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Harzbahn 1873

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scottredracecar edited this page Feb 11, 2023 · 9 revisions

Table of Contents

General Information
Rules Highlights
Rules Clarifications
Variants and Optional Rules
Implementation Notes
Known Problems

General Information

Rules Highlights

This game has a substantially different set of rules compared to a more typical 18xx game, such as 1830. Please read the official rules.

Please do not attempt to play this game without reading the official rules. Even better, read the official Player's Guide too. The following does not come close to describing the game with enough details to play.

  • There are 15 minor companies, called independent mines.

  • There are 7 railroad major companies (Railways).

  • There are 5 public mining companies (PMCs).

  • There is one external company that can be invested in (the MHE) that abstracts the rest of the German rail system.

  • There are two kinds of track: normal gauge used by the MHE, and narrow gauge used by the railways and mines in this game. Normal gauge track cannot be laid nor used to operate routes or trace routes for laying track or tokens.

  • Track laying is mostly normal, with several exceptions:

  1. In order to upgrade a tile, you must be able to reach all new the track.
  2. Purple-outlined tiles contain Towns, while the others contain Villages. Purple-outlined tiles can only replace purple-outlined tiles.
  3. Before any tiles are laid on a Village they look like a normal 18xx dit/town/whistle-stop. Their first upgrade is to an 18xx city. In both cases they are called Villages.
  4. Yellow Villages (remember, these look like 18xx cities) can upgrade to green single cities or green "OO" double-city tiles. These are still called Villages. Later the "OO" tiles upgrade to brown two-slot tiles.

  • There are three types of "trains": trains used by railways, machines used by mines, and switchers which are used by mines but can be owned by railways.

  • There are many rules regarding the retention and use of these "trains". Notably, most trains and switchers can be voluntarily scrapped.

  • Diesel trains appear at the end of the game and allow re-use of track.

  • There is no rusting, but older trains, machines and switchers will start incurring maintenance costs which get deducted from the revenue they generate.

  • If they can't pay the maintenance costs (first with revenue, then with cash in the treasury), they either close (if they are an independent mine), or go insolvent (if they are a railway or PMC).

  • Insolvency results in all shares being returned and the company landing in receivership to be re-opened in the next SR.

  • Almost all of the Railways (except the QLB) have a concession that must be satisfied before normal operations can begin. This consists of laying concession track (all in one OR) and buying a train big enough to service that concession route.

  • Those Railways must service the concession route when running trains.

  • The game starts with a premium auction to determine who gets to choose the first railway or mine and to set the "premium" - an extra price paid when drafting

  • Then comes the draft, where players choose which mines or railways concessions to buy.

  • Then comes the first SR, where players with concessions can IPO the corresponding railways.

  • In subsequent rounds, after a set of ORs, there is an Auction round if any concessions are available or companies are in receivership, followed by a standard SR.

  • During an OR, the independent mines run in ascending numeric order, followed by the railways and PMCs in descending share price order.

  • Independent mines can lay track if they are not connected to normal gauge track. They generate revenue based on what machine and switcher they own and whether they are connected to to normal gauge track. They always pay 50/50. They may buy machines and switchers. They may optionally close. Any cash in their treasury is returned to the owner. Any machine or switcher is scrapped.

  • Public Mining Companies never lay track. They generate revenue based on their component mine revenues. They can withhold, pay 50/50, or pay fully. They can buy machines and switchers. They can buy independent mines (open or closed). They can convert from 2-share to 5-share, or 5-share to 10-share

  • Railways lay track, lay tokens, run routes, then withhold, pay 50/50 or pay fully, then buy trains and switchers, then optionally convert from 5-share to 10-share.

Variants and Optional Rules

No variants or optional rules are implemented.

Implementation Notes

  • When PMCs buy machines and switchers, the player must indicate which of the component mines will receive them by checking the appropriate boxes.
  • When operating PMCs, players may freely transfer switchers among mines during the production step (rule 4.3.1). Players will not be offered the opportunity to transfer switchers on 18xx.games if doing so would not increase revenue. Correspondingly, if you are asked if you would like to transfer switchers during the production step, that will alert you that your revenue could (should) be increased.
  • Hex F7 costs 50M (matches first edition) and the designer prefers this over the second edition's 100M cost for this hex.

Known Problems

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