John Company: Second Edition

Players represent rival families who use a state-backed trading company to advance personal fortunes and social standing in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain. The game plays as a shared corporate engine: players compete for Company offices, influence Company decisions through negotiation, and manage retirements of family members who convert company service into estates and prestige. Financial borrowing, political maneuvering, and social campaigns in the London Season all shape outcomes. Gameplay treats imperialism and global trade as central themes and asks players to confront their consequences; group consent to this subject matter is recommended.

Players: 1–6 best 5
Playing time: 90–240 min
Age: 13+
Complexity: 4.4 / 5

6.5 on Ludoya from $121.33EconomicEducationalVotingSolo / Solitaire GamePush Your Luck

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About the game

Design: Cole Wehrle
Art: Amita Pai
Jan Lipiński
Publisher: Wehrlegig Games

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Full stats in Ludoya

166
Plays logged: 385
Players: 3h 44m
Average play: 93
In collections: 26
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6.5/10

from 38 Ludoya reviews

Fun10.0
Interaction10.0
Replayability10.0
Uniqueness10.0
Looks8.0
Accessibility4.0

LePois2.5
After playing the game, I saw to major problems. At first, when we got the setup cards, I got the role of PM, money and a boat, am almost zero people in the company. My incentive was then, from the start, to bankrupt the company, but I did not know how to do that for now. As PM, in the first round, I received 3 laws that were against the company, and non of the other 3 players had any incentive of voting them and giving away power to the PM, so I lost my position from the start. That was really off putting, because it was my strongest (and only important) asset, and the chairman got to be PM for the rest of the game. Secondly, after sitting through a game of 3h, without doing much, I was given an opportunity to do something - the other players wanted to get me back in the game, and gave me some positions in the company, and, with the company already heavy in debt, and having another player defecting the company, we formed two teams of 2 players - the ones with major shares and positions in the company, and the ones that wanted to bankrupt the company - if the company is bankrupted, all players with shares at the end of the game (which are points if the company doesn't bankrupt) the points turn into negative points. This was our best bet. And we managed to pull it off, and it seemed that we would be winning (the other player in my team would be 1st, and I would manage to sneak on the 3rd place, with the other players having 2nd place, and 4th place respectively - this last place would have been with zero points). But then there is an extra rule, that activates when the company fails: you have to draw randomly from one of 6 cards. The card drawn stated that all players with shared in the company, would get double the points, basically, to nullify all that we have strived for for the past 2h. The other team got the first two positions, and we got the last two. I get that maybe I shouldn't take this game so seriously, but we spent 7h total (including the teach) playing this. It felt really unfair to pull towards a direction, only to find out at the end that this was never an option, and our struggle was hopeless ... Although I love Pax Pamir, I find the design of JC2 a bit flawed.
andycted9.2
A peculiar game, where you cooperate, but you don't - and in this there's enough meat to make a proper german-loving player go mad. It's basically Republic of Kremlin, reinvented, melted with a lot of new ideas, then polished and infused with plenty of history based mechanisms. Most original game to come out along with splotters in 2020s Update: great even at three players - it becomes a tighter game where you really need to balance everything to survive: the game is murderous ! Basically a different game - and not less enjoyable
Balleflass9.5
Sleeve Kings.

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Rules questions

Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.

Can I spend money from my family treasury to pay for a Company office or action?

No. Cash always has a location: family-treasury cash can pay for family actions, retirements, upkeep, taxes, and negotiations, while cash in a Company office can only be spent by that office. (p. 6)

If I choose the same Family action as last turn, do I get to take it twice?

Yes. If your opportunity marker is already on the action you choose, you take that action twice; choosing a different action lets you take it only once. (p. 13)

What happens when I roll several dice for a Company check?

After applying penalties, roll the dice and use the lowest result: 1–2 is a success, 3–4 is a failure that may be attempted again, and 5–6 is a catastrophic failure that ends the office’s actions and removes its officeholder. (p. 17)

Can a President trade more than once, and can they trade in another President’s home region?

Each President may successfully Trade at most once per turn, and may not fill orders in another President’s home region, even if that Presidency is vacant. Trading must begin from the President’s own home port. (p. 20)

Do local alliances get used up when I buy them, and can I use one for both deploying and defense?

A local alliance can be used for the Deploy action or to defend against threats in India, but each alliance can be used only once on the turn it is purchased, and its strength cannot be split between both purposes. (p. 22)

What happens if the Company cannot afford its expenses during Revenue?

It must take emergency loans until all expenses are paid; each loan adds £5 to the Company Balance and generally increases Company Debt, while also lowering Standing by one space for one or two loans, or two spaces for three or more. Afterward, the Company Balance is set to zero, and Standing is lowered again if the remaining Balance is below Expectations. (p. 27)