Railway:
Only the SECR, LBSC, or LSWR may make use of this free token advantage.
Liverpool & Manchester Railway:
Place the free LNWR share beneath the L&M certificate. In
order to receive the free LNWR share, the owner of the L&M must
close the company and exchange it for the LNWR share. This can be
done during his turn of a Stock Round (as his turn). However, if
the L&M still is in play it is forced to close at the purchase of
the first 3-train. The owner of the L&M must then immediately
receive
the free LNWR share and will henceforth play it
normally. (The 3-train is dated 1870, by which time the
historical L&M had already merged into the LNWR.)
7. Purchasing Shares in Major Companies.
Players may buy one 10% share in a major Company when it is their turn
to buy in a Stock Round. It takes the purchase of two individual
10% shares to qualify for being the Director. The first player to
hold two shares of a Major Company should exchange his two shares for
the Director's certificate. If there are nine players, and eight
others already own a single 10% share each, then the ninth player,
should he wish to buy a 10% share, should take the Director's
Certificate and place the cash needed to buy a single share on the
certificate before himself. As soon as some other player with a
single share puts up the money during his turn to pay for the final 10%
of the company in question, that player will receive the Director's
certificate from the ninth player and will give his original 10%
certificate to the ninth player. The money for each of the two
Director's shares will then go
into the bank. In the event that no one buys the last 10%
certificate in the above situation, the ninth player retains the
Director's share (with the cash still placed on it to indicate that it
is merely a 10% share at that time) until such time as someone is able
to buy a second share. Should the company be floated but no
player holds two shares of it, follow the normal 1825 Receivership
Rules.
8. Availability of Major Company Shares
Shares are grouped in "value bands" of certificates bearing the same
initial price, as in the normal rules. However, the availability
of shares is somewhat more flexible in 1825 Maximum, since a
larger number of companies can be floated without having to sell out
the shares of one company in a previous band. Yet there are still
restrictions, for one cannot advance to the last band by merely selling
out all the shares on one company in a band. As usual, LNWR
shares must be bought first. To be able to purchase shares from
the next value band, containing the GWR shares, 6 shares (and no more
than 6) of the LNWR must have been purchased. Once six shares of
the GWR have also been bought, players must buy the rest of the LNWR
shares before being able to buy MR or NER shares. This
pattern then continues. The chart
below indicates the minimum initial shares needed to have been bought
to advance to the next band.
Up to 6 LNWR shares must be bought.
Up to 6 GWR shares must be bought.
The four remaining LNWR shares must be bought before any additional
shares may be bought.
Up to 6 shares each of MR and NER must be bought, in any order.
The four remaining GWR shares must be bought before any additional
shares may be bought.
Up to 6 of the
shares of each of GER, LSWR, CR, and NBR must be bought, in any order.
The four remaining of each of the MR and NER shares must be bought
before any additional shares may be bought.
Up to 6 of the shares of each of GCR, GNR, L&Y, and SECR must be
bought, in any order.
The four remaining of each of the GER, LSWR, CR, and NBR shares must be
bought before any additional shares may be bought.
Up to 6 of the shares of each of GSWR and LBSC must be bought, in any
order.
The four remaining of each of the GCR, GNR, L&Y, or SECR shares
must be bought before any additional shares may be bought.
Players may buy any Minor Companies or the remaining GSWR or LBSC
shares, in any order.
Consider the free shares that come with the Stockton & Darlington
and the Liverpool & Manchester Private companies to already have
been bought for the purpose of advancing to the next level, even if the
L&M has not closed. This free LNWR share, if not yet
playable, does not count toward the first 6 LNWR shares needed to float
the company, but it will count toward the last four whose sale permits
shares of the MR and NER to be open for purchase, even if the L&M
private Company is still open.
This procedure guarantees that all 14 Major Companies will ultimately
be in play. The 10 Minor Companies must start last and are less
likely to be as game-dominating as under the normal rules. Note
that the basic procedure requires up to 6 of the shares of each company
in a band to be bought, but then the companies in the previous band
must have had all their initial stock sold out in order to proceed to
buy up to six shares of each company in the next band.
9. If a station is fully blocked by other tokens, one cannot run a
train to it without paying one of the companies owning the blocking
token for the right to use the station. If the value of the
station is £20 or £30, the user must pay £10.
If it is £40 or £50, the user pays £20. If it
is £70 the user pays £30. For a £100 value
London the user pays £40. Payment is either made before
running the train or it is paid from the retained earnings of the
company for that Operating Round.
Exceptions:
The London, Tilbury & Southend Minor Railway never pays fees to the
GER.
The Midland and Great Northern Railway pays no fees to tokens of the
Midland or Great Northern railways. (It was jointly operated by
them.)
The Somerset and Dorset was a joint Railway operated by the Midland and
the London & South Western railways, so it pays no fees to either
of these tokens.
This rule sets a premium on token placement, and makes those extra four
London Stations especially desirable.
10. Use the Port Variant Rules by Lou Jerkich. These rules also
make token placement valuable.
11. To promote certain hexags or tiles containing large stations
requires the presence of a station token. Only the company or
companies having a token on that hexag or tile may make the
promotion. The tiles and hexags which require this are green
hexags (London, Liverpool, Bristol and the BGM cities), and any large
city tile that is promoted from russet to grey or from green to
russet-grey. (These were all cities of such major importance that
there ought to be someone's token in them to represent a major traffic
center.) Token placements may become quite critical for these
locations. Players will need to plan carefully or key cities may
not grow for want of a station token.
12. Use the T-Train variant by Lou Jerkich. Stations in large
cities such as London are also valuable when one has one of these
T-Trains.
Optional Rules for 1825 Ultima
[i.e. adding even more variants to 1825 Maximum]
13.
1923 Amalgamations
As soon as some company buys a 4+4E train (1922 vintage) the 1923
amalgamations occur. Use the chart below to compel all
companies (except the M&GN and the S&DR) to become part
of one of the four new railways: GWR (Great Western Railway), SR
(Southern Railway), LMS (London, Midland & Scottish Railway), and
LNER (London North Eastern Railway).
Whoever ends up with the most shares in each of these new companies
will run the new firm, which will include all the assets of its various
constituents. In the event of ties in
the
number of shares, those Directors will check on which of their
constituent companies floated first and that person whose company was
the first floated among the group will become the
Director. This will reduce the Operating Rounds to only a
maximum of six company turns, but they will be longer than typical to
calculate all the runs from all the many train in each amalgamated
company. Players should not
belabor their revenue calculations. The point of this is to bring
the
game to a slightly quicker close and save on separate calculations for
revenues from each of the 24 railways. (Note: the LMS and the
LNER, will probably make
considerably more from their runs than the SR group or the GWR.)
The amalgamations are as follows:
To GWR: GWR; Cambrian, Taff Vale.
To SR: LBSC, LSWR, SECR.
To LNER: GCR, GER, GNR, NBR, NER; GNSR.
To LMS: CR, GSWR, L&Y, LNWR, MR; Furness, HR, LT&S, M&C,
NSR.
When the amalgamations occur, each group must calculate its current
market value in the following manner. In each group, separately
average the current market values of all the Major Companies and all
the Minor Companies. Determine the average of those two values to
reach a final average. (In the case of the SR which owns no Minor
Companies, the final average will be solely based on the average of the
three Major Companies which comprise the new company.) Compare
the final average with the stock market values. The new market
value for each amalgamated company will be the market value closest to
the final average. In the event of a final average being
equidistant between two market values, round up.
The M&GN and the S&DR's train revenues and market values are
calculated normally.
14.
Tile Lays: Provided that
the actions do not take place in the same
or adjacent hexags, a major or minor company may lay 2 yellow tiles OR
lay one yellow tile and upgrade one green or russet plain tile.
This rule should permit slightly more track to be laid in the course of
the game. Players will be able to make key upgrades while still
extending main or branch lines.
15.
Acts of Parliament
When Parliament gave its blessing to a railway through an act, the
termini were specified for the new railway or for its extension.
When this variant is used, the company's Director should specify which
cities are intended to be linked with track. The player should
set aside a bond (similar to 1853) equivalent to the current (or
initial) value of the cities to be connected. A record should be
kept showing the bond amount and listing the value of each city used in
the computation. When the cities
have been connected, the player can receive back the bond. During
Share Dealing Rounds, the
player first announces the cities that he plans to connect, sets aside
his bond money, and then buys the Directorship of the company that is
intended to fulfill the conditions of the bond.
For example, if a player intends to link London with Southampton, using
the LSWR company, the current value of London is used plus the current
value of Southampton. If no tile has yet been placed on
Southampton then the value would correspond to that of an initial
yellow tile,
which would be £20 in such a case. If the route is intended
to go through additional cities between the two termini, there is no
bond charge for the intervening small towns but for large cities there
would be a bond value determined in the same fashion as the
termini. For cities that contain two large stations, such as
Newport and Cardiff, the player can pay £30 or £40
depending on which initial green tile will be placed there. If
the bond
for the city was calculated at £40 but the player chooses to use
a £30 tile, that is okay, but not vice versa. If another
company other than the LSWR lays a tile on a bonded city hexag prior to
the LSWR, that other company has no obligation to lay a particular
tile, other than a legal one, and there is no penalty for the original
player who made the bond when he links to that city. The player
will still receive his bond money back when his two termini (and
possible intervening cities) are connected.
----------
1825 Fast Progression Variant
Variant created July 22, 2009 by Lou
Jerkich.
1. The 7th through 10th shares of each company are unavailable until
all companies have been floated.
2. Use the normal rules for progressing from one price group to
another, except that shares in Minor Companies may not be bought until
all the
Major Companies have been floated. Then the Minors may be floated
in any order.
3. After all companies have been floated with 60% of the shares
sold, then players may buy the 7th through 10th shares of any companies
they please, at normal par values.
4. During the time that only 60% of the shares in a company may be
owned by players, the players may still sell and buy those shares
normally. However, on the first Share Dealing Round of the game,
no shares may be sold.
5. In order to speed up play, the players may start with £750 of
personal cash so that four companies may begin play on the first
Operating Round. (This works out well for a four-player
game. The starting amount could be adjusted to permit all players
in games having other numbers of players to also be able to each start
one company in the first Share Dealing Round.)
6. (Optional) In a single Unit game, players may buy shares of
any company and form companies in any order throughout the game. [Note
that the use of this optional rule may tend to lessen the distribution
of any given company's shares across all players as each player may
prefer to buy more shares of the company that he or she is personally
forming.]
Rationale:
Having played a game of 1825 Units 1+2 in which the GER, GNR, SECR, and
LBSC never formed, although all Minor Companies were in play, this
variant was devised to quickly get all companies into play. By
not
permitting the 7th through 10th shares of any company to be
bought until after all companies are operating, players must invest in
new companies rather than placing their cash in previous ones.
Thus in the time it would normally take
to sell out all 10 of the LNWR, GWR, and MR shares, in this variant
players could
also have floated the LSWR and the GNR, for example. In a
four-player game, at the end of the first SR, three players would be
directing companies and the 4th would most likely have priority deal to
start the next one. With only 6 shares of the minors able to be
bought, players will need to plan accordingly on their starting values
so that the Minor Company trains can be purchased and the company be
able to be run. When the last 2-share certificate of a Minor
Company has been purchased under this 60% limit, then players may buy
any other initial
shares at par. This should result in a scramble to buy shares
that have grown the most since formation of the company and/or can be
expected to pay handsome dividends. Receiverships may be more
likely as players dump directorships in order to buy better-paying
shares. With more companies coming into play more quickly, more
track will
be laid and more routes will be possible. It should make for a
lively game with all areas of the board more likely to be developed.
Playtest notes (18 August 2009):
In a four player game of Units 1+2 with all kits, it was found that the
companies came into play at a faster pace and all players had a chance
to be running companies from early in the game. The track layout
developed much more quickly in this game and many station tokens were
placed to protect key routes. Due to more companies being in play
sooner, trains entered into play more quickly and the phases advanced
more rapidly. In the 7th Share Dealing Round, the last Minors
were floated and then players did a lot of profit-taking by buying the
7th through 10th shares of the various companies and then keeping them
for their potential high revenues or selling them at their current
high market value. Some Directorships changed hands, and one
company (the NER) went into Receivership when no one any longer owned
its shares. By the start of the next Operating Round, only the
7-trains and the 4+4E Advanced trains remained available for purchase,
but one 7-train and one 4+4E were then bought and helped produce very
high revenues for their companies. The NER, in receivership,
owned a U3, and there were no companies lacking a train.
In a four-player game of Unit 1 (N. Norfolk and South West England
included, but not Wales) with no Phase 4 and no Advanced Trains, the
game progressed at a similar rapid pace so that by the 5th Share
Dealing Round all companies were in play. In this game, players
also were given sufficient starting cash so that all players could form
a company in the first Share Dealing Round. Given that there are
only six major companies each in Units 1 and 2, and considering the
values of those companies in a game solely comprising Unit 2, it
appears that if all players will have sufficient starting cash to form
a company in SDR1, it should be viable to play a single Unit game in
which there is no fixed order of company formation. Rather,
players could buy shares in and start any company they choose during
the Share Dealing Rounds. The only serious disadvantage to having
all companies being simultaneously open to formation is that players
may focus on buying all six shares in the one company that they each
choose to start so that players will therefore tend not to own shares
in each other's companies. The semi-fixed order of formation that
is normal to 1825 promotes a greater distribution of shares among the
players.
Return to
Lou's Game Corner: Rail Game Links Return
to the
1825
game
page.
This page was first created on 23 June 2008 and revised with additions
from
23 July through 3 August 2009. Posted 3 August 2009 and then
updated in minor ways on various occasions, most recently 19 August
2009.
If you have
a game interest or question, you can leave a message by writing to
"gamecorner".
I use earthlink.net.