News from Gen Con 2014: Fire & Axe and Wildcatters Coming from IDW/Pandasaurus in 2015

News from Gen Con 2014:  Fire & Axe and Wildcatters Coming from IDW/Pandasaurus in 2015
Board Game: Fire & Axe: A Viking Saga
On the opening day of Gen Con 2014, co-publishers IDW Games and Pandasaurus Games have announced two forthcoming releases for 2015, with the biggie being a new edition of Fire & Axe: A Viking Saga from Steve and Phil Kendall. Fire & Axe first appeared in 2004 under the Kendall's publishing brand, Ragnar Brothers, then was beautified for a new edition in 2007 from Asmodee. That edition is long out of print and selling for multiples of the original price. An overview of the setting and gameplay:

Quote:
Fire & Axe is a game that spans the time of the Viking Sagas. The epic journeys that led Norsemen to raid, trade and settle over the known and unknown territories of the northern hemisphere. You command your warriors and map out your strategy — only the strongest, most courageous and luckiest will triumph.

The map covers the whole Viking world: the Northern seas, the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean, as well as the waterways of Eastern Europe. It is across this map that each Viking will move his longboat.

Vikings begin their journey taking the necessary time to load crew and goods onto their boat, launching from one of three home ports into the seas and out to take actions either settling, raiding, or trading throughout the foreign ports of the Viking world; picking up points from each. The winner of the game is the Viking who has acquired the most points at the end of the three Sagas.

An innovative "wind" mechanism paired with a seven day-by-day action point selection mechanism and the Viking theme makes this a most unique and interesting pick-up-and-deliver game.
Board Game: Wildcatters
The other title announced is Wildcatters from designers Rolf Sagel and André Spil, which Dutch publisher RASS Games first released at Spiel 2013. A short description:

Quote:
Wildcatters is a tactical and strategic board game set during the booming business of the 19th century oil industry!

The players are oil barons who develop oil fields; bid for oil rights; and build rigs, oil tankers, trains, and refineries. Your goal is to deliver more oil barrels to the continents than the other players while also collecting more shares and money then them.

The game lasts seven rounds with four players, and the game set-up is the same for each player, with three rigs, two trains, one tanker and one refinery being placed on the board. The game board features a world map divided into eight areas where you can find oil. Players choose an open area card and get money to build rigs, tankers, trains and refineries, after which they can buy oil actions. The players work together in an oilfield to find oil at a lower cost. The players transport oil together to the refineries, using trains and tankers from other players to deliver oil to the refineries – and all with one purpose: deliver more oil then the other players by the end of the game.
Board Game: Fire & Axe: A Viking Saga

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