18TN
The Railroads Come to Tennessee
Copyright 1996, 1997 by Mark Derrick


Designer's Notes and Special Rules
(Newer additions are in italics as of Jan. 8, 1997)

I hope that 18TN will be the first in a new series of 18xx games that is smaller
in scale and playable in 4 hours or less.  I had hoped to create a game that
captures the flavor of the 18xx system but is faster paced.  To that end, there
are only six railroad corporations and there is a maximum of five players.  I
hope this will lead to other designs that can be set in smaller geographic
regions.

Since I live here in Tennessee and already knew some about the railroad heritage
around here, a game set in Tennessee seemed natural.  I wanted to create a game
that would somewhat simulate track building in Tennessee.  For the most part,
railroads built into Tennessee from outside of the State.  There were a number
of small railroads, now either absorbed into larger railroads or gone
altogether.  They are represented by the private railroads as in other 18xx
games.

The L&N Railroad was chartered in 1850 and began to build rail lines to connect
Louisville, Kentucky to Nashville.  Soon thereafter, the Nashville, Chattanooga
and St. Louis Railroad began to connect Chattanooga to Nashville.  After Atlanta
was connected to Chattanooga, an efficient north-south route was begun.  Two
railroads for West Tennessee were chosen.  They were the Illinois Central and
the GM&O which generally built into West Tennessee from the north and built
roughly south along the Mississippi River.  The Southern Railway was chosen to
speed up the rail building in southeast Tennessee.  Finally, the Nashville based
Tennessee Central was added to add balance in the middle Tennessee region.

The L&N was chosen to have its president's certificate offered in the private
company phase and created to operate regardless of how many shares are sold in
the initial stock round.  The map also represents some of the early major track
building by the L&N railroad.  I learned that there was a major east-west route
through northern Alabama and Mississippi between Atlanta and Memphis, that may
be used by the Southern and the NC & SL.  I used tokens to limit the extent of
corporation growth.  Since the Southern and the L&N dominated Tennessee
railroads, they were given the most tokens.

The American Civil War is simulated very abstractly by the diversion of one
train's income for one turn.  Although the civil war cannot be ignored, some
railroads actually prospered somewhat during the war years.  For most railroads
in Tennessee at least, rail building continued despite disruptions in service.

The stock market chart has been changed in order to simplify stock rounds.  For
one thing, the length of the game has been shortened by the reducing of columns
allowing a stock value to "max out" sooner.  With less rows to the right of the
starting columns, hopefully there will be less stock trashing than in some 18xx
games.  Also, with less corporations, I didn't see any point in having so many
par values, hence there are now only four possible par values which should be
enough.

I limited trains to "8" trains and did not include diesels.  With the small
board, eight train runs seemed long enough.  I'm not sure if there are enough
"8" trains but left it at three to correspond with the number included in the
1870 game.  If this is developed as a stand alone game kit, a few more eights or
possibly 10 trains will be considered.  Between the train mix and the limited
amount of money at the start of the game, hopefully only three railroads will be
started initially.


Summary of Rules for Experienced 18xx Players

I'm assuming that whoever is reading this has played 18xx games before and is
familiar with the basic mechanics of play.  At the moment, this is not a stand
alone game as 1870 is required for the money and tiles.  The rulebook for 1870
does a good job of explaining the basic concepts of tile laying and railroad
operations and can be a good reference, although note that many concepts from
1870 are not used in 18TN and will be clarified in a later paragraph.  For
specific guidance an how to use this kit with materials from 1870, see the last
paragraph in this section.  The special rules below should clarify differences
between 18TN and some other 18xx games.

Starting money is equal to $1800 divided by the number of players.  For example,
a four player game each player would have $450 to start.  The bank should be
$7500.  I would recommend borrowing the money from 1870 and remove nine of the
500 dollar bills to reach the proper mix of money.

This paragraph deals with 18xx rules and which ones apply here.  Only one tile
may be played a turn except by a corporation that owns one or more private
railroads as described below.  Initially yellow tiles are available.  After the
first three train is bought, green tiles are available.  After the first five
train is bought, brown tiles are available.  As in other 18xx games, trains
become obsolete.  The first four train purchased renders the two trains
obsolete.  The first six train purchase eliminates the three trains and the
first eight train eliminates the fours.  Trains are obsoleted immediately and do
not get a final run.  There are no trade ins of trains as in some other 18xx
games.  Train limits are similar to other 18xx games.  There is a four train
limit until the first four is bought when the limit is reduced to three.  As
soon as the first five train is bought, the limit is reduced to two where it
remains for the rest of the game.  All private companies are removed when the
first five train is bought and they may be purchased by corporations after the
first three train is bought.  Purchasing corporations may pay between half and
double the face value for private companies.  Stocks can be bought then sold in
the same stock round.  Dividends of companies must either be paid out or
withheld, there is no half dividends as in 1870.  The maximum holding of any
given corporation in the Open Market may not exceed 50% and shares in the Open
Market earn dividend income for the corporation, not the unsold shares as in
1870.

Privates:  As in most 18xx games, tiles may not be laid in hexes containing
private companies until they have been sold to corporations.  In a manner
similar to the C&SL in 1830, a corporation owning a private may lay an extra
tile without paying any associated cost in hexes containing private companies
that they own.  The owning corporation does not even have to connect to the tile
that can be played at no cost in the private company's hex.  This can allow a
player to lay more tiles in a turn than the normal limitation.

Player money is open and must be disclosed if requested.  Corporation money may
be kept secret if the President wishes as in 1870.  Remaining money in the bank
can be briefly examined by counting the $500 and $100 bills only.  Players
should not unduly slow down the game by constantly examining cash reserves.

The stock value does not go over and down if it is sold out at the end of a
stock round as in 1870.  Instead, it behaves as in 1830 in that stock value
remains in the top row when it is sold out at the end of a stock round.


Special Rules:

The L&N floats with 100% capitalization regardless of how many shares are sold
in the initial offering, just like the Frisco in 1870.  The president sets the
par value after the president's share is purchased.

The Civil War:  The American Civil War occurs after the third three train is
bought.  Beginning immediately after the third three train is bought, each
corporation, including the one which triggered the civil war, will lose the
income from one of its trains during its next operating round.  For example, if
a corporation had a two train and a three train after the civil war is
triggered, one of its trains (presumably the two) would simply run for zero
income next operating round.  If an effected corporation has no trains when the
civil war is triggered or has no route, there is no practical effect.  Even if a
corporation has only one train which has to run for zero income, it is still
entitled to move forward on the stock chart.  If for some reason, an effected
corporation wants to move backward and only had one train, it could simply
withhold but lose all the income the train earned and move one space to the
left.  It is suggested that some type of chit or marker be used to place on all
railroads effected by the civil war.  As each railroad experiences the effects,
the markers can be removed.

Nashville, Chattanooga, and Memphis are considered "P" hexes, so when brown
tiles are available, the 170 tiles are available for their upgrading as in 1870.
There are special green tiles for Nashville and Chattanooga only.  There is also
a special gray tile with three token slots.  It may be played on either
Chattanooga, Nashville, or Memphis to replace a brown "P" tile anytime after the
first six train has been bought.  All other standard tile laying rules are in
effect such as no tile laying which would extend off the printed map, all
upgrades must preserve existing track connections, etc.  All tiles from the 1870
set are available except the two gray tiles and all yellow and green tiles with
two small cities in them since there are no such cities on the map of 18TN.
However, only one tile can be played per turn like in most 18xx games.

Each railroad corporation may lay two yellow tiles during its first turn of
operation only.

The game ends at the end of the operating round whenever either the bank runs
out of money or a stock value reaches the maximum value.  If the bank runs out
of money, each player will each contribute $500 or more each to the bank as
needed to allow for continued operations until the end of the current operating
round (not set of operating rounds).  Of course, the game can also end due to a
player bankruptcy.  This would happen if the player as president of a
corporation could not pay for a forced train purchase as in other 18xx games.

To further clarify, the 1870 rulebook is being used for now as a guide to basic
mechanics such as the stock market and track building.  A complete rules
document is not available at this time.  Furthermore, rules exclusive to 1870
such as destinations, stock redemption, stock reissue as well as price
protection are not employed in 18TN.  Here is what you need to play 18TN from
the 1870 game:

The money (remember to remove $500 bills to create the correct bank size of
$7500)
The tiles (the two whistle stop tiles are not used, and only three of the brown
P tiles are used)
The train cards (refer to the train list for the exact mix of trains.  Also note
that two trains cost $100 each, not $80 as printed on the train cards).
The seating order chits


Version History:

1.0:    August 1996:  Original map includes Coastal Carolina as a red area to
the east and no Tennessee Central corporation.  The Tennessee Pacific private
was included (it was a predecessor to the Tennessee Central) and the N&W
corporation located in Roanoke Virginia.

1.1     September 1996:  The Tennessee Central corporation replaces the N&W.
The Mississippi River vicinity hexes are raised to $60 building costs.  The
Tennessee Pacific private is replaced by the Oneida and Western private.  A
Cincinnati off map area is added to give more historical routes for both the
Southern and the L&N.  The GM&O start hex is moved to Jackson from St. Louis.
The Jackson hex is changed to a yellow hex to encourage historical track
building.  $60 minor mountain hexes are added to replace some $120 hexes.
Little Rock off map area is added.  Minor fixes to stock certificates are made.
The Cumberland river is added from its mouth upstream to Nashville.

1.2     October 1996:  The Asheville hex and nearby mountain hexes are removed
from the map.  Bristol and Johnson City hexes are moved one row west.  Little
Rock area is moved one hex closer to Memphis.  The Civil War is now triggered
after the third three train is bought.  Other minor map changes are made.

1.3     November 1996:  The stock market chart now allows four par values as
follows:  A110, B90, C70, and D55.  As in the 18GA game now all corporations may
lay two yellow tiles on the first turn of operations only.  This is an exception
to the one tile/turn rule and could allow for a new corporation that buys one or
more privates to lay several tiles at once.  The map has been changed to make
Murfreesboro (the hex SE of Nashville) and Lexington into normal city hexes.
Other minor changes will be added to this section later after further
playtesting.

1.4     December 1996:  The map (ver 1.3) will correspond to these rules
revisions.  TC now has a token to buy.  Bank is further reduced by $500 to
$7500.


New Section - Planned similarities between 18TN and 18GA:  Several special rules
and components are planned to be the same between 18TN and 18GA.  They are:

The number of railroad corporations will be six in both games.
The stock market chart will be identical
The train mix will be identical
The rule where a corporation gets two yellow tile lays on its first turn of
operations
The bank size will be the same
The four par values will be the same.
Certificate limits will be the same.

A number of other basic game concepts such as train limits, ability to sell
privates to corporations, etc., will remain the same.  This is intentional and
is designed to ease transition between games and encourage development of
standard rules between 18xx "lite" games.


Different 18xx rules and how they apply in 18TN (FAQ Section)

Can a railroad corporation choose to pay half dividends?
No

Share redemption as in 1870?
No

Share reissue as in 1870?
No

Sold out railroads move over and down on stock market chart as in 1870?
No

Player money open to other players?
Yes

Railroad treasury open to other players?
No

Exact amount corporation pays for a train disclosed?
Yes

Can privates be sold between players at a mutually agreed price?
Yes

Is 50% the maximum amount of a given railroad in the open market (bank pool)?
Yes

Do unsold shares pay dividends to the corporation as in 1870?
No

Price protection as in 1870?
No

Destination runs as in 1870?
No

Is 60% always the minimum amount needed to float a corporation?
Yes

Do companies ever close?
No

Are obsolete trains always removed immediately?
Yes

Can stations ever be downgraded?
No

Can the game ever end during a stock round?
No