SRC: 2 days, 3 new players, 3 games played – report after 1st SilesiaRailCon

As you might know – in 25-26 November we organised first 18xx mini convention in Poland – SilesiaRailCon, which was a small part of Pionek. In this place we want to thank to Ignacy Trzewiczek from Portal Games, that we could put info about us on Pionek’s websites.

In last Pionek, there were several people, who was stepping by and asked us about 18xx games. They loved how the components looks like (thanks to Magole’s PnP abilities), our poker chips and so on. But they couldn’t play with us, because they had already their plans. This time, they could join us, and 3 of them did it. And to be honest, they did well. Of course, we had to help them barerly all the time, becasue it’s hard for newbies to uderstand all connections, but even that, they did well.

1st day of SRC – 1846

We started this day with 1846 – one of the best introductiory 18xx games. And it is for many reasons, which I was describing in many articles before. We had one new player – Sławek. I had opportunity to buy Michigan Southern, and because of that I started GTR. Moreover I also bought Michigan Central so my tactic was to build for free tracks to Holland. It’s so nice to have 40 income in Holland in early stage of the game. It helped GTR and Michigan Southern in the same time. With that I was able to build 2 tracks with MS each round, and even I was able to save money for some more expensive upgrades. But, there is a problem with GTR since it has only 3 station tokens. That means, that later in the game you will be unable to run good trains for maximum income. That’s why I decided to run Baltimore & Ohio. It wasn’t easy because in it’s area there were no tracks, but my plan was to sell my Michigan Southern to B&O. With this easy move I had station tokens of B&O on both sides of the map. Finally I finished second with 5037, and Marcin won with 5125. Just 88$ more. And that’s sad, but I exactly knew that I lost because I payed only half dividend in one of the last GTR rounds 🙁 I decided to do that, because I thought that there will be one more SR, and my GTR had to buy back his shares 🙁 But it wasn’t
It was a good lesson for me to calculate more carefully.
But I think, that the more painful lesson was for Michał from Olkusz. He started IC, and that was strange for me, because Big 4 was in Sławek’s hand. And to be honest, he didn’t do well with this company. Moreover, in the middle of the game, when I started B&O, Michał from Olkusz started Chesapeake & Ohio, which is (in my opinion) the hardest company in 1846. And this company was exactly a millstone round his neck.

So, final standings: Marcin (Magole) 5125, Me (Michał/Elemele) 5037, Sławek 4018 (he played 18xx for the very first time) and Michał from Olkusz 2492.
Time of play: 3h 56m

2nd day of SRC – 1889

Next day Marcin and Michał from Olkusz said, that they don’t want to play 1846 again, so with approvals from our new players who we were teaching 18xx, they choose 1889. I was happy of that, because I’ve started my journey with 18xx games exactly with 1889. I had oportunity to try another tactic, which I have never done before. I bought in SR that private company which can place on free town tile with port symbol on it. Since that I decided to start with Tosa Electric. In my opinion it’s one of the most powerful companies in 1889 because it started in middle of the map on preprinted green tile. I used ability from my private company and I build a port in town next to Kouchi, in Nangoku. I also builded connection to Ikeda, and using 3 trains “2” I was able to made a good income. Moreover, my station in Ikeda was one of the most important things in that game. For sure, having a station in Ikeda is really powerfull. My empire grew well, and I was able to start Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric. Both companies payed out good dividends, and I knew, that only cataclysm could stop me. And we had cataclysm in our game 🙂 Thankfully I wasn’t involved in that. But Marcin was, and there were danger, that we would end our game with his bankuptcy. But what happend, you might be asking? I don’t know, maybe Marcin lost his vigiliance, or maybe he thought, that Michał from Olkusz really wanted to run second company (Awa) to pay out dividends? Finally Michał from Olkusz dump Awa on Marcin, without money and train. Marcin had to spend all his money for a train for Awa in the next OR. And he wasn’t so happy with that. He realised, that he lost this game. So he tried in SR to bankupt by selling his shares one by one (to lower the price as much as he can), then buy shares from bank, and also sold them. He done this for few, few minutes and then… he still had enough money to buy train for Awa 😉 That was one of the most crazy SR I’ve ever saw. Marcin’s face looks really nice, when he realised, that he must buy a train.

So, final standings: Me (Michał/Elemele) 4202 / Michał from Olkusz 3833 / Darek 3306 (he played 18xx for the very first time) / Adam 2934 (he played 18xx for the very first time) / Marcin (Magole) 1185
Time of play: 3h 30m

Post-SRC – 1836jr v56

Because Pionek had to be closed soon, and we didn’t had time to start one more 18xx there, we decided to… move to Marcin’s house 🙂 That was fast 1836jr on 1856 variant played by 3 maniacs – Me, Marcin and Michał from Olkusz 😉
We were playing this game in this variant only once, and to be honest, I didn’t liked it so much then. But I also was thinking, that my feeling were determined by one, big mistake we did. On our first play, we were thinking that last trains (train “8”) are like Diesels, and could visit every city. And now we knew, that it can’t so we were preparing our companies much, much better. I started with HSM, Michał from Olkusz with Chemins de Fer and Marcin… I don’t remember, but to be honest – who cares 😉 This day wasn’t his best 😉 This two companies (HSM and Chemins) are really strong. HSM because of Amsterdam, and Chemins because of quantity of station tokens, and because this company could easily control the middle of the map. And that “control” is one of the most used tactics by Michał from Olkusz. Later in the game I also started NBDS on maximum price, because I wanted from this company only dividends. That dividens shouldn’t be big, because I didn’t wanted the other players will pay their attention to this company. HBDS had only to rise it’s price on the stock market, and it did well. Also for few seconds I was thinkings how to dump my HSM company od Michał from Olkusz, but I finally can’t do that, because HSM was the last in OR. So, there are 2 most important things which gave me a win:
– I bought 40% of Chemins which ended at price 245.
– I started NBDS, had 50% of it’s shares which ended at price 175, and what’s more important – only Marcin had one of it’s shares

Final standings: Me (Michał/Elemele) 4989, Michał from Olkusz 4795 and Marcin (Magole) 3288.
Time of play: 2h 15m

What do I think about SilesiaRailCon?

So, some people will say that 3 new players is not a good result, but to be honest – I didn’t expect much more. Even if there will be only one new I would be happy. It’s not so easy to spread good words about 18xx where there are so many good games. And cheaper, and playable within 2 hours and so on.
We also don’t have money to spend for some leaflets, banners and stuff like this. Our big succes was to be a part of Pionek and to exist on their website and Facebook. We are full of energy to make another SilesiaRailCon and another. Hope that we could soon invite you!

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