Wabash Cannonball: última adquisición

Mi última compra, apurada, es de este juego de trenes y financiero. Parecido a los de la serie 18xx, pero que se juega en menos de una hora.

Tengo un Geekbuddie JC Lawrence, clearclaw, que coincide conmigo en muchos juegos (Age of Steam, Clippers). En general, juegos para gamers y sin mucho factor suerte.

Mis GB le dan un 7.9.



Pues bien, en su lista de juegos del 2007 pone en primer lugar, y lejos a Wabash Cannonball, un juego de trenes (operación de empresas ferroviarias y acciones), en la línea de los 18xx, pero con una mecánica totalmente distinta que permite que se juegue en MENOS DE UNA HORA.

Es editada por Windsome Games (la empresa del tipo este que se opone a que se publiquen sus reglas en internet), y sacó una edición bastante primitiva y limitada (aparentemente de calidad muy básica). Ahora está sacando otras unidades a pedido.
Para hacer el pedido, y al parecer quedan muy pocas unidades, ver este link: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/300330

Precio: 55 dólares con flete a Chile, pagaderos vía PayPal.

Lo que dijo JC que me convenció:
GeekList: 2007: A subjective review

Wabash Cannonball was the big discovery and excitement of the year. Simply, the best game of 2007. Yes, it really is that good. For me this year's Essen was a rather paltry affair with little of interest. Wabash Cannonball single-handedly rescued that (with Container in a nice supporting but not-quite-justifying role).

I'm ~20 plays in and won't be surprised if I break 30 plays before the year ends. I also won't be surprised if it is my most played game next year. Really, an amazing game.(Fuente: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/27524)

En otro foro dijo:

Despite the fact that I am running a P100 for Pampas Railroads, I'd recommend Wabash Cannonball. It is an excellent, even brilliant game (for me the clear best game of last year) and has the overwhelming advantage of being available right now. Just send Winsome games a $40 money order and you'll have a copy on your doorstep in a few days.

Neither game compares well to the 18XX or Age of Steam (both of which I've played often). Wabash Cannonball and Pampas Railroads both focus on temporary self-interested emergent alliances by way of share auctions. The 18XX are either portfolio management games (1825 branch) or stock market manipulation games (1830 branch). Age of Steam conversely concentrates on deficit spending.http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/301563


Otra opinión:
GeekList: A Look at Turn Order, Part Two: Train Games

And now for something completely different: Wabash Cannonball takes Puerto Rico's turn order dependency, sits it front and center, and dresses it up in train garb. It is a short, vicious game that is about turn order more than anything else, and as players begin to understand this, those who think this is a game about running good railroads will get eaten alive.

In Wabash Cannonball, players are investors in rails. A player's turn consists of selecting one of three types of actions, and then either performing that action or not. Play proceeds clockwise. There is a limited number of each action available, and once two of the three have run out, the round ends. At this time, a dividend is paid to each player based on his investments, the actions are reset, and play continues, as always, clockwise. WC ends after a dividend is paid and one of several game-end conditions is met. The player with the most cash is the winner.

Like an 18xx, players are making decisions on behalf of companies they have a controlling interest in. A player is not 'the Penn' or 'the B&O.' He is a player, and his goal is to become personally rich. The rail in the game are tools to that end. This is the only concept WC shares with the 18xx series. A 'controlling interest' in WC means 'any amount of stock' (!!) and turn order cycles through players, not companies. This means that on a player's turn, he may make a decision on behalf of any company in which he has even just one piece of stock.

The consistent turn order has one fundamental effect, and it's fascinating in that it's the reverse of Puerto Rico's pattern. In Puerto Rico, you want most to have a monopoly on a crop. In second place, you want to produce the crop that your left-hand neighbor makes. This is so that you can sell it first, ship it first...block him out. In WC, you are about equally interested in having sole ownership of a company and of having a minority interest in your right-hand opponent's stock. To explain...

Wabash Cannonball is sort of a potato sack race to Chicago. All four major companies start in the east and are generally building west. If a company makes it to Chicago it will dramatically increase the value of the company and thus its dividends, as well as paying out a special dividend just for its shareholders. This has the potential to be a game-deciding moment, and once players get bit of experience, they learn that there are relatively specific and fragile conditions under which a run to Chicago is acceptable for any more than one player. I describe the game as a potato sack race because anybody can come in and start giving orders, throwing the company completely off track if they so choose, frequently dashing any hopes of it ever making it to Chicago. Anecdotally, when our group first began to discover this, our games became laugh riots--it was as if the stars of The Producers had decided to go into the railroad business instead of the theater.

Eventually, we discovered that there are conditions when a run to Chicago is acceptable for more than one person, and the game became about engineering those conditions and attempting to maintain them long enough for the connection. These conditions are evolving, and every time we play someone has a different idea of the best portfolio to own, but one thing is constant: the importance of where your stock sits relative to other players is the most important element of the game. Specifically, a minority interest in your right-hand opponent's majority interest gives you an advantage. You will be able to see how he treats his company first, will be able to react to his decisions, and can easily run his company away from Chicago after he's invested a turn in the hopes that you'll run it there. Here, turn order doesn't support the game; it is the game. Wabash Cannonball is about creating a portfolio that allows you to leech off the strong companies while denying all but your chosen ones access to Chicago.(Fuente: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/28424)

----------------
Now playing: Nightwish - Nemo
via FoxyTunes