There is an old 18XX game about India. I remember a friend showing it to me but I never got to play it. It had multiple gauge rails and mail packets and an elephant as the priority deal marker. I understand it is not a really good game, but it would have been fun to try once at least. This looks wild. It could prove fun to pull all the levers and see what a mess they make. Congrats to you guys for getting this done. Would to meet up with you at a Traxx event. I am my wife's primary care giver and probably will not make a convention in the near future. Guess I need to investigate the on-line Table Top Simulator or such environs. Take care one and all and keep healthy.
I have 1853 and it's not a bad game. It's not necessarily a beginner game, but I think it's different enough to play it, and enjoy it. Maybe the purists don't enjoy it, but to me it's an enjoyable game. I like to play 18xx games that keep everyone in the game till the end. I don't like 18xx games where someone can finish up sitting around for 4 hours watching everybody else because they went bankrupt when one of the other players dumped on them.
Really starting to appreciate how crazy good this game this game is. Can't wait to get it to the table! Will you do at playthrough at some point, please?
After the first game of 18 India, with three players (with about 50 games of 18xx under their belts), my initial impressions, which will surely change in some aspects with the following games are: 1.- It took around 6 hours. I estimate that with more experience in this game it should come down to 4-5 hours. 2.- Choosing the initial companies (9 out of a possible 17) is a challenge and a new hurdle set up for each game. 3.- There's a feeling of luck factor with the stock cards that are dealt randomly at the beginning, which can be mitigated with the subsequent card draft. If one wants to adapt and use most of the cards initially dealt and enhance them, it would mean the hand determines fate. If one wants to change the initial hand and go for the cards of companies they wish to manage beforehand, it can be frustrating. 4.- On the other hand, the queue of IPO actions can quickly become stagnant, making it impossible to access the most interesting and lucrative stocks (in other words, an initial randomness that affects the entire game). It is feasible to plan based on that knowledge, but that does not eliminate the fact that that part of the board, IPO, remains stagnant. 5.- The player who got 5 merchandise bonuses for their two companies and the state guarantee of 5% for those same companies, finished second. The lack of these bonuses is compensated by trade routes with red cities that give a high variable bonus, if they manage to have a $60 gray city on their route. 6a.- Since there's no train obsolescence, the pressure to withhold decreases. Also, the ability to sell trains at the end of the operating round, to get a better train (which seems to be what one has to do instead of investing in shares of other companies or bonds) prevents jolts, and everything comes down to operationally managing the company on the field. It feels more like a eurogame than any other 18xx we've played, including Poseidon. 6b.-That a company buys bonds or shares of another company, to make a transitory gain, I foresee it as useless or very residual, because by buying shares at the end of the turn, the liquidity of the company is limited, at least for the entire following turn, with the difficulty of taking advantage of opportunities to buy or improve a train. 7.- The cost in train capacity that the gauge change meant, was initially frustrating, slowing down the start of the game. From epoch 4 the train reach explodes. 8.- We never bought trains higher than $800. No D train purchased in this first game. 9.- We didn't achieve the bonus for connecting two locations. Probably in the following games it will be achieved. 10.- The extra income from goods is actually a permanent bonus for one company, for a trade route that includes the goods and one or more cities containing the same symbol. It's a bonus for connecting locations, and it's easier to explain it that way. 11.- Special cards (AKA private companies) generally have a quite useless role. That was the feeling. The one with $150 for a $20 bond (jewelry) seems too expensive for what it offers. The one that gives an extra yellow hex seems quite superfluous. 12.- There was never a hint of a company closure. We ended up creating, at the beginning of the game, two companies each. It's very easy to start them and keep them operational. 13.- With three players, a limitation of 23 shares meant that it only became significant very, very late in the game. 14.- The white company or GIPR, was not used much. Only in the final part did I operate it; it was my third company, and only when there were no more shares of the others, players acquired real bonds and in the next turn traded them for a white share, paying the difference with the market value ($100 versus $142, at that time). Probably, this will be the aspect of the game that will change in the next game: making better use of this potentially excellent company. 15.- There was never a change in Presidency nor any sign that it might happen. In summary: a very operational game, train selection based on the routes; route creation for obtaining the various types of bonuses (goods, destinations).
As someone who was initially hesitant after hearing that this is a mainline-inspired title, this has totally swung my excitement: want to p500 and play this asap!
There is an old 18XX game about India. I remember a friend showing it to me but I never got to play it. It had multiple gauge rails and mail packets and an elephant as the priority deal marker. I understand it is not a really good game, but it would have been fun to try once at least. This looks wild. It could prove fun to pull all the levers and see what a mess they make. Congrats to you guys for getting this done. Would to meet up with you at a Traxx event. I am my wife's primary care giver and probably will not make a convention in the near future. Guess I need to investigate the on-line Table Top Simulator or such environs. Take care one and all and keep healthy.
We hope you can make one too. As far as online options, we love 18xx.games for live plays. If you get on a zoom call it's a pretty nice stand in!
I have 1853 and it's not a bad game. It's not necessarily a beginner game, but I think it's different enough to play it, and enjoy it. Maybe the purists don't enjoy it, but to me it's an enjoyable game. I like to play 18xx games that keep everyone in the game till the end. I don't like 18xx games where someone can finish up sitting around for 4 hours watching everybody else because they went bankrupt when one of the other players dumped on them.
Really starting to appreciate how crazy good this game this game is. Can't wait to get it to the table! Will you do at playthrough at some point, please?
After the first game of 18 India, with three players (with about 50 games of 18xx under their belts), my initial impressions, which will surely change in some aspects with the following games are:
1.- It took around 6 hours. I estimate that with more experience in this game it should come down to 4-5 hours.
2.- Choosing the initial companies (9 out of a possible 17) is a challenge and a new hurdle set up for each game.
3.- There's a feeling of luck factor with the stock cards that are dealt randomly at the beginning, which can be mitigated with the subsequent card draft. If one wants to adapt and use most of the cards initially dealt and enhance them, it would mean the hand determines fate. If one wants to change the initial hand and go for the cards of companies they wish to manage beforehand, it can be frustrating.
4.- On the other hand, the queue of IPO actions can quickly become stagnant, making it impossible to access the most interesting and lucrative stocks (in other words, an initial randomness that affects the entire game). It is feasible to plan based on that knowledge, but that does not eliminate the fact that that part of the board, IPO, remains stagnant.
5.- The player who got 5 merchandise bonuses for their two companies and the state guarantee of 5% for those same companies, finished second. The lack of these bonuses is compensated by trade routes with red cities that give a high variable bonus, if they manage to have a $60 gray city on their route.
6a.- Since there's no train obsolescence, the pressure to withhold decreases. Also, the ability to sell trains at the end of the operating round, to get a better train (which seems to be what one has to do instead of investing in shares of other companies or bonds) prevents jolts, and everything comes down to operationally managing the company on the field. It feels more like a eurogame than any other 18xx we've played, including Poseidon.
6b.-That a company buys bonds or shares of another company, to make a transitory gain, I foresee it as useless or very residual, because by buying shares at the end of the turn, the liquidity of the company is limited, at least for the entire following turn, with the difficulty of taking advantage of opportunities to buy or improve a train.
7.- The cost in train capacity that the gauge change meant, was initially frustrating, slowing down the start of the game. From epoch 4 the train reach explodes.
8.- We never bought trains higher than $800. No D train purchased in this first game.
9.- We didn't achieve the bonus for connecting two locations. Probably in the following games it will be achieved.
10.- The extra income from goods is actually a permanent bonus for one company, for a trade route that includes the goods and one or more cities containing the same symbol. It's a bonus for connecting locations, and it's easier to explain it that way.
11.- Special cards (AKA private companies) generally have a quite useless role. That was the feeling. The one with $150 for a $20 bond (jewelry) seems too expensive for what it offers. The one that gives an extra yellow hex seems quite superfluous.
12.- There was never a hint of a company closure. We ended up creating, at the beginning of the game, two companies each. It's very easy to start them and keep them operational.
13.- With three players, a limitation of 23 shares meant that it only became significant very, very late in the game.
14.- The white company or GIPR, was not used much. Only in the final part did I operate it; it was my third company, and only when there were no more shares of the others, players acquired real bonds and in the next turn traded them for a white share, paying the difference with the market value ($100 versus $142, at that time). Probably, this will be the aspect of the game that will change in the next game: making better use of this potentially excellent company.
15.- There was never a change in Presidency nor any sign that it might happen.
In summary: a very operational game, train selection based on the routes; route creation for obtaining the various types of bonuses (goods, destinations).
I am really excited to receive this title thank you, great show!
As someone who was initially hesitant after hearing that this is a mainline-inspired title, this has totally swung my excitement: want to p500 and play this asap!
I agreed with that sentiment myself Peter! Super excited!
Sign me up for Traxx East now!