PLAYED FOR YOU

Caterpillar

Age of Tank

For a few years now Korean games have been coming to Europe, they are mostly shown at the SPIEL‘ in Essen. One of the publishers exhibiting there is Visionary with a wide range of games.

Caterpillar is set in the future; Earth has been nearly completely destroyed by a collision with an asteroid. All roads have been overturned, they are all nearly gone, and so transport is a major problem. Tanks with their caterpillars became the main means of transport and the use of solar energy was developed. The survivors built new cities and the new profession of Tank Master surfaced, he is responsible for safe delivery of raw materials.

In each of three rounds you play three phases: 1) Choosing and implementing of an action 2) Choosing and Implementing of another action, different from the first; 3) Play goes to the next in turn. All players can choose from five basic actions – Move, Load, Attack, Double-Move and Recharge. If you want to use the backside of a card, you pay the costs to use either Develop, Rest, Instant Recharge, Distant Attack and Build. For an attack you use dice, successful attackers receive freight and victory point markers. If you deliver all goods needed at a destination you receive a bonus and discard the card; you keep the goods, they are victory points at the end of the game. At the end of the round you move the weather marker. After three rounds the player with most victory points wins the game.

Caterpillar offers a nice mix of standard mechanisms in a minimalistic implementation; it is mainly of interest due to the unusual topic and as an example for games from Korea.

Players: 2-4

Age: 10+

Time: 60+

Designer: Donghoon Lee

Artist: Seungpyo Hong

Price: ca. 30 Euro

Publisher: Visionary

Web: www.visionarygames.co.kr

Genre: Warentransport-Spiel

Users: With friends

Version: en

Rules: en

In-game text: yes

Comments:

Nice mix of standard mechanisms * unusual topic * rather minimalistic components * of interest to fans of games from other cultures

Compares to:

All transport games

Other editions:

Currently none

Chance (pink): 1

Tactic (turquoise): 2

Strategy (blue): 1

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 0

Interaction (brown): 2

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0