Avalon Hill is synonymous with great board games and now they've brought another one of their classics to the computer. 1830: Railroads and Robber Barons has translated very well to the PC from the boardgame. Of course, the main advantages to being put in a computer format is that everything is automatic, all of the calculations and bookkeeping are done for you and there are no longer any pieces to lose. And in 1830, believe me, this is something to appreciate. With all of the stuff to keep up with, well, how did anyone ever play this without a computer?
1830 is about the formations of the great railroad lines and the men who owned them. You begin with a small amount of money to buy a private company or three and build your empire from there. You buy and sell shares of stocks from all of the railroad lines and, if you have enough shares, you become president of that railroad. When that happens, you are then in charge of that railroad line. You control building the stations, buying the trains, putting in and changing the railways, and when the money starts coming in you decide whether to withhold the money or pay it out in dividends to the stockholders (which, if you're the president, means you are the primary recipient of the dividends). Everything affects everything else and it won't be long before you're sitting in front of your PC scheming like a madman trying to run the competing rail barons into the ground.
I had never played the board version of 1830 so I started out without any idea of how to play the game . . . and I don't like reading manuals. But, as I went along, it soon became evident that I was clueless and I just had to sit down and read lots and lots of the instructions. It wasn't that bad, though, since the manual is written very concisely and leads you through the game fairly well. However, if you don't have any idea of the way businesses operate you might get left in the dust right off. 1830 is very much a business oriented game and if you don't like buying and selling stocks and companies you'll definitely be turned off.
To give a little idea of the atmosphere of the game, check this out. You begin the game by buying small companies which give you some initial income and most give little bonuses when bought, like a share in one of the railroad corporations. You bid on the companies against the other barons, but you can only bid once. The companies are listed in order from cheapest to most expensive with the cheapest company never being bid on. Instead, the first person to want the cheapest company simply buys it outright and all the other companies go immediately on the auction block. If this is already boring you, it gets a little better but the entire game is business stuff like this. Of course, I know that there are business types who love cutthroat financial dealings. Read on! You're the kind of person this game was made for.
Once everyone buys their companies, the game goes to the stock market, where all of the shares from the railroad corporations are up for sale. When six of a corporations shares are bought that railroad corporation is considered "floated" û in layman's terms, open for business. Whoever first buys a stock gets the "President's Certificate," which is worth 2 shares. When the President's Certificate is bought, the buyer gets to set the starting price for the remaining shares. Stock prices are calculated on a stock table which calculates the stock prices and what standing the stocks are in. Various actions in the game influence the stocks standing on the table, which influences the stock's price. For example, selling a share of stock will make it cheaper. If all shares of a stock are sold at the end of a turn it becomes more expensive. At this point I was getting dizzy. Hold on, there's more. There's also a limited amount of stocks in good standing that you can buy but if the stock is doing poorly on the stock table there are different restrictions on buying those types of stocks. At this point I was hemorrhaging in my brain from all of this.
If you make it out of the stock market in one piece you move on to the actual building of the railways. There are different types of trains that are available throughout the game as well as different types of tracks. As the game progresses, different types of trains appear, which makes other types of trains obsolete. All of this takes place on a hex map with cities, mountains and rivers. If you own the most shares of stock in a company, you get to make decisions for the railroad. You connect the cities with track and then set up routes by buying trains and setting up stations. Depending on how many trains you buy and how many routes you have going, you pull in money which you then decide to keep in the company or pay dividends to the stockholders. Paying dividends makes your stock rise. Keeping the money makes the stocks fall but you can buy more stuff. So everything is dependent on something else, which gives this game incredible depth. Play continues until the bank runs out of money or the barons are bankrupt. I found that in order to do well in this game not only do you have to manage your own finances well but you actively have to undermine the other barons.
Don't expect to get this game and start off winning right away. There are a lot of concepts to learn, and once you master them, you have figure out how they interrelate and affect one other. 1830 will bend your mental capacities to the limit but once you get going and start playing the game, it becomes addictive. As difficult as it may be to learn, it's really an easy game to play. If you've played the board game I'm sure you'll have absolutely no problem at all but if you're new to the game, like I was, before you buy this game make sure that you're the kind of person who likes business dealings. Then be prepared to put in enough time and effort to get to know the game. When you do, you'll find a sophisticated game that becomes a lot of fun. The play is smooth, the graphics are nice and there's some nice music in it as well. Those who are willing to work at learning 1830 will be rewarded with a challenging, entertaining time.
