Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Setup
• Sequence of Play
  • Charter a Railroad
  • Auction a Common Share
  • Presidential Expansion
  • Pass
• Railroad Expansion
  • Making New Railroads Available
• End of Game
• Example of an $16 Auction for West Point Charter Share
• Historical Notes
• Acknowledgements

Game Components

1. Game Board
2. 46 Railroad Stock Shares, 1 two-sided Charter share, and 1 Common share for each of 23 railroads
3. 112 Railroad cubes; 32 green, 26 yellow, 20 red, 16 blue, 12 black, and 6 purple
4. 1 Common Share Sale Marker
5. 5 Victory Point Markers (1 for each player, 5 colors)
6. 5 Player Aids
7. Game Money
8. This Rulebook

Setup

• Place the Game Board in the center of the table within reach of all players.
• Place the railroad cubes on the colored boxes shown on the upper left portion of the Game Board, matching the color of the cubes to the color of the boxes. There should be one cube for each box.
• Put the Common Share Sale Marker in the Start Circle.
• Each player receives starting capital from the bank:
  • $40 each for a 3-player game
  • $30 each for a 4-player game
  • $24 each for a 5-player game.
• Put a Victory Point Marker for each player in the 0 box of the score track.

There are 8 railroads that are available to be chartered at the beginning of the game:

Code	Railroad (Home city)	Code	Railroad (Home city)
SC	South Carolina (Charleston)	M&C	Memphis & Charleston (Memphis)
VC	Virginia Central (Richmond)	CEN	Central (Savannah)
N&P	Norfolk & Petersburg (Norfolk)	W&W	Wilmington & Weldon (Wilmington)
GM&O	Gulf, Mobile and Ohio (Mobile)	NO&J	New Orleans & Jackson (New Orleans)

These railroads are denoted with a yellow band behind the company name on the Charter share.

The starting cities for the railroads are also indicated on the map with a red outline in the area around the name in the city hex.

Create eight piles with 2 shares each for the eight charter railroads listed in the table above, with the Charter share on top of the matching Common share. The Charter share should be placed with its Dividend $5 (front) faceup.

Place these eight piles near the designated space at the bottom of the game board so they are visible to all players. Leave the remaining shares in a stack next to the game board to be retrieved later in the game. How other railroad companies become available is explained in more detail later.

The player who last boarded a train in Atlanta is the start player. You are also free to use your favorite method to select a start player as an alternative.

Sequence of Play

On a player's turn, they are designated the current player and must choose one of the following actions. After the action is completed, play passes clockwise to the next player. The possible actions are:

• Charter a Railroad
• Auction a Common Share
• Presidential Expansion
• Pass

Important! The start player must select "Charter a Railroad" and put the South Carolina railroad up for auction as their first action of the game. If the bidding on the initial auction does not reach $9, it will not be chartered and the next player can choose any action. $9 is the minimum amount required to pay to be able to reach two cities on the first turn.

Charter a Railroad

The player selects a Charter share from the available shares and puts it up for auction, placing it in the Current Auction box on the game board.

The current player bids first. The minimum bid is $0. The auction goes clockwise and each player must increase the bid or pass. Once a player passes, they may not re-enter bidding for that share.

The highest bidder takes the Charter share, places it in their play area on the table, and they become the President of that Railroad. The Charter share should remain on its Dividend $5 (front) side indicating that it is the only share of that Railroad in play at this time. The money from the winning bid is placed on the Charter share as its company treasury. The President now selects a color for the new railroad. This must be the color that has the most available cubes from the cube storage area on the game board. If there are multiple colors tied for the most, the player picks one of these colors to represent this railroad. The President puts a cube of that color on the Charter share denoting the color of that railroad for the entire game. The cube placed on the Charter share has no cost.

Now the President must build track using the rules described in the "Railroad Expansion" action (see below) using only the money paid for the share. After the track is built, the new railroad must connect to at least two cities. This means that the starting city will be one of the cities needed to meet the requirement.

All remaining money on the Charter share is returned to the bank.

The Common share for the new railroad is now available and will already be in the available share area (as it was previously covered by the Charter share).

If the player who wins the auction for the Charter share cannot connect at least two cities, then the sale is cancelled and the current player is considered to have selected a Pass action. All money paid is returned to the player who won the auction and the share is returned to the available share area.

If the color chosen can be played and there is a legal connection that can be made with the amount of money available, the winner of the auction must build track that makes a legal connection. If multiple colors are tied for the most, the President may select any of them, even if that choice makes it impossible to complete a legal build.

There are two situations that can make it impossible to complete a legal build:

1. The winning bid was too low to allow placing enough cubes to connect at least one other city to the railroad's starting city. At least three track cubes must be placed in order to make a connection so a minimum bid of $9 is required. Each track cube costs $3 to place on the board.
2. The color of the cube that is chosen for that railroad already exists in the railroad's home city. For example, if after the auction is completed, the high bidder chooses blue as a cube color and a blue cube is already present in the railroad's start city, the action is not allowed and must be cancelled.

Painting by Howard Fogg, 1992, oil. ©Miner Enterprises, Inc. 2019. Used with permission.

Auction a Common Share

If there are one or more Common shares available, a player may choose this action. The player selects one of the available Common shares and places it in the Current Auction box.

The player who owns the corresponding Charter share turns over the Charter share to the opposite side to indicate that the dividend paid is now reduced to $3.

An auction is conducted in the same manner described in the "Charter a Railroad" action with minimum bid of $0.

The player that wins the auction puts money in the amount of the winning bid on the Common share and then builds track (see "Railroad Expansion").

The winning bidder may also be the owner of the Charter share. In this case, they own both shares of the railroad.

This type of railroad expansion is not required to connect any new cities. Even if a connection could be made the auction winner is not required to place any cubes. Therefore, there is no minimum winning bid amount; a bid of $0 can win the auction. Even though no money is paid and no track is built, the winning bidder still takes the share and places it in front of them. The Charter share is still turned over to the other side to show the reduced dividend payment.

Once track building, if any, is complete, move the Common Stock Sale Marker to the next space. If it is on the Start space, move it to the 1 space; if it is on the 1 space, move it to the 2 space.

As with the "Charter a Railroad" action stock, any money remaining on the share after track building is returned to the bank.

Check the position of the Common Stock Sale Marker. If it is on the 2 space, pay dividends as described below.

Pay Dividends: Players collect dividends from the bank for the shares they own. $5 is paid for each Charter share whose Common share has not been sold and $3 is paid for each Common share and for each Charter share whose Common share has been sold. The amount to be paid for each share is printed on each share for reference. After dividends are paid, move the Common Stock Sale Marker to the Start space on the Common Stock Sales Track.

Presidential Expansion

If a player owns a Charter share, the Presidential expansion action may be taken. The player may use their personal money to expand (according to "Railroad Expansion" rules) a railroad for which they own the Charter share.

Pass

The player selecting this action does nothing. If all players consecutively pass, the game is over and a winner is determined.

Railroad Expansion

When a railroad is building track, the player is allowed to place cubes on the map for $3 each which is paid to the bank. When a railroad is being started with the "Charter a Railroad" action, after placing a cube on the Charter share, the first cube must go into its Home City. All cubes placed by a railroad must meet the following restrictions:

• A railroad may not start in a city that has no other cubes, except for the 8 railroads that start the game as available. These railroads are denoted with yellow band behind the company name on the Charter share and the starting cities have a red outline around the name of the city.
• Only one cube may be in each rural intersection. Rural hexes are marked with a light square to indicate that only a single cube may be placed there.
• Cubes may not be placed in a hex with or adjacent to a hex with a cube of the same color belonging to another railroad.
• All cubes (except the one placed in the railroad's home city) must be adjacent to a cube of THAT railroad already on the board.
• Cubes may not be played in a mountain (gray) hex.
• When expanding with "Auction a Common Share" or "Presidential Expansion", cubes of the color matching the cube on the Charter Share must be used.
• Cubes are strictly limited to the amount included in the game. When a color is gone, no more cubes may be placed for any railroad of that color.

The player placing the cubes receives Victory Points for the following:

• 1 VP for each city a cube is placed in (2 VP for Atlanta).
• 1 VP for each new cube color that the expanding railroad has not been connected to previously (see example below).
• 1 VP if the railroad involved in the expansion has just been chartered (as long as at least two cities are connected).
• 1 VP if the newly chartered company is the VC, the M&C or the GM&O. (These are denoted on the Charter share with a +1 near the railroad name.)

Making New Railroads Available

If a cube is placed in one of the starting cities of a railroad not yet available, put the Charter and Common share of that railroad in the available area.

End of Game

The game can end in two ways:

• If one or more cubes of all six colors are on the board after a Charter a Railroad action
• If all players pass consecutively.

If either one of these conditions are met, the game ends immediately. The player with the most Victory Points is the winner. If there are multiple players with the most Victory Points, they must reluctantly accept the result.

Example of an $16 Auction for West Point Charter Share

1. Because there are more blue cubes left in stock than any other color, blue must be selected for this railroad.
2. A blue cube is placed on the Charter share card.
3. A blue cube is placed on Montgomery. The new railroad cannot be started in Atlanta (the other possible starting location for the WP) because there is a blue cube there already. The player now earns 3 victory points: 1 for Montgomery, 1 for chartering the railroad company and 1 because it shares a connection with the red cube.
4. Two blue cubes are placed in the rural spaces between Montgomery and both Columbus and Macon.
5. A cube is placed in Macon. Gain 3 victory points: 1 for the city and 1 each for the new connections to green and yellow. No points are scored for the red cube in Macon because the WP already shares a connection with red.
6. A cube is placed in Columbus. Gain 1 victory point for the city. A connection with green already exists in Macon so it is not scored again.
7. Each cube placed on the map costs $3 so $15 is paid to the bank. $1 remains from the $16 bid on the auction, which is not enough for another cube, so it is returned to the bank.
8. The total number of VP earned during the turn is 7: 1 for chartering a railway, 3 for connected cities and 3 for connecting to yellow, red, and green cubes.

Historical Notes

The Railroads of the South were early, innovative, and independent. The South Carolina Railroad was the nation's second railroad to operate. Chartered in December, 1827, it ran the nation's first regularly scheduled, steam powered passenger train in 1830. By 1833, its 136-mile line to Hamburg, South Carolina, was the longest in the world.

Railroads quickly spread across the South. From East to West, Charleston, South Carolina and Memphis, Tennessee were eventually linked together by a number of connecting railroads in 1857.

By 1861, the South had almost 10,000 miles of track with the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio being the South's longest single railroad stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Kentucky.

The South's railroads were the first to carry mail, the first to operate at night and the first to carry troops into battle. They were often hampered by using various gauges and often cheap wooden rails with metal flashings.

Acknowledgements

Development by Kevin Wemyss and Scott Russell.

Graphic Design and Illustration by Todd Sanders.

Production Management by Ken Hill.

The license for GM&O (Gulf, Mobile & Ohio) has been kindly granted to Rio Grande Games by Winsome Games.

Copyright 2020 Rio Grande Games. All rights reserved.