1825 Rules ========== 0: David's notes ================= This is the rules to 1825 trimmed down on the assumption you already know how to play 18xx and that you're going to play 1825's base game, Unit 1. (It has about a zillion expansions.) It's oddly arranged because I just edited half the text out of my "all the 1825 rules for people who never played" document. The base construction cost is free, not charged-for as in 1846. A company need not have a Director. There's a receivership mechanism which lets a company without a Director lease a train. As such, there's no bankruptcy or forced train purchases. The game ends when the BANK runs out of money. Money is only given to players; there is a separate stock of "company credit" notes, which are used for Companies' balances and are not in limited supply. The game may also end if a Company's Share price reaches the maximum possible. £6000 bank for the base game. 1.3 Map The third tier of tiles is called "russet", a lightish brown, with unbuildable tiles being a much darker brown. The base tiles on the map are called "buff" and are a very pale yellow-brown. Tokens are called "Bases". 1.4 Company Private Companies [eg the Liverpool and Manchester Railway] are owned by individuals and represented by one Certificate. They provide income (shown on their Certificate) and determine the initial order of play, but they do not develop further. They can be sold to the bank at £30 off face value to free up certificate space or just for immediate money. They can be bought from the bank but you probably don't want to do that. 1.8 Route Routes must begin and end at large stations, they can't begin or end at towns as in 1822. 1.9 Shares and Certificates Certificates whose Share price is below £50 are not counted towards the limit. A Private does not have a Share price so always counts towards the limit, even if it has a face value below £50. 1.10.1 Later construction A hex with two towns is not better than one with one town. The two towns will typically end up on different lines and the hex grow into a junction of modest value; a single town may grow into a higher-value city. 1.11 Stockmarket Whenever a given Share in a Company is bought from the Bank for the first time (a "new Share"), it is sold at face value, even if there are second-hand Shares held by the Bank which can be bought at the stockmarket value. Therefore, the Bank must keep new and second-hand Shares separate. 2: General Procedures ===================== Play opens with a Share Dealing Round ("SDR") in which Shares are bought and sold. Then there are, depending on Phase, between one and three Operating Rounds ("ORs") in which the Companies lay track and run Trains. Besides the bank breaking, the game ends if a stock price reaches the maximum possible. In eiher case it ends at the end of the current OR, or after one OR if the bank breaks in an SDR. 3: Setup ======== Prepare a deck with a number of Certificates equal to the number of players, using: a) Private Company Certificates in ascending order of value. b) if need be, the LNWR Director's Certificate then ordinary Certificates in the LNWR. Deal one card to each player, which becomes their property. Players then seat themselves round the table in the same order - working clockwise from the smallest Private Company, then other Privates in ascending order, then the LNWR Director 4: Share Dealing Rounds ======================= During a share dealing round, players get turns in which they are offered the opportunity to buy and sell Shares. Players always deal in Shares with the Bank, not directly with each other. The first SDR is special in a number of ways, the most important of which is that players cannot sell Shares. Selling shares does not prolong the SDR; if you sell, every other player can pass or sell and the SDR will end. The Priority Deal ends up on the left of the last player to buy. 4.1 New Shares The Bank sells new Shares in a defined order. It first sells any remaining Privates in ascending order. Then it will sell Certificates in the Major Company with the highest face value, beginning with the Director's Certificate. If more than one Major has the same face value, the Bank will sell Shares in them both. Furthermore, the Bank will begin to sell Shares in the Major with the next highest face value when any one of those Majors is fully subscribed. For example, with the Companies in Unit 1, the Bank will sell no Majors until the Liverpool & Manchester is sold. It will then sell Shares in the LNWR (£100), and only when those are all sold will it sell the GWR (£90). Once the GWR is sold, however, both the GER and LSWR (£76) are available, and when either of those is fully sold the SECR and LBSC (£67) can be sold and may even begin to operate before the other of the GER and LWSR. When six or more new Shares in a Company have been bought by players, the Company will form during the next OR and begin operations. 4.2 The Bank Pool Entirely independently from this, the Bank maintains the "Bank Pool" of second-hand Shares which have been sold by players. The contents of the Bank Pool in no way change the procedures for new Shares above. Privates can be sold into the Pool at £30 less than face value. They could then be bought at face value, but seldom are. 4.3 Restrictions A player may not buy and sell Shares in the same Company on the same turn. They can sell Shares in a Company in a later turn in the same SDR. They cannot buy Shares in a Company which they have sold Shares in earlier in the SDR. 4.4 Directors and Receivership If no player owns two or more Shares in a Company, it goes into Receivership and the Director's Certificate stays in the Pool. 4.5 Advice The rulebook suggests that in the first SDR a beginner can do worse than to buy shares whenever funds permit. 5: Operating Rounds =================== Each OR follows the same sequence. 5.1.1 Privates Private Companies pay their revenue to their owners. In the event, early in the game, that no Company is able to form yet, the OR ends immediately and the game passes to another SDR. 5.1.2 Company Formation Any Company in which six or more new shares have been sold is now formed as follows: * A Company Token is placed on the SPI at the face value of its Shares. * A Company Token should already be present on its start hex; move it into the Large Station to form a Base. * The remaining Tokens are held by the Company and may be used to build Bases later. * The Company begins with company credit equal to the value of all ten shares, even though some may not yet have been bought by players. * The Director holds the Company's Tokens, credit, and Trains. * The Company will now operate in this and subsequent ORs. Note that the new Company's initial Base might not contain track. (This does not produce a special case of the railway construction rules.) 5.1.3 Order of Companies Companies are operated in decreasing order of original face value. Where two companies have the same face value, they run in the order in which they were formed, which should be recorded. The order in which companies are operated does not change during the game. 5.1.4 Sequence of Operations In order, companies have the opportunity to: * Build track (5.2) * Build a Base (5.4) * Run Trains, collect revenue, pay a Dividend (or not), and calculate share price changes (5.5) * Buy Trains (5.6) Any costs incurred during Operations are paid with company credit, never with players' money. [Note that since a Major Company will never have a Train in the OR in which it forms, it will always have its share price drop initially (6.3).] 5.2 Building Track Railway construction is done by "laying" Tiles on empty hexes or "promoting" existing Tiles with ones of a different colour. Normally yellow Tiles are laid on buff empty hexes, then promoted to green Tiles, then promoted to russet Tiles. Where a preprinted hex is not buff but yellow, the first Tile placement on that hex would be a green Tile and is treated as a Tile lay (even for 5.2.1); a green preprinted hex would first have a russet Tile placed on it, and is treated as a Tile promotion. (This is consistent with Tile lays happening on hexes without any track and promotions happening on hexes with existing track). Dark brown preprinted hexes cannot be played upon. All these rules apply together; ie, if one rule prohibits something it overrules another rule permitting it. 5.2.1 Number of Builds A Company may either promote one Tile or lay up to two Tiles, which must not be adjacent to each other, even if they are not connected by track. 5.2.2 Phases Early in the game, in Phase One (see 5.7) only yellow Tiles can be placed. Later in the game green and then russet Tiles will be available {and grey Tiles in expansions.} 5.2.3 Existing track If track already exists in the hex, all existing connections between hexsides and stations must be preserved; any Route (5.5) that could have been made to or through the hex must still be legal. The precise depiction of station positions in the hex is not significant and need not be preserved (and it does change in a confusing fashion on the BGM tiles mentioned in 5.2.6), but any Company Base present must retain its existing connectivity. 5.2.4 Accessibility It must either be the case that: 5.2.4.a Some new track on the Tile could be reached by following track from one of the Company's Bases via a possible Route (see 5.5.2.a and 5.5.3 of the Route rules; no other Route rules apply) of any length. or: 5.2.4.b A Route that one of the Company's Trains could presently be run on (5.5) increases in value (hence, this play is a Tile promotion that increases a station's value). Note that the double-heading rule 5.5.5 does apply. It is not necessary that the Route be one that will actually have a Train run on it later in the OR. [A just-formed Company with no track in its initial Base hex can lay a Tile there by 5.2.4.a. It might then be possible to lay another Tile in a non-adjacent hex which has become reachable from the Base.] 5.2.6 Permissible lays/promotions based on existing hex contents Tiles with Stations may only be promoted as listed in the Tile Chart. 1825's station tile promotions are fairly complex and simulationist and a bit of time in the Tiles tab of 18xx.games is worth the investment. Tiles without Stations ("plain track") can be promoted in any way that obeys 5.2.3. Some additional track must be laid to meet the requirements of 5.2.4. Hexes with preprinted Large Stations (but no track) take Tiles with a like number of single-base Large Stations. City-specific rules: Bristol promotes only to russet tile #38. Birmingham has three large Stations and a special promotion scheme (shared with Manchester and Glasgow in expansions) with Tiles marked "BGM". London has its own Tiles, easily recognised by having six stations. 5.2.7 Construction Costs Tile promotions never incur construction costs. 5.4 Building Bases The target Station must be reachable from one of the Company's existing Bases obeying the constraints of sections 5.5.2.a and 5.5.3 of the Route rules. [This is the same rule as for laying new track.] A Company pays £40 for the first Base it builds and £100 for all subsequent ones. (This is independent of any rule that causes it to gain additional Bases by any other means.) A Company cannot create a Base in another as yet unformed Company's start hex if that would leave no space available for the unformed Company. 5.5 Running Trains There is a requirement to run trains for the maximum income that can be found. 5.5.2 A Route must begin and end at a large Station. 5.5.5 Two '2' Trains may be "double-headed": run on one Route which is legal for a single '3' Train. They earn income exactly as a '3' Train would. 5.5.9 The Director now decides if the income will be paid out to Shareholders, 10% to each Share, or withheld as company credits. 5.5.10 The Company Share price now is adjusted in accordance with 6.3. 5.6 Buying Trains The Company may now buy one or more Trains from the Bank or other Companies. They will not run until the next OR. Purchases are resolved one at a time. 5.6.5 Trains can be bought from another Company for any multiple of £10 agreed by their Director(s). 5.7 Phases When Trains become obsolete, they are immediately removed from play. 5.7.1 Phase One The game begins in Phase One. Yellow Tiles are available. Each Company may have 4 Trains. Each SDR is followed by 1 OR. 5.7.2 Phase Two Phase Two begins with the purchase of the first '3' Train. Yellow and green Tiles are available. Each Company may have 4 Trains. Each SDR is followed by 2 ORs. 5.7.3 Phase Three Phase Three begins with the purchase of the first '5' Train. Yellow, green, and russet Tiles are available. Each Company may have 3 Trains. '2' Trains are obsolete. Each SDR is followed by 3 ORs. 6 General Topics ================ 6.3 Share price changes If a Company withholds its income, or if it has no income, its Share price drops one space on the SPI. If it paid a Dividend, its Share price may rise. If the total income was not greater than half the current Share price, the Share price does not change. Otherwise it rises at least one space. If the income was twice, three times, or four times the current Share price, it rises 2, 3, or 4 spaces (but not "and so forth": 4 spaces is the maximum increase). If a Share price falls below £5, the Company is bankrupt. Its Trains are returned to the Bank for resale; its Tokens and Shares are removed from the game. A Director may not intentionally make a Company bankrupt by withholding a non-zero income. 6.4 Receivership If no-one qualifies as Director of a Major Company (which has formed and started to operate), a Receiver must be appointed. The Receiver should be: A player who is not Receiver or Director of any Company. Failing that, a player who is not Director of any Company. Failing that, the player who is Director of Companies with the lowest total Share price. If more than one player is equally qualified by these criteria, prefer a player who owns a Share in the Company. If that does not break the tie, break it by taking the first best-qualified player clockwise from the player holding the Priority Deal card. The Receiver acts as Director subject to the following additional rules. 6.4.1 Income is always withheld, even if this will result in bankruptcy. 6.4.3 The Company may lease a Train from the Bank for £10 per OR. This Train remains the property of the Bank - leasing does not trigger Phase Changes and another Company might buy (or even lease) the Train in its own OR. The Receiver must lease a Train if and only if doing so will improve the Company's income. 6.4.4 If the Company has no Trains, it must buy a Train as soon as funds permit, provided that there is a Route that that Train could be run upon (even if it is presently leasing a Train to run that same Route). The Company may not lease or buy a second-hand Train from the Bank, but only the next new Train for sale. It may only buy a Train from another Company if it is of the same type as the Bank's new Train and is being sold at a lower price. It may never sell a Train. 6.4.5 If the Receiver is also a Director, any two other players may veto decisions made by the Receiver. The following cannot be vetoed: Placing a tile which extends track as in 5.2.4.a. Promoting a tile or building a Base which will cause an increase in revenue when Trains are run in this OR. Decisions which the Receiver is obliged to make by the rules. 6.4.6 A Company in Receivership makes all payments at the end of its OR. It must still have sufficient funds to make those payments by the end of the OR. (This might, yes, get fiddly if a Company builds in a mountain hex then realises it didn't accrue the necessary £100 so has to unroll its move...) 6.4.7 As soon as a player holds two Shares, they become the Director, and the Company is no longer in Receivership.