18 Los Angeles
18 Los Angeles Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction
18 Los Angeles uses all of the rules from GMT Games' 1846 game, with the exception of the differences listed in these rules.
18 Los Angeles Game Parts
- Game board.
- Stock Market board.
- 73 Stock certificates.
- 10 Private Company certificates.
- 2 Independent Railroad certificates.
- 2 trains for the Independent Railroads.
- 7 Railroad Company charters.
- 71 wooden tokens with stickers.
- 5 numbered player order cards.
- These rules.
GMT 1846 Components Used
- All of the track tiles.
- All of the train cards; use the correct number of trains according to player count.
- The money.
Setting up the Game
Randomly determine the player order of all of the players and begin the game with the sale of the Private Companies.
Removal of Railroad Companies
Like in 1846, there are fewer Railroad Companies in play at lower player counts. Unlike 1846, no Railroad Companies are removed prior to play. At lower player counts, the players may only start a limited number of Railroad Companies. Once that number has been reached, no further Railroad Companies may be started.
If there are 2, or 3 players, players may only start 5 of the 7 available Railroad Companies. If there are 4 players, only 6 of the 7 available Railroad Companies may be started.
Home Station Placement
For each of the 6 Railroad Companies (not the PER), place their home station token on their home location. Even if a Railroad Company is not started, or cannot be started, its home location is occupied with a station token for the game's duration. The PER does not have a starting location, no PER station token is placed on the map at the start of the game.
Removal of Private Companies
Like in 1846, there are fewer Private Companies in play at lower player counts. Unlike 1846, no Private Companies are removed prior to play. At lower player counts, the players may only purchase a limited number of Private Companies. Once that number has been reached, no further Private Companies may be purchased.
| Number of Players | Number of Private/Independent Companies that can be purchased at game start |
|---|---|
| 2 | 8 |
| 3 | 9 |
| 4 | 10 |
| 5 | 11 |
This number remains true even if playing with the 2 optional Private Companies.
Sale of Private Companies
Including the sale of Independent Railroads.
Lay out all of the available Private Companies and Independent Railroads so that all players can see them.
As an action on their turn, a player may purchase a Private Company at face value from the Open Market. Players take turns using a "snake order": 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3...
When either all of the Private Companies have been purchased or all players consecutively pass, the Sale of Private Companies is ended. Any unsold Private Companies are removed from the game.
The Initial Stock Round will now begin. Reorder the player's order cards per the rules of Determine Priority Deal as described below.
McGuffins
Determination of Priority Deal
Priority Deal is determined at the beginning of each Stock Round, including the Initial Stock Round. The player with the least money goes first, followed by the player with the second least money, and so on. In the case of a tie, the tied players retain their previous relative order.
Freight Trains and Passenger Trains
The N Trains are Passenger Trains and the N/M Trains are Freight Trains. A Passenger Train can run on the same track as a Freight Train, and vice versa. Each Passenger or Freight Train must run on different track than another of its type.
Coast-to-Coast Route Bonuses
A single train may not serve two red off-board areas unless running a north-south (N/S, S/N) route or an east-west (E/W, W/E) route.
Independent Railroads
May lay or upgrade only one railroad track tile per Operating Round.
In each Operating Round, the Gardena Tramway operates first, then the Orange County Railroad, then the Public Companies.
Purchasing an Independent Railroad
When purchasing an Independent Railroad, the railroad may be purchased for up to the face value of the company. The face value of the company includes the debt concept from 1846.
Track into Long Beach
There is track printed in the hexagons entering Long Beach that must be maintained by the yellow tiles being placed in these hexagons.
Public Railroad Companies
East Los Angeles & San Pedro
ELA&SP has a station location, reserved until Phase 4, in Culver City. It may place a station here for $40 if connected, or for $100 if not connected.
Southern Pacific Railroad
SP has a station location, reserved until Phase 4, in Los Angeles. It may place a station here for $40 if connected, or for $60 if not connected.
Los Angeles Railway
LAR has a station location, reserved until Phase 4, in Alhambra. It may place a station here for $40 if connected.
Pacific Electric Railway
PER does not have a home station determined. When the PER is started, the player purchasing the President's Certificate must immediately select a home station location and place a station token in that location. This location cannot be Los Angeles or Long Beach or any reserved location.
Private Railroad Companies
Puente Trolley
Blocks hexagon C10 until owned by a company or closed (or not in the game). The owning company may place a tile in this hexagon at no cost and this is an additional tile placement.
Beverly Hills Carriage
Blocks hexagon B3 until owned by a company or closed (or not in the game). The owning company may place a tile in this hexagon at no cost (this includes possible extra costs for the hexagon sides) and this is an additional tile placement.
Los Angeles Paving
Allows the owning company to place a plain yellow track tile on an unimproved city location, removing that city from the game; all future upgrades must be of plain track. The owning company may place a tile in this hexagon at no cost (this includes possible extra costs for the hexagon sides) and this is an additional tile placement.
This ability may not be used on a pre-printed grey location, Los Angeles, Long Beach, or a location with a reserved station location (this does not include any of the soft-reserved locations for station tokens – they may be paved over). For clarification, the ability may be used on an unimproved "Z" hexagon.
Chino Hills Excavation
Reduces all terrain costs by a total of $20 per tile placed until closed.
Los Angeles Steamship
Allows the owning company to place a steamship token on any of the hexagons marked with a steamship icon. The token provides an additional revenue for the hexagon of $20 per steamship icon. The second token is placed on the company charter of the owning company. Only the owning company can earn this bonus. Follow 1846's placement rules.
Los Angeles Citrus Company
Allows the owning company to place a citrus token on any of the hexagons marked with a citrus icon. The token provides an additional revenue for the hexagon of $30. The second token is placed on the company charter of the owning company. Only the owning company can earn this bonus. Once placed, the cattle token cannot be moved to another hexagon.
United States Mail Contract
Adds $10 per city visited to the revenue earnings of one train per operating round. The visited cities need not be scored by an N/M train to collect mail contract revenue.
Pacific Maritime
Reserves a station token location in Long Beach. Long Beach uses the CHI tile, the reserved station token location is marked "PMC". The station token placed here is an extra station token, not one from the company charter and is free to place. No connection to the station location is required.
Redondo Junction
The owning company may place the "Roundhouse" token into a station token location on any unreserved location. This token acts as a station token for the owning company until Phase 4. Cannot be used in Los Angeles (C6) or Long Beach (E8).
RKO Pictures
The owning company may place the "+20" token on the Hollywood location (B5). This adds $20 to the revenue of any of the owning company's trains serving Hollywood. The token is removed at the start of Phase 4.
Angeles Public Dump
The owning company may place the "Dump" token in any open and unreserved station location and also places the "-20" token on that location. The "Dump" token blocks access through that station location and the "-20" token reduces the revenue of that location by $20. These effects are permanent (they are not removed at the start of Phase 4). Cannot be used in Los Angeles (C6) or Long Beach (E8).
Los Angeles Title
(Optional) Use for a gentler game. Allows the owning company to place the "OPEN" token in any available and unreserved location (no connection needed). This space is always open to all companies and cannot be tokened. Cannot be used in Long Beach (E8).
Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe
(Optional) Use for a gentler game. Allows the owning company to place a station token onto a tile that does not have an available station token location. When the tile upgrades, this station token fills one of any empty locations on the new tile. The station token placed must come from the company charter and costs the normal amount. Cannot be used in Long Beach (E8). Placing this station token follows the normal rules of station token placement, and counts as the player's station token placement.
1846's Monetary Setup
Included here for convenience.
| Players | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank | $7000 | $6500 | $7500 | $9000 |
| Cash | $600 | $400 | $400 | $400 |
Miscellaneous 1846 Rules
- A Public Company may purchase a Private Company from any player, with that player's consent.
- When forced to buy a train and the President must contribute money towards the purchase, the company may purchase either side of the train card (it is not restricted to the less expensive side of the train card).
Intention
18 Los Angeles is intended to be a fast-playing game with tension and competition for track placement and station token placement. The best experience is with five players.
Origins
18 Los Angeles began in January of 2019 as a game submittal for a proposed "train gamers magazine". The game was designed to fit into a magazine format which means an 11"x17" map and some rules. Being potentially costly to provide cardboard components in a magazine, it was decided to base the game on an existing game and allow players to utilize as many of the components from that game as possible.
Given its popularity and wide distribution, 1846 was selected. Besides, don't we have enough 1830 derivative games? The original version of 18 Los Angeles, using the 1846 components, therefore saw the Pennsylvania Railroad in downtown Los Angeles! Private and public companies functioned exactly as they do in 1846, they were just adapted to the 18 Los Angeles map. Of course, 18 Los Angeles always had various McGuffins, like freight and passenger trains.
When the magazine project did not materialize, the components were customized to the Los Angeles location and TraXX released the game in a print-and-play format. The game has sold over 250 copies in that format and more through custom printing by Brennan Sheremento's Seahorse Laser Design. Seahorse produces a version of the game that is friendly to color-impaired players. Additionally, the game has been implemented on Toby Mao's ground-breaking website 18XX.games and has receive much play.