:strip_icc()/pic6073260.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic6015914.jpg)
Cole kindly hooked me up with the rulebook, which was helpful to read to solidify what I learned from playing those fun, few turns with Drew and Cole. Eventually I reached out to Cole to get access to the latest Tabletop Simulator (TTS) mod for John Company 2E so that I could further explore the game and play it with friends.
/pic3567002.jpg)
Quote:
John Company begins in the early eighteenth-century, when the Company has a weak foothold on the subcontinent. Over the course of the game, the Company might grow into the most powerful and insidious corporation in the world or collapse under the weight of its own ambition.
John Company is a game about state-sponsored trade monopoly. Unlike most economic games, players often do not control their own firms. Instead, they will collectively guide the Company by securing positions of power, attempting to steer the Company's fate in ways that benefit their own interests. However, the Company is an unwieldy thing. It is difficult to do anything alone, and players will often need to negotiate with one another. In John Company, most everything is up for negotiation.
Ultimately, this game isn't about wealth; it's about reputation. Each turn, some of your family members may retire from their Company positions, giving them the opportunity establish estates. Critically, players do not have full control over when these retirements happen. You will often need to borrow money from other players to make the best use for a chance of retirement. Players also gain victory points by competing in the London Season for prestige and securing fashionable properties.
John Company engages very seriously with its theme. It is meant as a frank portrait of an institution that was as dysfunctional as it was influential. Accordingly, the game wrestles many of the key themes of imperialism and globalization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and how those developments were felt domestically. As such, this game might not be suitable for all players. Please make sure everyone in your group consents to this exploration before playing.
The second edition is extensively revised and is not a reprint.
John Company is a game about state-sponsored trade monopoly. Unlike most economic games, players often do not control their own firms. Instead, they will collectively guide the Company by securing positions of power, attempting to steer the Company's fate in ways that benefit their own interests. However, the Company is an unwieldy thing. It is difficult to do anything alone, and players will often need to negotiate with one another. In John Company, most everything is up for negotiation.
Ultimately, this game isn't about wealth; it's about reputation. Each turn, some of your family members may retire from their Company positions, giving them the opportunity establish estates. Critically, players do not have full control over when these retirements happen. You will often need to borrow money from other players to make the best use for a chance of retirement. Players also gain victory points by competing in the London Season for prestige and securing fashionable properties.
John Company engages very seriously with its theme. It is meant as a frank portrait of an institution that was as dysfunctional as it was influential. Accordingly, the game wrestles many of the key themes of imperialism and globalization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and how those developments were felt domestically. As such, this game might not be suitable for all players. Please make sure everyone in your group consents to this exploration before playing.
The second edition is extensively revised and is not a reprint.
:strip_icc()/pic6067773.jpg)
John Company: Second Edition game board (not final) posted by Cole Wehrle
In more detail, John Company: Second Edition is played over a series of turns (rounds), and the game ends after a certain number of turns based on the scenario you choose to play, or it can end sooner if the Company fails from taking on too much debt or if the Company Standing crumbles. In either case, after a final scoring phase, the player with the most victory points wins.
Before you start a game, you choose a scenario and set up the game board according to the chosen scenario card. Each player takes a player board and components for their family and draws set-up cards that show your family's starting office positions, cash, deeds, shares, etc. In your first game, it's recommended to draw these set-up cards randomly, but once you're familiar with the game, you'll most certainly want to draft the set-up cards.
In a game with my friends, one player ended up starting the game as the Chairman and the Director of Trade which gave him a lot of power, and I'm sure that would've been avoided had we drafted the set-up cards.
During each turn, you play through ten phases; these phases are listed on the game board in a logical way, which helps an otherwise complex game flow smoothly. I like that all the phases are clearly laid out on the board versus having individual player aids. This keeps everyone engaged and focused on the game together, which leads to some fun player interaction. Plus, with the board layout, I dig that you can give a high-level overview of the game, then just jump into it, teaching as you go because of the flow of the game phases.
:strip_icc()/pic6073258.jpg)
My family's play area (non-final art and graphics)
If any of your family members did retire this turn, you can choose a prize on the left side of the board, pay its cost, place your retired family member on the appropriate space, and gain any victory points noted on the corresponding prize.
Retiring family members is one of the key ways to gain victory points in John Company. On one hand, you are losing your position, which might end up going to a different family (one of your opponents), but on the other hand, you're scoring points and gaining the ability to draft prestige cards.
After players have retired their family members on prize spaces, they get to draft prestige cards starting with the player who spent the most total cash on retirements this turn. The prestige card deck has a mix of regular and secret prestige cards shuffled together, and three cards are available to be drafted. Regular prestige cards will be placed face-up, whereas secret prestige cards are always face-down and can be peeked at when drafting.
Prestige cards come in a variety of flavors. There are spouses that increase your family's prestige, which comes in handy during endgame scoring, and some come with inheritances that allow you to discard them for money during the game. There are also enterprises that offer special powers, blackmails with one-time effects, and hidden interests that can potentially get you some extra points at the end of the game.
Since only three cards are available, with more than three players, not everyone who retires will get one. Also, retiring for victory points isn't cheap and comes with an upkeep cost that you need to pay each turn or you lose the points since your family member would go back to your supply. As you can imagine, the decision of how much to spend on retirement is rarely an easy choice.
:strip_icc()/pic6073228.jpg)
II. During the Family Phase, you gain one or two children from your supply depending on the round. On your turn, you can enlist a child as an officer-in-training for the military or as a writer in one of the three administrative zones, known as presidencies (Bombay, Madras or Bengal). You can also pay to send your children to the Stock Exchange, which will eventually convert into a share in the Company, or you can return a child to your supply and purchase a deed.
There are shipyard deeds which cost £3 and once they're fitted, they are crucial for trading in India to help the Company earn money at a later phase. There are also luxury deeds, which cost £6 and are worth 2 victory points each while you possess them, and workshop deeds for £2 to £6.
III. Next is the Firms phase, which only applies to certain scenarios if the company has been deregulated. I haven't tried any of the scenarios where firms apply, but it sounds like they'll add an interesting 18xx layer to the game in which players manage firms and can own shares in each others' firms. Once I have a better feel for the "Early Company 1710" scenario, I want to check out what Cole has cooked up for us firms-wise.
IV. In the Buy Stock phase, family members who are on the Stock Exchange track can move into and gain influence in the Court of Directors to become shares in the Company and clear some debt.
If the Company has no debt tokens and a family member is on the "5" space of the Stock Exchange track, that family member slides into the Court of Directors box and is now considered a share for the corresponding family. Otherwise, for each debt token on the Company Standing track, you'll move a family member into the Court of Directors, starting with the topmost space, and remove a debt token for each newly converted share. In either case, afterwards, slide all remaining family members up as far as possible on the Stock Exchange track.
V. The Hiring phase is also skipped on the first round since there won't be any vacant positions at the start of the game. On future turns, players will hire each open position. Each position has its own potential pool of candidates for hiring, and by default, you can't hire your own family member unless all players in the candidate pool agree that it's okay.
For example, if the Military Affairs position is open, the Chairman hires any Commander in a Presidential Army for this position. If there are none, they may hire any Officer, or, if none, any family member in the Officers-in-Training box.
VI. Next, each Company office operates in order following the red ribbon on the game board for the Company Operation phase, or what I like to call, the "greasing each other's palms" phase since you'll be in a position of needing money or favors from people, and/or people will need money or favors from you.
Since doing business in India is risky, most actions will require you to roll dice to do a success check. The number of dice you roll depends on the amount of resources (usually money) that you want to spend. Of all the dice you roll, you use the lowest number to determine the result of your success check: a 1 or 2 is a success, a 3 or 4 has no effect, and a 5 or 6 is considered a catastrophic failure and you lose your job!
The Chairman goes first in the Company Operation phase and can seek debt to increase the Company's balance, with the approval of at least half of the shares in the Court of Directors. Then the Chairman allocates all funds to the offices in the Company. If you're looking to boost your office's treasury, you might want to butter up the Chairman with a sweet deal here and there to get the cash you need.
The Director of Trade can perform a success check to open orders in a region on the map and make up to two transfers to move ships and/or writers. On the map are circles with numbers inside representing orders, and when they're closed and covered with a black discs, that means there's hostility towards the Company and those folks don't want to trade. Therefore, opening orders gives you more potential areas to trade to make more money for the Company. Since the Director of Trade can also shift some ships and/or writers, there lies another opportunity for players to sway, bribe, and negotiate to get the Director of Trade to move something in their favor.
:strip_icc()/pic6073263.jpg)
The Military Affairs office can make up to two Army transfers. Then we move to the Presidency offices for Bombay, Madras and Bengal. For each presidency, Governors (if any), then the Commander, and then the President gets to take actions.
The Commanders can attempt to invade a region or open orders in their Presidency's home region or a Company-controlled region associated with their President. If an invasion succeeds, you'll put the corresponding Governor card in the Vacant Offices box for the next Hiring phase.
Meanwhile, Presidents can perform a success check to trade by placing writers in their office out on adjacent open order spaces starting from their home port. If you succeed, you can place one writer per ship in the corresponding sea zone. Then the Company increases its balance based on the orders filled, the President makes £1 for each order filled, and each player takes £1 from the bank for each of their writers you placed on an order.
I enjoy the semi-cooperative feeling of having different players control positions in different offices of the Company, with the understanding that it was usually mutually beneficial to do our best to make more money for the Company, in spite of our own personal motivations.
Additional offices will operate during this phase if they are in play from invasions and various laws being passed. Each office position comes with a card that not only makes it easy to tell who holds which position(s), but also lists the possible actions; on the opposite side, it shows how you hire for that particular position. This is super handy so that you don't need to scrounge through the rulebook as each office operates or during the Hiring phase.
VII. During the Bonuses phase, players may receive some small cash bonuses for their deeds in addition to any special bonuses associated with prestige cards or passed laws.
VIII. Next, in the Revenue phase the Company pays its expenses, the Chairman can pay dividends, and the Company adjusts its Standing. For expenses, the Company Balance is lowered by £1 for each fitted ship, each debt token on the Company Standing track, and each officer and Commander in an Army.
After expenses are paid, the Chairman can pay out dividends to shareholders. Each dividend costs £1 per share in the Court of Directors and is paid by lowering the Company's Balance marker by that amount. Multiple dividends can be paid if the Company can afford it. Each player who has a share in the Court of Directors gains £1 for each of their shares. Then the Company Standing is adjusted accordingly.
The Company's Standing raises one space to the right if two or more dividends were paid this turn, it lowers one space to the left if no dividends were paid, and then it also lowers one space to the left if any emergency loans were taken to cover expenses. This is another interesting effect that reminds me of 18xx. The Chairman could withhold from paying dividends selfishly if it'll give their opponents a cash advantage. Or if the Chairman is trying to intentionally make the Company fail, they can choose not to pay dividends to lower the Company's standing. If timed right, that decision can cause the game to end early depending on where the Company Standing is before this phase.
:strip_icc()/pic6073137.jpg)
Non-final art and graphics
Actually, as you can see in the screenshot to the left, I (green) had no shares in the Court of Directors and also had a lead on the score track, so I might have been thinking about purposely trying to make the Company fail had we continued the game. Maybe Cole and Drew were intimidated by the Walsh family (me) and that's why we didn't finish the game? I'm totally kidding as they pretty much held my hand through the game as I was trying to process everything, but these are things you'll be thinking about when you play John Company, while also being suspicious of your opponents.
IX. During the Events in India phase, players roll the India die and resolve any storms and events in India. The map of India on the game board is divided into eight regions with three sea zones, and if any of the sea zones appears on the event die, that area is subject to storms and each player has to roll a die for each of their ships in the corresponding sea zone. On a 1 or 2 your ship is safe, on a 3 or 4 your ship flips to its fatigued side (or sinks if it was already fatigued), and a 5 or 6 immediately sinks your ship. If a ship is sunk, it's returned to its shipyard and will need to be fitted again to get back out to sea for trading.
:strip_icc()/pic6073227.jpg)
Event cards & India die from TTS (non-final art and graphics)
In John Company: Second Edition, there's an elephant always lurking around the map of India representing the looming crisis India is always faced with, and it moves around the map depending on these events. Many of the events are triggered based on the elephant's position on the map, while other events will impact the location on the back of the top card of the event deck.
I quite like the event system and the bit of randomness it throws at players to simulate the instability the British East India Company was faced with in India. I found understanding the impacts of some of the events on the overall gameplay to be fairly challenging, but I think it's something that will click better after playing a full game.
X. In the final phase of the turn, Parliament Meets, the player with the Prime Minister card must select a law and bring it up for a vote. Twilight Imperium fans will feel right at home with this phase as it's reminiscent of the TI Agenda phase, but with its own twists.
First, there's a press-your-luck element when the Prime Minister draws law cards. Instead of just drawing one card and voting on it, you can reveal up to three law cards, then decide which to vote on. However, if at any point drawing, you reveal a dilemma card, you have to stop and that becomes the card you vote on.
Depending on the card you are voting on, the Prime Minister moves the marker on the Policy track, and if the law is passed, that particular policy space is resolved. Players can vote to pass or fail the law using cash from their family treasury or you can flip shipyard and workshop deeds to count as votes.
The law cards vary and can impact the game state in many ways. There's a law card that can add regiments to the Company's armies, which will make the armies stronger, but comes with an added expense. Other laws may open up new positions within the Company or help players earn more money. I haven't explored all the law cards yet, but the ones I've seen so far are interesting and can stir up debates and heated conversations in a good way.
:strip_icc()/pic6073225.jpg)
Law cards in TTS (non-final art and graphics)
At one point when I was Prime Minister, a dilemma law card came up which we were forced to vote on. If passed, it would've allowed me to fire the current Chairman, so we could re-hire the position on the next Hiring phase — but my friend who was the Chairman and I got into a vote-casting bidding war as I was trying to pass it, and he was trying to fail it. We both spent way too much money being stubborn, but I gave up sooner, so it failed and ended up lowering the Company Standing one space since that was the "if failed" effect of the dilemma and he held onto his Chairman position.
Not only that, but when a law fails, the person who cast the most votes against the law becomes the new Prime Minister — which made Mr. Chairman Director of Trade, and now Prime Minister, even more powerful!
After the law and any policy effects are resolved, the game state is cleaned up with a quick refresh and prepared for the next game turn. As mentioned earlier, the game end after a certain number of turns based on the scenario you play or if the Company fails. Then you'll do some final scoring, and whoever has the most victory points wins.
/pic5082606.png)
I love that just about everything is negotiable in John Company: Second Edition, so as you're going through the game phases each turn, if you don't have something you need, you can try to work out deals with your opponents to get it. Shares in the Company, your family's cash, deeds and even children can all be transferred to different players. Each player also has five promise cards — another nod to Twilight Imperium — which can also be used for negotiations.
I feel like I'm constantly on my toes questioning my opponents' motivations and it keeps the game engaging and tense. In addition, there are all these nice touches sprinkled throughout the game, like the period art and the fact that the families, spouses and ships have names on them. It sucks you into the history and theme. I don't think I'll ever forget the moment "Jubilee Paxton" took over the Bombay Presidency after the previous office holder completely failed on the only trade action that would've made the Company money that round.
Tabletop Simulator game (non-final art and graphics)
Between the negotiation, dice rolling, and complexity, John Company: Second Edition won't be for everyone — but if you're intrigued by Pax Pamir: Second Edition and want to experience more of what's up Cole Wehrle's historical gaming sleeves, then I recommend checking out John Company: Second Edition. It will probably take new players a game or two (maybe more!) to fully grasp, but hopefully you'll enjoy the ride as I have and find that it's worth it.
From what I've experienced thus far, John Company: Second Edition has been a blast and as a whole, it's like nothing I've ever played before. It has a ton of layers that are individually not too hard to understand, but when you combine everything, there's a lot to wrap your head around...in a good way. It's challenging and quite fascinating, and I find myself thinking about it a lot. Perhaps what I love most is that it has the potential to create some epic gaming moments like Twilight Imperium, but in its own unique, historically-enriched way.
If anyone recalls, my first BGG News article announced the Kickstarter launch of Cole Wehrle's Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile from publisher Leder Games in January 2020. I'm sure it was obvious at that point that I was a bit of a Cole Wehrle fangirl.
Cole's games always feel different, and they fascinate me. While I love me some Root, I also thoroughly love and appreciate Pax Pamir: Second Edition because the game mechanisms are top notch and it also covers a historical topic with which I was not familiar. Cole's historical game designs are very hooky. They have this cool balance of being super fun and engaging with lots of player interaction, and at the same time, they make me want to dig into the history. John Company: Second Edition is no exception.
I cannot wait to get my hands on the finished version of John Company: Second Edition, but in the meantime, I'll have Oath soon enough to hold me over.
If you're interested in learning about the development of John Company: Second Edition, be sure to check out the designer diaries Cole posted: Designer Diary 1, Designer Diary 2, and Designer Diary 3.
:strip_icc()/pic6069903.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic5894422.png)
:strip_icc()/pic6054909.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic6055917.jpg)
/pic6050528.jpg)
