1856 - Railroading In Upper Canada
Designed by <PERSON>, Published by Mayfair Games
(Image by <PERSON>)
Historical background
1856 maps the area of eastern Great Lakes (or more specifically the area north of lake Erie) and focuses to 1850-80s when a large number of new railroading companies started their operation. Many of those companies were undercapitalized, though the government would often step down to loan them extra capital. Eventually many of these companies would go bankrupt and be absorbed into Canadian government railways. Curiously enough these three historical occurrences are the major rules twists that take 1856 apart from the other 18xx games.
What's inside the box?
The mounted map is sturdy, even a bit stiff at first and doesn't seem to want to lie properly. A bit bending/messing will fix that. The map board has also has spots for stocks in initial market and for trains. Nice and compact (unlike, for example in 18AL, where you have whole initial market "board"). The stock market is on other sturdy mounted board.
(Image by aanemesis)
From there it's a bit of a downhill as the certificates/trains/tiles are of a bit flimsy-ish cardboard. At least I (the nail biter ) have problems picking these up and bending them leaves nasty marks, so I'd rather not do that either. This means I have to fuss around a bit when upgrading track. It's very minor annoyance but I might as well mention it for the clumsy people (such as me). The station markers/other tokens are, on the other hand, virtually indestructible.
I think it's worth noting, that the functionality of the components is not on par with more recent 18xx offerings (18AL, anything by deepthoughtgames or even 1824). The trains don't have era changes colour coded into them or what train level obsoletes them. Similarly company charters have absolute minimum information on them. Again, this "spartan look" is very minor issue and speaks more about the game's age than anything else.. but once you have used to that extra functionality of newer 18xx games it starts to bother you. 92
It also means that you have to remember more stuff, which might lead to more rulebook browsing.
Rules differences to general 18xx
I'm not going to go over the basic 18xx related rules here, just cover the couple of twists that 1856 has over other titles. Namely starting companies and their capitalization, the government loans mechanic and CGR (Canadian Government Railways) merger.
a) For a company to start its operation it needs to issue shares equal to the current train level. The capitalization of the company also depends on the current train level. Before 5-trains are available companies get money only from the first 50% of their shares, the rest they receive after connecting to specific location on the map. With 5-trains available companies are freed from their "connection run" burden and with 6-trains or diesels available companies get money 10 times the initial share prize. These capitalization rules simulate the historical setting nicely.
b) The government loans are possibly the rule that makes playing 1856 so different from the other titles. The system is very simple. A company can during its operating round take one $100 loan with 10% interest rate. A company can only get loans for each of its 10% share owned currently by the players.
c) And lastly the CGR merger. When first 6-train is bought CGR's formation is checked. If any company that has taken government loans can't pay them back (and the controlling player chooses not to help his company), they are absorbed into CGR. If all companies can handle their loans, CGR simply doesn't form. Whether CGR forms as 9 share's (20%/10%) company or 19 share's (10%/5%) company depends on the number of bankrupt companies shares exchanged (if first 9 shares simply run out -> go to 19 shares). Also all station markers of the absorbed companies are exchanged to CGR's. The CGR operates pretty much as normal public company, but has few restrictions and privileges.
• If CGR doesn't have a permanent (5+) train after its formation, it can borrow a diesel train until the company has enough cash to buy its own.
• CGR has to always buy and sell trains at face value and will only buy permanent trains.
• CGR has a lot more station markers than normal public companies.
The private companies
The Flos Tramway: Cost $20, income $5
As usually, the first of the pack doesn't have much of an impact to the game. Naturally works best with CPR, though. 130