18EU: Railroading in Europe From the 1830s to the 1930s

Designer: David Hecht

All of Europe on one map: small companies that merge into big operating railroads, and a private auction using fixed-price bid boxes.

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18EU: Railroading in Europe From the 1830s to the 1930s Contents

How it works

Setup

Cash by player count: from £750 (2) to £250 (6); £12,000 bank
15 minors, each with a 2-train and no money
In turn, each player picks one: auction from £100
If nobody bids, it's offered at £90, £80… down to free
Then two operating rounds for the minors (the first with two yellows)

Stock round ×1

Sell (if the company has operated) and buy one certificate
Start a company: president's certificate (2 × par) + exchange one of your minors into it
Others can exchange connected minors into it instead of buying
Floats with 50% in players' hands; the rest stays in the treasury

Operating round ×2

Minors first (1 to 15), then companies by share price:
1. Track: one yellow (companies, or an upgrade)
2. One station (free: already paid for on founding)
3. Run trains: towns don't count toward length
4. Full dividend, half dividend or withhold (minors, always half)
5. Buy trains or a Pullman
6. The company sells or redeems its own shares

↻ Repeats until the end

End

The bank runs out: the set of operating rounds finishes
If all players but one go bankrupt, the game ends at once
Cash and shares at share price count
Highest total wins

Components

Players

Cash
Minors (count as a certificate)
Shares (max. 60%, except through minor exchanges)
Limit of 28 to 11 certificates

Minors

15 single-owner minors
One train, one station, can't upgrade tiles
Pay half to the owner and keep the other half
Exchanged for shares; any left over, in phase 5

Companies

8 national companies
Incremental capitalisation: shares are sold from the treasury
4 extra stations for £100
Treasury shares earn dividends for the company

Bank

£12,000
Open market (max. 50% of a company)
Trains: 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8; 5 Pullmans

Map

Continental Europe
Rough terrain £60; mountain £120 (+£60 when upgraded to green)
Ports: £10 towns
Off-board to off-board run: bonus per station (from green)

Where the money goes

Players Bank Buying minors in the initial sale; open market shares
Players Companies President's certificate and treasury shares, at market price
Minors Companies When exchanged for a share, the minor brings its cash and trains
Bank Players Dividends, half the minors' revenue, share sales
Bank Companies Withheld revenue, half dividends, dividends on treasury shares
Companies Bank Trains, Pullmans, terrain, the 4 stations and share buybacks
Players Companies Forced train purchase: the president makes up the shortfall

Phases

Start

2 · £100

Yellow; all 15 2-trains belong to the minors

1st 3-train

3 · £200 · Pullman £100

Green

1st 4-train

4 · £300

2s rust; limit of 3

1st 5-train

5 · £500

Brown; high off-board values; limit of 2; final minor exchange and founding without a minor

1st 6-train

6 · £600

3s rust

1st 8-train

8 · £800

Grey; 4s rust

Before phase 5, a company can only be started by exchanging one of your own minors into it.
The share price only rises if the dividend reaches the share's value; withholding drops it.

A round, step by step

Illustrative example with the game's rules: 4 players with £350 each. We follow [P1], who buys [m2] and uses it to start the [BNR], from the initial minor sale to the [BNR]'s second operating round.

Before starting Fifteen minors Phase 2

With 4 players, each has £350. Every minor has a 2-train and an empty treasury. There are no privates: the minors fill that role.

[P1] cash

£350

[m2] treasury

—

[BNR] treasury

—

[BNR] share price

—
Initial minor sale [m2] Phase 2

[P1] picks [m2] and opens the auction at the minimum, £100. Nobody raises and they take it, with its 2-train and no money.

Had nobody bid, it would have been offered at £90, £80… and, in the end, [P1] would have got it for free.

[P1] cash

£250

[m2] treasury

£0

[BNR] treasury

—

[BNR] share price

—
Operating round 1.1 Two yellows Phase 2

In the first operating round, each minor can lay two yellows. [m2] lays the Brussels Y city (£30) and the Antwerp town (£10), both at no cost.

With no money, a minor couldn't pay for rough terrain (£60) or a mountain (£120).

[P1] cash

£250

[m2] treasury

£0

[BNR] treasury

—

[BNR] share price

—
Operating round 1.1 Half dividend Phase 2

The 2-train runs Brussels–Antwerp: 30 + 10 = £40. A minor always pays half to its owner and keeps the other half: £20 and £20.

[P1] cash

£270

[m2] treasury

£20

[BNR] treasury

—

[BNR] share price

—
Operating round 1.2 On to Rotterdam Phase 2

Now just one yellow: the Rotterdam town. Towns don't count toward length, and the 2-train runs Brussels + Antwerp + Rotterdam = £50. [P1] collects £25.

[P1] cash

£295

[m2] treasury

£45

[BNR] treasury

—

[BNR] share price

—
Stock round 1 Starting the [BNR] Phase 2

[P1] buys the [BNR] president's certificate at a starting value of £90: they pay £180, which goes to the company's treasury.

Starting values are £70, £75, £82, £90 and £100.

[P1] cash

£115

[m2] treasury

£45

[BNR] treasury

£180

[BNR] share price

£90
Stock round 1 [m2] joins the [BNR] Phase 2

On the same turn, they must exchange one of their minors into it. [m2] hands its £45 and 2-train to the [BNR], [P1] gets a 10% share and the Brussels station now belongs to the [BNR]. The company pays £100 for four more stations.

[P1] cash

£115

[m2] treasury

—

[BNR] treasury

£125

[BNR] share price

£90
Stock round 1 Floating at 50% Phase 2

On another turn, [P1] buys a treasury share at £90, and [P2] another. The money goes to the [BNR]. With 50% in players' hands, the [BNR] floats.

The other 50% stays in the treasury: it can be sold later and, meanwhile, earns dividends for the company.

[P1] cash

£25

[m2] treasury

—

[BNR] treasury

£305

[BNR] share price

£90
Operating round 2.1 The [BNR] operates Phase 2

After the minors, the [BNR] operates. It lays a yellow towards Lille. The 2-train runs Brussels–Antwerp–Rotterdam: £50.

[P1] cash

£25

[m2] treasury

—

[BNR] treasury

£305

[BNR] share price

£90
Operating round 2.1 Full dividend Phase 2

It pays £5 per 10%: [P1] (40%) collects £20 and the treasury collects £25 for its shares. Since £50 doesn't reach the £90 share value, the share price doesn't move.

Had it withheld, it would have dropped one space.

[P1] cash

£45

[m2] treasury

—

[BNR] treasury

£330

[BNR] share price

£90
Operating round 2.1 The first 3-train Phase 3

All 15 2-trains belong to the minors, so the first train in the stack is already a 3. The [BNR] buys it for £200. Phase 3 begins: green tiles and Pullmans.

[P1] cash

£45

[m2] treasury

—

[BNR] treasury

£130

[BNR] share price

£90
Operating round 2.2 Two runs Phase 3

The 3-train runs Brussels–Antwerp–Rotterdam (£50) and the 2-train Brussels–Lille (30 + 10 = £40), on a different line. Total: £90.

[P1] cash

£45

[m2] treasury

—

[BNR] treasury

£130

[BNR] share price

£90
Operating round 2.2 Now it rises Phase 3

It pays £9 per 10%: [P1] collects £36 and the treasury £45. The dividend reaches the share's value, £90, and the share price moves right: £100.

[P1] cash

£81

[m2] treasury

—

[BNR] treasury

£175

[BNR] share price

£100
Operating round 2.2 A Pullman Phase 3

The [BNR] buys a Pullman for £100. It'll run with one of its trains and double the value of one city or off-board.

Each company can have at most one, and it can be bought instead of the train on top of the stack.

[P1] cash

£81

[m2] treasury

—

[BNR] treasury

£75

[BNR] share price

£100
Towards stock round 2 Selling treasury shares Phase 3

The [BNR] has now operated: from here on its shares can be sold, and the company can sell those in its treasury to raise cash before the 4-train rusts the 2-train.

[P1] cash

£81

[m2] treasury

—

[BNR] treasury

£75

[BNR] share price

£100

18EU — Summary

Capitalization type

Incremental capitalization: the company collects its Starting Value each time one of its shares is actually sold, both when founded and in later share issues.

Floats once 50% of shares are sold (a single threshold for all major corporations)
No player may hold more than 60% (the default cap) of a single corporation, with no exceptions
Certificate limit per player: 2 players — 28; 3 players — 20; 4 players — 16; 5 players — 13; 6 players — 11

Starting cash by player count

2 players: £750 starting cash
3 players: £450 starting cash
4 players: £350 starting cash
5 players: £300 starting cash
6 players: £250 starting cash
The bank always starts with £12,000, regardless of the number of players

End game triggers

The bank runs out of money: the current full operating round set is finished
A president can't cover a mandatory payment even after selling every share he's allowed to sell: he goes bankrupt and is eliminated from the game (this generally ends the game immediately if only one solvent player remains)

Number of phases

6 phases (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8), triggered by the purchase of the first train of each type
Minor Companies' train limit drops from 2 to 1 starting in phase 4
Phase 5 enables free corporation formation ("normal_formation") and triggers the final Minor Company exchange round; phase 8 unlocks grey tiles

Train list and prices

2 train — £100 (15 available; rusts once the first 4-train is bought)
3 train — £200 (5 available; rusts once the first 6-train is bought)
Pullman (P) — £100 (5 available, from phase 3 onward) — doesn't count as a normal train or against the train limit; doubles the revenue of one chosen stop when run alongside a normal train the company already owns; at most one per company
4 train — £300 (4 available; rusts once the first 8-train is bought)
5 train — £500 (3 available; buying it triggers the final Minor Company exchange round)
6 train — £600 (2 available)
8 train — £800 (unlimited)

List of private companies

18EU has no classic private companies: instead there are 15 Minor Companies, each with its own 2-train, which always pay a Half Dividend and which a player can merge for one share of one of the 8 big corporations. They're auctioned starting at £100 (raised in £5 increments); if everyone declines, they're offered at a fixed, descending price down to free.
1. Chemin de Fer du Nord — A10
2. État Belge — C8
3. Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée — A10
4. Leipzig-Dresdner-Bahn — J7
5. Ferrovia Adriatica — H19
6. Kaiser-Ferdinand-Nordbahn — K14
7. Berlin-Potsdamer-Bahn — J5
8. Ungarische Staatsbahn — M16
9. Berlin-Stettiner-Bahn — J5
10. Strade Ferrate Alta Italia — E18
11. Südbahn — K14
12. Hollandsche Maatschappij — D3
13. Ludwigsbahn — G12
14. Ligne Strasbourg-Bâle — D13
15. Grand Central — B17

List of corporations

Belgian National Railways (BNR)
Dutch Railways (DR)
Italian State Railways (FS)
Royal Bavarian State Railroad (RBSR)
Royal Prussian Railway (RPR)
Austrian Imperial Royal State (AIRS)
SNCF
German State Railways (GSR)
None of them has a fixed home on the map: they're born by taking over the position of a merged Minor Company (before phase 5) or by freely choosing any open city (from phase 5 onward)

Game-specific mechanics

Founding by merger: the big corporations are built by absorbing a player's own Minor Companies, which are permanently retired in exchange for a single share
Floats at 50% of shares sold, with the Starting Value chosen from five fixed spaces on the stock chart (70, 75, 82, 90, or 100)
The president pays double the Starting Value into the company's treasury (not the bank); the company instantly spends £100 of it on four extra station tokens
"Red to red" bonus: routes connecting two red (off-board) areas get an extra amount per own token present on the route, growing with the phase
Two-tier operating order: all Minor Companies operate first (in a fixed order from 1 to 15), then corporations by share price
Personal bankruptcy eliminates the player from the game; his companies pass to another shareholder with at least two shares, or close with no compensation

Emergency sell

For full corporations this mostly matches the 1830 baseline — treasury, then the president's personal cash, then a forced sale of any shares they hold — but minors, the game's smaller starting companies, are never forced into this at all. What replaces 1830's simple bankruptcy is more elaborate here too: if a player truly can't raise enough, their remaining shares are dumped to the pool, and any corporation left without a president either gets funded from what personal cash the former president has left, or — if that's not possible — is fully restarted, with its trains returned to the depot and the company reopened from scratch. Any minor solely owned by the bankrupt player closes outright.

Comparison with 1830

1. Setting, map and number of players
1830 covers the northeastern USA for 2-6 players. 18EU spans practically the whole of continental Europe -from France to Austria and Poland, and from northern Germany down to central Italy, with the Alps represented as high-cost mountain hexes- also for 2-6 players. It's regarded as one of the great "gateway" games of the genre, precisely because it keeps 1830's overall structure while adding a handful of highly influential new ideas.

2. No classic private companies: Minor Companies instead
1830 opens with six private companies that grant passive income and, sometimes, a small special power. 18EU has none of those at all: instead there are 15 Minor Companies with historical names, each owned outright by a single player, which start with their own 2-train and always pay a Half Dividend -tiny operating companies in miniature, not passive privates. They're auctioned with a mechanism very close to 1830's privates.

3. Big corporations are literally built by merging Minor Companies into them
In 1830 a company is founded simply by buying its president's certificate with cash. In 18EU, before Phase 5 a player can only start one of the 8 big national corporations by merging one or more of his own Minor Companies into it: he swaps its assets for a single share of the new corporation, and the Minor is permanently retired. This "merging up" from small to large is the game's signature idea and has no equivalent in 1830.

4. Floats at 50%, with a fixed menu of starting values
In 1830 companies float once 60% of shares are sold, and the founder picks a par value from a wide price table. In 18EU flotation happens with just 50% of shares in players' hands, and the founding president can only pick the Starting Value from five fixed, marked spaces on the stock chart.

5. Bankruptcy eliminates the player, not just the company
In 1830, an underfunded president covers the shortfall with personal cash and, if that's still not enough, the company ends up liquidated. In 18EU, if the president still can't raise the money after selling every share he is legally allowed to sell, he goes bankrupt and is eliminated from the game outright; his companies pass to the next eligible shareholder holding at least two shares, or close with no compensation if nobody qualifies.

6. Operating order splits into two tiers
In 1830 every company operates strictly in order of current share price. In 18EU all the Minor Companies operate first, in a fixed numbered order from 1 to 15, and only once every one of them has gone do the floated Corporations operate, in descending order of share price -a two-tier operating sequence with no counterpart in 1830.

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