My first ps18xx game ended today. 1860: Railways on the Isle of Wight, against Ed Rustin. I won. The start was good: Ed paid £180 in the opening auction, while I paid only £90. I got IOW, Ed got C&N, two privates each.

In stock round 2, I had enough money to start IWNJ, and Ed helped me float it. Operating round 2 saw the start of phase 3. Stock round 4 had Ed start FYN, while I got NGStL. Both floated. On stock round 6, Ed got BHI&R and VYSC, while I got S&C. First 5+3 was bought in OR 6.1, as was the first 6+3, rusting the 3+2:s.

Stock round 7 was just stocking up on VYSC, FYN and NGStL shares. OR 7.1 was mostly withholding, the first 7+4 and 8+4 were bought on OR 7.2. IWNJ bought the first 9+5 on OR 7.3. I had to sell some shares and pay £490 from my own cash for it, but it was worth the trouble.  On stock round 8, we both sold the rest of IOW shares we had, making it insolvent and in receivership. Now S&C was the only owned company without a train. That changed in OR 8.1, when S&C bought a 9+5, starting the nationalization. Three rounds of that and the game was over.

I had a strong start and at some point was leading almost 4000-3000 or so. When the train rush hit, my companies took some hits and first we were even and then Ed had the lead for a while. However, when I did get the trains in place, things started rolling again. I had more certificates and I owned 100% of IWNJ and NGStL, both of which were running for £340. Ed’s companies had 6+3, 6+3 and 7+4 trains, which meant they were eliminated first in the nationalization process.

In the end, I won £11,301 vs £7,761.

The game was generally very pleasant, very little token wars or anything… Well, BHI&R was — again — screwed with tragic tile lays. That’s the way it is done, as far as I can tell… I’d be very reluctant to start BHI&R, especially if I didn’t control IOW.