Tips & Strategy

Strategy advice for John Company from well-known teachers: early deals, finding your niche, writers, spouses, spreading your prizes, when the Company should fail, and Parliament — advice, not rules.

Advice only: where anything here differs from the rules pages, the rulebook wins.

Negotiation

• Deal early, even small. RTFM advises making small, fair deals from the first turn so the table is used to bargaining with you when you need a big favour later.
• Turn your office into an auction. Whoever hands out money or jobs can ask what each player offers for them. Your five promise cards are the currency that binds.

Your family

• Pick what others don’t. RTFM suggests taking family actions your rivals skip — less competition, and the opportunity marker left on that action lets you take it twice next turn (Family actions).
• Writers pay twice. The Players’ Aid points out that writers earn on every order the Presidency fills, and put your family first in line when its President retires (Enlist a writer).

London Season

• Marry early. RTFM finds that a spouse’s points and lasting retirement discount outweigh its restriction over a full game (Spouses).
• Spread your prizes. Two pensioners on two £4 prizes score as much as one on an £8 estate, cost less upkeep and lose only half if a window tax hits (RTFM; Prizes, Policies).
• Big houses are a target. Heavy Cardboard shows how a rival can be tempted into costly estates, then squeezed by window taxes and upkeep.

Letting the Company fail

• Read the warning signs — growing Debt without the trade income to match. If you hold workshops and few shares, a failure may help you more than your rivals (RTFM; Court and workshops).
• Not on a thin lead. Heavy Cardboard warns that a random Company failure card can wipe out a one-point lead — sinking the Company is a gamble.

Parliament

• Don’t always draw three laws. The Players’ Aid notes that a dilemma must be taken as soon as it is drawn, so drawing more to find a better law can backfire (Choosing a law).

Sources

• Top 5 John Company Beginner Strategies — RTFM
• Learn To Play | John Company 2e. | Wherligig Games | The Players’ Aid — The Players Aid
• John Company 2nd Edition - 4p Teaching & Play-through by Heavy Cardboard — Heavy Cardboard
• Community rulings: linked by thread in the FAQ; the publisher’s John Company files hold the rulebook.