My group still talks about Shikoku 787.
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So many shikokus, only 1 paul
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I’d love a copy of 18Svea and 1871: The Old Prince but BGG 18XXers are wonderfully unhelpful and actually getting the files from 18XX maker in an A4 format.
Any helpers here?
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I can help certainly. Let me put the files together in Google Drive, if that works for you.
Yes, it’s fantasically sparse on how to actually use it.
I’ve gotten 1889 tiles from it before, formatted for ‘minimum cuts’ not ‘I have a £200 die and press’. I’ve little patience for things without a decent user guide, which open source stuff is usually good for.
Well, already the interface and not playing around a table is reminding me why I don’t do online games regularly.
@Acacia this and Teotihuacan are some very rare exceptions for me. If you weren’t so nice on these forums…
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The Old Prince 1871 – print-and-play
If you want to fiddle with the config settings and send me the JSON, I can produce the files for you based on those settings.
JSON I Used
{
"cutlines": 12.5,
"margin": 10,
"paper": {
"width": 826.77165354,
"height": 1169.291338578
},
"theme": "gtg-1861-67",
"companiesTheme": "gtg-1867",
"ipo": {
"borderRadius": 0
},
"export": {
"allLayouts": true
},
"charters": {
"border": "0"
},
"cards": {
"layout": "free",
"width": 250,
"height": 140,
"cutlines": 5,
"bleed": 5
},
"tokens": {
"marketTokenSize": 47.244094488,
"stationTokenSize": 39.37007874,
"generalTokenSize": 47.244094488
},
"trains": {
"images": true
},
"tiles": {
"colorblind": true,
"layout": "offset"
},
"stock": {
"column": "4",
"diag": "2",
"par": "4"
}
}
A4. Tiles are 1.5 in (standard size). Tokens are 10mm and 12mm (best sizes for a RailsOnBoards/Cube4me order).
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I appreciate the sacrifice.
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Have 20 internet points.
Thanks you
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Emerging thoughts:
Seems like one of those games where the manual teaches you the mechanics but not the game. So much is coming out as we go.
First off, the waterfall auction. On paper it seemed altogether silly and unnecessarily convoluted. In practice, I can see how it’s more of a “silent auction” thing where we all go around placing bids but then anyone can “pull the plug” and start things selling when the timing is right (for them). It’s an interesting dynamic. Good to play with people who know how to do the waterfall auction right, as I can see newbies such as myself going about it a very different way, and one which would leave us wondering why all the fuss, let’s just deal these things out.
Another interesting dynamic is the 7 companies for 4 players thing. That means someone is probably going to have more capital than the others going into the stock round. Asymmetrical starting points that emerge from the interactive setup.
What I’m currently confused about is how we don’t have enough money to start 4 companies. One way I could have seen it play out is that we each invest in our own, then cycle through a few dummy Operating Rounds to collect enough capital, then we all start running our own companies until the jostling begins.
What has actually happened is that one player “volunteers” (forced by being the most strapped after the Waterfall Auction) to sit in the passenger seat, taking no action during the operating round and becoming a supplicant for dividends in order to start a new company or take over an existing one. This seems more fun, of course, than playing dummy rounds. I’m not sure what the angle is for @Pillbox at this point. I realize I can’t increase my personal holdings without also paying him, but it seems like a bad spot. I’m curious to see what happens next.
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Without wanting to tip my hand too much, I reluctantly paid more for my very expensive Uno-Takamatsu Ferry than I expected, but I still consider it a good choice. The net result, however, is that my SR1 options are limited. I tried a particular play hoping that it would go my way, but it was foiled in an interesting way. Nothing significantly lost or gained, mind you, but interesting how it’ll impact my plans.
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I find this to be a feature in Shikoku and one that I like. You often get away with a private and start a company solo in 1830. This means that you get that awkward partnership right at the start
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For those partially following along at home, I have continued my very successful string of 18xx Golf wins, where I get the lowest score of all the players.
| Final Player | Final Score |
|---|---|
| EnterTheWyvern | ¥3834 |
| lalunaverde | ¥3636 |
| Acacia | ¥3115 |
| pillbox | ¥3103 |
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https://18xx.games/game/140287
Assuming the usual suspects but if we need to rotate that’ll work, too. 3-4 seats.
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At conclusion of the game, I conclude:
Tragic track sucks (I don’t like tile-limited games)
Offensive tokens suck (I want my ¥76, Danny!)
The map was really good in this game!
I shot myself in the foot withholding so much.
Congratulations to Wyvern for another well-played game and well-earned victory.
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I really enjoyed all the tragic track. As the game is tile limited it feels more conscious rather than open tracks making it a little more incidental when something you want has gone.
I had an aggressive start and it was easy to maintain when I scooped up a reasonable railway in the yellow to do almost all my withholding for me. It’s a shame I got the rules confused so I didn’t get a D train. I was concerned at the start that I would stall out without privates to buy in but the lack of starting companies allowed me to catch up thanks to a port and all the 2 trains.
Not sure what happened to @lalunaverde did you miss turn order? I really liked the relentless stock trashing in the extra long Stock Round, took ages but was really entertaining watching us all have our value tumble and just had to sit there and watch it unfold over a weekend.
Glad it took a different form to the previous game. @Acacia how did you find it? Enjoyed game 2 enough or are you still going to switch to 1846?
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I think Tragic Track has to be explicit and aggressive to work. Like, all the tiles you want, or very specifically just one or two of each type. Here it is so explicitly the game and it comes up every other turn so you kind of expect it. I’d hate it if it’s just that one time 75% of the way through the game suddenly a tile is gone.
I have put in my order with @PIllbox for Shikoku. It’s quite good. I do kind of suspect that 1846 is going to be more “my thing” but for various reasons Shikoku is the smarter buy.
The starting auction and different companies starting at the beginning did make it a bit different and the map did go a bit of a different way. I thought it would be more different, with the high value cities showing up in different places. Oddly, though, I realized that many of the highest value tiles are location-locked so it’s not a question of where but when. I think it would be better if one game the 80 city was in one place and in another it was somewhere else?
As before I was generally one step behind. I wanted UR but was too late in turn order. I was prepared to go diesel but withheld one turn too late. I also made a bunch of mistakes on how my Private worked (don’t quote that without context) and planned on building some proprietary tiles that I either couldn’t use at all or were reserved for other spots - a lot of rules detail that came out in play. Again, just glad to not go bankrupt. I wish my final token could have done more than piss off @pillbox but I had to do SOMETHING with it.
Oh yeah, one of my railways only having one token was a real zinger.
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I think the weird Token game in 1889 is a weakness. It’s pretty easy to collude with just one other player and effectively chop the board in half. I probably deserved that token attack because of what I did on the east end of the island early on, using my two companies to block out one of the offboards attached to Kotohira.
Early on, tokens are about ensuring rights-of-way; but later they’re just attacks on other players. ¥76 didn’t lose me the game, but it felt like a sucker punch.
Though, I’ll say, I think so much of these games are lost when played async. I literally had no idea what other peoples’ routes looked like. Yes, I could have gone and figured it out (but I didn’t even bother to look). I don’t even know for certain who was so aggressively foiling my track lays, but it felt like @EnterTheWyvern’s style, so I just assumed it was him.
I would have loved to have been sat around a table, able to make eye contact with @lalunaverde while he was systematically trashing all the stock values. It’s absolutely what cats would do if they could play 18xx; the train game version of batting a glass of water off the edge of the table.
For you, friend, anything.
So, all my fussing aside, async 18xx is a bit more tolerable than I felt before; maybe it’s because I’m more comfortable now thinking, “No, I’ll wait to take my turn until I’m in front of my computer so that I don’t have to try to figure out what is going on 15 square-inches at a time on my phone.”
I’m up for another game of whatever if anyone else is.
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This very much coincides with my dislike for online play. For me games are a vehicle for socialising with friends or making new ones. Not enjoying the human element leaves me with a puzzle that has semi predictable randomisers. I’d rather do a sodoku or crossword at that point. I feel similarly about solo games. Not to knock you if you enjoy that stuff but it’s just not for me.
Also yes it was me doing my best to mess up your track lays. The tight corner to keep SR isolated until the brown phase was the best one 
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