John Company 2nd Edition Review

I'm going to preface this by saying that John Company 2e is HEAVY. Normally, I start a review by going over the game at a high level but if I'm being honest, that may clock in at about 50 pages so I'm going to try and explain it at the highest level that I can. In the game, players are cooperatively working together to run the shipping company while also bribing your way to the top and using company resources for personal gains. Think Succession yet more corrupt? Definitely more corrupt. The Roys never had an army; but I digress. Each player controls a singular family that is vying for power within the company. At the start of the game, players can either draft for positions in the company or they can simply be dealt equal hands and take what was given to them. You'll take your resources and claim your positions and then we're ready to go. Buckle up. Each round will begin with the London Season where players will roll a die for each position they control and will then gain fatigue or just be forced into retirement if they roll a 5 or 6. Next up, they may gain a prestige card that can be used later on in the game. Following this is the family actions where you simply choose an action on your board and gain the benefits (this is the easy phase). Next up, Hiring where any vacant positions can be filled. Let the shenanigans begin. As positions are freed up, if you're in charge of the hiring of a position, you need to convince everyone else that you can hire your family members. Nepotism is fun. Up next, Company Operation. Here's where the bulk of the game happens. As the silver pawn moves along the track, each role will take actions. From the chairman allocating funds and collecting debts all the way to the presidents making trades. There's plenty more, but seriously, 50 pages. After all of the actions have been done it's Bonus time. Here's where you can collect bonus income based on what they own. Still here? Good. Time for Revenue. This is where you'll adjust company standing. Not done yet. Events in India follows this. Roll the Storm die and if you have ships in the area roll dice. They can potentially be sunk. Not good. Then flip over the event card for India and resolve it. This can make life more difficult for the company by causing turmoil in the country. Almost done, I promise. The second to last phase is Parliament Meets. This is where the Prime Minister player can select a new law and players can vote on it with what they have or with cold hard cash (cardboard in my case). Finally, Upkeep and Refresh. Clean up the board and start the next round. This is never going to fit on Instagram. There's also about 100 other things that I didn't even mention. The game ends after the final round or if you've managed to run the company into the ground. Then players will tally their scores based on several factors and standings on the board and whoever has the most points is the winner.

The Good: Cole and Drew Wehrle really went for it with John Company. It's complex but also it feels completely manageable when you get the hang of it. For a game as beefy as this, you can effectively teach it. This has always been a complaint of mine with their games. I've always struggled with their rulebooks but John Company is really well written for the size of this game. It's not perfect, no. There's going to be questions but the fact that you can sit your friends down and they'll understand the high level concepts of the game without much effort is a huge win. There's so many moving parts and the game flows really well. Actions can be quick and for the most part they're simple enough to do. Generally, dice rolling in a game as involved as this can be a turn off but they work beautifully. They can be forgiving and as long as you can afford it you can keep trying to roll them but if you roll that 5-6 then it's all for naught.

The Okay: You've really got to have the right group of friends here. It's going to take a long time to play the game and they need to understand that. You're going to have some hurdles and it just simply isn't a game for everyone. My American public school education will show here but I know next to nothing about the East India Company and its historical significance. It's probably apparent I've avoided the theme here because I won't do it justice. Tom Brewster from Shut Up and Sit Down absolutely knocked it out of the park so go watch his review for more on the theme.

The Not So Good: This is an expensive game and probably not one that I would have actively searched out in purchasing had I not been gifted a copy for the purposes of reviewing it. If you're okay with that price tag and the theme and have friends to play it with then by all means it's worth every penny.

Final Thoughts: John Company is an enormous game that is absolutely beautiful on the table. I was lucky enough to check out Pax Pamir for the page as well and much like that the production is stunning. The towers to signify the strength of a region in India and the resin elephant marker that determines the regions in turmoil are beautiful. Again, it's worth noting that the theme needs to be agreed upon but once you get into it, it's a lot of fun. The conflict at the table amongst everyone trying to bribe each other to work their own agendas or to actively screw each other over is a delight. I don't know for sure that this will stick around in my collection because of how difficult it is to get to the table but I also want to introduce this to more people because it's a wonderful game when it's all said and done.

Thank you to Wehrlegig Games for providing a copy of the game for review purposes.