18VA: The Railroads Come to Virginia Rulebook

Table of Contents

1 Introduction
2 Game Phases
3 The Stock Market
- 3.1 Shares, Share Certificates, and Limits on Ownership
- 3.2 Movement of Stock Prices
4 Sequence of Play
5 Ending The Game
6 Designer's Notes
- 6.1 A Note on the Game Currency
- 6.2 A Note on the Other Personalities of the Game

1 Introduction

1.1 Game Components

The game includes a Map; a Stock Market chart; various additional play-aid cards; seven Corporation charters, each associated with nine share certificates representing ten shares; three Private Company cards; train cards, each representing a train; track tiles; markers, mostly representing station tokens; small cards that are used for various administrative or informational functions; and eight thousand dollars ($8,000) in various denominations, which represents the amount of money in the Bank.

1.2 Setting Up The Game

Lay the Map and the Stock Market flat between the players. Place the Round Marker (the white token with the flanged wheel) in the Turn Order space marked "Stock Round". Separate and sort the Corporation charters, share certificates, Private Companies, train cards, track tiles, and tokens. Put the Corporation charters, Private Companies, and the B&O President's Certificate near the play area.

Arrange the trains in a stack, in order from top to bottom, as follows:

Place all the trains in order from top to bottom, with the least costly (2/1G) on top and the most costly (4D) on the bottom.
Place Reminder Card #1 immediately below the topmost 3/2G train.
Place Reminder Card #2 immediately below the topmost 5/4G train.
Place Reminder Card #3 immediately below the topmost 6/5G train.

Place the train stack in the space below the Stock Market marked "Available Trains".

For each Corporation except the B&O:

Place the share certificates marked "Preferred Stock" in the "Treasury" section of the associated Corporation's charter, with the President's Certificate on top.
Place the remaining five unmarked single-share certificates on the space provided on the Map. These shares are initially out of play, and enter play only when the Five-Share Company declares itself a Ten-Share Company.

For the B&O, place all eight single-share certificates in the B&O's Treasury.

Each Corporation except the B&O will now have five shares (the President's Certificate and three single-share certificates, marked "Preferred Stock") in its Treasury: the B&O will have all its shares except for the President's Certificate (eight single-share certificates).

Sort the Bank into denominations and place it near the play area within easy reach of the players. Distribute money to each player as shown below. Place the small card that reflects the appropriate number of players in the game where all can see it. Randomly determine the move order for the Initial Stock Round using the small cards numbered one through five (note that the move order may change after the Private Companies and the President's Certificate of the B&O are sold). Give the Priority Deal card ("The Gun") to the first player, and begin the Initial Stock Round.

Number of Players	2	3	4	5
Initial Cash	$600	$400	$300	$240

1.3 How To Win

Players win by having the highest net worth at the end of the game. Cash on hand and stock shares owned add to net worth. Corporation capital and other Corporation-owned assets, such as trains, neither add to nor subtract from net worth.

1.4 Player Etiquette

Players should attempt to speed play as much as possible. In particular, determining what share to buy or what tile to lay or upgrade is best done during another player's turn.

A player must disclose his current cash and the current capital of any Corporation he controls upon request by another player. Both player cash and Corporation capital should be piled neatly in front of the player (in the case of personal cash) or in the Treasury section of the Corporation Charter. Corporation trains should also be neatly displayed in the train section of the Corporation Charter.

Each player should display his owned Certificates neatly in front of him and must reveal his holdings in a Corporation on demand.

Corporate transactions are public knowledge, whether conducted between a Corporation and the Bank, a Corporation and a player, or two Corporations.

Players may engage in public, oral discussions and enter into public, oral agreements. Such discussions should be reasonably brief in order to speed play. Performance is not enforceable except by moral suasion: a player who has performed an action under such an agreement in the anticipation of future action by his partner has no other recourse if his partner reneges on the agreement. Secret discussions or agreements, whether oral or written, are prohibited.

2 Game Phases

18VA proceeds through a series of Phases, which affect which tiles may be played, which trains are available to be bought or scrapped, how many trains Corporations may own, and the status of Private Companies. Each Phase lasts until the Triggering Event for the next Phase.

Phase	Triggering Event	Train Limit (10/5-Share)	Tiles Available	Operating Rounds	Trains Available	Trains Scrapped / Other Events	Off-Map Value
2	At Start	4/2	Yellow	1	6 x 2/1G	-	First
3	Purchase of first 3/2G train	4/2	Green	2	5 x 3/2G	Corporations may buy Private Companies. Five-Share Companies may convert.	First
4	Purchase of first 4/3G train	3/1	-	2	4 x 4/3G	2/1G trains scrapped	First
5	Purchase of first 5/4G train	2/-	Brown	3	3 x 5/4G	3/2G trains scrapped. Five-Share Companies must convert.	Second
6	Purchase of first 6/5G train	2/-	-	3	2 x 6/5G	4D trains available.	Second
4D	Purchase of first 4D train	2/-	Gray	3	10 x 4D	4/3G trains scrapped	Second

3 The Stock Market

The Stock Market shows the current value of each Corporation's stock. The values shown are the amount represented by a single share certificate. The highlighted spaces represent the possible Starting Values for new Corporations: $70, $75, $82, $90 and $100.

There are important distinctions between shares and share Certificates. A single share of a Corporation is equivalent to ten percent of a Corporation for Ten-Share Companies and twenty percent of a Corporation for Five-Share Companies. The President's Certificate represents twenty percent of a Corporation for Ten-Share Companies and forty percent of a Corporation for Five-Share Companies. For the purposes of share ownership in a Corporation, only the percentage of ownership as represented by shares is relevant: for the purposes of Certificate limits, only the number of Certificates held is relevant.

Each Private Company is considered a Certificate. Players are limited to owning Certificates (not shares) in accordance with the following table:

Number of Players	2	3	4	5
Certificate Limit	27	18	13	10

Players are limited to owning sixty percent (60%) of a Corporation's stock. For Ten-Share Companies, this means the player is limited to the President's Certificate and up to four single-share certificates; for Five-Share Companies, the player is limited to the President's Certificate and at most one single-share certificate. (Two-player note) As an optional rule in the two-player game only, allow up to seventy percent (70%) ownership in each Corporation.

A player may not sell a share of stock if the sale would have the result of putting more than fifty percent (50%) of that Corporation's stock in the Pool. In particular, a Five-Share Company may never have more than two shares (40%) in the Pool. If, as a result of converting to a Ten-Share Company, fifty percent (50%) or more of a company's stock is in the Pool, no player may sell stock in the company until the Pool's holding has been reduced to less than fifty percent (50%). A Corporation's Treasury may hold up to eighty percent (80%) of its stock.

A President's Certificate may never be sold, and consequently may never enter the Pool. It may, however, be transferred to another player as a result of stock sales. A player who owns a President's Certificate may only sell sufficient shares to transfer it if another player (not the Pool or the Corporation's Treasury) owns at least two shares. All adjustments in share holdings are made concurrently: hence, a player who owns a President's Certificate may always sell a number of shares sufficient to transfer the President's Certificate while leaving himself with exactly one share, provided the sale is otherwise legal.

3.2 Movement of Stock Prices

Share prices move as a result of several factors. These are described below:

If a player sells one or more shares during a single Turn of the Stock Round, the share price of the Corporation moves down one row in price for every share sold.
If, at the conclusion of the Stock Round, all of a Corporation's shares are owned by players, the share price of the Corporation moves up one row, unless already on the top row. Five-Share Companies do not move up under this rule as five of their shares are held out of play.
If a Corporation Operates and withholds its earnings or its earnings are zero, its share price is moved one column to the left.
If a Corporation Operates and declares a Dividend (total, not per share) which is equal to or greater than the current share price of the Corporation, its share price moves one column to the right.

If a share price should be moved left or right but cannot do so because it is at the end of a row, it is moved down or up respectively, following the arrow. If a share price should be moved up but is on the top row, it does not move, and retains its relative position in a stack of tokens. If a share price should be moved down but there is insufficient room for the full drop, it is moved to the bottom row in its column; if it is already on the bottom row, it does not move, and retains its relative position in a stack of tokens.

If a Corporation's token must be placed in a space which one or more other Corporations' tokens already occupy, it is placed at the bottom of the stack of tokens. This is true of Starting Value token placement as well as token movement for the reasons described above.

If a Corporation Operates and declares a Dividend which is less than the current market value of the Corporation shown on the Stock Chart, its share price remains unchanged, and it retains its relative position in a stack of tokens.

4 Sequence of Play

4.1 Initial Stock Round

The Initial Stock Round differs from subsequent Stock Rounds in that the Private Companies and the President's Certificate of the B&O may be bought from the Bank, and, indeed, must all be bought before any other stock may be purchased. In addition, the player order is re-evaluated and may change once these items have all been sold. Prior to the Initial Stock Round, the Private Companies are placed on or near the map, along with the President's Certificate of the B&O Railroad.

Starting with the player who has the Priority Deal card, each player may bid on any of the items on offer or he may pass.

Bidding is done in multiples of $5, starting at the face value of the item, and each subsequent bid must be at least $5 greater than the last bid. A player may make an initial bid greater than the face value of an item, and he may bid more than $5 above the previous bids, but all bids must be multiples of $5. For the purposes of this rule, the "face value" of the B&O Presidency is $140.

A player may never bid more in total than his remaining cash. When a player bids, he must set aside an amount of his cash equal to the value of his bid: he may not make bids which would exceed his remaining cash. However, if a player is outbid by another, the money set aside by the earlier player may be reused for other purchases or bids: only the player with the current high bid on each item must keep the funds for his bid set aside.

Players continue to bid until all have passed consecutively (note that this round of passes does not end the stock round). The Priority Deal card is given to the player who initiated the round of passes. If all items have bids, each item is sold to the high bidder at the price he bid.

If any items have not been bid on, the face value of each is reduced by $10 for the purposes of the auction. The auction then continues. If all players consecutively pass again, whether immediately or later, the face value of each unbid item is again reduced by $10. If any item's face value becomes zero, the player with the Priority Deal card must bid at least $0 for that item on his next turn. The auction now continues normally, with players having the opportunity to make bids on any item, until all items have bids and there has been a complete round of consecutive passes.

The player who bought the B&O Presidency sets the Starting Value of the B&O, takes twice this amount from the Bank (not the amount he paid to the Bank), and places it in the B&O Treasury.

Once the Starting Value of the B&O is set, each player reveals his remaining cash: the Priority Deal card is given to the player who has the most cash, and the order of the other players is determined in decreasing order of their cash (in the event of a tie, the relative order of the tied players remains unchanged). This is a one-time change: from this point forward, the relative player order remains fixed.

Once the new move order has been determined, players continue with the Initial Stock Round, and may buy stock in accordance with the normal rules, starting with the current holder of the Priority Deal card.

4.2 Private Companies

Private Companies represent various corporations pertinent to railroading in Virginia and Maryland. Private Companies enter play when players buy them from the Bank during the Initial Stock Round. Once bought, Private Companies remain in the possession of the buying player until the end of the game, unless bought by a Corporation. Starting in Phase 3, Corporations may buy Private Companies from players for an agreed-to price ranging from 50 percent to 150 percent of the printed face value of the Private Company. If a Private Company is bought from a player in this way, it remains in the possession of the buying Corporation until the end of the game, or until the Corporation exercises the Private Company's special power. Once a Corporation exercises a Private Company's special power, the Private Company is discarded and plays no further role in the game.

Private Companies provide revenue to the owning player or Corporation. Once bought by a Corporation, Private Companies also provide special powers that are described below. The Corporation that owns the Private Company may exercise these special powers during the appropriate phase of the Corporation's turn in the Operating Round. A Private Company closes as soon as its special power is exercised: however, unlike in other games, a Private Company whose special power is not used remains open — and provides revenue to its owner — until the end of the game.

The chart below summarizes the Private Companies:

Company	Face Value	Revenue	Min Price	Max Price	Special Power
Railway Express Agency	$40	$10	$20	$60	Add +10 to any City for the owning Corporation (1)
Tredegar Iron Works	$60	$15	$30	$90	Deduct $200 from the cost of any new train (2)
Potomac Yards	$80	$20	$40	$120	Free extra station token (3) OR +1 to Train Limit (4)

The Private Company allows a Corporation to increase the value of any one City (not Off-Map Area) by $10, for that Corporation only. Two "+10" tokens are provided to indicate this: one for the City and one for the owning Corporation. The Private Company closes when the power is exercised. The +10 tokens are permanent.
The Private Company allows a Corporation to deduct $200 from the cost of purchasing a new train from the Bank (not the Pool). In effect, the Corporation President may use the Private Company to "pay" $200 that would ordinarily be paid from the Corporation Treasury. The Private Company closes when the power is exercised.
The Private Company allows a Corporation to place an extra station token in any hex (including Off-Map Cities, Port Cities, and CMDs) that already contains a City circle. This token is in addition to the tokens allocated to the Corporation. The additional token is not placed in a City circle, but is placed to one side of the tile: it does not block passage, nor does it occupy a City circle. However, it functions in all ways as a normal token. The owning Corporation need not be connected to the tile in which the token is placed, or to be able to trace a legal route there. Two tokens are provided to indicate this: one should be placed on the Map, on the appropriate City tile, and the other should be placed on the owning Corporation's charter. The Private Company closes when the power is exercised, and the "+1 Train Limit" token is discarded. The extra station token is permanent.
The Private Company allows a Corporation to increase its Train Limit by one permanently. A "+1 Train Limit" token is provided to indicate this. The special power is exercised in the owning Corporation's train-buying phase. The Private Company closes when the special power is exercised, and the tokens are discarded. The "+1 Train Limit" token is permanent.

Starting in Phase 3, Corporations may buy Private Companies from players, with their consent. The amount paid must be at least 50 percent, and no more than 150 percent, of the Private Company's face value, as shown above. A Corporation owning a Private Company may exercise its special power during the appropriate phase of the Corporation's Operating Round. Exercising the special power closes the Private Company: however, unlike in other games, a Private Company whose special power is not used remains open — and provides revenue to its owner — until the end of the game.

4.3 Stock Round

During a Stock Round, players may sell and then buy stock. The player with the Priority Deal card takes the first turn. Turns proceed in accordance with the move order determined during the Initial Stock Round (this is also referred to as "Stock Round order") until all players have consecutively passed. The Priority Deal card is then given to the next player in order after the last player who bought or sold a share, the prices of Corporations are adjusted, and a new set of Operating Rounds begins.

4.3.1 Selling Stock

During each of his turns in the Stock Round, a player may sell as many shares of stock as he wishes, subject to the limitations on Pool holding. However, stock of Corporations that have not completed a full turn in an Operating Round may not be sold. Once a player has sold stock of a particular Corporation, he may not buy stock in that Corporation for the remainder of the current Stock Round. Players may sell shares of different Corporations in any order they choose.

Stock is sold into the Pool at the current market value shown on the Stock Market. When selling more than one share of stock in a single Corporation, the value received from the Bank is the same for all shares sold. The share price of the sold Corporation moves down a number of rows equal to the total number of shares of that Corporation sold, or to the bottom row in its column, whichever is less. Players may not choose to sell multiple shares of a single Corporation's stock as multiple transactions in the same turn of a Stock Round.

4.3.2 Buying Stock

After selling all the shares he wishes to sell, a player may then buy one Certificate. He may buy any certificate available in a Corporation's Treasury, or in the Pool, subject to Corporation share limits and Certificate limits. Once a player has bought stock, he may not sell any more stock that turn. Stock purchased is bought at current market value, whether purchased from the Pool or from a Corporation's Treasury. When stock is bought from the Pool, the money is paid to the Bank. When stock is bought from a Corporation's Treasury, the money is paid to the Corporation Treasury.

When a Corporation's stock is purchased for the first time, the President's Certificate must be the first Certificate purchased. A player may never purchase a certificate that would cause him to exceed either his total Certificate Limit (even momentarily, pending a change of Presidency) or the 60% holding limit in an individual Corporation. Otherwise, there are no restrictions on stock purchases from the Pool or from a Corporation's Treasury.

4.3.3 Starting A Corporation

When a player buys a President's Certificate, he declares the Starting Value of the stock, placing a token in the appropriate Starting Value (highlighted) space on the Stock Market below any other tokens in that space. He then pays twice the Starting Value to the Corporation's Treasury (except for the B&O, which always receives twice the Starting Value from the Bank even if the player paid a different amount in the Initial Stock Round).

4.3.4 Ending the Stock Round

Once the Stock Round has been ended by a complete set of passes, the Priority Deal card is given to the player who initiated the final round of passes, the share prices of Corporations are adjusted, and the next Operating Round begins.

4.4 Formation of Corporations

With the exception of the B&O, all the Corporations in the game which start prior to Phase 5 start as Five-Share Companies. The B&O always starts as a Ten-Share Company. Any of the remaining six Corporations that start prior to Phase 5 will eventually be converted to Ten-Share Companies by issuing five additional shares of stock. Any Corporation that starts after the beginning of Phase 5 starts as a Ten-Share Company.

Ten-Share Companies have ten shares available: the President's Certificate, worth twenty percent of the Corporation and eight shares in single certificates, each worth ten percent of the Corporation. Five-Share Companies have five shares (labeled "Preferred Stock") available: the President's Certificate, worth forty percent of the Corporation and three shares in single certificates, each worth twenty percent of the Corporation.

The player declares which Corporation he will start, sets the Starting Value of the Corporation on the Stock Market, and buys the President's Certificate from the Corporation's Treasury for twice the Starting Value. This starts the Corporation: no additional stock need be purchased, and the Corporation operates normally in the ensuing Operating Round (thus, the B&O is started in the Initial Stock Round as soon as its Presidency is purchased). The Corporation Charter and an appropriate number of station tokens (two if a Five-Share Company and four if a Ten-Share Company) are given to the Corporation President. The President then places the Corporation's base token in the appropriate home station hex.

When buying stock from a Five-Share Company, the five shares of Preferred Stock are bought by paying the money directly into the Corporation's Treasury. However, when a player buys the sixth share of a Ten-Share Company, the Corporation receives a total of five times the Current Market Value (this represents the chartering state underwriting the balance of the stock offering). The remaining four shares are placed in the Pool (for the purposes of this rule, the Pool may hold more than fifty percent of a company's stock), and may be bought normally by paying their Current Market Value to the Bank. It follows from this that a Five-Share Company will always be incrementally funded.

The Corporations that may enter play are as follows:

Corporation	Abbreviation	Company Type	Home Station
Baltimore & Ohio	B&O	Ten-Share	Baltimore
Chesapeake & Ohio	C&O	Five-Share	Charlottesville
Norfolk & Western	N&W	Five-Share	Petersburg
Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac	RF&P	Five-Share	Fredericksburg
Southern Railway	SR	Five-Share	Richmond
Virginian	VGN	Five-Share	Lynchburg
Western Maryland	WM	Five-Share	Cumberland

4.4.1 New Corporations after Phase 5

Any Corporations that have not been started prior to Phase 5 begin as Ten-Share Companies, with ten shares and four station tokens. To indicate this, the five shares previously set aside should be inserted at the bottom of the stock shares already in the Corporation Treasury (i.e., below the five shares of Preferred Stock). The Bank still underwrites the last forty percent of the stock as described above.

4.4.2 Change in Presidency

The President of a Corporation is the player who owns the most shares of the Corporation. If two or more players are tied for most owned shares, the player who currently owns the President's Certificate is the President.

If at any time the President owns fewer shares than another player does, he must exchange the President's Certificate for two single share certificates owned by the other player. The new President receives the Corporation charter and all assets of the Corporation. If two or more players are eligible to become President and have an equal number of shares, the player whose turn is the earliest using Stock Round rules after the current President becomes the new President.

4.5 Operating Round

Each Operating Round begins with revenue collection from open Private Companies. This revenue is paid to the owner of the Private Company, whether a player or a Corporation. After all revenues from Private Companies have been paid, each Corporation that has started operates in descending order of their Stock Market position. Corporations whose stock tokens are at the same price but in different spaces of the Stock Market operate in order from rightmost to leftmost. Corporations whose stock tokens are stacked in a single space on the Stock Market operate in order from top to bottom. The operating order is determined dynamically: that is, after a Corporation has operated, the next Corporation is the one which has not operated this round and whose price is then highest (furthest right, on top).

A Corporation's operating round includes all of the actions described below, although some of these actions are optional.

Each Corporation operates once during each Operating Round. When all Corporations have operated, players begin a new Operating Round or a new Stock Round, depending on the Game Phase and the number of Operating Rounds already conducted.

Corporations must conduct their operations in strict conformance to the order described below. The special powers may be exercised during the appropriate phase of the operating Corporation's turn.

Once Phase 3 has begun, a Five-Share Company may be converted to a Ten-Share Company at the beginning of the Corporation's turn in the Operating Round. To convert a Corporation, the player takes the five shares that were previously set aside, and transfers them to his Corporation's Treasury. He also adds two $100 station tokens to the "Tokens" section of the Corporation's charter.

Once Phase 5 has begun, all remaining Five-Share Companies are immediately converted to Ten-Share Companies, even if they have previously operated in the current Operating Round.

4.5.2 Lay or Upgrade Track

Each Corporation may place one yellow tile or upgrade one tile.

4.5.2.1 Tile Placement and Tile Upgrades

Players lay track by placing tiles on the map or upgrading previously placed tiles. At first, only yellow tiles may be placed. Starting in Phase 3, Corporations may upgrade yellow tiles to green tiles. Starting in Phase 5, Corporations may upgrade green tiles to brown tiles. Starting in Phase 4D, Corporations may upgrade brown tiles to grey tiles (but there are only two of those).

Each turn, each Corporation may place one yellow tile or upgrade one tile. Tiles must always be upgraded progressively: a yellow tile must be upgraded to a green tile before it can be upgraded to a brown tile. It is possible for a yellow tile to be blocked from being upgraded to a brown tile because of the lack of the intervening green tile upgrade.

The general rule for both tile placement and tile upgrade is that the new track created must extend a legal route of any length for the operating Corporation. In the case of City tiles, the upgrade must extend or increase the earnings of a legal route for the operating Corporation. If a Corporation has no route at all, its first tile placement must be a yellow City tile on its home station.

Once placed, a tile becomes part of the Map and is only removed if it is upgraded to another tile. In addition, the following restrictions apply:

Tiles may not be placed or upgraded in such a fashion as to cause any new track to run to a prohibited hex. A prohibited hex is defined as any impassable (dark green) hex; any ocean (dark blue) hex; any Port (light blue) hex not marked with the Port symbol; any estuary (dark blue) hexside; or any blank hexside of a red Off-Map Area hex.
Tiles may not be placed or upgraded in such a fashion as to preclude any Corporation that has not yet operated from creating a legal route on which it could score revenue using currently available tiles and upgrades.

Certain hexes, marked with a Mine symbol or City symbol, or with a letter, may only have certain tiles placed on them. The tiles placed on such hexes may then only be upgraded to certain other tiles. No other tiles than those specified may be used to upgrade these hexes. The specified tiles may not be used to upgrade any other hexes.

Mapboard hex type	Yellow Tiles Allowed	Green Tiles Allowed	Brown Tiles Allowed
Mine	#4 or #58	#141, #142, #143 or #144	-
City	#5, #6, or #57	#14 or #15	#63
City with "P"	#5, #6, or #57	#14 or #15	#170 (1)(2)

Richmond may be upgraded to a #171 tile in Phase 4D.
Washington may be upgraded to a #172 tile in Phase 4D.

Upgraded tiles must maintain all connections and track existing prior to the upgrade. The old tile is removed from the map and may subsequently be used again.

4.5.3 Additional Token Placement

A Corporation may place an additional station token, if it has one available, in any open City circle to which it has a legal route, on a hex in which it does not already have a station token. A City circle is defined as a white circular space on either a City tile or in an Off-Map Area. A Corporation may place a station token in any such City circle, either on-map or in an Off-Map Area, regardless of what sorts of trains it owns (including none).

The cost of such a token placement is $40 for the first such token placed after the base station token, and $100 for each subsequent station token (only Ten-Share Companies have $100 tokens). The Corporation must immediately pay the requisite amount from its Treasury. The Railway Express Agency and Potomac Yards station token powers, if used, must be used in this phase: however, the markers placed in accordance with the Private Company special powers are in addition to any normal token placement.

A Corporation may only place a station token in the base City of another Corporation (1) if the Corporation has already formed and placed its station marker, or (2) if after doing so, a City circle is left open for the unopened Corporation. This means that a Corporation may never lay one of its own station tokens in the base City of another Corporation while the tile there is still yellow: it may, however, place the Potomac Yards station token there, since it does not occupy a City circle.

4.5.4 Off-Map Areas

There are several different types of Off-Map Areas, and they are treated somewhat differently.

4.5.4.1 Off-Map Cities

The red areas marked with arrows and empty City circles (Philadelphia, Rocky Mount and Greensboro) are Off-Map Cities. They are treated as if they were normal Cities, except that they must be at one end of a route.

If the Corporation has a station token in the Off-Map City, the Off-Map City scores double its printed value.

4.5.4.2 Ports

The white arrows marked with the Port symbol (adjacent to Baltimore, Annapolis, Norfolk and Newport News) represent the major dockyards and loading areas associated with the nearby ports. Ports must be at one end of a legal route, although they do not count as a City against the Train Number. Ports are not considered separate from the associated City: a route consisting solely of a Port City and the adjacent Port is not a legal route.

If the Corporation has a station token in the Port, the value of the City is increased by the Port bonus shown as a "+" amount. Additionally, if the Corporation has a station token in the Port, and is running a Freight Train (1G, 2G, 3G, 4G or 5G) to the Port, the total value of the City, including the Port bonus, is doubled.

4.5.4.3 Coal Mining Districts (CMDs)

The red areas marked with the Mining symbol are Coal Mining Districts (CMDs). They represent large areas of coal exploitation in the off-map regions of Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee. Passenger Trains (2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 4D) can never run to a CMD: only a Freight Train (1G, 2G, 3G, 4G or 5G) can run to a CMD, and the CMD does not count as a City against the Train Number.

If the Corporation does not have a station token in the CMD, the Freight Train adds the amount shown in the table below and on the map (i.e., $20 multiplied by the Freight Train number), to its normal revenue.

If the Corporation has a station token in the CMD, the Freight Train adds the amount shown in the table below and on the map (i.e., $20 multiplied by the Freight Train number) to its normal revenue, and adds the same amount to the Corporation Treasury. Earnings from the CMD are paid from the Bank to the Corporation Treasury during the Corporation's Dividend Payment phase. This Corporation Treasury revenue stops after Phase 4D begins.

The following table summarizes the CMD revenue for Freight Trains:

Train Type	1G	2G	3G	4G	5G
Yellow/Green	$20	$40	$60	-	-
Brown	-	-	$60	$80	$100
Grey	-	-	-	$80	$100

Note that these amounts are also paid to the Corporation Treasury if the Corporation has a station token in the CMD. This revenue is no longer paid once Phase 4D begins.

4.5.5 Train Operation and Earnings Calculation

A Corporation that owns one or more trains now operates them and calculates the resulting earnings. A Corporation must calculate the maximum possible earnings using all its trains (not necessarily the maximum possible dividend for any particular train if more than one train is owned). Earnings are calculated as follows:

Each train must operate on a legal route. A legal route consists of a continuous unbranched length of track, including on it a City containing the Corporation's station token (not necessarily at the beginning or end of the route). In order to score revenue, the route must also contain one or more other Cities (which may contain additional station tokens of the Corporation), or (if a Freight Train) Mines or a CMD.
The maximum number of Cities (including Off-Map Cities) that may be included in the route is the train number. Mines, CMDs, and Ports do not count against the train number. A Freight Train (1G, 2G, 3G, 4G or 5G) always has a train number one less than the corresponding Passenger Train (2, 3, 4, 5 or 6), but may also run to a CMD, and counts the revenue value of Mines.
All Cities, Mines and Off-Map Areas included in the route count for revenue, except that Passenger Trains (2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 4D) may not run to a CMD, and ignore the revenue value of Mines. Notably, this means that a Passenger Train route that includes no tokens other than one in a CMD is not a legal route: however, a Passenger Train route whose sole token is in an Off-Map City is legal.
If a train runs to an Off-Map Area, it must be at one end of the train's route. A train may both begin and end a route at Off-Map Areas, provided the route is otherwise legal: however, no more than one of each type of Off-Map Area (City, Port, or CMD) may be included in a route. Thus a train may be run from a CMD to a Port, from a CMD to an Off-Map City, or from an Off-Map City to a Port, but not from a Port to another Port or an Off-Map City to another Off-Map City: running from a CMD to another CMD is also prohibited (no carrying coals to Newcastle!).
Although a train must trace a legal route to the Port arrow in order to receive the Port bonus, the arrow is not considered a separate City, but merely adds its value to the adjacent City: a train may not run a route consisting solely of a Port arrow and the associated City.
A train may not use any track segment more than once. The junction at the middle of a green or brown plain track tile is not considered part of any track segment.
A train may not run more than once to the same City or Mine.
A train may run to, but not through, a City that is completely filled with other Corporations' station tokens. In particular, a train does not receive a Port bonus if all the City circles of the Port City are occupied by hostile tokens.
Trains may not use track used by any of the Corporation's other trains in the same Operating Round, except for junctions. Trains may, however, run to or through the same Cities, provided they do not reuse any track used by the other train.
The route value is equal to the sum of the values of all Cities, Mines, and Off-Map Areas included in the route. For 4D Trains only, the sum of the (up to four) Cities included in the run is doubled, after all other adjustments (i.e., for station tokens in Off-Map Cities or Port Cities, and for the Railway Express Agency Token) have been applied.

The Corporation earnings are equal to the sum of the value of all the Corporation's train routes. The Corporation earnings per share are one-tenth of the Corporation earnings for a Ten-Share Company and one-fifth of the Corporation earnings for a Five-Share Company.

4.5.6 Dividend Payment

A Corporation may pay out or withhold its Dividend. If the Corporation pays out its dividend, the Bank pays each player the earnings per share, multiplied by the number of shares owned by the player. Shares in the Corporation Treasury do not pay dividends. Shares in the Pool pay dividends to the Corporation. If the Corporation withholds its Dividend, the Bank pays the entire Corporation earnings to the Corporation Treasury. The Bank also pays any earnings due the Corporation from routes including a CMD at this time.

The Corporation's Current Market Value token is adjusted, if necessary, following the rules in section 3.2, Movement of Stock Prices.

4.5.8 Train Purchase

If the Corporation has fewer trains than the current Train Limit, it may purchase a train from the Bank, from the Pool, or from another Corporation. To purchase a train from the Bank or the Pool, it must pay the purchase price of the available train it wishes to buy to the Bank from its Treasury.

If the purchase of a train causes a phase change, any required actions are taken, after which the operating Corporation may purchase additional trains, up to the current Train Limit. If the Phase change includes a reduction in the Train Limit, all Corporations, including the one operating, must discard any trains in excess of the Train Limit to the Pool. The President decides which trains to discard. Discarded trains are placed in the Pool and may be purchased by other companies (indeed, under a mandatory train purchase, they may be required to be purchased).

To purchase a train from another Corporation, it must pay the other Corporation a mutually agreed price, which may be as little as $1.

Trains are purchased from the Bank in the order they appear at the top of the train stack. At the beginning of the game, the next train available is a 2/1G train. When a Corporation buys a new train, it must purchase the topmost train in the train stack. No more than one train of the current type may be bought from the Bank in an Operating Round: if there are additional trains remaining of the current type, the Corporation may not buy any additional trains from the Bank until the next Operating Round. However, if the next train available from the Bank is of a new type, the Corporation may buy that train also. Thus, a Corporation may buy at most two trains from the Bank in an Operating Round: the last train of the current type and the first train of the next type. Other than the Train Limit, there are no restrictions on buying trains from the Pool or from other Corporations.

Once the first 6/5G train has been bought, this rule is no longer in effect: 4D trains become immediately available (concurrently with the second 6/5G train). Thus — in theory — a Corporation could purchase the last 5/4G, the first 6/5G, and the first 4D.

If a new type of train is purchased, a new phase begins and any adjustments pertinent to that new phase come into effect immediately after the new train is bought. Note that "type" refers to trains regardless of their passenger or Freight designation: a 2 train and a 1G train are considered of the same type. The Tredegar Iron Works power, if used, must be used in this phase. The Potomac Yards "+1 Train Limit" special power, if used, must be used in this phase.

For the purposes of this rule, the following Trains are considered equivalent:

Total Number Available	6	5	4	3	2	10
Passenger Train	2	3	4	5	6	4D
Freight Train	1G	2G	3G	4G	5G	-
Cost Apiece	$100	$200	$300	$500	$600	$800
Trains Made Obsolete	-	-	2/1G	3/2G	-	4/3G

When a train is purchased, the Corporation President must declare whether it is a Passenger Train or a Freight Train. This declaration is immediate and irrevocable, unless the train is subsequently discarded to the Pool. Trains that are discarded to the Pool revert to their undifferentiated state and — if subsequently bought from the Pool — must again be declared to be either Passenger or Freight by their new owner.

Passenger trains may travel to Cities (including Off-Map Cities) and Ports: they may never travel to CMDs, and they ignore Mines (although they may travel through them).
Freight Trains may travel to any hex or Off-Map Area and count each such hex or Off-Map Area for revenue: however, a Freight Train may never include more than one CMD in its route. Note that although they gain revenue from traveling to a CMD or mine, Freight Trains with a train number of 2G or more are not actually required to do so: a Freight Train with a train number of 2G or more may execute a legal route consisting entirely of Cities. However, a 1G must include a CMD or mine in its route.

4.6 Mandatory Train Purchase

Each Corporation must own a train at the end of its turn in the current Operating Round whether or not it has a legal run. If it has sufficient funds in its Treasury, it may buy any train or trains that are available from the Bank or the Pool, subject to the limitations above. If a Corporation must buy a train and has insufficient funds to buy a more expensive train from the Bank, but sufficient funds to buy a less expensive train from the Pool, it must do so.

4.6.1 Train Purchases from Other Corporations

As an alternative, the President may purchase a train from another Corporation, at a mutually agreed price as little as $1, and up to all its remaining cash. If the Corporation purchasing the train has no money at all, the President may use his cash on hand to make the purchase, paying the other Corporation up to the face value of the train to be purchased. However, he may not sell stock to raise additional cash: the maximum he may contribute is the actual cash on hand he has at the moment of purchase.

4.6.2 Emergency Money Raising

If a Corporation does not have sufficient funds to buy a train from the Bank or the Pool, the Corporation President must make up the difference from his own cash to allow the Corporation to buy the least expensive train available, from the Bank or Pool. The Tredegar Iron Works may be used, but its use is not mandatory. If he has insufficient cash on hand, he must sell sufficient stock to raise the difference. The President may sell any stock he wishes to raise the required amount, subject to the normal limitations on stock sales. Since stock in Corporations that have not completed a full turn in an Operating Round may never be sold, the President may be prohibited from selling stock in the operating Corporation, or in any other Corporation that has not yet operated for the first time. The President may not sell sufficient stock in the operating Corporation to cause a change in presidency. He may, however, cause a change in presidency of any other Corporation.

4.6.3 Bankruptcy

If, after selling all the stock he is legally permitted to sell, the President cannot raise sufficient cash to buy a train, he is bankrupt. His remaining stock holdings are placed in the Pool (for the purposes of this rule, the Pool may contain more than fifty percent of a Corporation, and the share price remains unaffected), any Private Companies he owns are discarded, and he is eliminated from the game. The Presidency of any of his controlled Corporations is transferred to the next eligible player. If no such player exists (i.e., if no player holds two shares of one of the affected Corporations), the Corporation is closed and all its shares are removed without compensation. Its station tokens are removed from the map and any trains it owns are placed in the Pool and become available for purchase. Any Private Companies owned by the Corporation are discarded. Any special power tokens are removed from both the Corporation and (where applicable) the map and discarded as well. The Corporation's shares are returned to the Corporation Treasury, and it may subsequently reenter play as a new Corporation.

If the Presidency of the Corporation for which the bankrupt player was buying a train is transferred in this manner, its Treasury will contain the total amount raised by the now bankrupt President during his Emergency Money Raising. The new President must complete the Emergency Money Raising using his own resources and buy a train for the Corporation.

5 Ending The Game

The game normally ends after the end of the last Operating Round of the set of Operating Rounds in which the Bank runs out of money. If the Bank runs out of money during a Stock Round, the game ends after a further complete set of Operating Rounds. Players and Corporations continue to receive all revenues earned during the final set of Operating Rounds: if necessary, players may use monies from another source or record the amounts on paper. At the conclusion of the final Operating Round, players calculate their net worth as follows:

Calculate the total value of all shares of stock held by multiplying the final market value by the number of shares held.
Add the Face Value of any Private Companies still owned by the player (not those owned by Corporations or closed).
Add total cash on hand.
Ignore all assets (cash and trains) owned by Corporations, as they make no contribution to a player's net worth.

The total is the player's net worth. The player with the highest net worth wins the game.

If all players but one have gone bankrupt, the game ends immediately, with the sole surviving player being declared the winner.

6 Designer's Notes

18VA represents an attempt at a small, quick game, in the style (and in the format) of Mark Derrick's popular 18GA and 18AL games. Indeed many of the "small game" mechanics originated by Mark have been shamelessly stolen and incorporated into 18VA, imitation being the sincerest form of flattery. The design must only be considered a partial success, as it is no longer a "quick" game but a "medium-length" game.

Railroad history in Virginia, as elsewhere in the South, must take cognizance of the single most important event (or series of events) to affect them: the American Civil War. Prior to the American Civil War, Virginia's railroads, as elsewhere in the South, formed a patchwork of small and poorly integrated companies. With major destruction being visited upon them by both sides, little was left of the pre-American Civil War network, and that little was in ruins, the owners bankrupt. The railroads shown in the game represent the consolidation of these pre-American Civil War roads. With the exception of the B&O, which began operations in 1830 between West Baltimore and Ellicott City, the railroads shown in the game effectively did not begin operations until the immediate post-American Civil War period.

The C&O was incorporated in 1867; the N&W was reorganized in 1881 from the bankrupt AM&O, which had been formed in 1868 and incorporated in 1870; the Southern was reorganized in 1894 from the bankrupt Richmond & Danville, itself a consolidation of pre-American Civil War lines formed in 1872; the Virginian was not incorporated until 1904. Only the RF&P, chartered in 1834, maintained full corporate continuity from the pre-American Civil War period to modern times, continuously operating under its own name and management for nearly 160 years.

Consequently, players should conceptualize the game as beginning in the immediate post-American Civil War period (with the immediate opening and operation of the B&O representing the previous thirty years) and extending roughly into the 1960s, when the final wave of corporate consolidations began and such historic names as the Virginian, the N&W and the C&O became fallen flags. Curiously, the last of the railroads depicted in the game to fall to corporate consolidation was one that was arguably the weakest (and certainly the smallest), the RF&P, which was acquired by CSX in a hostile takeover in the early 1990s. Of course, the RF&P's strength lay in being a crucial link between North and South (as any Rail Baron player appreciates).

Other major railroads — including the ACL, the SAL, the Pennsylvania, and most significantly, the B&O — operated in Virginia, but their presence was peripheral. I subsequently incorporated Maryland and the District of Columbia to the North as playable areas. This allowed me to add the B&O in Baltimore and the Western Maryland in, umm, western Maryland.

All 18xx games must have a "hook" (or what Steve Thomas — after Alfred Hitchcock — calls a "McGuffin") to keep them interesting and preclude them from being "1830 on a different map." In the case of 18VA it is the tension between the passenger traffic, which is primarily oriented on North-South and Northeast-Southwest axes, and the coal traffic, which is primarily oriented on West-East and Northwest-Southeast axes. I have tried to reflect this using two altogether different train types: the conventional ones for passengers and the "Freight trains" (which are quite similar to the "Goods trains" from 1837) for coal. At the game's start, passenger traffic dominates the revenue streams: at its end, coal traffic does (at least potentially). The game consists in establishing protected routes for the types of trains anticipated, and then acquiring them — a task made particularly difficult by the final train class not being dual-purpose.

The dual revenue from CMDs is justified historically by the fact that the coal-carrying companies in effect had their own inherent fuel supply. For this reason, the N&W and the C&O, the present-day coal roads, were among the last to switch to diesel (or indeed electric) motive power. Coal-fired 4-8-4 Class J engines (as seen on the 5 train cards) headed even the N&W's crack passenger trains — such as the Cincinnati-Norfolk Powhatan Arrow and Cavalier and the Columbus-Norfolk Pocahontas — until their retirement in the late 1960s: the diesel-like appearance of the C&O's M-1 series (as seen on the 6 train cards) belies their coal-powered nature!

6.1 A Note on the Game Currency

As is increasingly the case, 18VA has its own proprietary currency (Chris Lawson introduced this concept in one of his game kits: 1851, I believe). As is also the case, the figures represented on the individual denominations are noteworthy contributors to the railroads and the period represented in the game. However, unlike in many prior instances, many of the individuals on the 18VA currency are relatively obscure. As the bills themselves have only limited room for information, I herewith provide the relevant background for each of the eight:

Colonel Claudius Crozet, U.S.A. ($1): Crozet was known to his contemporaries as the "Pathfinder of the Blue Ridge": he is also the only notable railroad magnate of the pre-American Civil War period represented here. As President of the Virginia Central (one of the predecessors of the C&O) from 1851 to 1857, he was responsible for developing an important network of lines that were crucial to Southern logistics during the American Civil War.
Brigadier-General Williams C. Wickham, C.S.A. ($2): Wickham, although a Unionist, chose to go with his state at secession. Served with distinction on the battlefield, as well as in Virginia politics both before and after the American Civil War. President of the Virginia Central from 1865 to 1868, he oversaw the merger with the Covington and Ohio that created the C&O, which he served as Vice President (under Collis P. Huntington) and managing director until his death in 1888.
Henry Huttleston Rogers ($5): One of John D. Rockefeller's partners in Standard Oil who later became a railroad magnate (another was Henry M. Flagler, the creator of the Florida East Coast line), Rogers founded and managed the Virginian in 1898, and ran it until his death in 1909. Because of conflicts with the C&O, almost six years passed before the Virginian was able to acquire the necessary charter and rights-of-way, and actual construction only began in 1904. Unlike Flagler, who lived just long enough to see his railroad run from Jacksonville all the way to Key West, Rogers sadly died just months before the Virginian actually began service, hauling coal from West Virginia to the Tidewater.
Major-General William Mahone, C.S.A. ($10): After serving with distinction in the American Civil War (he is credited with turning the tide at the Battle of the Crater), Mahone — like General Wickham of the C&O — played a significant role in the rebuilding of Virginia and its railroads. He oversaw the merger of three smaller lines into the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio (later the N&W) in 1868, and substantially expanded it before losing control in 1881 during a reorganization. He remained active in the civic and political life of Virginia until his death in 1895.
Charles Carroll of Carrollton ($20): Carroll, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, famously broke ground for the B&O in 1828.
John Mifflin Hood ($50): Hood served in the American Civil War as an infantryman in a Maryland regiment and later as an engineer, and later — like many of his contemporaries — entered the world of railroads. He became President of the Western Maryland in 1874 and served as President and General Manager until 1901, greatly expanding the company's operations.
Samuel Spencer ($100): The Southern Railway was the Southern railroad with the longest pedigree: among its more than 150 predecessor components, it includes the Charleston and Hamburg Canal and Rail Road Company, which began operations in 1827 and holds many important "firsts" in U.S. railroad history. The Southern itself was formed in 1894 from two principal components, the Richmond and Danville and the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia. Spencer became the first president of the new company, and served until his death in 1906, during which time he nearly doubled its track mileage, from 4,400 miles to 8,000.

6.2 A Note on the Other Personalities of the Game

In addition to the individuals described above, two other figures appear in the game:

Brigadier-General Joseph Reid Anderson, C.S.A. (Tredegar Iron Works): Anderson, "the Krupp of the Confederacy", was the proprietor of the largest industrial plant in what would become the Confederacy, the Tredegar Iron Works. Founded in 1833 to take advantage of the emergent railway boom, Tredegar nearly failed in the Panic of 1837. However, the foundry redirected its efforts elsewhere, finding a reliable if unspectacular client that would make the fortunes (or at least the bread-and-butter) of many an American firm: the United States Government. The Tredegar Iron Works built substantial numbers of heavy cannon for the U.S. prior to the American Civil War, and was the main producer of heavy guns for the Confederacy after Secession. Anderson himself — like many engineers of the period, a graduate of West Point — briefly served the Confederacy in uniform, leading a brigade during the Seven Days' Battles outside Richmond. Wounded there, he returned to Richmond and served in the Ordnance Department until the end of the war. Despite his Confederate sympathies, he returned to the presidency of the Tredegar Iron Works in 1867, and served there until his death in 1892.
Rear Admiral John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren, U.S.N. ("The Gun" — Priority Deal card): Admiral Dahlgren, the inventor of the Dahlgren Gun, was — like Anderson and many others described herein — primarily an engineer rather than a warrior. The Dahlgren gun was a notable improvement over earlier types of naval ordnance and was used extensively by both sides during the American Civil War. Dahlgren, a friend of President Lincoln, was appointed Chief of Naval Ordnance and Commandant of the Washington Navy Yard in 1861, upon the resignation of his predecessor, Captain Franklin Buchanan, a Maryland officer with Secessionist sympathies. Dahlgren — himself a Virginian, though a Unionist — chose, however, to remain loyal to his oath as an officer. Though, as a naval tactician, he remained a fine engineer, he was able to secure appointment to command of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron (operating around Charleston, South Carolina and later points south) in 1863. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful in the preparatory bombardment of Fort Wagner, with adverse consequences for the 54th Massachusetts (Negro) Regiment, which was slaughtered in the subsequent assault (dramatized in the film Glory, starring Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington).

18VA: The Railroads Come to Virginia