1830: Railways & Robber Barons - GameNight! Se7 Ep17 - How to Play and Playthrough

[@roymartin6388]

Toby did a great job. One of the most enjoyable play throughs I’ve watched.

[@TheFamilyShowdownHRKN]

Thanks GameNight for taking on an 18XX game! Great job Toby on the teach! :D

[@ahzzz-realm]

Ambie's assists were great, thanks to both Toby and Ambie. Amazed Lincoln and Nikki waded right in.

[@SuperRobert56]

Im very used to 18XX, but i can really appriciate the wonderfull teach that was done in this video. Amazing, fair play.

[@davidko9289]

That's a supremely succinct and comprehensive rules teach for a heavy, beast of a game.

[@57thorns]

The rules are not that complex. What makes the game hard is the interaction and timing, the stock market and train technology squeeze. That said you have to teach those tougher, but "softer" aspects of the game as well.

[@vitallacerda]

Wow, you are covering long complex games now. Nice to see. I have some hopes growing.

[@Bassishify]

Vital Lacerda I can totally see them playing Escape Plan on here. But it would be really cool if they played any of your games on here!

[@Dr_C_Smith]

Twilight Imperium, here we come!

[@benruegg]

I second escape plan!

[@drbasseri]

you guys helped me learn this game and now its my #1 of all time!

[@soulyogurt]

Thanks for sharing an 18XX game, it was lovely to see it hanging out on the front page of the ‘Geek. Toby, great teach, and Ambie, it usually seems to be tough for most who can teach to stay out of the way of another teacher, in our groups, but your contributions to Toby’s teach were spare, timely, and perfect. Great team!

[@nigelgraves174]

Really enjoyable approach: loved that the explanation of options and strategies continued throughout the game. Thanks for sharing!

[@koomo801]

Wow, I can't believe you did this! And with just the right couple, too. Thanks!!

[@KabukiKid]

Yeah, I never expected to see an 18xx game on GameNight. :-) Very cool!

[@chadjacobson2679]

Okay first, great teach, Toby! Second, thank you to Game Nite for covering this!

[@EricPerreault]

I got the opportunity to learn 1889 as my first 18xx game months ago and enjoyed it, but I haven't played the genre since and have totally forgotten all the details of how to play. Thanks for putting this up, I really like the look of 1830!

[@lujaamko]

I'm not an 18XX fan, but watched the whole episode and really enjoyed it. Maybe I'll need to try my hand at them again. Watch out for those privates, Lincoln. I managed to keep it together for a brief moment until you reacted 🤣. Anyway. Great production, as always! Thanks!

[@smartyjosh]

Love seeing 18XX represented! I feel like there was really good discussion on strategy and how to think ahead. What I did not like was the poker chips not being normal colors and/or having denominations-that was confusing. Thanks for committing to showing off this great classic game!

[@Farstr1d3r]

HOLY COW, 18XX games are complicated! FASCINATING. Excellent rules explanation, though. Thoroughly enjoying watching even just the beginning of this episode.

[@TheXtreme32]

Great job guys!! I have now bought 1830 and learning how to play! Watching this video for the 2nd time! Awesome job on the teach Toby!!

[@adavis5926]

Great camera work! Love the overhead map view. Many videos I've watched on play-throughs do an angled, isometric view. This is much, much better. Thanks!

[@trulsfinne9362]

This was amazing. Thank you for doing this, I haven't seen this game before, but it looks very fun. Impressed by how well Toby managed to make this a fun play and a fun watch considering the amount of complexity this game seems to have.

[@Peejay1966]

Great stuff, as always. I did have to laugh, though, as you all shouted, "Let's get steaming!" It is a phrase I've heard (and spoken) many times in my homeland of Scotland. However, here it is a call to get hammered!

[@Apeshower]

This is the beauty of some of some of these more complex games. Repeat plays. This sort of game really does reward repeat plays and they get better and better. Often this is contrary to simpler stuff which can grab you straight away but repeat plays sometimes causes boredom as you have learned the simple strategies. Kudos for tackling this. As an aside 1846 is also a readily available game with less ‘aggression’ than this so plenty out there. Thanks for showing this off.

[@tommessig2060]

Yay!! So excited to see you guys finally doing some more complex games. I love the heavies.

[@markpatoka]

I like the talking through the various decisions as the game is played, good method to teach this style of game. I really want to try an 18xx but wow, these look like some real accounting brainburners.

[@57thorns]

They are, I was at an 18xx game meetup last weeken. Three days, four different 18xx games with 1830 as the finisher on Sunday. Can't say I enjoyed the part where I had made a mess of everything and had to wait an hour for my 30 second move, but other than that, I like these games. Just wish I was better at avoiding the most stupid mistakes.

[@buseyhead]

Thanks for doing this. Excellent job explaining this classic. One of the best episodes, excellent!!!!

[@thisissrsbzns]

Enjoyed your teaching style Toby!

[@gamingxmachina6718]

Shout out to my home City Altoona, gotta love that its first play on the board by Ambie!

[@monkeyvsmonkey]

Wonderful! I love Ambie's 18xx videos!

[@teehlfx5238]

The only reason I know about 18XX games is from Ambie’s podcast, so this was fun to see! Nice shirts Toby and Ambie 🙂

[@clivewitcomb2839]

Phew! Great work (and I mean, WORK!). My first watch of Gamenight - lovin' the Lincoln... It would have been cool for you to (off camera) maths out the endgame, just to see a truer final score. X

[@LarsVogel]

Fun to watch and makes an awesome intro to the game. Thanks

[@garyk2629]

Wow, didn't expect this game to be on GameNight. It's a good game, but not for everyone.

[@nickvandam1214]

What a teach! Good job with such a lot of rules complexity

[@youperguy]

Clap Clap Clap. Hats off Toby!

[@KevinGalbraith]

Great job. Toby always does an excellent job explaining games. Now let's see that episode redone with puppets like in the Headbandz episode. LOL

[@jagdisc]

Thank you for showcasing an 18xx game on Game night! Toby early on you didn’t pay for the NYNH home upgrade or the previous tile lay towards Boston ;) Ambie I would’ve started the B&M instead of Erie coz NYNH was already building out the routes.

[@ambierona]

Yeah, it would have been better to start the B&M, but I rarely run the Erie so I wanted to try it! I also wanted to mention suitcases (and was thinking earlier that maybe I could demonstrate) since we were trying to showcase things that you can do!

[@jd5iron]

This was absolutely fantastic! I was riveted the whole time. Great explanations throughout!

[@jarno9340]

Thanks. Very nice video from start into the end of the game :)

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

Glad you guys got an 18xx game on the channel! Very cool.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Only like 5 minutes in and I feel like Toby has already made me better with money. Like in life.

[@GeorgeBot7]

2:32:02 Real mature guys :D Great video, really useful, thanks all!

[@jamiewallis2797]

At no point did Nikki look like she was enjoying that!

[@jenspoder8322]

Someday soon I’m gonna buy my first 18XX game. This was awesome.

[@chrishenry6818]

Kudos! I love that this was showcased and the teach was excellent. I'm hoping to get it to the table.

[@Stephen-Fox]

I'm surprised by how enjoyable watching a heavy economic game being played was, even one I've played and enjoyed a couple of times myself.

[@el_dani]

excellent video production, great thanks to the 18XX ambassadors Ambie and Toby - only pity that NYCs routes with 4 & 5 weren't counted really..

[@johnratigan3931]

Love your user pic!

[@molybdane7240]

Teaching and running a game of 1830 is hard work and Toby handled the stock buying and selling well. There were however significant operational mistakes. This is quite the game to fit in one head.

[@michaelmitchell6654]

Wow my head is spinning just watching!

[@afonsobe]

Well done! This gameplay helps a lot, in addition to Ambie's 18XX videos!

[@markanderson100]

@1:39:27. What an adorable moment between Nicki and Lincoln!

[@raykempinski7085]

I love that the board has the Altoona Curve.

[@caseymcenelly3806]

For a video of a complex game like this, it might be better if all the players are at the same experience level and explaining their moves and strategy as they go. It did not seem like Lincoln and Nikki were having a lot of fun in places. A great effort for what looks like a very heavy game compared to GameNight's usual fare.

[@JohnQSpartan]

This is surprising to see, but I like it!

[@BrandonGraham]

Very interesting game. The theme never captured my imagination, so I never considered it. But it does have some really interesting mechanisms. hmm...

[@bushibayushi]

Great playthrough, watched the whole game ;).

[@57thorns]

1:30:50 or so: "Stock in the bank pool pays to the company, but others pay to here" Does this mean that unsold stock does not pay out? In that case we have been playing it wrong all these years. Checked the rules on the wiki and look an behold: "Nothing is paid for unsold stock but the Corporation receives the payment due any stock in the Bank Pool"

[@Dr_C_Smith]

57thorns Most literally, the bank shares pay from the bank to the bank. So yeah, nothing really happens with bank shares in 1830.

[@DerekHohls]

Unsold stock does not pay out; but stock that has been sold back to the bank (in the bank pool) does.

[@57thorns]

@@DerekHohls Just to make things more confusing, these rules are different in different 18xx games...

[@57thorns]

Just to clear things up, Dr_C_Smith is wrong. As per the rule I quoted, shares in the bank pool pays to the company. And also, you always divide by 10 regardless of how much of the IPO (unsold shares in the original pile) is sold.

[@shepherdsgamingrun]

I remember slogging my way through the DOS version of this game. Compared to the builder-esque games of the time, the robber baron aspect was a brutal shock to my younger self.

[@Gostrobe]

I liked the DOS version, I used it at the time to help me understand the basics and the general flow of the game. I distinctly remember the CPU players taking an atrocious amount of time to take their decisions in the operating rounds. I guess route-building algorithms weren't that efficient back in the day.

[@nicklitzow5118]

Lincoln’s laugh at 38:12 when asked how much money he’s generating from his “privates” ❤️

[@Juegosmontt]

The way of teaching, that is, explaining the basics but commenting on strategies or tactics, makes the game more intimidating and complicated than necessary, for the novices who played it and for those who watch the video and want to learn the game

[@ElegyForTheMasses]

At least 2 times I noticed a mistake where Tony said a train must be purchased, but they didn’t have a valid route yet so it should have been optional.

[@57thorns]

It is interesting to see how differently this game can be played, keeping the private companies and get the money yourself is an option, but having them in a public company to bolster that money can also be worth it.

[@57thorns]

Of course, there is another reason to sell you privates to a corporation for as much money as possible as quickly as possible, it gives you "free money" to invest, and perhaps float another corporation.

[@wildwild4502]

ty for episode

[@2532robh1]

I may watch this to see Ambie!

[@JackieFox1976]

I love Lincoln's translations from game effect into plain English. So that means...

[@StormCrow42]

Maybe I missed it, but it looks like the NNH forgot to pay for both the NY upgrade and the first city track it laid toward Boston.

[@Juegosmontt]

2:21:00 - After the stock round after the first 5 train there are 3 operating rounds! In this video that rule was used with the first train 6

[@ambierona]

The 5 train was bought at ~2:07:30 at the beginning of that operating round, so the rule was used with the first 5 train. I think you were confused because the rule was emphasized right after the 6 train was bought, since that was when the second operating round started.

[@alley28]

1830 is fun, but for sure it is a bit more "ruthless" with more stock market shenanigans than some other titles that allow one to focus on the operational aspect. Now there are titles out there that share quite a bit of similarities with 1830 (e.g. the initial privates Auction, full capitalization) but soften up some of the rough edges. 18Chesapeake and 1889 fall into that. 1846 is also very good, but plays different (incremental cap, drafting of privates, track laying). 18NewEngland which is coming out soon is a very good one too for those who aren't fan of auctions. You can check out all-aboardgames.com/ if you want to find out more.

[@kimjensen4977]

You are not on Patreon? What games are you planing on doing in the near future? Dungeon Crawlers (hopefully)? -)

[@57thorns]

One small note, at least how I have been taught the game: A company floats when the sixth share is sold (60%), ie president + 4 10% shares. That is when the company gets its starting money and can do things in the operating rounds. So you are not floating a company when you buy the first shares. I noticed this was corrected several times. Not sure they mentioned, but unowned shares pay to the company treasury. Correction: "Nothing is paid for unsold stock but the Corporation receives the payment due any stock in the Bank Pool" so no money from stock in the IPO stacks, interestingly enough.

[@shepherdsgamingrun]

They were using a shortcut where if someone has the intention to float a company and has the capital to do it themselves, they just prepay it. The math was pretty brutal at some points.

[@57thorns]

@@shepherdsgamingrun You can always preload the company once the par value is set. I guess in the groups I played we are generally six players, and are more careful about starting companies. Not as many companies started so the stock is sold out more often than not, and there are generally at least one company maxing out the stock value.

[@Dr_C_Smith]

Saul Simon Tan I’ve never liked that “shortcut”. All it takes is for one person to want to do something different and then you have to go back, figure out where the money goes, what it might make different... It’s a lot easier, to me at least, to just go in order, especially with beginners who might not fully understand what’s going on. A table full of veterans who make the same moves every time? Sure... shortcut away.

[@57thorns]

@@Dr_C_Smith Take backsies? All you do is load the company with the right amount of cash. once the par value is set. Someone who has downtime (preferably the banker, often the owner and most veteran of the players) can do this in seconds. The deed (company paper) is not handed over until the 60% is reached.

[@simonanderson4858]

It feels like Toby's telling me the secrets of the matrix

[@joegrim7907]

Will you guys be doing a game night with abomination? That would be amazing! You all make it so easy to learn how to play new games.

[@integralmystery]

late in the game around 2:51:40 Lincoln still has 2 trains in NYC, but Toby only seems to let him use one of them - Am I missing something about why he can't send one back up Ambie's line toward Eirie, and the other into NY?

[@davidm5048]

Is the money shuffle that Toby does at 2h and 2 minutes legal? The company is selling the train and receiving money as well. How? It can sell from $1 up to whatever he wants, but it cannot receive money from buying a train, and you cannot just exchange money between companies any other way

[@ambierona]

I think the camera didn't catch Toby making change, but the company buying the train had ~$700 and the company selling the train had ~$100, so he was just making change and the company selling the train ended up with $450. So he ended up buying the train for ~$350, but to make it easier he just combined the money and then put $450 into the selling company.

[@wichhouse]

When they buy their first stocks around minute 31, they all say they're going to float them. The rules say you can only float with 60% of the shares. But they're doing it with 20-30%. I understand they're not getting the charters until they have 60%, but they still call it floating. I'm so confused.

[@Antroo94]

Early in the rules explanation I think they accidentally say float instead of par, and that’s what later creates the confusion.

[@57thorns]

1:16:20 Buying and then selling a stock for 100 was not a very smart move. This just means that the company is one step closer to float. It does lower to cost to get all the stock sold in this round, but the share will increase in price as the company pays dividend, so in the long run it might increase the cost for the last share, but it is likely picked up when the company is floated anyway. It is kind of a pointless move either way. If the company survives long term it will max out anyway, But as long as that share is in the bank pool, it helps the company get part of the dividends.

[@IrradiatedOne]

Oh wow this looks like a long one!

[@callasmar]

Is it standard to rush through the game so fast? Starting a second company that early, without letting the others generate some solid money? There´s so little track on the board and the money at the end is so low. When we play, all the eastern part is usually compltetely green and brown and we end up with thousands of bucks. So, is this the way experienced players play? I´m really curious about this...

[@azureth9544]

If you're fully green and mostly brown then ya, that's probably too slow.

[@AndyPymont]

If your group is slow-playing like that and letting things develop, then absolutely you can explore playing more aggressively. Starting companies gives you control of a lot of money! Give it a try, it might shake up your games.

[@Dr_C_Smith]

That’s a really fair point. To me, the real problem is that Tobie and Ambie are making Lincoln and especially Nikki play at a really fast, high level. As a result, I’m not sure they got to enjoy some of what the game has to offer. I would have much preferred the table all be experienced or all be novices. Too many times, the two veteran players almost seemed like they were playing their own separate game.

[@paulfortner3259]

@@Dr_C_Smith Heavy Cardboard has a good 1846 playthrough will all experienced players.

[@Dr_C_Smith]

Paul Fortner I absolutely detest HC’s videos. I can’t make it more than a minute or two before I have to turn them off.

[@KSweeney36]

I like the look of the route building. Which 18xx has that more?

[@ambierona]

All of the 18xx games have route building as part of it, but 1846 is available from GMT and isn't as focused on the cutthroat financial part of it as 1830 is, so you might like that one!

[@Dr_C_Smith]

1853 is another good option if you really like route building! Lots of route complexities and somewhat readily available.

[@billwales4861]

At 51:30 when the yellow tile was placed on Providence and a station too, only the station was payed for. There is a river to cross so another $80 is due. Commenting as I watch so if it was corrected later, sorry.

[@damianstrother988]

I love game night!

[@lachlangraham1060]

Great game!

[@57thorns]

For many years we played this on game nights, and the game was always limited. Cutting it short when the diesels just come does not make the game justice. It is crucial what happens on the board in those last rounds, especially in a game like the one in this video where the stock prices are rock bottom. Having 60% and increasing the stock price three times, plus dividends of 20-30 dollars or more can really swing the game. I wish they had played it to the end.

[@stefaanvangheluwe3028]

So, in other words, the first tile the NYC company player places is ALWAYS the tile of its home base??? I searched everywhere for an answer to this, I hope someone here can solve this. We are just starting with this game, learning just the introduction game without the stock market. With 2 players, someone is the NYC player and he starts with the home base without any rails on his tile, so how dus he begin his first turns? Thx for your reply

[@ambierona]

He’ll need to place the home base tile first. If the NYC company is started later after track is already laid, then there might already be track on its home base and its first tile lay can be somewhere else

[@malcolmsleight9334]

Lincoln could have parred @ $90 and then been able to float the company after stock round #2. Not the greatest choice but it would have got him competing down the East coast quicker., and his stock price would still be very competetive.

[@VinegarAndSaltedFries]

Awesome Teach...where are those Pig Chips from?

[@boardgamegeek]

Casey, those were from a Kickstarter I backed five years ago. I think that only enough were made to fulfill the orders with a few sets extra for product issues. -Lincoln

[@dirtmike6258]

these are obviously fantastic brain burning games, but my feeble mind can't do it... i've tried to learn them and my head starts spinning from learning all the little rules

[@katsura1982]

Trains, math, 3 1/2 hour video? I’m in.

[@katsura1982]

Ok...it’s getting rough now. Losing focus...overly...complicated...

[@msa4998]

You all really did Nikki a disservice not encouraging her to get at least one 3. She knew no better.

[@MasterBofSweden]

After first round of bidding the 20 dollar private should be lowered 5 dollars and then each whole round it hasn't been bought, according to the old ed.has that changed?

[@tobymao9409]

only if everyone passes

[@nellgwenn]

When do you get to bribe the Harding administration? Who plays President Taft? Who is in charge of the stock market? What happens when there is a margin call? At the initial glance this game appears to be a combination of Monopoly and Ticket To Ride.

[@UnprovokedDrums]

Can you tell us where you got the poker chips that are used in this video?

[@boardgamegeek]

Justin, those were from a Kickstarter I backed five years ago. I think that only enough were made to fulfill the orders with a few sets extra for product issues. -Lincoln

[@UnprovokedDrums]

@@boardgamegeek Thank you for responding!

[@keseph7749]

33:30 Toby says he will go first. If Nikki floated NYNC at, say, 71, wouldn't she go first?

[@danschmidt1158]

Good question; Toby's wording wasn't super clear. He may not go first, but he'll get to that tile first. The NYNH already has a tile where their home token is, while the NYC doesn't. So even if NYC went first, its track action would consist just of laying a tile in its starting hex, and NYNH would still be the first to lay track in the important hex.

[@martinaasandersen3775]

Seems like bad design that the value is not printed on the chips. Or are the chips just substitute generic ones that doesn't come with the game?

[@AndyPymont]

The game comes with paper money. However, enthusiasts of this type of economic game often like to get poker chips as they do make transactions faster and, as you can see, there are many transactions in this game, so it adds up over the course of a game.

[@martinaasandersen3775]

@@AndyPymont Ah, okay. Though if ppl cant remember the value of the chips (they seemed to struggle with it in this video) and hesitate everytime, i doubt you save much time.

[@AndyPymont]

@@martinaasandersen3775 You save loads of time - I once saw a group set up at a convention to play a game with paper money and offered to lend my poker chips. They were extremely dubious, but after the game they raved that it had taken 1hr out of their 4hr+ game (vs. their usual experience). I have chips with printed denomimations for when I play with new players, to hopefully avoid what you're saying about not remembering the values.

[@blurbrb]

51:14 why must Nikki buy a train, even when her railroad doesn't have a legal route yet?

[@joeysalt8974]

Isnt it funny that we use paper money every day , but in board games we have to use chips.😁

[@JakeDiToro]

Americans do not use paper money, they use cloth money (cotton & linen). Which doesn't stick together like most actual paper money provided in games.

[@sauce773]

My head hurts just from the explanation lol

[@MarioEnriqueAg]

Too bad that you don't use poker chips with denomination

[@BoardgameBaker]

More 18XX for the people!

[@RolandTemplar]

Hey a company cannot discard trains to get a better one

[@the_rover1]

*choo! choo!* I'm done with this game already xD

[@MarioEnriqueAg]

Error. Three operational rounds are triggered by train 5, not train 6

[@Dr_C_Smith]

The look on Nikki’s face at 1:02:34 says a lot. I almost wish the person/people teaching were not also playing. It feels like two games going on at once, which is a bit awkward.

[@katsura1982]

Christopher Smith When even Lincoln was confused a few times early on, I was thinking that this was a going to be a bit much. It was more like two people playing for four.