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18NL

Designer: Helmut Ohley

1830 transplanted to the Netherlands, with the same classic spirit on a Dutch map.

18NL — Summary


Capitalization type


Floating percentage and per-player share limits


Starting cash by player count


End game triggers


Number of phases


Train list and prices


List of private companies


List of corporations


Game-specific mechanics


Emergency sell

Matches the 1830 baseline exactly, with no overrides of any kind: treasury pays first, then the president's personal cash, then a forced sale of the president's personal shares of any corporation at market price if still short.

Comparison with 1830

1. The same 1830 system, transplanted literally to the Netherlands
Unlike every other game in this catalogue, 18NL doesn't reinterpret 1830: its own rulebook opens by saying "in principle, the rules of 1830 are valid." It's a direct transplant of the map, companies and privates onto the Dutch railway network (Almelo-Salzbergen, Nederlandsche Centraal, De Veluwe...), without adding any new subsystem (no loans, no mergers, no incremental capitalization): every change is small and concrete.

2. A ninth company on top of 1830's eight
1830 has eight operating companies. 18NL adds a ninth, the Noord Friesche Lokaal (NFL), the smallest company in the game (only 2 starting station tokens, same as the ZHE and the NRS).

3. The NFL floats with a 30% president's certificate, not 20%
In 1830 a director's certificate is always worth 20%, for any company. In 18NL, private no. 6 comes bundled with a 30% Director's certificate of the NFL (instead of the usual 20%), and this private closes when the NFL buys its first train — the same pattern as 1830's B&O, but with a higher president's stake that breaks the standard.

4. Two "B&O-style" privates, not just one
In 1830 only the B&O is tied from the start to a company's president certificate. In 18NL this pattern is doubled: private no. 5 comes with a 20% Director's certificate of the HIS (closes when the HIS buys its first train) and private no. 6 with a 30% Director's certificate of the NFL (closes when the NFL buys its first train).

5. Privates that convert directly into company shares
Besides the two "B&O-style" privates, private no. 3 (70 Gulden) can be converted into a 10% share of De Veluwe (DV), and private no. 4 (110 Gulden) comes bundled with a 10% share of the Nederlandsche Centraal (NCS). None of 1830's six original privates does anything like this.

6. A private that pays no revenue at all, and cheapens the next one
Private no. 1 (20 Gulden) pays no dividend whatsoever (0 Gulden), and as a direct consequence private no. 2 starts 5 Gulden cheaper in the auction. 18NL's own rulebook explicitly describes this as "similar to the SV&N in 1830" — that is, it's not a new mechanic, but the same 1830 quirk recreated with new numbers.

7. Certificate limits adjusted to compensate for the ninth company
Since there's one more company than in 1830 (and therefore more certificates in play), 18NL raises the per-player certificate limit compared to 1830's standard limits.