18xx/1830 - AT? Euro? Any lovers or haters?

Lately I've been exploring the epic, out of print Avalon Hill games, and though I'd always heard the name "1830" and "18xx", I was never curious about it before because I assumed it was very complicated (which it's not) and very dry (which it might be). But it looks like an economic game full of a TON of Diplomacy-level backstabbing and screwage, and it's by Francis Tresham of Civilization fame. You can buy a railroad company, convince everyone to invest in it, and then transfer all its money to another company and leave one of the stockholders with the control of the company, as well as the company's huge debt. Sounds like a combination of an economic efficiency Euro game with a classic AT wargame. Does anyone here play it, or hate it?

I played 1830 once and liked it a lot. It has much more substance and atmosphere than Age of Steam. The stock market and the company cash/player cash mechanism are great. However, the endgame came quickly in my game and in the last few turns I had no idea what was going on (of course I went bankrupt). This needs several plays to appreciate, I would love to get in this again.

We had another thread on here at some point about which 18XX was the coolest. FYI: looks like you need a clarification on the terminology. 18XX refers to the "family" of train games named (like) that. Some are incredibly boring and dry, and some rock socks. Here's a site that tries to break it down.

www.fwtwr.com/18xx/index.htm

I am horrendously bad at 18xx but I enjoy the hell out of them. I've gotten trashed 3 times in a row - BY THE SAME PERSON - where he set me up to become pres of a company which he then guts and gives to me, I can't afford to buy shit, and end the came going bankrupt. GAAAAAA!

I've played: 1830, 18AL and 18GA. I think I enjoyed GA the most, having played it most recently and *thought* I had a handle on it. Nope. Anyhoo... 18FL should be here next week (ish). Finally.

I've played the first one by Tresham, 1825, which is a good one to get into with - nice and simple (in comparison with some of the others) but can be expanded as there are three separate games (Southern, Central, Northern England) that can be combined to make varying size super games.
Also played another smaller one, 18AL, which is another one that plays shorter but is still fun if you like these type of games.
Sold my mint condition of 1830 just before Christmas as I had owned it for 6 years and never got close to getting it to the table - just don't have the gamers around who would put in the time for this, plus picked it up very cheap and sold it for $110 so a good result for a 'dust gatherer'.
I like train games so I'm a bit biased, but definitely worth getting into if you like plan/build/move games with an economic system.

What about Chicago Express? My brother got that one not too long ago and I'll be visiting him in two weeks, so I'll probably check it out.

Wasn't able to find that other 18xx thread before, didn't think to search (DUH - though the search forum thing on here is kind of wonky, I can't go past the first page of search results). Thanks!

metalface13 wrote:

What about Chicago Express? My brother got that one not too long ago and I'll be visiting him in two weeks, so I'll probably check it out.

CE is a totally different game. I like it (actually prefer the Wabash Cannoball incarnation, for me, there is something just "just right" about the low end Winsome production. Wabash/CE is a much quicker game and the track placement plays more of a critical role IMO. CE is worth checking out for sure. I hope you enjoy it.

dragonstout wrote:

Wasn't able to find that other 18xx thread before, didn't think to search (DUH - though the search forum thing on here is kind of wonky, I can't go past the first page of search results). Thanks!

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