1830 by Arne Stanneck

In Kiel in northern Germany I was introduced to 1830 in the late 1980s. Since then we have been able to play regularly with a changing group of players. While some of the original group left, some of us have been playing 1830 over 500 times. Because of this vast experience I felt like writing a paper to share some of our knowledge.

First of all we use one special rule that may make this text less interesting for people who stick to the original rules, but we feel that this rule enriches the gaming experience: We will always set up every player with 400$ starting cash, no matter if we play with 4, 5 or 6 players. Obviously this has a huge impact on the speed of the game, the fewer players, the slower a game will start. The reason for this rule is that the dependency on other players is higher and there is more player interaction and deals.

Another important point is the way we handle deals. Deals are a very important aspect of 1830 and deals will usually be necessary to win games. In our group everyone can make deals and break them, but breaking deals rarely ever happens. The reason is simple, we play together very often and if people know you as an "unreliable" keeper of deals they will not trust you. Because of this most of us stick to their deals even if it means bankruptcy instead of victory. But the risk of not being able to make a deal in the next game is too high.

1. Starting the game

The private companies have been covered in other papers that were written on the topic of 1830 but there is reason to cover them again. Remember that no player can open a railroad on his own given our rules unless it is the Penn (and which is a bad choice).

Schuykill Valley: Nothing special about the SVR. The company is usually good to have but other companies are better.
Champlain and St. Lawrence: The C&StL private company is regarded very highly among our group and will usually sell for 50-60$. The reason is that the owner of this company will often be able to become president of one of the first two railroads that open and be able to sell the Champlain to his main company for 80$. It is also nice to have the ability to influence the development of the Canadian Pacific.
Delaware and Hudson: The D&H usually sells for 75 dollar since it is held in very low regard. The problem is that the owner of the D&H will usually not find a buyer for additional shares of his company if he tries to open one early, since the potential to make 140$ is considered to be too much of a danger for the others. This means that the owner of the D&H will usually have to invest into another company at first and wait until he can open a company himself. This usually takes a while since he only owns 325$ cash after getting the private company and opening for 71$ or 76$ will usually be too low if you want to sell the private company to your main railroad. Imagine you open for 76$, buy a 3" train for 180, the D&H for 140 and you are left with only 420. This is not even enough cash to buy a 5" train and other expenses like tokens or construction over water tiles haven't been measured in. Very often the owner of the D&H will not get a good opportunity to sell the D&H for anything close to 140. The C&H special ability is bad and we haven't used it in years. The problem is that it costs 120$ for the construction, takes at least two rounds to build the track to NY, a track that will usually only generate measly 8$ with a 3" train in the first round.
Mohawk & Hudson: The M&H will usually sell for 115 or 120. It suffers from the same problems as the D&H, but can be considered slightly better. The main advantage is that the owner is not dependent on selling the M&H to his main railroad since it can be exchanged for a share of the NYC. If the owner does sell it to his main company for 220 there are two problems: Taking out 220 is usually too little to open up a 2nd company to help out the first one and it is too little to wreck the old company. To be more accurate, if you sell for 220$, and then sell shares of the company that bought the M&H in order to be able to open a 2nd company, the chances of losing the first company to another player is fairly high.
Camden & Amboy: The C&A is the other great company next to the C&StL. In 6-person games it will usually sell between 165$-175$, in 5 person games between 185$-190$ and in 4-person games between 190-210$. The biggest advantages are getting a free share and the ability to sell for 320$. The 320$ are nice since you can wreck one company, sell the shares and open another company without having to fear a hostile takeover of the first one.
Baltimore & Ohio: The B&O is held in low regard and will sell for 220 every time. If the B&O is not opened at the start of the game you will gain 30$ every round, but this is not enough to offset the cost of the two shares at 110$ each, especially since these two shares don`t advance on the stock chart. If the B&O is opened it usually can't compete with other companies in earnings, an explanation will follow. In 4-player games the B&O will often get help to be opened as the 2nd corporation, usually by the owner of the C&A. The reason is that the president will have to buy 2" trains and thereby enable the owner of C&A to buy fewer trains and pull more money out of the Pennsylvania when selling the C&A.

To sum this up, the two best private companies are the C&StL and the C&A. The M&H and the SVR are good to have while the D&H and the B&O are usually not.

2. Opening the main railroad companies

The best railroad is the NY New Haven (NYNH), and it will be the reference for further discussion. Usually the NYNH is among the best earners, and it has advantages that will offset the slightly better earnings that other companies may generate. Only the CP and the Boston can make more money. The CP can make more cash early if the owner has the C&StL private company, and the Boston can make more money if it uses the same track as the NYNH but is placed behind the NYNH on the stock chart. The NYNH is better than both the other companies since it has more control over the construction around New York and can usually control if the NYC can get access to NY.

In other papers on 1830 the B&O and the C&O are named as other viable starting railroads but they will generally lose out to the NYNH. Let's consider a simple start:

B&O opens for 100 and NYNH for 76. B&O purchases 3 2" trains and the NYNH purchases 3 2" trains and a 3". The B&O then gets a 3" next round. The president of the B&O will have 3 shares and 80$ at the start and then get 30$. Now he will get the 4th share and then be able to earn 17$ and 21$ before the stock round. He will now have 4 shares worth 112$ and 162$ cash totalling 610$. Let's assume the president of the NYNH has the SVR. He will get 5 shares and earn 15$ from the SVR and earn 14$ and 16$. His shares will be worth 82$. His total assets will be 615$. At first glance both seem equal, but then someone will sell shares of both companies stock and wipe out some stock profit. The B&O suffers more from this. In games with 4 or 5 players the president of the NYNH will usually not own the SVR but have the C&StL. This is a more extreme case: Now he will not only sell his company for 40 but for 80$. Lets assume the president of NYNH has C&StL (bought for 55$) and opens for 71$. He can buy 4 shares, and keep 61$. Now he will get 10$ from the C&StL (which is just enough to buy the 5th share) and sell the C&StL for 80, giving him 6 shares and leaving him 9$. Now he earns 6x 14$ and 6x 16$, yielding a total of 189$ in addition to 6 shares worth 456$. Total value is 645$, which is way more than the president of B&O can generate and the president of NYNH is less likely to lose as much stock value as the president of B&O will.

The C&O faces a similar situation and will not generate as much revenue as NYNH. C&O can usually not run 3 2" trains into Chicago since 2" trains will in most cases be destroyed too quickly.

As a result of this most of us are very wary of the NYNH and will not help out other players who want to start it at the beginning. If the NYNH opens at the start of a game it will be hard to beat. If the NYNH opens there are only two options to start a 2nd company: Either the Boston opens and uses the same track as NYNH, or (which is more likely) we will use the true counter-move and open the C&O for a higher value and build the #1 tile in G7. This forces the NYNH to build toward E19 and buy only one 2" train. C&O can now slowly build a track and earn better money.

As a conclusion it is generally wise to wait for the potential president of NYNH to make his move. If he manages to open NYNH between 71 and 82 it should be countered by opening C&O at a higher value and using the #1 tile. If the potential owner of NYNH chooses another company (usually CP or C&O) there are less risks. C&O will not generate as much money as NYNH and CP will be less valuable in later stages of the game. CP is a nice and usually underrated alternative.

If the other players don't have enough money to open another company (in case of a 4-player game) everyone obviously needs to get as many NYNH as he can. In case of a 6-player game that has 3 companies opening everything depends on the order. If NYNH can get the #1 tile one should be invested in NYNH or Boston. If C&O can be opened at a higher slot than NYNH B&O becomes the railroad of choice since C&O and NYNH will neutralize each other to an extent and Boston will not be viable.

Erie is not a starting railroad since it needs to have green tiles to start building. NYC is not a viable starting railroad unless you are sure to be able to build the F20 tile before NYNH, which is close to never. Pennsylvania is only a viable starting railroad in games with 6 players and if you use a very special deal: Once two other companies have opened the owners of C&A and M&H can make a deal if they trust each other: They will both acquire 3 shares at the price of 90 and then the president will buy both private companies at the first opportunity for 320$ and 220$ and the owner of M&H will get the first opportunity to sell his 3 shares. This deal is incredible for both players: The owner of M&H gets a quick 220$ and doesn't have to deal with a bankrupt railroad. The owner of C&A activates his Penn stock quickly, gets 320$ but gets to deal with a bankrupt railroad which can be a problem in a quick 6-player game. Pennsylvania is bad in all other common opening strategies, the revenue is too low.

3. Towards the poisoned 4".

The next stage of the game should be familiar to most players. You can acquire few or multiple 2" and 3" trains, and there are too many ways for the game to unfold to discuss them all. It doesn't really matter how much money you make, but is important to make more than the other players until the point when the last but one 4" train is purchased. This one is called the poisoned 4" train since it will often kill the buyer. When it has been bought someone will usually buy the last 4" and the first 5" and then everyone scrambles to get the remaining 5" and 6" trains. When the buyer of the poisoned 4" gets his next turn there are usually only Ds left. Nobody in his sane mind will try to get a D if he doesn't have to, since many games will see a bankruptcy here. D trains are expensive and will rarely earn the money they cost. But back to the 2", 3" and the first two 4" trains.

There are a few general rules:

If you buy three 2" trains be sure that they don't get destroyed too quickly, very often it is better to have two 3" trains.
Two 3" trains are great to have if you have the track to use them but you need to have a way to get rid of one at some point. If you can't get rid of one chances are you will have to buy a D.
You can buy three 3" trains and a 4" train, losing a 3" in the process. This is a nice way to kill people's 2" trains, but usually requires cooperation. A common deal is to buy three 3" and a 4" and then sell one 3" to another player for 270, thereby splitting the cost of the 3" that gets lost.
If you sell your C&A or M&H to your railroad it is often bad to open a second company immediately, it is usually better to get some available stock that makes money and stock market gains, wait until the next stock round and then open your 2nd company. There is usually no second chance to get minority positions in those companies that opened at the very beginning again.
If other players make more money than you the reason is often that they have more trains and less money in their companies. In some cases this will force you to sell all your assets, open two companies and buy two 4" and hopefully two 5" trains. Speeding the game up like this is one of the most difficult strategies in 1830, and will only work if you can force someone into bankruptcy quickly. If nobody goes bankrupt you will usually not get the valuable stock back and not have good track of your own. Other players will buy and sell your stock and thereby destroy your assets.
When other companies open try to force their stock down. In most of our games we have companies opening for 82-100 that are driven all the way down to 40-50.

The deciding phase of 1830 is usually the time when the 5", 6" and first D trains are bought. During this time it is of utmost importance to understand the stock market positions and you have to find a way to get the trains you want. In our groups nobody ever tries to go for a D because we try to earn money early and usually do not have companies with that much money. The players who get 5" and 6" trains will usually win.

One thing you have to worry about is that people may dump a company on you if they are not able to buy enough trains and are in a better stock market position. Many games are decided by people dumping companies on victims just after the permanent trains are bought, usually if someone didn't manage to buy enough trains. You have to be very careful to avoid this.

One or two operating rounds after the first D was bought most players generate enough money to avoid bankruptcy, even if someone dumps a company on them, and from this point on everyone just has to generate as much money as possible by building better tracks than the other guy. This phase of 1830 is the most unspectacular.

I hope to have been of help to new and old players alike.

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