1870 First Impressions:
I just got my copy of 1870 in the other day (so the order I sent to Mayfair for 1856 and 1870 over a year ago is finally complete! :), so I thought I'd write up a brief review of the new rules and all for everyone.
1870 is set in the St. Louis - Kansas City - New Orleans - Gulf Coast area [Paul: and points West]; the Mississippi river runs down the middle [Paul: actually, it's on the right side of the board. There's a lot more room to the left (west) of the Mississippi River than on the right (east)] of the board. In the east we have Mobile, in the west Dallas and Ft. Worth, and in the North, Topeka and St. Louis. [Paul: off map hexes in each of the corners represent Chicago (Northeast), Deep South (Southeast), the Southwest, and Denver (Northwest).] There are 10 companies, the AT&SF, Southern Pacific, Illinois Central, Missouri Southern, and the Frisco being probably the most familiar.
The components are from the same stock as 1856, which is very good. The station tokens are nice and thick, and and come emblazoned with the company logos (this is much nicer than those generic stations that everything else except 1830 uses). The damn money still isn't fixed though, the 10s and the 50s are still very hard to distinguish (although the design of the money is generally very attractive, same stuff as 1856). The board is very nicely done, and I know I and others had problems with 1856 boards not being creased well and the map seperating from the backing [David: Actually, my problem was with the share price index board - I had to take it back as it would not open without tearing]; I have no such problem with my 1870 board.
Once again, this sucker is 1830 plus chrome. So I'll relate the new rules with respect to 1830. None of the chrome from 1856 (loans, the CGR, the whole variable-floating-point thing, partial capitilization) made it in to 1870; 1870 does have destinations, but instead of being critical to your survival, they are instead a bonus if you can actually get there (they all seem to be an eternity away). Companies float at 60%, and get all their money when they do. [Paul: the Frisco is an exception to this. It floats when the president's share is bought in the sale of private companies to start the game. At least that's the way it was in the prototype version. Haven't looked thoroughly through the rules in the finished product to see if that feature has remained.]
1) Presidents can protect the values of their companies; whenever anyone sells any shares in your company, you have the option of immediately buying ALL of the shares sold at current market price. You must have the cash on hand and the available slots; you may not sell stock, and you must buy all the shares sold. If you do, the stock price does not drop, and the turn passes to the player on your left (producing a wierd out-of-sequence effect; the priority deal card all of a sudden
doesn't make you as safe as you thought!) You may exceed 60% ownership of the company in this manner, but if you do, you may not sell stock unless you sell down to 60% or less.
2) In their stock turns, instead of taking an action themselves, presidents may have their companies "redeem" their stock ... that is to say, they buy it from the bank pool or other players (if they are willing to sell). [Paul: At all times, however, 60% of the stock must be in player's hands. This action may only be taken if players own 60% or more of the company's stock] The stock is then put in the company treasury and pays dividends to the company; it then may be re-issued (put back in the initial offering) at a later date with a par of [Paul: either] 75% of the going market price at the time of re-issue [Paul: or the initial par price, whichever is greater.] It may not be sold back to the market directly. [Paul: This action may only be taken once per company per stock round. Example: A player is president of two companies. Twice per stock round, that player may choose to have one of his companies redeem a single share as his turn. Each company may do this exactly once per stock round.]
3) There is this wacky ledge thing about a third of the way up from the bottom [Paul: ledge] of the stock market. If, as a result of stock sales, your stock value would end up immediately below the ledge, you end on immediately on top of it instead (so if you are just above the ledge and
one share is sold, you do not move. If two shares are sold, you move down two). It's a (very small) speed bump on the express elevator to the basement. [Paul: it was my understanding that the two shares
simultaneously sold only moved you under the line, not two spaces down. Once under the line, the stock moved down normally. Also, the line bumps stocks up when thy would normally move right when paying out. A stock cannot cross the line when paying out.]
4) If you are on the top row and you move up (due to being sold out), instead of holding still you move down and to the right. This has no effect on your price, but obviously is beneficial (you can move up next time).
5) Companies now recieve the dividends for stock still in the initial offering, but not for stock in the bank. And there was much rejoicing. [Paul: Not necessarily! This can cause a cut-throat opponent to systematically dump every one else's stock into the bank pool as soon as possible. Then there are frowns all around!][Chris: Actually, the "mutch rejoicing" comment was in there because this actually makes sense! None of the other games except '39 [David: 1839/Italy] do anything rational with
unsold/bank shares. In 1830 & 1856, apparently generic Americans are too stupid to demand their dividends, so the company just keeps them. On balance, the companies are too stupid to notice that they still control 40% of the stock and just keep the spare dividends, rather they apparently feel guilty about making all that money and instead donate the revenues to charity or somthing.][Paul: Ah, I see, you welcome the logic behind it all! Yes, it was always strange to think that the company got cash that would normally have been paid to numerous small investors not involved with the high-powered world of Wall Street.][Chris: 1839 also works very reasonably; unsold stock is simply owned by the company, which sells it for capitilization at the going rate and collects dividends for unsold shares.][Paul: I take it you mean the soon-to-be-renamed Italian game.][David: Yes.]
6) Companies may now withold half of their earnings, which has no effect on the share price. Ooh, ah. Comes in handy when you are just a few bucks short of the next train, or if you need to withold multiple times, you can at least get some cash into your pocket before the stock round. [Paul: Withholding 50% twice has the same effect on stock price as withholding 100% once and paying out 100% once. The only difference is the temporary location of the stock price and its effect on order of
operation (if any). This can be critical if the company's revenue changes drastically from one round to the next. If the revenue will remain constant, then there's not much difference.]
7) Each company has a destination, which is typically a l o o o n g ways away. If you ever actually manage to actually get there, you get the following bonuses:
GRSC ($20/$5) No special advantages.
Mississipi Bridge Co ($40/$10) - Nobody may bridge the Mississippi until
this is owned by a corporation. You can lay tile on the river hexes, but not so that the track actually crosses. In an exercise of meaningless special rules, this company can be sold to a corporation before the sale of the first 3 train for $20 - $40, and if one of the companies based on the Mississipi buys it during its first OR, it gets a free tile lay. [Paul: Free only in the sense that it doesn't have to pay to lay the tile. It is not an extra tile lay. The Bridge company also gives a $40 discount toward track that crosses the river.]
Cattle Company ($50/$10) - +10 to a city's revenue for the owning corporation only until the 6's come out. The city must be strictly west of the Mississippi.
Port ($80/$15) - +20 to a gulf coast city or a city on the Mississippi south of and including Memphis for the owner of the private company. It may also be played as an "open" port, which gives +20 to the owner [Paul: owning company] and +10 to anyone else [Paul: any other company]. Playing the closed port (owner only) closes the private company, otherwise it remains open. The port is eliminated by the first 6 train in any case.
Frisco president's share ($140) - The Frisco will float on the first OR regardless of subscription level. The Frisco is a decent company but somewhat isolated (then again, who isn't?)
Kansas & Somthing RR ($160/$20) - Gives a free share of the Katy railroad, which seems pretty strong. Sound familiar? It should! Since players start with less cash, and it doesn't control a
critical access hex, it's not as nasty as the C&A (1830). Still an enticing private though, with good revenue. In 1830, the C&A should always sell for over $200; I don't think this is the case here.
The game starts with $2100 divided amongst the players, rather than $2400 as in 1830. This is a very much more critical difference than the $300 might sound. $68 is the smallest par value, so the "magic number" for floating a company is $408. In a 5-player game (pretty normal), each player starts with $420 ... so buying any private will prevent you from opening a company. The only players able to float companies will be the player who buys the Frisco president's share, the first player to buy stock (since the "magic number" for the Katy is only $340 due to the single share that comes with the last private), and anyone who didn't buy a private. In other words, buying any of the first three privates without knowing you will get a second private or be able to take the first stock turn is kind of like shooting yourself in the foot, since the revenue is lousy, the special advantages are weak, and they can't even be turned over for very much cash. In the 6 and 4 player games this is much different, since you won't be able to start a company anyway with 6 and with 4 you have more of a cushion.
One other potential source of problems (although this is spectulation on my part) in a 5-player game is the train mix. The costs are all the same as 1830, but there is one more train of each type. There are no deisels, instead there are 8, 10, and 12 trains (12's cost 1100, while the 8's and 10's span the gap from 630 to 1100, although I forget the exact prices). The trade-in has been done away with, which is good, since it tended to hand a very large advantage to the person who got it, and the permanent-train roulette isn't as damaging to the people who don't get the train they were aiming for. [Paul: It has been my experience that the "12" trains rarely come out. Even if you float all the companies at $100, there just isn't enough cash to get all the way through all the "8" and "10" trains to get to the "12" trains. Someone has to deliberately finagle things a little bit to get to the "12" trains. One note of caution, though, don't bet on it, because the temptation to kill the "5" trains may be large enough to cause someone to "make the sacrifice". Don't count on the "5" trains sticking around, although they usually do.]
However, take the 5 player game example. Each player is gunning to get two companies, one with a 4 and a 3 and one with probably a 3 (maybe a 4, but a 3 is more likely). Now if one player gets screwed and doesn't get an early startup but starts a company at the tail end of the 3s, we'll have 4 players, each with a 4 and two threes, one player with a 3, and one 4-train left. This setup is not that unlikely! (although it certainly isn't going to happen all that frequently). Nobody has any incentive to buy that last 4; everyone needs someone else to buy it ... most of the companies would be hurting themselves badly by buying the last 4 if they don't have enough for a bigger permanent train (although having a 4 and a 3 is not quite as terrible as in 1856 or 1830 ... but that last 4 will still probably be obsolete before it runs). Obviously, this could be very different with 6 or four people, and the stalemate will eventually break (someone will eventually get enough money to afford a couple of 8s or 10s and buy the 4) but it just shows how dramatic a change like adding a single 4 train can really be. In 1830, with one fewer 4 trains, such a stalemate is virtually impossible - the game will always progress gracefully to the permanent trains. If that last 4 train had a chance in hell of running more than once, it wouldn't be so bad.
[Paul: A crucial tactic is to get as much stock as possible into the company as quickly as possible. If the company can get three or four shares paying into the treasury every turn, it can make the difference in the long haul. A player should seriously consider paying either 50% dividends or even withholding 100% to get the necessary cash to redeem a share every stock round possible. If necessary, the president of the company should also consider selling a share of the company in an early stock round so he can buy another one from the initial offering in the next stock round, enabling the company to redeem the share out of the bank pool (since the president has 60% again). This is important because its highly likely that no-one else is buying your stock (at least in large quantities).
At any rate, this is speculation. I'll be interested in seeing what people think after this has been around a while - I hear most of the playtesters liked it even better than 1856, so I'm looking forward to trying it out. [Paul: I've enjoyed playing the prototype version immensely and look forward to playing the full release. Have fun!]
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