El Capitán, a game that is based upon Tycoon but with many improvements and upgrades.
The game is now playable with 2-5 players (instead of 2-4); it has 11 new groundbreaking rules, and on top of it all, expansions and a whole new exciting look!
All together we have now the following changes/improvements for the basic game:
new grouping of the cities on the game board
new payout table for distribution
3 new Distribution Cards
new rules for the forts
start money is 20 florins instead of 15
place up 4 multi travel cards instead of 2
new rule for the loan cards (not allowed in the first round)
new start player after a payday (a special start player figure is added)
building up to 12 (instead of only 9) warehouses in a city
limitation of warehouses in series (limited to 3 now)
a rule for the first warehouse in a city
Also included is the first expansion "Portuguese Powers" with some extra city boards and strategy!!
There are now special rules for 2 or 3 players (extra renovation fields) and a special rule for 2 players (payday and additional warehouses).
The game was published in October 2007 by QWG Games in the Benelux, by Pro Ludo in Germany, by Ystari Games in France, and by Z-Man Games in USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, and Ireland.
- polished Kramer design
- clear information and competitive tension
- too dry for the reviewer
- fun factor is lacking; not emotionally engaging
- area majority and resource management with loans
- board-travel around locations to develop property
- dry euro with clear, UCM-style information
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area majority — control of board regions to gain income and influence
- income expansion via cylinders — placing large cylinders to guarantee income on regions
- loan mechanic — take loans to accelerate development and later face repayment pressure
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is very much a back and forth take that style of game as you are infecting each other with these different viruses and diseases
- it's a random take that fest
- this game goes on way longer than the box says
- this is quite a cool quirky little game at least in terms of the visual appeal
- the economic part of this game is very tight
- it's really solid and a lot of fun
References (from this video)
- Dry, thematic economic design
- rigid, but deep for some players
- Very dry; difficult to extract fun
- tight money and loan management can hamper play
- influence and treaties in a dry Euro
- influence politics with countries
- economic strategy
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- action economy and loans — managing money and loans to influence countries
- area influence / country control — influence different countries to gain advantage
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the production and the visual aesthetic of the game was absolutely stunning
- the decisions were relatively uninteresting and pretty obvious once you've groked the game
- one and done style game so once you've done one of the missions you've experienced it can't go play it again
- it's a gorgeous looking game
- the money in this game, particularly in the first half was extremely tight
- this game's out there that I enjoy more that are faster they're a bit more succinct