F#¢& Influence Control

Influence control is a bit harder to explain than drafts or auctions, and a big reason of that is influence control is almost a sub-set of a draft game.

How it works is a player gets X amount of influence tokens to start, and places them onto the game board, which activates...something.  You get some benefit by choosing to go there, like other resources, bonus actions or whatever.

Here's where it's like a draft.  If a limited amount of people can play in a specific area, it's a draft.  First come, first serve.   Where it differs from a draft is the amount of influence required may vary.  Like some action is so good, that it requires 2 meeples instead of 1.

I think the purest form of an influence control game I have played is Carcassone.  You draw a tile, and that tile gives options on what kind of meeple you play.  That meeple stays in play until/unless conditions occur that allow you to score it.  You have a limited amount of dudes, so that scoring really comes into play so you can retrieve your doobers and play them again.

Hybrid influence-draft games abound, just off the top of my head Notre Dame, Fresco, Stone Age, Olympus (and Olympos for that matter), Automobiles, and Lost Cities.   In my opinion, the prevalence of those is because it's actually quite hard to design a pure draft or influence control  game that's worth playing more than once.

Overall I have mixed feelings about this mechanic.  I love the idea of it, there's resource management decisions and opportunity cost analysis two of my favorite aspects of these games.  The implementation a lot of times leaves something to be desired.  Take the examples of Stone Age and Fresco, previously reviewed.

Stone Age is borked because player #2 has a huge advantage.   The top 2 spots on the board are the hut and the fields.  The hut gives you a bigger population (more actions...) and the field reduces your food upkeep (reducing the need to use the inefficient hunting ground spot).  Spot #3 is the tool shed, and tools are not nearly as useful for the entire game as the other 2 spots.  Pity player #4, who doesn't even start the long range investment of tools. 

Fresco is borked because the portrait studio action has no diminishing returns while every other action does.   So put max doobers into the studio, and accept doing less elsewhere, but be happy that you are doing less more efficiently.

A conclusion!   Generally speaking, this mechanic will guarantee some replay by me.  Unfortunately, it really seems prone to broken moves, and once discovered that game gets shelved forever.