1846 Rules ========== 0: David's notes ================ This is an attempt to summarise the rules to 1846. It assumes you already know how to play 1825, so it's more of a list of differences. 1846, like most 18xx games, is a bit like every other 18xx game but different enough to trip you up. 1: General Description ====================== Five competing eastern railways, in search of mid-western grain and markets, crossed the Appalachian mountains in the early 1850s: the New York Central, Erie, Pennslyvania, Baltimore & Ohio, and, via Canada, the Grand Trunk, backed by Boston merchants. In front of them were literally hundreds of failed local railways, most existing only on paper, but a few of which had laid bits of track and acquired locomotives, before running out of capital and being sold to Eastern interests in 1846. Further west, the first land grant railway, the Illinois Central, is being formed. [This paragraph cribbed from the rulebook]. Just as in 1825, terms with Gratuitous Capitals are game-mechanical concepts. [Square brackets are used for clarifications], (round brackets are rules). {However, curly brackets give rule references in the print 1846 rulebook}. The board depicts a chunk of the USA, stretching from Chicago and St Louis in the West to Pittsburgh in the East. 2: General Procedures ===================== Just as in 1825, the game consists of Stock Dealing Rounds followed by Operating Rounds (however, there are always 2 ORs after each SDR), the aim is to maximise personal wealth via a combination of dividends and stock appreciation, the game passes through Phases triggered by the purchase of Trains, and the game normally ends when the Bank runs out of money. The setup procedure is radically different, and Private Companies generally can be sold into a Corporation (the equivalent of a Major Company) to provide it with a special power. Two of the Privates even operate rather like Minors, coming with a Train. Assets are public knowledge, deals between players are not binding, and Companies may only deal in ways explicitly permitted by the rules. Players and Companies may not give each other money or assets except as specifically provided by the rules. "Russet" tiles are just called brown. There are no dark brown preprinted hexes - the unupgradeable preprinted hexes are grey, the last tile colour. Directors are called Presidents. 3: Setup ======== Assign the seating order at random. (Some numbered player cards are included, and you're about to need them anyway). Give the Priority Deal card to the player with card No. 1. The Bank begins at $6,500 with 3 players, $7,500 with 4, $9,000 with 5. Issue each player $400 from the Bank. There is no separate "company credit"; Companies use the same money as players. If fewer than 5 will play, some Private Companies and Corporations are randomly removed from the game - see page 3 of the print rulebook. When a Corporation is removed, place one of its Tokens face down in its starting Station. This Token does block Routes and the space cannot be used for another Base. Some Trains are also removed as described on the Phase chart on the map. Shuffle the Private Companies and one numbered player card per player to form a deck. 3.1 Private Company Overview Just as in 1825, Private Companies have a price (paid to the Bank when they are acquired in setup, and added to a player's net worth) and an income. They can be acquired by Corporations, and then provide that income to the Corporation. They also typically have a special power printed on them which is provided to an owning Corporation. Unless noted otherwise, they are removed when the game enters Phase III (brown tiles). Two Private Companies are "Independent Railroads", which operate rather like Minor Companies. They don't have a preprinted income, and their price comprises a list price (which is not paid to the Bank but forms their initial Treasury) and a debt (paid to the Bank). The list price is their nominal value; they don't have a moving stock price. 3.2 Distribution Procedure Starting with the player to the right of the Priority Deal player and proceeding counterclockwise (ie, in reverse player order), each player draws from the deck [formed above] as many cards as the number of players plus two, selects one card face down, shuffles the other drawn cards, and adds them to the bottom of the deck. If they do not want to buy any of the Privates in the draw, they should take a player card. (The number is unimportant). If they got no player cards and 2 or more Privates, they must take one of the Privates. When the deck is too small to draw sufficient cards, players just pass the entire deck. They should still not reveal it to each other, to conceal who has taken which cards. If the deck is all player cards, distribution ends. If the deck consists (only) of one Private Company, whoever has drawn it reveals it. They then either buy it or pass it to the next player with the price reduced by $10. This continues (reducing the price by $10 each time) until someone buys it or the price is $0. Someone offered it at $0 must buy it. After distribution is complete, players reveal their Privates and pay for them. Remove the numbered player cards. The two Independent Railways get their full initial treasury even if their price was reduced; they also get their initial train and token. Then the first Stock Dealing Round begins. 4: Stock Dealing Rounds ======================= SDRs work much like in 1825. However, selling shares also counts as not passing, so the SDR can be prolonged by selling shares without buying. You can sell any number of shares at once and then buy one; selling is always done before buying. 4.0 About shares What in 1825 would be "new shares" are kept with the Corporation's treasury. The Corporation collects dividends on these shares, and they are bought and sold at the current share price. The Corporation can also "issue" or "redeem" shares, moving shares between the treasury and the Stock Market (and vice versa). The Stock Market corresponds to the Bank Pool of second-hand shares. When a stock token is moved into a box on the stock price chart already containing tokens, it is placed at the bottom (the boxes are column-shaped). This is important because it determines the order of operating. "In stock price order" means in descending order of stock price, resolving ties by descending down the columns of tokens on the stock chart. Reverse stock price order is done in ascending order of stock price but still descending down the columns to resolve ties. 4.1 Selling shares There is no restriction on selling shares in the first SDR. However, only the current President can sell shares in a Corporation that has not yet operated. When the President of a Corporation does sell shares, adjust the stock price one column left (down), no matter how many shares were sold. The President cannot sell shares in a way that would cause the Corporation to have no President (ie, if no-one else holds at least 20%, the President cannot sell below 20%). No sale of shares can result in more than 50% of a Corporation's stock being in the Stock Market. If a Corporation's stock price falls to $0 at any point, it is closed and removed from the game {see section 8, which I hope will also be section 8 in these rules}. 4.2 Buying shares A player may buy either: a share from a Corporation's treasury, or a share from the Stock Market, or an available President's certificate, launching that Corporation. In the first case the purchase price is paid to the Corporation's treasury. In the second case it is paid to the Bank. Unlike 1825, any Corporation can be launched at any time. The new President chooses an initial stock price from $40 to $150 [the stock price chart has a yellow box around this range] and marks it on the stock chart with a token. The President takes a corporate charter [a small piece of cardboard to keep all the Corporation's stuff on], pays twice its stock price to its treasury, puts the eight 10% shares in its treasury, puts a token in its Home City, puts a specified number of tokens on the charter, and takes the President's certificate. Some additional tokens are supplied, to be used when the C&WI, Big 4, and Michigan Southern Privates let one place "an additional token". [Note that capitalisation is incremental. The Corporation will only get the value of shares as they are actually sold. Conversely, the Corporation can issue some shares into the Stock Market to raise capital, and if it can afford a small Train it can then earn money on dividends on shares in its Treasury.] Upon being launched the Illinois Central receives from the Bank a bonus equal to its initial share price paid into its treasury. [This represents benefits of the first Federal land grant for a railway, in 1850. It served as a model for the later land grants that funded the transcontinental railways.] You may not purchase or own more than 60% of a Corporation's stock. You may not buy a share in a Corporation which you have sold a share in earlier in the SDR. There is a certificate limit given in a table on page 6 of the rulebook, based on the number of players and the number of Corporations. If a Corporation is removed (stock price $0), the certificate limit does change, but if a player goes bankrupt it does not. 4.3 End of Stock Round The Priority Deal card is passed to the player to the left of the last player to buy or sell shares. (If there was no stock activity, it does not move). In stock price order, adjust each Corporation's stock price one column left if any of its shares are in the Stock Market and one column right if it is 100% owned by players. 5: Operating Rounds =================== There are always 2 Operating Rounds after each SDR. 5.1.1 Privates Privates pay their income to their owners, whether they are Players or Corporations. 5.1.2 Independent Railroads The Michigan Southern and Big 4 operate, in this order. The procedure is described later (5.8) since they use a cut-down version of the full Corporation procedure. 5.1.3 Order of operation Companies normally operate in stock price order. In the first OR of the game (only) they operate in reverse stock price order. There is a rare case (5.6.2) where stock prices might change for Corporations that have not yet operated. In that case, reassess the order of operation as stock prices change; it is not fixed at the start of the OR. 5.1.4 Sequence of operations In order: * Issue or redeem shares (5.2) * Build track and/or a Base, in any order (5.3) * Run Trains (5.4) * Dispose of revenue and adjust stock price (5.5) * Buy Trains (5.6). At any time during the OR: Acquire Private Companies. Use the special abilities of Privates they have acquired. (5.7) 5.2 Issuing / Redeeming shares A Corporation may issue shares, moving them from its treasury to the Stock Market. It may issue shares up to the number held by players minus the number already in the Stock Market. This does not change the stock price, but the Corporation receives cash as if the stock price was one box further to the left. A Corporation may redeem shares, moving them from the Stock Market to its treasury. This also does not change the stock price, but the Corporation pays for them as if the stock price were one box further to the right. In general, because play is deterministic, a Corporation may retroactively issue shares if it turns out to need more funds for construction. [This saves on bookkeeping because the President need not plan the entire OR in advance.] However, it is important to remember the Corporation cannot make a binding agreement for a Train purchase at this stage. 5.3 Building track and Bases The preprinted hexes are only either tan (to have yellow Tiles laid) or yellow (to have green Tiles placed as an upgrade). A Corporation may either lay two Tiles or lay one Tile and upgrade a Tile. It does these in any order (ie, you might either use an upgrade to access your planned Tile lay, or even lay a Tile and upgrade it immediately). There are no towns and small stations, only tokenable Large Stations. Cleveland, Detroit, and Cincinnati take "Z" tiles, akin to "BGM" tiles in 1825. Chicago has its own tiles. (Note that Chicago positions a station overlapping each hexside. These are connected to their corresponding hexsides, although no track is drawn). Track cannot be placed leading to a blue sea hexside, a grey preprinted hexside with no track, a red offboard hexside with no track, or off the map. [These restrictions prevent brown city upgrades for Port Huron, South Bend, Springfield, and Wheeling.] Tiles cannot be placed in the Michigan Central or Ohio & Indiana's reserved hexes until they have been removed or acquired by a Corporation. [So you probably want to use their ability on the turn your Corporation acquires them.] The supply of yellow plain track tiles is not limited. When upgrading a city, it is only necessary that the Corporation could connect to it with a Train of infinite length. [In 1825, it is necessary that it could be reached with a Train actually owned.] 5.3.1 Costs Most construction is paid for. The cost is normally $20, but if the first Tile is being laid in a hex, there may be a higher marked terrain cost (eg the mountains southeast of Columbus). Additionally, if track is laid to the _second_ side of a hexside with a marked bridge, pass, or tunnel construction cost, that construction cost must be paid. The Illinois Central (only) does not pay the normal $20 to build yellow track in the hexes marked "$0 IC". The Lake Shore Line, Michigan Central, and Ohio & Indiana Privates provide tile lays or upgrades as their special powers. They need not be connected to the owning Corporation and do not pay construction costs. 5.3.2 Bases A Corporation can build one Base per OR. This normally costs $80. Note that Bases are built and track laid in any order. Corporations may not have more than one Base in a hex. 5.3.3 Reserved Spots The Baltimore & Ohio, Erie, Illinois Central, and Pennsylvania railways have reserved token spots in Cincinnati, Erie, Centralia, and Fort Wayne respectively. If one of these Corporations is in play and hasn't closed, no other Corporation may place a Base in that spot. The selected Corporation, if it is not using a special ability to place the Base without a connection, pays only $40 to place a token there. When phase IV (grey tiles) begins, the reservation is removed but the discount is still in effect. Corporations do not have to save a token for their reserved spot and if they use all their tokens elsewhere it does not lift the reservation. The Chicago & Western Indiana Private reserves a Base slot in Chicago. No other Corporation can put a Base in this slot until the C&WI is acquired by a Corporation [so, like the MC and O&I, once you acquire it, use it or lose it] or removed. 5.3.4 Special Abilities The Baltimore and Ohio and Pennsylvania may place a token in Cincinnati and Fort Wayne, respectively, without a connection to that city. They do not then pay $40 but the higher price, $60 or $100, marked on the Corporation charter. 5.4 Routes Routes work much as they do in 1825. There is a requirement to run the best Routes that can be found. Since there are no small Stations, there is no requirement to start and finish at a large Station. The map includes red off-board areas, which can be run to as if they were Stations. These have two printed values; use the second value (brown background) after Phase III (brown Tiles) starts. Some offboard areas are marked E (east) or W (west). A Route cannot run from one East area to another East area. A Route that runs from an East area to a West area (or vice versa) receives the bonus amount printed on the double-headed arrow on both areas. When Independent Railoads are acquired, they turn into Trains. These Trains cannot be run by the acquiring Corporation during the OR they were acquired. [They already were run by the Independent Railroad]. Some Trains have a value like "3/5". An N/M train can plan a Route of M Stations, and then scores the highest valued N of those Stations. It still "visits" all M Stations (eg it could score an East-West bonus even if it did not score one of those offboard areas). Once Routes have been run, any phased-out Trains (see 5.6) belonging to the owning Corporation are removed (even if they did not run.) 5.5 Revenue A Corporation's total revenue is the sum of all income earned by its Trains. It does not include income from Privates, which goes directly to the treasury. As well as withholding income or paying out, a Corporation can split its revenue. Divide it by two and round down to the nearest $10; this amount goes to the treasury and the rest is paid out to shareholders. Independent Railroads always split their income. When income is paid out, shares in the company treasury cause the income for those shares to be paid to the treasury. Income for shares in the Stock Market remains in the Bank. 5.5.1 Adjusting the stock price The stock price marker moves three columns right if the payout is at least three times the current stock price and the stock price is at least $165. If not, the marker moves two columns right if the payout is at least twice the current stock price. If not, the marker moves one column right if the payout is at least the current stock price. If not, the marker moves one column left if the payout is less than half the current stock price (or if there is no payout). A stock price cannot rise above $550; the game does not end if a stock price rises to $550. 5.6 Buying Trains When buying Trains from another Corporation, the minimum price is $1. Phased out Trains may not be bought from another Corporation (and should be removed immediately if the Bank holds them). Phased out trains do not count against the Train Limit. Trains from Phase II onwards are double-sided with different costs and performance. When buying a Train, the Corporation chooses which type to buy (even if the Train has been returned to the Bank after a change in the Train Limit.) 5.6.1 Phases There are four Phases. As usual, a Phase change is triggered by the purchase of the first Train associated with the next Phase. Phase I: 2-Trains available. Yellow Tiles available. Train Limit 4. Phase II: 3/5 and 4-Trains available. Green Tiles available. Train Limit 4. Phase III: 4/6 and 5-Trains available. Brown Tiles available. Train Limit 3. Privates removed. Higher off-board values. 2-Trains phased out. Phase IV: 7/8 and 6-Trains available. Grey Tiles available. Train Limit 3. Base reservations removed. 2-Trains rust. Phase II Trains phased out. Meat Packing and Steamboat Company markers are removed. The supply of Phase IV Trains is not limited. 5.6.2 Forced Purchase If a Corporation has no Trains at this stage in the OR, it must buy a Train. If it is unable to buy a Train (from the Bank or another Corporation) with treasury funds, it must buy a Train from the Bank following this emergency procedure (ie, it cannot raise cash with the emergency procedure then buy a Train from another Corporation). Note that the emergency procedure is only executed if the result will be enough money to buy a train. Otherwise, the President is bankrupt as below. First the Corporation issues shares subject to the normal restrictions. Unlike ordinary share issues, the stock price drops one column for each share issued. [This might happen without the ability to retroactively issue shares normally if a planned Train purchase from another player's company has fallen through, but in some cases it might also be better to take the dividends and share appreciation then issue a modest number of shares. You might also be able to close a low-value company by doing so and avoid spending your own cash on a Train purchase.] If the Corporation can afford one of the Bank's Trains by issuing shares, it must buy one. It may voluntarily issue more shares to afford a more expensive Train. If and only if the Corporation cannot afford any of the Bank's Trains even after issuing the maximum number of shares permitted, the President must then make up the shortfall. The President may voluntarily give more money to the Corporation to afford a more expensive Train. The President may only donate as much money as is needed to buy the Train - after a forced purchase with Presidential cash the treasury will always be $0. The President may (and must, if their cash in hand is not sufficient) sell shares to make up the shortfall. They can sell any shares they could ordinarily sell except that they may not cause the Presidency of the Corporation to change. The stock price of a Corporation of which they are President would drop if they sold shares, as normal. The President sells shares one at a time. They could voluntarily sell more shares to buy a more expensive Train but they cannot continue selling shares past the point where the Train actually bought can be afforded. [The point of "one at a time" is that, eg, with a shortfall of $95 the President could sell a share at $60 then one at $100 without then having to unroll the sale at $60.] If the emergency procedure would not raise enough money to buy a train, the President is bankrupt and out of the game. See section 7, Bankruptcy. This will trigger a change of Presidency if another player holds 20% or more of the stock, and potentially cause another bankruptcy... 5.7 Private Companies At any point during operation [before Privates are removed, Phase III], a Corporation may purchase one or more Privates from players with their owners' consent, paying at least $1 and no more than list price (which does not include an Independent Railroad's starting debt.) Put the acquired Privates on the Corporation's charter. When an Independent Railroad is acquired, the acquiring Corporation gets its treasury, its Train (hence, you cannot acquire an Independent that would put you over the Train Limit), and replaces its Base with an additional token - unless it already has a Base in the city. Most Privates grant an ability to the acquiring Corporation. Once, at any point during operating, the Corporation may use the special ability. This does not remove the Private. 5.8 Independent Railroad Sequence of Operations Independent Railroads do not issue or redeem shares. They can build track, but have no tokens to turn into Bases. They run their Train normally, but always split their revenue 50/50. They cannot acquire Privates or buy additional Trains. 6 Corporations with no President ================================ If a Corporation has no President [ie, the previous President went bankrupt and no-one held more than 10%], players may not sell stock in this Corporation. The President's share cannot be bought directly from the Stock Market, but a player who already holds 10% may buy it by paying for another 10% and exchanging it for their 10% share. It does nothing in the Operating Round except run Routes. If it has no Trains the stock price marker moves two columns left, not one. If it can buy the cheapest available Train from the Bank it does so. 7 Bankruptcy ============ When a player is bankrupt, sell all their shares without regard to the normal restrictions. All their money is then given to the Trainless company. If another player is now President, they must attempt to purchase a Train. 8 Closing a Corporation ======================= A Corporation closes immediately when its stock price reaches $0. Its treasury is returned to the bank. Its shares, tokens, Trains, and Privates are removed from the game. Unlike a bankruptcy this does change the certificate limit. 9 Victory ========= The game normally ends when the bank is out of money. Whenever this happens, complete the ongoing sequence of one SDR and two ORs, then total players' net worth. It also ends if only one player is not bankrupt. 10 Private abilities ==================== The Michigan Central and Ohio & Indiana can be used to lay yellow tiles in two reserved hexes each. If the ability is used to lay two tiles, they must connect to each other. The Lake Shore Line can upgrade one tile to green. This cannot be used until green tiles are available. The Chicago & Western Indiana reserves a Base slot in Chicago. If the owning Corporation uses this ability, it places an additional token in Chicago (to which it need not connect) for $0. No other Corporation can put a Base in this spot until the C&WI is purchased or removed. The Meat Packing Company allows the acquiring Corporation to place a marker in one of two cities which adds $30 to the value of any Route that Corporation runs to those hexes. This marker lasts until Phase IV, so the Private comes with a second marker that can be used as a reminder of which Corporation gets this bonus after the Private itself is removed in Phase III. The Steamboat Company is similar, but has a shiftable $20 marker whose value increases to $40 if placed in Holland or Wheeling (marked with a double anchor symbol). Before it is acquired, every OR the owning player may (at the point Private income is paid) shift the marker and also nominate a Corporation or Independent Railroad to benefit from the marker, indicating this with the second marker. If it has not been acquired by the start of Phase III, the markers would be removed along with the Private. When it is acquired, the acquiring Corporation may shift the marker immediately (but you cannot acquire it midway through running Routes; running Routes is atomic). The owning Corporation may also shift the marker every OR before running Routes, until the start of Phase III when the Private is removed and hence the marker is stuck in place. This means two Corporations may benefit from the marker on the turn it is acquired. It is also unusual in that an Independent Railroad can benefit from it, that it can do something before being acquired, and that its power can be used more than once. The Mail Contract is not removed in Phase III if it has been acquired. It adds $10 to a Train's run per Station _visited_ - ie, an 5/3 Train could score a bonus $50. The Tunnel Blasting Company can reduce the cost of a mountain hexside crossing to $0. Tunnel/pass terrain has upwards pointing triangles; bridges (which the TBC doesn't help with) have downwards triangles.