Summary:

Hacendado	Railroads	Time to Capitalize
C4 Don Rafael Ysabel MX	RR12 [2]	2
C3 Judge Albert Fall US	RR7 [4]	4
C2 Sheriff John Slaughter US	RR10 [5]	5
C1 Colonel Bill Greene US	RR14 [2] + RR9 [3] + RR1 [0]	5 note1
C5 Haupt. Franz von Rintelen GE	RR24 [7]	7
C7 Don Luis Terrazas MX	RR18 [8]	8 note2
C8 William Randolph Hearst US	RR21 [5] + RR28 [6]	11
C6 Lord Cowdray GB	RR17 [9] + RR14 [2] + RR8 [4]	15
C9 Alexander Shepherd US	RR15 [9] + RR 28 [6]	15

If you want to try to balance the game, you may want to consider choosing hacendados only from the top of the list. Or, if the players want a challenge, only from the bottom of the list.

In addition, those playing hacendadoes at the bottom of the list (especially those having double-digit times) should consider a strategy of not buying any railroad right away and instead following a strategy of re-investment and buying the occasional up card, including cards which produce red counters.

As another variant, give the William Randolph Hearst hacendado a starting stature of 1 to reflect his importance in the newspaper business. This should help to offset the difficulty of his starting position.

They may also wish to follow a strategy of taxation. For reference, the closest type of authority to each Mexican hacienda is as follows:

C1 in USA
C2 in USA
C3 in USA
C4 Sonora Federales
C5 Sonora Rurales
C6 Chihuahua Rurales
C7 Chihuahua Rurales
C8 Chihuahua Rurales
C9 Chihuahua Rurales

Of course, possession of M cards will greatly influence who moves first in Tactical rounds.

^note1 Alternatively, RR14 [2] + RR13 [4] + RR8 [4] = 10, which will avoid having to pay the possibly unowned RR1 when taking hacienda profits.

^note2 Note: The capitalization of RR18 as listed on its card should read [8], not [9], to agree with the map.

See also

• rules rewrite
• sequence of play
• chart
• errata
• background
• action summary
• cards list
• playback
• smelter summary
• variant