Wildcatters

EvEvanstar4,6

The currency of this game is stock certificates in your own player color. When you need to pay for things, it's usually some combination of one time user worker cards, and your personal supply of these stocks. Players spend these resources to build oil rigs, turn those rigs into pumps, build trains and boats to transport the oil tokens along and build storage areas to deliver the barrels to. The game has a ton of interesting player interaction. You can piggyback other players moves, pay them to use their trains and boats and even drop off your oil tokens in their storage areas. When each storage area is full with 5 oil tokens, it empties. If the tokens belonged to other players, they get added to that continent's area majorities scoring box and you get. stock payout to your supply. If the oil tokens belonged to you, then you have to choose to add your barrels to the majorities fight, OR get the stock payout. This is a really interesting decision when it comes to where to build, what areas to develop, and what majority scorings to fight for. Where the game falls a little short for me is the intense punchyness that can occur in terms of other players using your infrastructure. Each time someone uses your train or boat, you have to give them one stock in your color. Each time they deliver to your storage area, they have to give you two per barrel delivered. If you don't have the stocks in hand, you need to take out loans from the bank. The loans are expensive to pay back and come with a huge vp penalty for not repaying them. If multiple players decide to use your features all at once, you can easily be eliminated from contention. If you survive however where you planned well, and stockpiled enough of your own stocks to make it through the dogpile, you emerge nearly invincible from the massive payout people handed you when the storage areas empty. This is always like dancing on a knife's edge since you can't hold back building too much or you take yourself out of the running for winning anyway. I understand this is a feature a lot of people really enjoy, but I found it to be too mean for my taste.

setropostar8,0

ECDE #10

David Arribasstar4,6

Wildcatters es un juego económico de los duros, recuerda mucho a los diseños de Martin Wallace. En el juego somos Barons del petróleo, la primera partida es bastante dura, no sabes que tienes que hacer ni como haber las cosas para conseguir PV. La primera partida fue positiva, pero eso tampoco quiere decir nada, es un juego que necesita de varias partidas para ver su posible potencial y reseñarlo adecuadamente: el sistema de producción de petróleo y el tránsito a las refinerías es algo que uno debe comprender para ver cómo sacar partido. El ganador se elige sumando puntos en distintas áreas, resultando el juego en una ensalada de puntos. Un juego económico duro con puntuación de ensalada.