This is a very successful strategy that I have developed over dozens of test games, and which you might try out. Basically there are two „schools of thought“ in „St. Petersburg“: The players who go for buildings (and early victory points), and the players who go for Nobles (late victory points).

This strategy tries to concentrate mostly on upgrades (which are usually underestimated as something to concentrate on), and tries to improve the chances of getting the most of them.

Generally it is clear that an upgrade is MUCH better than the same cost paid for nobles or buildings. A „17“ building gives you 4 VPs, whereas an upgraded „18“ building can give you 4 VP’s AND 3 GP. The same is to be said about the noble and craftsmen upgrades, although the latter are perhaps the least important. If you get your upgrades early, you will get a very good head start against the other players, a fact that is mostly overlooked. Also upgrades, if played evenly on nobles and buildings, will give you more options in every phase, as you will always have money to spend.

Your first turn should look like this:

1. Craftsmen phase: Pick the two lowest costing cards, as everybody else.
2. Buildings: Buy only ONE building, and only the cheapest one possible (preferably the 2/6 Potemkin village or the 5 building). If the only available buildings cost 14 or more, don’t buy one, rather save your money for a noble (this is important for the endgame).
3. Nobles: Buy only ONE noble, and only the cheapest one (preferably the 4 noble). If you haven’t bought a building the turn before you definitely MUST buy a noble now, even if it is expensive.
4. Upgrades: You now should have 21 Gold (if you have been very lucky = 25-(3+2+2+4)+7) or less. Choose upgrades in the following order:
   1. Blue upgrades that bring a lot of money
   2. Blue upgrades that bring both money and VP’s
   3. Blue upgrades that bring more VP’s than money
   4. Red upgrades that bring VP’s AND money (Never buy a red upgrade that only brings VP if it costs you more than 6 Gold)
   5. Green upgrades that bring additional money or VP’s (NEVER buy Green upgrades that bring you discounts, they are good, but not for this strategy).

Basically you should hoard upgrades as much as possible, but only bring your hand up to three if you are absolutely positive you can build at least one upgrade in the next Craftsmen or Building phase.

IMPORTANT: Don’t build the upgrade yet, not even if it’s a green one. Never build an upgrade BEFORE the phase you really need it, as having more money always gives you more options. ALWAYS build the upgrade(s) as the last thing you do in a phase WHERE THEY APPLY, there is never any hurry, you can always play as long you want until the game continues.

Your next turns (until the last turn of the game) should look like this:

1. Craftsmen phase: Buy everything you can, as long as you still make a profit (Usually it is clear if this or next round will be the last: if there is a possibility to „force“ the game end, always assume that somebody will do it).
2. Buildings: First look if you can buy a cheap (or even several) building/s AND upgrade the building you bought last round. If this is possible, by all means do so (in this order)! If you can only upgrade one (or even more) buildings, do so as well. If you don’t have a building you can upgrade, buy as many of the cheapest buildings as you can. Regardless of what you do take care to have AT LEAST 7 Gold to spend for the Nobles phase (INCLUDING the income you make this round). If you have room in your hand you can stock up on cheap buildings*, but only to the limit of three if you are sure you can play a card out of your hand in the next phase. You should keep fully invested here: don’t spend too little, as you need the VP income, don’t spend to much, you want to be fully active in the Nobles phase. The most common nobles are the 4’s and 7’s, so having 7 gold saved will make it pretty safe for you.
3. Nobles: First look if you can buy a cheap (or even several) noble/s AND upgrade a Noble. If this is possible, by all means do so! If you can only upgrade one or several nobles, by all means do so. If you don’t have a noble to upgrade, buy the cheapest (or several) cheap nobles. If you have room in your hand, stock up on the cheapest nobles*, but only up to three if you are sure that you can play a card out of your hand in the next round (Upgrades). The rule about keeping fully invested also applies here, but this time you want to keep AT LEAST 5 Gold instead of 7 (with 5 you are usually sure to buy a craftsman in the craftsmen phase, and that is the next phase that you want to spend money in, not in he upgrade phase where you only HOARD the cards).
4. Upgrades: Stock up on upgrades THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO PLAY IN THE NEAR FUTURE (meaning you own cards that can be upgraded). Stock up even up to three, but only if you are sure to be able to play something out of your hand in the next BLUE round.This is the order of acquisition preference UP TO TURN THREE OF THE GAME:
   1. Blue upgrades that bring a lot of money
   2. Blue upgrades that bring both money and VP’s
   3. Blue upgrades that bring more VP’s than money
   4. Red upgrades that bring VP’s AND money, if not available: only VP’s, if not available: only money (never buy a red upgrade that only brings VP, if it’s more expensive than paying 6 Gold)
   5. Green upgrades that bring additional money or VP’s (NEVER buy Green upgrades that bring you discounts, they are good, but not for this strategy).

   AFTER TURN THREE the order changes as follows:

   1. Blue upgrades that bring a lot of VP’s
   2. Blue upgrades that bring VP’s AND money
   3. Red upgrades that bring both VP’s and money, if not available: only VP’s (after turn three, NEVER buy red upgrades that only bring money, only if you’re desperate)
   4. Green upgrades that bring VP’s.

   After turn 3 you should never buy any upgrade that only brings money if possible, you have already built them! Hoard the upgrades, as always playing them at the last moment where they apply!

The last turn of the game should look like this:

1. Craftsmen: only buy one if you still make a profit (= pay 2 or less).
2. Buildings: Now buy the MOST expensive building you see on the board (of course preferring the discounted one, if there is one), IF you can still be sure to be able to play all the cards you have hoarded in this round, of course. Also play all Blue upgrades you have (this should be top priority, of course). Invest all your money; you now should have a good income of the upgraded buildings for the next round.
3. Nobles: You should have a lot of money to spend now. Buy/play out of your hand AS MANY DIFFERENT NOBLES AS YOU CAN! You want to have the most! This is where all the cheap nobles that you have hoarded might come in handy. What nobles you buy depends on your hand and on the money you are able to spend, but you want to have as many different ones as possible in the end.
4. UPGRADES: With the money from your nobles, BUY MORE NOBLES! There might be some on the board which you haven’t been able to pay yet, or there might be more in your hand, deviously hidden.

*) About hoarding: if more than one other player plays the „building“ strategy, you should hoard buildings, to foil them. The same is to be said about hoarding nobles if more than one player plays the „nobles“ strategy. In the last turn of the game you might even consider hoarding nobles you can’t actually play anymore, if they take away more than 5 points from a nobles-collector (very tricky, this one).

And this is it: If you follow these guidelines, you will usually win or come in second in a game that has the other players collect buildings or nobles. Try it out – you will be surprised how well it works. Of course there is always the possibility that the „cards are not right“- this is a luck-driven game as well…

Cards you can consider buying:

• „Sternwarte“ (to be able to select an additional card in the next round)
• The Schenke card (use it in the last two rounds)
• Cards you should NEVER buy:
• Cards giving discounts only, but no VP’s or Gold
• The expensive noble upgrades that only give VP’s

Cards you should ALWAYS buy:

• Potemkin village

1. Der erste Spieler

Wie von uns bei den Spielen bisher bemerkt wurde, ist der Anfangsvorteil immens: Man kann nicht nur bei großzügigem Einsatz seiner Truppen viele Punkte machen (eine Wertung ist fast Pflicht als Startspieler), nein, man ist auch DER EINZIGE der punktet, da die anderen Spieler noch nicht auf dem Feld sind. Daher sollte man ruhig versuchen, hierauf zu bieten. Viele Spieler sind bei ihrem ersten Spiel dabei sehr konservativ und zaudernd, ich persönlich würde für den Startspielervorteil bis zu 6 Armeepunkte bieten, vielleicht sogar mehr.

2. Die kleinen Länder

Die meiste „Action“ des Spiels wird in England und Frankreich geschehen, wobei Frankreich vielleicht sogar die meisten Kämpfe sieht, da hier die neutrale Farbe Schwarz nie ausgerottet werden kann. Danach kommen, in dieser Reihenfolge, Schottland, Irland und schliesslich Wales. Man sollte versuchen in mindestens einem dieser Länder einmal König zu werden (wobei Wales und Irland besonders interessant sind), denn dort platzierte Armeen leben länger. Gerade Wales ist sehr klein und nur zweimal Königsland, und daher besonders geeignet. Selten wird Wales auch als zweites Aktionsland genutzt, da es zu wenige Möglichkeiten bietet, unerwünschte andersfarbige Armeen fies einzusetzen.

3. Die schwarzen Armeen

Grundsätzlich gilt, daß man möglichst immer schwarze Armeen in einem Regierungsland leben lassen sollte. Ideal sollte man dann die Felder, in die die Schwarzen angreifen können, gut verteidigen. Die anderen Spieler sind dann entweder gezwungen, die Schwarzen erst auszurotten, bevor sie gegen einen selber aktiv werden können, oder sie müssen sehr viele schwarze Armeen haben, was nicht unbedingt häufig ist.

4. Die „uninteressanten“ Länder

Das Geheimnis des Sieges bei „Kings & Castles“ sind nicht die Punkte, die man bei seinen eigenen Taxierungsrunden macht, sondern die, DIE MAN BEI DENEN DER ANDEREN SPIELER macht. Daher sind viele der Strategien, die auch bei dem anderen Ragnar-Brothers-Spiel „History of the World“ (deutsch: „Empire“) funktionieren, auch hier gültig.

Die wertvollen Felder wie London sind meistens heiss umkämpft, selten macht es Sinnn hier viel zu investieren. Interessant sind vor allem die Felder, die nicht den Weg zu einem wertvollen Feld versperren, und die nur einen Punkt wert sind, sogenannte „uninteressante“ Felder.

England sieht gerade im Norden wenig Kämpfe (da es bald keine schwarzen Armeen mehr gibt, wird meistens direkt im Süden um London oder Bristol gekämpft) – ein Feld wie Carlisle wird einem eventuell das ganze Spiel erhalten bleiben, dasselbe gilt für Toulouse oder Rennes in Frankreich, Perth oder Stirling (nicht beide besetzen!) in Schottland, Cardigan oder Denbigh (nicht beide besetzen) in Wales, Limerick in Irland.

Eine Garantie des Überlebens gibt es nie, aber man sollte diese Felder auf jeden Fall zu erobern versuchen, wenn man es kann.

Das beste 2er-Feld im Spiel ist übrigens York (im Norden Englands). Dieses Feld lohnt es sich eventuell stark zu verteidigen!

5. Festungen

Auch bei „History of the World“ wird oft der Fehler begangen, wertvolle Felder mit Festungen zu verteidigen. Dies ist nur in den seltensten Fällen richtig, man sollte dagegen gerade die uninteressanten Felder so stark wie möglich verbarrikadieren. Eine 3er Armee und eine 3er Festung werden in den meisten Fällen gegnerische Spieler von der Eroberung eines Feldes abhalten, das nur einen Punkt bringt, und nicht durchquert werden muß, um wertvollere Felder zu erreichen. In einem Feld wie Limerick kann eine solche Festung das ganze Spiel überleben, und bei 4 Spielern bis zu 17 Punkten machen (3×2 eigene Wertung, 1×2 Schlusswertung, 3×3 Wertungen anderer Spieler)!!!

6. Jammern

Ein bißchen Jammern und gelegentlich auch geschicktes Verhandeln schadet hier, wie bei vielen anderen Spielen, nicht. Aber nicht übertreiben, manchmal kann diese Taktik auch extreme Agressionen bei den anderen Spielern hervorrufen!

Moritz Eggert, 19.4.2003

This supposedly light game has more strategy than most people think. Here are some tested tips to lower your average score (scoring is negative for the player in “6 nimmt” – just for those of you who don’t know)

1. Play the card with the least risk of taking a row

This is so obvious that I feel embarassed pointing it out, but some players actually DO forget this and rather play “from the gut”. Look at your cards, and if there is a card that is the most safe to play, choose it, as easy as it is. Of course this is not always obvious, but sometimes it is very obvious that playing a certain card will most definitely have you take a row. Avoid this card. Understood? Very good, than we can move on to more subtle strategy…

2. Get rid of extreme cards as quickly as possible

It is clear to the experienced player that the very high and very low cards are your greatest danger. Usually players are more scared of the low cards, as they are more difficult to play without taking a row, but that can be deceiving. In fact a high card can become much more dangerous – a “100” is a bigger risk keeping than a “1”, for example.

The low cards are also not attractive, BUT… even a “1”card can come handy late in the game, when you rather take a small row with one or 2 cards than risking more with a medium or high card. You might even have your closest competitor take a high-value row because you mess up the cards with taking an unexpected row – one of the few events in the game when you can actively play against someone! Some players insist that it is good to keep at least one pretty low card until the last 3 rounds or so.

Most of the time players will play their low cards in the first round – do the opposite and play your highest cards, when it’s still safe (at least with 4 players), and THEN play your low cards, when the other players have established nice and safe low rows for your perusal…

3. Don’t always try to “set up a series”, especially when playing high cards

Very often it is tempting to play the first card of a series of cards in your hand (for example playing the 95 when you have 95, 96 and 98), hoping that you can then deliver the other cards pretty safely.

But most of the time what will happen is that a 5-card row gets blocked, with your card being the last card of 5. Now you sit on your 96 or 98, and at some point you will be forced to take the row, if you want it or not.

If you have high cards you want to get rid of try to do this in the first rounds, when it’s still safe. Begin with your highest cards. Immediately play a “104” for example, if you have one, even if you have the “103” as well. If all your other cards are lower, you’ll never have to take this card, and blocking one row will raise the chances of other people taking rows. If there are more than 2 players chances are better that it is NOT you who will suffer from this, although you might, of course. But “no risk no fun”….

4. The art of playing the “lowest highest card”

In every game there will come a situation when no card you have is safe, and all rows are pumped up with 4 or 5 cards. Somebody WILL have to take a row. What to do now?

If there is a low-scoring row you might consider taking it deliberately with a low card, better than ending up with lots of “oxens” otherwise. But if there is no such row, play the “highest lowest” card, as we call it at the “Westpark Gamers”. You don’t want to play too high, as you might be too close for comfort to one of the “sitting duck” rows. You don’t want to play too low, as you might end up with a forced-on-you row as well.

What should you do? Check the “margins”: 1) what is the lowest card that will definitely take a row? 2) What is the highest card in this low row? The best card for you would then be the card which is as close as possible to the HIGHEST card of the LOWEST row. If that card is not available for you, the truth lies in the exact middle – it might look as if this card is a sure “taker” as well, but chances are that another player is playing a lower card, starting a new row where you suddenly can play the card safely.

This is why keeping your “medium value” cards is so important, as very often the ideal card in this situation will be something around 40-60 or so. There is no sure-fire tactic here, you might STILL end up with a row, but playing the “lowest highest” card is the best – and only – hope to avoid this.

5. Wait a little before you play your card and watch the other players

You might learn some interesting things. Let’s say you have 56, and there is a row with only a 5th possible card left that ends with 54. Everybody knows that there is a certain risk involved in playing a 56 – if somebody else plays the 55, you’re busted! But of course the 55 is not necessarily in the game (or has already been played, but in “6 nimmt” it is more difficult than usual to remember played cards, because everything happens so quickly).

If one of the other players VERY QUICKLY plays a card, s/he most probably will have played a “no-brainer” card, meaning that it is a “series” card which is absolutely safe to play. If you’re in the above situation and nobody is playing quickly you might be safe with the 56, who knows. Of course the other players might have read these strategy tips :-)

But most players I know, including myself, will play “6 nimmt” very quick, so sometimes you’ll forget to “hold back”. If you remember watching the others sometimes it will increase your chances, believe me!

Moritz Eggert, 19.4.2003

Steve Jones dons his toga and provides a comprehensive guide to the great game of aspiring cultures.

CIVILIZING INFLUENCES

In purely abstract game terms, Civilization is a steeplechase race game; I shall elaborate upon this theme as the article develops. Looked at in this light, the game may seem quite ordinary. What elevates it to a classic is a combination of two things: the subject matter (or the ‚chrome‘ aspect of the game), and the wonderfully balanced and rich structure of the rules. The latter moulds the game into one with elevated player interaction in ways which are complex, subtle and shifting, and yet are always under the players‘ collective control. In my opinion, Civilization is quite simply the best multi-player board game ever invented.

The subject matter of the game is an attractive and evocative one. It concerns the growth and development of the ancient civilisations around the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and in the Middle East.

Each player starts off in control of a nomadic Stone Age tribe which then proceeds to develop a highly advanced classical civilisation over the course of millennia. The object of the game could not be simpler: it is to gain a state of overall advancement, involving cultural, economic and political factors, faster than anyone else. Although this makes the game into a race, it is vitally important to realise that it is one conducted on several different levels.

It is also important to realise that it is a game which megalomaniacs always lose. War is available as an instrument of policy, but the game is so structured as to make it into a blunt and relatively inefficient one. The more efficient means available to combat your opponents are, to a greater or lesser extent, subtle, hidden, indirect, sophisticated, and ‚civilised‘.

THE KNOWN WORLD

The game consists of a map board, an Archaeological Succession Table (AST), eleven sets of trade cards, sixteen sets of civilization cards and seven sets (nine in the Avalon Hill version) of faction counters. The map board consists of three leaves (West, Central and East) depicting a region stretching from Sardinia in the west to the head of the Persian Gulf in the east, and from the upper Nile Valley in the south to the southern Ukraine in the north. Hartland have recently released an expansion kit containing a fourth leaf (WXB) which extends the map westwards to take in Iberia.

The map is divided into land and sea zones in much the same way as Diplomacy and Risk. The sea zones are subdivided into two types: coastal and open. The land zones each have a population carrying capacity indicated by a number. Some of the land zones also contain natural city sites. The map features, in addition, four flood plains and three volcanoes; there is a fifth flood plain on the WXB extension leaf.

The faction counters each consist of fifty six tokens, nine cities and four ships. One token is used as a marker on the AST, and the remainder may be used to represent either population on the board or money in the player’s treasury. Depending upon the number of players in the game, the players are limited to a specific number of tokens each. This last is a deliberate design feature in the game. The main problem that the players continually face is one of limited resources. The subdivision of the each player’s finite number of tokens among population on the board, money in his/her treasury, and his/her stock (tokens currently not in play) is a brilliant design mechanism for creating this shortage.

During the course of the game, there is a constant flow of tokens between a player’s stock on one hand, and the board and his/her treasury on the other. Furthermore, this flow is more or less under the player’s control. Nevertheless, players will find themselves facing problems, and occasionally windfalls, depending upon where their tokens are currently located. There are many subtle aspects to the management of the token flow, and players should acquaint themselves with these.

COMMODITIES

There are seventy four trade cards in the game. Of these, sixty six represent eleven commodities which have values from one to nine. The remaining eight cards represent calamities (more commonly known as disasters), and these all have value zero. The commodity cards are initially stacked, face downwards, in nine decks, each deck corresponding to the value of the commodities in it, and the calamity card of the appropriate type is placed at the bottom of each deck except the first.

The eleven commodities are Ochre, Hides, Papyrus, Iron, Salt, Grain, Cloth, Bronze, Spice, Gems and Gold; the first two have value one, the second two have value two, and the remaining seven have the values ranging from three to nine in order. When more than one card of a given commodity is held the net value of the collection is greatly increased. The formula for finding the total value of several cards of the same commodity is to multiply the square of the number of cards held by the commodity value; for example, five grain are worth (5×5) x 4 = 100.

During the course of the game, each player takes the top card from each trade deck for each city he/she has, and uses these to construct packages for trade with the other players. Through trade, the aim is to increase the net value of the commodities held in hand, and to use these to purchase civilization cards. The trade system is one of barter involving trade cards alone. Any number of trade deals may be made between the players, two at a time. In each trade deal, each player must offer at least three trade cards, correctly quote the total value of the package and correctly give the commodity of one of them; outside of these restrictions, anything can be said about the package. This last is important because trading does carry risks: some of the disaster cards can be passed on in a trade deal.

DISASTERS

The eight disasters are Volcano/Earthquake, Famine, Civil War, Flood, Epidemic, Civil Disorder, Iconoclasm & Heresy, and Piracy. The first four are so-called red-backed disasters and affect the players who pick them up. The last four, on the other hand, are so-called black-backed disasters and can be passed on to another player through a trade deal; the disaster then affects that player!

As the names suggest, it does not help your aspiring civilisation to be affected by one of these disasters. Players will find it essential to acquaint themselves with the effects of the disasters, how to lessen their effect, how to direct them at their opponents, and how to reduce the chances of receiving one. In practice, it is impossible to avoid disasters completely. This is because an individual disaster does not affect only the player who received the card; that player may also, depending upon the exact nature of the disaster, ‚distribute‘ its effects among the other players! This is just another one of the wonderful balancing mechanisms in the game.

If trade cards constitute the major currency in Civilization, civilization cards must be considered to be the raison d’etre of the game, and the focus of all actions. There are seventy two civilization cards representing sixteen different aspects of civilisation. They are divided into four colour groups representing broad areas of human knowledge/endeavour. Most cards are members of only one group, but some are members of two. The groups are Arts (blue), Crafts (orange), Sciences (green) and Civics (red). The sixteen card types are Mysticism, Cloth Making, Pottery, Drama & Poetry, Music, Architecture, Astronomy, Metalworking, Agriculture, Coinage, Literacy, Engineering, Medicine, Law, Democracy, and Philosophy. They each have a value of between 30 and 240; the purchase price is equal to the card value but, in practice, it may be decreased by cards already held.

Each type also has an effect on play, usually by modifying some aspect of the normal rules. They are obtainable by exchanging trade cards and treasury of at least the same value. They can be relatively costly, and there may be a shortage of the various types depending upon the number of players in the game. If the latter is the case, you will find yourself competing with your opponents for a very limited resource, particularly so in the case of the more expensive cards. This has a considerable effect upon long term strategy, of which more anon.

RACE TRACK

The AST is the race track of the steeplechase alluded to earlier on. It is essentially a non-linear timeline consisting of fifteen time steps, plus start and finish positions, and covering the period from 8000 BC to 250 BC. The non-linear nature of the timeline is evident from the fact that the first time step covers a period of three thousand years while the last step covers less than one hundred years. The timeline is further subdivided into nine independent tracks, each associated with a starting area on the map board and named after the various ancient civilisations and/or regions. These are, in the order ‚down‘ the table: Africa, Italy, Illyria, Thrace, Crete, Asia, Assyria, Babylon and Egypt.

The WXB map leaf adds an extra track for Iberia and a modified African track which is only used if the WXB leaf is in play; in addition, Italy is not used when the WXB leaf is in play. Each track is divided into five numbered epochs identified as New Stone Age, Early Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, and Late Iron Age. Furthermore, the epochs are not of the same length on the different tracks; this can have an enormous effect on the choice of strategy of the different countries.

At the end of every turn, the AST tokens are usually moved forward one step; therefore the game is at least 16 turns long. However, entry to a new epoch requires the fulfilment of a minimum condition which depends upon the new epoch. The second epoch requires two cities, the third requires civilization cards representing three groups, the fourth requires seven civilization cards, and the fifth requires civilization cards totalling at least 1000 points. Once in the fifth epoch, the player needs a stated value on the AST to move forward; this time the value of treasury and trade cards may be included in the total. In addition, in any epoch except the first, the token is moved backwards if a player has no cities! It should now be clear why the game can be likened to a steeplechase. Nearly every decision which a player makes during the course of a game should be geared towards keeping that token moving on the AST. One of the things which make the game into a classic is the fact that some of your actions can also be directed to affect the movement of your opponents‘ tokens along the AST.

ORDER OF PLAY

Each game turn is subdivided into thirteen separate phases. These are Taxation and Revolts, Population Expansion, Census, Ship Construction, Movement, Conflict, City Building, Trade Card Acquisition, Trade, Civilization Card Acquisition, Calamity Resolution, Excess Trade Card Surrender, and AST Movement. In many of these phases, the order of play will often change from turn to turn, and it is vital to become thoroughly familiar with all the ramifications of this. This variable order of play is a self-balancing mechanism that has been deliberately built into the game’s structure. It is well worth briefly discussing the eight cases in each game turn where an order of play is important.

Taxation

In the Taxation phase, any players who have insufficient tokens in their stocks to pay the taxation on their cities will lose to a revolt those cities which cannot pay. The cities in revolt go over to the player with the most tokens in his/her stock after taxes have been paid. The order in which revolts occur is in AST order, and if two players both have the same maximum number of tokens in their stocks, the recipient is decided in AST order.

Thus revolts generally occur to empires which have grown too big in some uncontrollable manner, and the recipient of cities in revolt is invariably the smallest empire on the board. However, it should be noted that revolts are, by and large, fairly rare, and usually result from player incompetence. The one exception is that a revolt can be engineered if the player concerned was nominated in a civil war in the previous rum, and this resulted in him/her having too many cities and too few tokens in stock!

Ship construction

In the Ship Construction phase, players should build and/or maintain ships in AST order. In practice, players tend to do this simultaneously as the rule is not explicit, but is implied by Rule [62] on page 16 of the rule book. However, players further down the AST are perfectly within their rights to insist upon strict AST order being observed. There are occasions when a player’s decision of whether or not to build or maintain ships will critically depend upon what other players have decided. If those players are higher up the AST, just watch what they do and make your decision accordingly.

Movement

In the Movement phase, movement is sequential in the order of the largest to the smallest populations, with ties being resolved in AST order. Since combat occurs more or less simultaneously, it is a disadvantage (except in the early turns) to move first, and the player moving last can possess an enormous strategic advantage. This is probably the single most important balancing mechanism in the game. In practice, it makes it virtually impossible to eliminate players, and gives small empires a defensive edge over their larger neighbours.

Conflict

In the Conflict phase, the order of play is only important if a token shortage is possible. Then, a player under attack may insist upon resolving first all conflicts involving only tokens, before dealing with those involving tokens attacking cities.

This is particularly important because conflicts between tokens and cities require the defending cities to convert into at least six tokens; if there are insufficient tokens in the player’s treasury, the city will surrender. The rule governing the surrender of cities implies that the best time to attack another player’s cities is when he/she has few or no tokens in his/her stock, and then, the attack should be a limited one directed only at cities.

City building

In the City Building phase, play is in AST order. As with ship construction, city building is not simultaneous, and a player is perfectly entitled to insist upon players higher up the AST making their decisions first, as to whether to build any more cities. The reasons for insisting on this are subtle.

First, it should be pointed out that the rules do not compel a player to build a city if the conditions for city construction are satisfied; the players have a choice as to whether or not to add to their city numbers. The reason for the players having this choice is to enable them to manipulate the order of play in the Trade Card Acquisition phase so as, on the one hand, to maximise the number of trade cards they acquire, and on the other, to avoid disasters. Only the very best players will be constantly aware of this stratagem during the hurly-burly of play.

Trade card acquisition

In the Trade Card Acquisition phase, the order of play is from the smallest to the largest (in terms of cities), with ties being resolved (yes, you guessed it) in AST order. This is yet another of the wonderful subtleties of the game. It is deliberately designed to ensure that the largest empires pick up their trade cards last and, in so doing, increases the chances that they will end up getting fewer cards than their smaller neighbours.

There is no point in having more cities than anyone else if this results in you gaining fewer trade cards than anyone else simply because the trade decks were depleted prior to your turn to pick up! The good players will be aware of this, and will carefully adjust the size of their empires according to what the other players are doing.

When it comes time to exchange trade cards for civilization cards, the order of play is in reverse AST order. This is the only instance in the game where this occurs. All things being equal, the players at the bottom of the AST normally have a higher chance of finding some of the trade card decks depleted when they pick up their cards. To offset this, they are given the first opportunity to purchase the relatively rare civilization cards.

Calamity resolution

In the Calamity Resolution phase, the order of play goes in ascending order of the disaster number. This can be important for players affected by more than one disaster, since it can mitigate the effect of the later disasters. For instance, if a player has picked up both the Famine and Flood cards, he could lose tokens on his/her flood plain to the famine and end up avoiding the flood completely.

STRATEGY

Now that you have some idea of how the game is played, and how its many components interact with each other, how do you develop a winning strategy? One aspect of this game is that there is no one, single winning strategy. There is, however, a winning approach to how the game should be played, which consists of six maxims.

The first maxim is to achieve the maximum population growth in the first five or six turns without affecting your progress on the AST. This involves delaying building your first cities as long as possible, and spreading out to occupy as much territory as is possible without becoming involved in fruitless border disputes. If you delay building your first city until the fifth turn, you can have six cities by the sixth turn. In contrast, building two cities in the fourth turn leaves you so short of population that you will have only three cities in the sixth turn; this will leave you short of trade cards in the early trading sessions.

The second maxim is to aim to have a medium number of cities throughout most of the second to the fifth epochs; the ideal number is six or seven, depending upon circumstances. Sticking to this should, on average, maximise the number of trade cards picked up every turn. It should also make it easier to manipulate your place in the order of play so as to avoid the worse disasters.

The third maxim is to maintain a healthy distribution of your tokens between the stock, treasury and map, and to avoid where possible having too many tokens in one of these three locations. This should ensure that you are in the best position to avoid the problems associated with over-population and inflation. There are four ways of controlling your token distribution: deliberately killing off population on the board by over-stacking, maintaining four ships on the board, partly paying for civilization cards with treasury tokens, and purchasing the Coinage card as soon as practically possible.

The fourth maxim is to offer mutually profitable trade deals wherever possible. It is not a good idea to squeeze the last drop out of a trade deal. It is also good policy to be truthful about your trade packages (except, of course, when you are attempting to pass on a disaster card). If you follow this maxim consistently, players will tend to want to deal with you in the future because they will know they are going to get a square deal.

The fifth maxim concerns the ideal policy on how to distribute disasters should you be unfortunate enough to get landed with one. In the early stages up until the end of the Bronze Age, the best policy is to distribute disasters evenly amongst the other players. Even so, there are occasions when somebody will be particularly deserving of the maximum permissible dose, and that is perfectly acceptable should it occur. However, later on, from about the start of the Iron Age onwards, disasters should be directed exclusively at the leaders wherever possible in an attempt to slow down, or even stop, their progress on the AST.

The sixth, and final, maxim is to maintain a low profile on the map, and a high one in the trading sessions. In particular, don’t make unnecessary waves such as launching unprovoked attacks on your neighbours. If you have to attack somebody, make sure it is for a good reason, and immediately apologise, explaining your reasons for the attack. And, above all, maintain a flexible approach in your actions at all times.

CALAMITIES

Following on from the general considerations discussed above, I shall continue the discussion of game strategy by considering the eight disasters and the ten starting positions, and finish up with some observations about trading and the best mixes of civilization cards to aim for.

As observed earlier in this article, the disasters are subdivided into two blocks, those which affect the player who picked the card up, and those which affect the player to whom the card was passed in a trade deal. The former consists of Volcano/Earthquake, Famine, Civil War and Flood, while the latter consists of Epidemic, Civil Disorder, Iconoclasm & Heresy and Piracy. Before we discuss each of them in turn, an important point should be made concerning the black-backed disasters in general. If you pick one up, and decide to pass it on to another player in a trade deal, the victim should be chosen carefully. By the time these cards turn up, it should be fairly obvious who is doing well and who is doing badly. Under no circumstances should one be passed on to the players who are doing relatively badly. These disaster cards are potent weapons to be aimed only at the leaders. They are the most active traders in the game, and they always want valuable cards. As soon as it becomes obvious during a trade session what commodity one of the leaders is after, make up a trade package consisting of that commodity and the disaster card and offer it him. And you should make sure the disaster is well disguised, throwing in another relatively high value commodity if necessary.

Volcano/Earthquake is the least damaging of all the disasters. There are only three volcano sites on the map: Vesuvius and Etna in Italy, and Santorini in the Aegean Sea. If any of your tokens or cities are on one of these volcano sites, the volcano erupts and all units are lost. If you do not occupy a volcano site, one of your cities is struck by an earthquake and is reduced instead; this involves replacing the city with a number of tokens equal to the carrying capacity of the area.

The best means of mitigating the effect of this disaster depends upon whether you have a volcano or an earthquake. If it is a volcano, place population tokens only in the volcano sites. Although all the volcano sites are natural city locations, it is not a good idea to set up a city in one of them because it relatively difficult to rebuild it. If, on the other hand, it is an earthquake, it is best to choose a city located in a high population carrying capacity area since this makes it easier to rebuild. The only exception to this is if you have a city on a 3-site, and reduction will lead to a token shortage in your stock and taxation problems in the next turn. If you have a city located adjacent to another player’s city, you have the option of reducing that player’s city as well; whether you do so will depend upon the game position at that time, and it is best to follow a flexible policy on this. You might even be able to force some favour out of that player in exchange for not doing it!

Famine is a mixed disaster. Although it forces you to lose nine units (cities counting as five units equivalent), you can force other players to lose up to twenty units, with a maximum of eleven from any one player. For this reason, it is one of the ‚best‘ of the game-balancing disasters. The effect of the disaster can be mitigated if you possess Pottery and at least one grain; in this case, for every grain card held, you reduce the number of units lost by four. This is obviously the perfect defence against famine, but it does have the double drawback that Pottery is one of the cheapest civilization cards available and it ties up grain cards which might be better used either in obtaining better trade deals or in purchasing another civilization card.

Civil War is one of the most potentially crippling of the disasters. If you have picked it up, you choose a nominee from among the other players. You and your nominee then divide your civilisation into two parts; you choose one, and your nominee gets the other! Usually, one of the parts must contain thirty five units (with cities again counting as five units equivalent), provided you do not hold Philosophy and/or Democracy. If you hold Philosophy, your nominee must be the player with the least number of tokens in his/her stock, (this might be you!) and fifteen units secede to the nominee. If you hold Democracy (and not Philosophy), one of the two parts must contain forty five units.

The one certain way to avoid the effects of Civil War is to keep your civilisation to thirty five units or less (or forty five if you hold Democracy). Another method is to maintain a mental count of the number of grain cards in the grain deck, and thereby know when the Civil War card will turn up. Then, by manipulating the number of cities you own, it is possible to avoid picking the card up.

If, despite all your efforts, you do pick up Civil War, there are two ways to mitigate its effect. If you have a very big civilisation, choose as your nominee a player with an equally big civilisation. Careful calculation may ensure that the nominee will lose most of the seceding units by revolt because of token and city shortage, and you might get them back provided you have the most tokens in your stock.

The second way is to choose as your nominee the player with the weakest position and make him an offer. This will usually involve the nominee choosing those units whose loss is least damaging to your overall position. Whatever way, Civil War is always vicious; do everything you can to avoid it.

Flood is the last of the red-backed disasters, and the easiest to absorb. If you have no flood plain in your civilisation, the only damage is missing out on picking up a valuable cloth card. If you do have a flood plain, the best policy is to keep it lightly populated, avoid building cities in it unless the site is elevated above the plain, and get Engineering as quickly as possible.

If you have been counting the cloth cards, and suspect that you will pick up flood, it might be worthwhile moving some tokens into someone else’s flood plain; that player’s units will be affected by the disaster as well!

Epidemic is the first of the black-backed disasters. The recipient loses sixteen units, and these losses must be taken with no area being completely depopulated; thus, a city is replaced by one token and counts as a loss of four. The recipient may then spread the epidemic among the other players, forcing them to lose up to twenty five units, with no more than ten from any one player. However, the player who passed on the Epidemic card is immune to this spread of the epidemic; the lack of side-effects makes this disaster a good one to pass on. The effect of an epidemic can be mitigated to some effect if you hold Medicine. Should the card be traded to you, you can at least affect your rivals for the lead. Consequently, the Epidemic is probably the least terrifying of the tradable disasters.

The effect of the Civil Disorder disaster increases with the civilisation size. Provided the recipient has more than four cities, and does not hold Law or Democracy, the excess are reduced. If the recipient holds Law, only cities in excess of five are reduced, and if he/she holds Democracy, cities in excess of six are reduced. Civil Disorder is a good card to trade to one of the leaders for two reasons. The first is that the leaders usually have a large number of cities, and this disaster can chop them down in size considerably. The second is that the recipient is the only player to suffer, and the player who traded it suffers no side-effects apart from the victim’s wrath.

Iconoclasm & Heresy is a terrible disaster, particularly for players who do not hold Law or Philosophy. In this case, the recipient loses four cities by reduction. Unlike Civil Disorder, he/she may also order the reduction of two cities owned by the other players, including the player who traded the card! If the recipient holds Law, only three cities are reduced, and if he/she holds Philosophy, only two cities are reduced. Similar decreases apply to the recipient’s counterattack. However, the one to watch out for is the combination of Civil Disorder with Iconoclasm & Heresy. This can be a killer for anyone without Law: the former reduces the recipient to four cities, and the latter knocks these out! This, in turn, forces the recipient backwards on the AST; this combination should be exclusively aimed at the leader if at all possible.

Piracy is potentially the worse disaster of all. The recipient loses one coastal city for every ship owned by the player who traded the card. Consequently, the recipient could lose up to four cities. If this should happen, the effect is worse than Iconoclasm & Heresy since, in that case, the cities are only reduced, whereas piracy removes the city completely, and leaves nothing behind. An obvious motto comes immediately to mind: be wary of ‚Greeks bearing gifts‘ – especially in ships!

STARTING POSITIONS

The ten starting positions are not all equal; the ones with better potential usually have a combination of excellent terrain to expand into and a relatively easy track on the AST. I shall now consider them in AST order.

Africa

Africa has one of the easiest tracks on the AST, as well as a low end-game target total of 1200 points. Its position at the head of the AST also makes it relatively easy to avoid disasters, but is a disadvantage when purchasing civilization cards. This implies that you must look ahead when planning what to purchase.

The AST advantages are offset by Africa’s poor lebensraum, and this is made more critical by the location of the natural city sites in the best population areas. Africa should therefore build at least one of the famous ‚desert‘ cities (twelve tokens converted into a city in one of its 1-areas), claim as much of north Africa as possible, and should be prepared to go to war over Sicily. Agriculture is an essential acquisition given the lack of breathing room. These problems are reduced by the WXB leaf, and this has been offset by the larger end-game target of 1300 points.

Iberia

Iberia has a relatively easy track on the AST, and a low end- game target of 1200 points. This is offset by a lack of natural city sites, one of which is in a flood plain. Although Italy is not in play when the WXB leaf is used, most of the Italian peninsula will have been claimed by the time you get there. Build a couple of ‚desert‘ cities in Iberia, and try to get Agriculture.

Italy

Italy is one of the blue chip starting positions, possessing an easy track on the AST, plenty of natural city sites, and a medium end-game target of 1300 points. Aim to occupy all of the Italian peninsula, and the Balkan coast as far south as Corfu. It really is too easy playing Italy and the other players should be aware of it.

Illyria

Illyria is a very difficult starting position. (‚What should I do in Illyria?‘) This is because its two neighbours Italy and Thrace have easier AST tracks and consequently tend to be chosen first. If this happens there is nowhere to expand into, and the position should not be chosen. However, if the WXB leaf is in use, Illyria effectively takes up Italy’s position in the standard game. Its slightly more difficult AST track and maximum end-game target of 1400 points balances this part of the map out nicely. You can now have a viable game with it.

Thrace

Thrace has an AST track of about the same degree of difficulty as Italy’s. However, it suffers from a lack of natural city sites, and the Danube Delta flood plain. Consequently, it should insist upon a frontier with Italy located as far west as possible, and a frontier with Asia/Assyria as far east in southern Ukraine as possible. It would also be an advantage to acquire Agriculture.

Crete

Crete’s central starting location is a relatively difficult one, offset partly by its low end-game target of 1200. Although there is no shortage of city sites in Greece and Asia Minor, there is a lack of breathing space. This is accentuated by the necessity to build ships to get off the island of Crete in the early stages. Once these ships have been built, Crete always moves last in the race to occupy as much land as possible before the first bout of city building. Consequently, you should concentrate upon creating a constantly mobile population, and the acquisition of both Agriculture and Astronomy are essential.

Asia

Asia has a relatively difficult AST track, which is not helped by the high end-game target of 1400. It also tends to be crowded out by Assyria. Consequently, it is advisable to choose Asia only if Babylon has not been chosen; in this case, Asia and Assyria have plenty of room to expand into. If Assyria and Babylon have already been chosen, avoid Asia like the plague.

Assyria

Assyria is another blue chip starting position to rank along side Italy. However, its slightly harder AST track and higher end-game target of 1400 make it more of a challenge to play. You should aim to expand into Asia Minor and to the Med coast at Antioch, working out sensible frontiers with Crete and Babylon. If Asia is in play in place of Babylon, it is probably best to let Asia have Asia Minor, and take over the normal Baby Ionian position yourself. However, allowing Asia through into the Babylonian position is equally viable.

Babylon

Babylon has an excellent area to expand into on the map, despite the huge Euphrates flood plain. However, its AST track is extremely difficult because of the early first barrier. Against good players, the best policy is probably to go for maximum city expansion in the early stage and take a deliberate stop for one turn at the first barrier. You will then have to attempt to ensure that all the other players make at least one stop later in the game. If Egypt is also in the game, and follows the same policy, it is advisable to cooperate closely with him/her on this. Apart from this, it is advisable to avoid building more than one low lying city on the flood plain unless it is absolutely necessary.

Egypt

Egypt has a similar problem to Babylon, and should follow a similar policy. It is essential to expand into Palestine and claim as many of the city sites there as possible. It is also advisable to agree to a sensible frontier with Africa and thereby avoid trouble on that side. And whatever you do, avoid building cities in the Nile Delta if at all possible.

TRADING

In the trading sessions, your primary aim should be to build up a set of trade cards with a value as large as possible. This generally means concentrating on one commodity at a time, and trying to corner the market in that commodity. The best commodities to concentrate upon are Salt, Grain, Cloth, Bronze and Spice. The first four commodities tend to be used as short change to fill up a trade package, but if you manage to make up a full set they complement your hand very nicely. Although Gems and Gold can make up substantial sets, there are not many of them, and the number of players with eight or nine cities is usually low. Even if you do not have nine cities, it is useful to convert eighteen tokens in your treasury whenever possible. It gains you a useful card to trade with players who do have nine cities, and helps relieve your inflation problems. It is also a good idea to offer trade packages of four or more cards every now and then; this may make it easier to conceal a disaster card in the deal if that opportunity arises.

CARDS

There is no ideal set of civilization cards to collect. If somebody maintained that such a set existed, the maximum limit of eleven cards per player would make things very tight in the five, six and seven player games. However, some general guidelines can be given. Any winning set must contain at least two of the three civic cards Law, Philosophy and Democracy, and preferably all three. The easiest way to acquire Law is to pick up Literacy and Architecture first; together, they knock forty points off the price of Law. Philosophy can purchase very cheaply if you also acquire Music and the five science cards: Mysticism, Astronomy, Coinage, Medicine, and Engineering; this reduces the price of Philosophy to seventy. The purchase price of Democracy can be reduced to one hundred and ten with the additional purchase of the four craft cards Pottery, Cloth Making, Metal Working and Agriculture.

The order in which you purchase your cards should be partly decided by two criteria. The first is to buy them in the sequence which makes the entire set you aim to collect as cheap as possible. The second criterion should be based on whether the purchase advances you past all barriers on the AST in the shortest number of turns. The problem here is that getting past one barrier ‚easily‘ may create problems at the next barrier. The most critical example of this dilemma is evidenced by a decision to purchase lots of cheap cards in order to obtain the seven cards required to pass the third barrier; this may make it extremely difficult to acquire an additional four cards with the values required to push your net total to the one thousand points required to pass the fourth barrier. However, it is sometimes not possible to stick to these criteria. This is usually caused by buying pressure on specific cards.

The trickiest decision to be made is usually connected with the order in which the cards belonging to a particular colour group are bought. The natural order is to buy from cheapest to dearest, largely because this makes it easier to pass the early barriers. However, it can be advantageous to buy some of the expensive ones first in order to create a shortage in them. This is a particularly important consideration in the five, six and seven player games.

The mix of civilization cards to aim for is also critically determined by the number of players in the game. If the number is four or less, there is no card shortage, and it is generally best to aim for the high value cards unless this causes problems during the approaches to the barriers on the AST. With larger numbers of players, it is worthwhile going for some of the cheaper cards if only to ease your passage along the AST. However, you must make sure, firstly, that you pick up a substantial proportion of the highest value cards, and secondly, that your main rivals miss out on more of them.

In conclusion, Civilization is an excellent multi-player game for those who like long games which require considerable thought, concentration and decision making. As a final point, I’ll leave you with a recommendation not to use the Avalon Hill expansion set. The additional trade cards mean that the disasters are less frequent, and this upsets the entire play balance of the game.

Civilization is a game for two to seven players; designed by Francis Tresham and originally published by Hartland Trefoil; it is now also marketed under licence by Avalon Hill and Gibsons Games. Players should be aware of which set they are playing with: there are slight differences, principally in the sequence of play, between the Hartland rules and the Avalon Hill rules.

(This article was originally published in „Games International“, issue #12 (January 1990) and is reproduced here with the permission of Brian Walker, the former editor of GI)

by Steve Jones

1830 is a game for two to six players, designed by Francis Tresham and published by Avalon Hill. Like its classic predecessor 1829 (Hartland Trefoil), 1830 is a railroad business game.

For those familiar with 1829, there are two major differences in 1830. The first is the locale: whereas 1829 covers the Railroad Era in 19th century Britain, 1830 covers the growth of the railroads in the north-eastern United States and south-eastern Canada from the early part of the 19th century to the present day. The second difference is one of emphasis. 1829 concentrates more on the mechanics of running the railroad companies for high profits and less on manipulating the stock market. In contrast, 1830 concentrates more on manipulating share prices and less on running the railroad companies; indeed, the opportunities for swindle and sharp practices are many and various for the unscrupulous investor. It is not an easy game to play. While its mechanics are fairly straightforward, there are many elements involved during play, and the interplay between them is both complex and subtle. If one were searching for an appropriate single sentence to describe 1830, it would be „This is a sharp game for sharp players“.

PORTFOLIOS

The game consists of a sturdy fold-up board of which about one-half depicts the north-eastern United States and part of south-eastern Canada. This map has superimposed upon it a grid of 4cm hexagonal spaces; hexagonal railroad track tiles are placed in these spaces during the course of play, and a railroad network is gradually built up. Around the edge of the map are marked-out spaces for the Stock Market (where the current corporation stock prices are indicated), the

Bank Pool (for sold stock and trains), the initial stock offerings, the Par Stock Price list, the trains on offer, and various explanatory tables.

The object of the game is to make money; when the game ends, the player with the most money wins. The players achieve this by buying and selling stock in an attempt to build up a stock portfolio with a high revenue and profit potential. The value of the stock certificates in an individual portfolio is determined by two things: the revenue per certificate, and the current Stock Market price per certificate. The six private railroads pay a fixed revenue, and are not quoted on the Stock Market; they have poor long term prospects, but have considerable short term value, of which more anon. The eight railroad corporations, on the other hand, have both variable revenue and Stock Market prices. There are many subtle undercurrents associated with the valuation of the available stock certificates, which become more apparent with experience.

OPERATING ROUNDS

There are no player turns as such in the game. Instead, play proceeds in a sequence of stock rounds and operating rounds until either the Bank runs out of money or a bankruptcy occurs.

In the stock rounds, the players buy and sell stock certificates; there is one certificate per private railroad, and nine certificates per corporation (one president’s certificate worth two shares, and eight single share certificates).

In the operating rounds, the private railroads earn revenue for their owners, and the president (or the largest stock holder) of each corporation performs its operations. These consist of laying a track tile, buying corporation tokens (or garrisons, as they are popularly called), conning train services (and thereby earning revenue), buying (and sometimes selling) trains, and choosing whether or not to pay a dividend to the stockholders. This last decision affects the stock price of the corporation’s stock: the price rises upon payment of dividends, and falls otherwise.

A corporation earns revenue if it has at least one train and one route between two or more cities (the revenue earned is equal to the sum of the city values of the city stops on the route); this route must include at least one city occupied by the corporation’s token.

The number of operating rounds between stock rounds depends upon whether the game is in Stage One, Two or Three, and is equal to the current stage number at the end of each stock round. The game starts in Stage One, and proceeds to Stages Two and Three respectively when the first type 3 and type 5 trains are purchased by any corporation.

CORPORATIONS

To those readers who have played 1829, this is all familiar stuff. However, five major rules changes were introduced into 1830 which have touches of genius and fumed what would have been a good game into a great game. The first rule change is that the eight corporations can be floated at any time, and in any order. Furthermore, the player who buys the presidency certificate gets to set the par value of the shares; the allowable par values lie between $67 and $100.

The second rule change concerns the corporation garrisons. In both 1829 and 1830, garrisons enable corporations to diversify their routes. A garrison in 1829 prevents rival corporations from using the station. However, a garrison in 1830 only prevents rival corporations from passing through the station; they can still run services to the station. This difference introduces a whole new dimension to the planning of routes in 1830. Basically, short routes are relatively secure, and it is the longer routes which are in danger of being chopped.

The third rule change is connected to the dividend payments. Dividends are also paid to shares in the Bank Pool, with the payments being made into the corporation’s treasury. This implies that there are times when the corporation president will feel less pressure to plough back in order to increase its treasury. This rule can be particularly helpful to the weaker companies. There are subtle implications to this rule which will become more obvious after several playings.

The fourth rule change concerns the purchasing of trains by corporations: if a corporation has a route and no trains, it must buy one. If it has not got sufficient funds in its treasury, the president must make up the shortfall out of his own resources. This requirement can easily break a player’s financial resources, and will give any aspiring corporation president nightmares in the later stages of the game. These nightmares are partly due to the technological obsolescence built into the trains, and partly due to the fact that there is no official receiver, as in 1829.

TRAINS

There are six classes of trains available in the game: types 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, and the diesels. The type N trains run between N consecutive city stops along a specified route; the diesel is unique in that there is no upper limit to the number of stops along its specified route. Initially, there are only type 2 trains available. Each successive class becomes available when the previous class runs out. The catch is that when the first type 4 is sold, the type 2 Trains are removed from the game. The type 3 trains are removed when the first type 6 is sold, and the type 4 trains are removed when the first diesel is sold.

Consequently, a corporation might look healthy, with several trains and good revenue earnings, only to find itself foundering with no trains when another corporation buys a new type of train that has just become available. And if you should be so unfortunate as to find yourself running a corporation possessing no trains, you cannot just sell out. To sell out of a corporation, there must be another player with at least two shares to whom the presidency can be passed; unfortunately, this ‚easy‘ route out is not always available. Clearly, these corporations are not limited liability companies! The good player will be aware of this, and should plan his long term strategy accordingly.

This awareness should include becoming thoroughly familiar with what happens when each new type of train comes into play, and the implications of this on long term strategy. The solution of the problems associated with this unlimited liability rule tends to dominate play in the middle and end game. Particularly critical periods requiring great care and attention occur when there is one type 3 left, and when only one type 4 remains; the former event signals the imminent demise of the type 2 trains, and the latter event signals the imminence of Stage 3 and the consequent maneuvering which occurs when the players attempt to secure the limited number of permanent trains in the end game.

STOCK MARKET

The fifth rule change affects the Stock Market and its operation, which is where the game is won and lost, so it is well to discuss the Stock Market in some detail. The Stock Market, unlike the linear track found in 1829, is a two dimensional matrix of stock price slots printed on the game board. Low prices are found in the bottom left hand comer, and high prices are found in the top right hand comer. Within it both vertical and horizontal movements representing stock price changes are possible; the price increases if the movement is vertically upwards or a horizontal shift to the right, and decreases if the movement is vertically downwards or a horizontal shift to the left. The change in price associated with each movement is variable, with relatively high changes occurring at the extreme ends, and relatively small ones in the middle.

Vertical share price movement takes place during the stock rounds. Every time a player sells a share, the price marker of that corporation moves down one slot. At the end of each stock round, the share price of every fully subscribed corporation moves up one slot. Horizontal movement takes place during each operating round. When the president of a corporation declares a dividend, the share price marker of that corporation shifts one slot to the right; if he/she ploughs the money back into the company, the share price marker shifts one slot to the left.

FINANCIAL KILLING

The positions of the corporations on the Stock Market also serve one very important function: they determine the order of play in each operating round, from highest to lowest. This use of the Stock Market to determine the order of play in the operating rounds is of particularly vital importance in the middle game just before the first type 5 train comes out. The good player will deliberately buy and sell specific stock in an attempt to manipulate the order of play to his advantage; if he gets it right, he can ensure that corporations in which he has a good holding will be in the best positions to acquire the limited number of types 5 and 6 trains available.

Another important feature associated with the Stock Market is the priority deal: the possessor of this gets the first option to buy and sell in the next stock round. This can be very important, particularly when a player president has asset stripped his corporation and has somebody to dump it on. It is also important early on when the first corporations to be floated have increased their market values by a healthy amount. The player who can ditch his shares first has a double advantage: he will make a financial killing at the expense of his fellow shareholders by selling out just before the share price crashes, and he can choose which corporation to float next.

There are many other subtle features associated with the Stock Market, but there is no room to include them all in this article; players new to the game should look upon it as a challenge to pick them up in as few playings of the game as possible.

STRATEGY

Now that you have an idea of how the game is played, how do you develop a winning strategy? One of the beauties of 1830 is that there is no single winning strategy as such. The closest thing to one is to gain control of two corporations, but the hitch is that they both need to be good, strong corporations; if you achieve that, you will be well on the way to winning. However, there are plenty of things that your opponents can do to upset your plans. Another useful strategy is gaining control of a corporation with a potentially good diesel route, and get a diesel train into it; if you can achieve this without excessive expenditure, you could be on to a winner.

One of the tricks to playing 1830 is anticipating problems before they arise and taking the appropriate evasive actions; equally useful is knowing what to do to limit the damage if you find yourself in trouble. The most useful overall advice is to be flexible, and ruthless. Don’t form any fond attachment to your corporations. Many players invite disaster because they let themselves become emotionally attached to the corporations) they founded. They should be viewed as a means to an end, and nothing more. If you have a corporation that is headed for the rocks and you have a chance to get out, do so. Don’t stay around because you think you can rescue it; leave that dubious distinction to someone else.

There are a number of useful rules of thumb to be aware of in general play. Always be aware of who is sitting where, and take the appropriate action. For instance, don’t buy more than one share of any corporation whose president is sitting to your immediate right unless it has a ’safe‘ train, and even then, think hard about it. The reason for this is that, in a later stock round, your chances of getting rid of the excess ‚dangerous‘ shares before he dumps the corporation on you are virtually non-existent. Contrariwise, it is much ’safer‘ to purchase more than one share in a corporation if its president is sitting to your immediate left. In this case, he can only dump the corporation on you if you let him have the priority deal.

Another useful dictum is to avoid being excessively ‚greedy‘. The number of times are legion when players have bought that extra second share on the expectation of a quick short-term profit, only to find the corporation dumped on them later, the risk is usually not worth it.

DIVIDENDS

On the question of declaring dividends, the best policy is almost invariably to declare. This applies even in the case where your corporation has a vulnerable train and a low treasury. The reason is that declarations will generally increase the values of your portfolio, and this will improve your chances of weathering a bankruptcy crisis. In addition, if your corporation is that weak, it will probably have shares in the Bank Pool, in which case the treasury will increase in value even when you declare; this reduces the pressing need to plough back. The only time in which it is cost effective to plough back is when this will gain your corporation an additional train in the end game, or will ensure that it obtains a ’safe‘ train. For example, you may have a type 5 train, and a plough-back will give you enough money in the treasury to purchase a type 6 train; if your corporation has the routes on which to run both trains, it can be a winning move. Equally, a plough-back which gives you enough money to trade in a type 4 train for a diesel is always worth doing.

One other general consideration worth mentioning is to try to build up as large a portfolio as possible; if you have more shares than anyone else, your chances of winning are that much better. One way of achieving this is to get one of your corporations into the yellow, orange or brown sections of the Stock Market where its shares do not count towards the share limit for each player; if you do manage to achieve this, you will have to keep the extra Shares in the yellow at least, and that is as good an excuse to go for a diesel train as any.

The good player will also become thoroughly familiar with the different types of track tiles available, and the attacking and defensive options associated with upgrades. In particular, get to know the different types of station tiles and how they can be placed to build up highly profitable routes.

One tactic with which you should become familiar is the laying of certain strategically important tiles in order to deny another player their use. Included in this category are the yellow type #57 and the green type #59 station tiles. There are only four of the former and two of the latter in the game. They are particularly important when corporations are attempting to build their first routes; removing these tiles from play can delay that first route and cripple the affected corporation.

THE PRIVATES

Following on from the general considerations discussed above, I shall continue the discussion of game strategy by considering the six private railroads and the eight corporations, and finish up with some observations about the beginning, middle and end games.

Although the private railroads have a limited lifetime, they are vital because of their potential to provide a large influx of cash to the players later on in the game. This potential exists because of the rule which allows the players to sell the private railroads to the corporations for between half and double their face value; the only exception to this is the B&O private. This rule effectively allows the president of a corporation to embezzle funds from the corporation’s treasury.

If he times his move correctly, a player can strip the corporation of its cash and dump it on another player possessing at least two shares in it; often, when this ploy is pulled off, the corporation possesses plenty of trains which are in danger of being made obsolete in the near future. In addition to throwing a potentially disastrous problem into someone else’s lap, the large infusion into the player’s cash reserves puts him in a good position to float another corporation which will be in a better position to obtain the new trains.

Let us now consider the six private companies in ascending order of price.

Schuylkill Valley Railroad & Navigation Co.

The Schuylkill Valley Railroad & Navigation Co. is a bit of a joke. Its low face value and revenue make it of little value to anyone. Even its location in a mountain hex (G15) to the west of New York possesses little strategic value apart from being an obstacle. Its one asset is a relatively high revenue for little outlet in the early stages. Don’t break your neck in the lush to pick it up.

Champlain & St. Lawrence Railway

The Champlain & St Lawrence Railway is a slightly better prospect. Its main asset arises after it has been sold to a corporation: the owning corporation can then lay two tiles in one turn, its normal lay and one in the C&StL hex located at B20. This can be of particular value to the CanPac in its efforts to break through to the lucrative routes near New York; but it should be pointed out that this is a long shot, and if it is to be played at all, it should be early.

Delaware & Hudson Railroad

The Delaware & Hudson Railroad is starting to hit the big money. In addition to its trade in value being as high as $140, it has a potentially high strategic value in its location near to New York in hex F16. The owning corporation can lay a station tile and garrison in F16 even if this does not connect into its network. This gives corporations like the C & O, the Erie, and the CanPac the potential to set up lucrative routes to New York. This one should be watched.

Mohawk & Hudson Railroad

The Mohawk and Hudson has a potential double value. In addition to its relatively high revenue of $20 and trade in value of up to $220, it can be traded at any time for a NYC certificate. This last capability means that even if you never get the chance to use it to asset-strip a corporation, you will never lose its capital value since it can be traded in for an NYC share at any time before the first type 5 train is brought in. But don’t hold on to it too long, particularly if the NYC comes out fairly early on.

Camden & Amboy Railroad

The Camden & Amboy Railroad is a potential gold mine. Worth up to $320 cash in an asset-strip, it also has attached to it a free Penn certificate. This latter feature makes it easier to float the Penn early on, and makes an asset-strip even more likely. Even if you don’t get to use it to asset-strip a corporation, its location in H18 is potentially valuable in the struggle to control the approaches to south New York. Its high potential value will mean that there will be a lot of competition in the rush to acquire it; whoever gets it should be made to pay well above the asking price for it.

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is a bit of a mixture. On the plus side is its high revenue of $30 and the automatic acquisition of the B&O corporation presidency. On the negative side is the fact that it automatically closes down when the B&O corporation buys its first train. Therefore, it is not as valuable as the Camden & Amboy, and as such, it is rarely worth paying more than $S over the odds to purchase it. The most critical decision which the purchaser has to make is the par value of the B&O corporation. In most cases, it is best to set it to the maximum possible value of $100; this value ensures that the capital loss from the relatively fast disappearance of the B&O private is a minimum. The par value should only be set at a lower value if you have a partner who is willing to help buy out all the shares in the first stock round, thereby ensuring that the price rises steadily in the early stock rounds; even then the decision is marginal, and better terms might need to be set.

The eight railroad corporations are not all equal; some have better potential than others.

Pennsylvania Railroad

The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) is potentially one of the best long term corporations, partly because of its relatively close starting position near New York, and partly because of its five tokens. The latter also implies that the PRR is a good corporation to put a diesel train into, if only because all those tokens give it the capability to defend the long routes which a diesel requires to be cost effective.

The PRR is usually one of the first corporations to be floated, because only five shares need to be bought instead of the usual six; the sixth share is already owned by the owner of the C&A. The one drawback of the PRR is its low revenue growth rate; even with two trains in it, it rarely gets above $6 a share early on.

New York Central Railroad

The New York Central (NYC) is potentially the best long term corporation, better even than the PRR. This is because its home base has a better revenue and track switching potential than the PRR’s. However, it also suffers from poor initial revenue growth rates, and because of this it rarely comes out early on. It usually comes out in the middle period of the game. Like the PRR, it has excellent potential as a diesel corporation, particularly if it can get through to south New York via G 17, and into the PRR network. However, its one weakness is that it needs a yellow type #57 tile to build its home base; therefore, any prospective president should make sure that there are plenty of these about when he floats the corporation.

Canadian Pacific Railroad

The Canadian Pacific (CPR) has a poor long-term potential despite its five tokens. Its starting position in Canada is isolated by river and mountain barriers from the lucrative routes in the centre of the board If we add to this the relatively poor revenue growth rate, it is not difficult to conclude that it is probably a lame duck corporation. The only chance it can have to become a good long term prospect is either through early access to New York via a garrison in the D&H hex in F16, or through outside help in route building.

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

The Baltimore & Ohio Corporation (B&O) is another potential diesel corporation. This is particularly so if it gets

staved early, and gets to H16 before the PRR; in this case, the world is its oyster. Even if it cannot break out of its comer to become a diesel corporation, it still has a good potential to be one of the strongest of the medium corporations. But its president must be prepared to make things happen. And there is no harm done if it is not floated early in the game; just sit back and rake in the revenue from the B&O private. Another advantage associated with a late flotation is that the par value of $100 ensures that there is plenty of cash in its treasury with which to buy a good Train.

Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad

The Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) is another good medium corporation with an outside chance of gaining good diesel routes. It has excellent revenue growth potential because of its close proximity to Chicago. Consequently, it is a popular choice for flotation in the first stock round Its one drawback is its relative isolation at the western edge of the board This can be partly overcome by its early flotation, which can give it the time to build up its routes.

Erie Railroad

The Erie (‚Erie‘) is one of the poorer corporations. It should never be floated early on because its home base can never be built until Stage 2; the only legal tile that can be placed in E11 is a green type #59 tile. Great care should also be exercised in laying its home base tile and token; it is dangerous to locate its home base on the north-west edge of E11 facing D10 because there are only two green type #59 tiles in the game, and if the second one goes into H18, the Erie will be crippled until Stage 3. These disadvantages usually lead to the Erie being one of the last corporations to be floated. It is strongest as the second corporation in a player’s portfolio.

New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad

The New York, New Haven & Hartford (NYNH) is an excellent New York based corporation which possesses good revenue growth potential. While it is not common to see it floated early on, it can do well when it is. The one drawback to the corporation is its three tokens; this low number of tokens means that it is a poor choice to put a diesel train into. As one player observed, ‚If the Hartford had an extra token it would be a cracking company!‘

Boston & Maine Railroad

The Boston & Maine (B&M) is a corporation with mixed potential. If it is floated early on, it can do very well. It suffers from two drawbacks. The first is its geographical isolation from the bulk of the map by the Appalachian mountains and the river in F22. The second is its three tokens, which give it very little route flexibility. It is therefore hardly surprising to see it usually doing well only when it is floated early on. If it is one of the last to be floated, it will need friends if it is to do better than moderately well.

There is no ideal strategy to be pursued at the beginning of the game apart from being flexible. The one thing to keep in mind is that it is not vital to buy a presidency and float a corporation in the first stock round. However, if you are going to do so, the vital figure to keep in mind is $402; this is the amount of cash you need to float a corporation on your own. The only exception is the PRR for which you need only $335 in order to float it by yourself, because of the free share that goes with the C&A private. If you do have this amount available after all the private railroads have been sold, well and good; pick the corporation you want and get going. If you don’t have the cash, you will need to strike a deal with another player in order to get his help to float a corporation The one thing to keep in mind when striking such a deal is not to be dogmatic. Certainly, try to strike the best deal that you can, but remember that the other guy should be offered something to entice him into the deal in the first place. And when you make such a deal, stick to it; as a general policy, it is counter-productive to welsh on agreed deals.

The only other thing to keep in mind in the first stock round is to make sure that the other players don’t get their private railroads too cheaply. This applies particularly in the case of the C&A; it is criminal to let a player get this for $165. A useful rule of thumb to keep in mind is whether the price reduces the player’s cash reserves to less than $402, or in the case of the bidder for the C&A, to less than $335.

It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the beginning game ends, and the middle game starts. Probably the best definition is when the second set of corporations is floated. Generally speaking, the players who are floating these corporations are doing so out of their own resources, and so it is probably a good bet that they are doing well. If a player is floating his second corporation, it is invariably a sign that he is doing very well indeed, and the other players should be thinking of ways of tripping him up. There are many ways of doing this, but the most common means involves hitting his share prices, and attempting to remove from circulation specific tiles which he may require.

Once into the middle game, you should be devoting all your efforts to ensuring that your corporation gets at least one of those valuable type 5 trains. This will usually involve keeping a close watch on the share price trends on the Stock Market, and attempting to predict which corporation is likely to be able to buy the first type 5 train. This includes taking whatever steps are required to manipulate the share prices so that the trends go the way you want them to go. The trick then is to ensure that your corporation buys the first type 5 train, or failing that, has its operating round immediately afterwards. In the former instance, you should be trying to ensure that your closest rivals do not get the good trains.

The middle game usually ends and the end game begins when the first type 5 train is brought. This usually triggers a mad rush for the type 5 and type 6 trains, and more often than not the game settles down to an uneasy period during which someone is usually saving up for a diesel train. If your corporations are ’safe‘ with their type 5 or type 6 train, and your prospects for a diesel are poor, you should be thinking about closing up the game, and making sure that any diesel routes are not very lucrative. On the other hand, if you are saving up for a diesel, you should be building, or have already built, your diesel route, and be taking whatever steps are required to protect it. The question of going for a diesel can be critical, especially since it will usually cost you something to get it. If you think you are already in front, it is probably not worth going for it. On the other hand, if you are coming second it is certainly worthwhile going for it; the only consideration that you might need to take into account is whether there will be enough time left once you have the diesel for its extra revenue to wear down the lead. The only other reason to go for a diesel is to force a bankruptcy, and in the ensuing share price chaos, to come out in front.

In conclusion, 1830 is an excellent business game which requires considerable thought and quickness of mind, and provides endless hours of enjoyment. I’ll leave you with a final recommendation: do not play with the optional extra type 6 train; that version is for wimps!

(This article was originally published in „Games International“, issue #9 (September 1989) and is reproduced here with the permission of the author)