Game: China

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sauceybugger — 2008-11-12T01:23:44+00:00

Rulebook front

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mschacht — 2008-11-08T14:07:19+00:00

Small Expansion, back - Spiele aus Timbuktu

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mschacht — 2008-11-08T14:06:38+00:00

Small Expansion, front - Spiele aus Timbuktu

Thread: Re: Seems to be getting harder to find copies of this so you may want to get it while you can

Kestril — 2008-09-07T18:56:01+00:00

I'd only label something as a "shameless plug" if it wasn't obvious. As for shipping, it's a great deal for Canadian geeks, in case you forgot there's some of us lurking around here .

Thread: Re: Seems to be getting harder to find copies of this so you may want to get it while you can

JeffyJeff — 2008-09-07T18:24:52+00:00

kaylex wrote:
We at FunGamesCafe.com still have China in stock for those who are looking for a copy...
Slightly off topic, but FRED will be bringing back For Sale which was part of the Uberplay line-up.
shouldn't you preface these self promotion plugs with such "shameless plug"r? With shipping from Canada to the USA will double the price

I'm not sure FRED actually takes over the publisher of 1/2 the games they distribute.... I think they just buy the excess inventory from publishers (especailly ones that have closed up shop like Uberplay and Eagle Games)?

For "China" I my guess is still that Rio Grande Games will regain the rights to publisher "Web of Power" which is what China is a rethemed version of, and the world will be well again

Thread: Re: [Review] China

Aratar — 2008-09-06T12:09:09+00:00

Another great review, Tom! Thanks for the detailed comparison to Web of Power

Thread: Re: Seems to be getting harder to find copies of this so you may want to get it while you can

kaylex — 2008-09-05T18:54:52+00:00

We at FunGamesCafe.com still have China in stock for those who are looking for a copy...
Slightly off topic, but FRED will be bringing back For Sale which was part of the Uberplay line-up.

--Paul Paterson
FunGamesCafe.com

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ackmondual — 2008-09-05T15:35:47+00:00

end of a 5p game. Green won tie breaker with his 15 bits left (11 houses and 4 emissaries) vs blue's 14 bits (12 houses and 2 emissaries)

Thread: Re: Seems to be getting harder to find copies of this so you may want to get it while you can

JeffyJeff — 2008-08-14T18:13:11+00:00

Rappak wrote:
Maybe, China was one of Uberplay's titles. Didn't the FRED program snatch this one up too?
I don't think FRED took over the publishing rights of any Uberplay play titles... according to http://www.freddistribution.com/control/fred they seem to take over the "remaining inventory" of certain titles from various publishers (Uberplay, Rio Grande Games, Days of Wonder, etc).

Checking http://www.freddistribution.com/control/fredtitles I don't see "China" listed, I think Uberplay sold the rest of their inventory via their Tanga branch.

Thread: Re: Seems to be getting harder to find copies of this so you may want to get it while you can

Rappak — 2008-08-14T17:13:30+00:00

Maybe, China was one of Uberplay's titles. Didn't the FRED program snatch this one up too?

Thread: Re: Seems to be getting harder to find copies of this so you may want to get it while you can

JeffyJeff — 2008-08-14T17:05:37+00:00

I have a feeling eventually Rio Grande Games and their European co-publisher(s) will reprint "Web of Power" which this one ("China") is a rethemed version of (w/slight rule tweak(s)).

Thread: Re: Seems to be getting harder to find copies of this so you may want to get it while you can

Rappak — 2008-08-14T15:59:25+00:00

Dang, I keep hoping that it will be on Tanga again, but it never has.

Thread: Re: Seems to be getting harder to find copies of this so you may want to get it while you can

Port Power 1914 — 2008-08-14T15:31:26+00:00

Add my high-fives to the listings - this is an excellent game which EVERY gamer should own even if only because it fills so many different "slots" in a Gamer's profile which should be enjoyed !!

My view at least ........

Thread: Re: China online game?

gwen — 2008-08-10T14:00:11+00:00

I do not know where China can be played online, but Web of Power (there is not much difference between these two games) can be played online on BSW.

Thread: China online game?

Jan X — 2008-08-10T07:28:12+00:00

In the BGG-presentation of the China game this is mentioned:

"Online Play

* http://spielen.de/ (real-time)"

But I can´t find the China game there.

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rbayu2 — 2008-07-24T17:30:54+00:00

Thread: Re: Seems to be getting harder to find copies of this so you may want to get it while you can

sefton — 2008-06-23T17:42:54+00:00

I knew it was getting scarce when it showed up as Out of Print on my ThoughtHammer wishlist. I spotted one on the shelf at The Compleat Strategist in New York City (it had a slightly damaged box) so I scooped it up fast.

And boy am I glad I did. Great game!

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kilroy_locke — 2008-05-23T17:57:58+00:00

Tight game

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jsper — 2008-05-18T18:13:15+00:00

Information sheet in german

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sightreader — 2008-05-04T05:18:28+00:00

China with Greek Map

Thread: Re: Seems to be getting harder to find copies of this so you may want to get it while you can

kevinb9n — 2008-05-02T07:41:13+00:00

Stephen, you should totally force your friends into playing it. The rules are so simple and it plays sooo fast. Really cool game.

Thread: Re: Seems to be getting harder to find copies of this so you may want to get it while you can

davido — 2008-05-02T04:50:21+00:00

too bad-it's a very good area majority game that scales from 3 to 5 and plays in about 45 minutes. If you have *any* kind of group at all, you should be able to squeeze in a play or two. Mine is definitely a 'keeper', thank you.

Thread: Re: Seems to be getting harder to find copies of this so you may want to get it while you can

caltexn — 2008-05-02T01:18:33+00:00

Glad to know this. I was thinking about listing mine for trade since I've never played it in two years that I've owned it.

Thread: Seems to be getting harder to find copies of this so you may want to get it while you can

JeffyJeff — 2008-05-01T20:38:58+00:00

I was just checking current prices for this game and it's out of stock at:

ThoughtHammer
Funagain
Boards&Bits
Boulder Games
Phoenix Games

And their are 20 more folks wanting this game in trade than are offering it (which I'm surprised after it's been offered via Tanga)

Uberplay (the publisher) did recently announce they have folded up shop (no surprise) so there are probably no more in the publisher's warehouse, and I wouldn't be surprised if the distributors warehouses could be out too as it's unusual for Funagain to be out of stock.

Of course there is always the possiblity this or the original Web of Power could be reprinted by another publisher now that the license is probably available again.

Thread: Re: Use the fortifications or not?

Spire — 2008-04-21T23:06:56+00:00

sightreader wrote:
clearclaw wrote:
The Borderfights board is also a significant improvement over the base game.
Hmmm... I think I'm looking in the wrong place... I can't seem to find a "Borderfights" board...
I just found it here.

Edit: BGG database entry: China - Grenzstreitigkeiten

Thread: Re: Use the fortifications or not?

sightreader — 2008-04-21T22:43:42+00:00

clearclaw wrote:
The Borderfights board is also a significant improvement over the base game.
Hmmm... I think I'm looking in the wrong place... I can't seem to find a "Borderfights" board...

Thread: Re: Use the fortifications or not?

clearclaw — 2008-04-21T07:42:53+00:00

+1 fortifications.

The Borderfights board is also a significant improvement over the base game.

Thread: Re: Use the fortifications or not?

sightreader — 2008-04-21T02:44:21+00:00

ssmooth wrote:
I play Kardinal & König (aka Web of Power), the original game of which China is an inferior variant.
I find the fortifications to be a superior rule for several reasons:

1. Chain scoring now becomes a major factor, as forts can double chains as well as the house ("cloister") scores.

2. By doubling the impact of house scores, fortifications eliminate the need to have two scoring phases so that houses can catch up to diplomats in influence. The 3 scoring mechanisms are now in balance, making it possible to win with either a housing strategy or an advisor strategy.

3. The game is now much simpler, as there is no need to argue about when one scoring phase is over and another begins (i.e. it's a lot easier to understand and teach).
Nobi wrote:
It's possible to play with the Web of Power rules on the China board, no?
I find the original Web of Power board does not have enough roads to make fortifications viable; you have so few options for expanding your chain that you get blocked every time with minimal effort.

I find the China board has diplomatic relations that are far too localized: that is, neighbors with relations also are along the same roads. This means house concentrations along a chain can be leveraged directly to control a diplomatic relationship, and as a result, no one can get a big win with advisors. Instead, you end up with several small, low scoring pockets of advisors tied to housing control that doesn't multiply up effectively.

These complaints led me to create a "Greek" Web of Power board:
]]>

Thread: Use the fortifications or not?

kevinb9n — 2008-04-20T17:54:09+00:00

We could use more votes on this issue: do you prefer to play using the fortifications, or not?

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/30317/item/628979#item...

If you'd like to click on that and cast your vote we'll be able to see which way is the predominant way to play China. (As I write this, it looks pretty darn even.)

thanks!

Thread: Re: Road scoring

game_boy — 2008-03-18T10:57:59+00:00

The difference between China and Settlers is that in the former, you are trying to count your houses in such a way as to score as many of them as possible. That's why we allow the houses in your example to be counted as a four (4-5-6-7) and a five (1-2-3-X-X), for a total of nine.

In Settlers however, the aim is to find the longest non-repeating sequence in a whole road network, in which case you'd be right that the sequence 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 is a seven-length road to which the X's don't contribute.

But this is China, not Settlers...

Thread: Re: Fast Boats to China

El Hidalgo — 2008-03-18T05:24:14+00:00

I have to concur with your observations. We were playing the three player game and when we got the game play and scoring down...we found that megapoints got scored with Emissaries. That took one of our players over the 50 point mark on the board...a goal which had escaped us on earlier games when we concentrated on House placements and "Roads".

Thread: Re: Fast Boats to China

davido — 2008-03-18T00:08:22+00:00

also, 4 players have a choice of either board-the 3-4 board is more 'open' than the '4-5' board in terms of connecting roads.

slightly OT: in our games we've noticed that 3 players favors emissary scoring, and 5 players there is enough congestion/blockage to favor houses, with 4 players going either way depending on the 'openness' of the board. e.g. an 'open' board favors emissaries, and a 'congested board' tends to favor houses. Any other thoughts on how number of players affects emissaries vs. houses?

Thread: Re: Fast Boats to China

El Hidalgo — 2008-03-17T17:03:45+00:00

Mark and Richard ,

Whoa! You are sooo right! Thanks for paying attention to the details...

1) Max up to two tokens placed per turn in any one region

2) Emmissaries only count for scoring in the alliances as you noted.

I have made the edits to reflect your notes.

Thanks again...one o'clock in the morning reviews you know...

Thread: Re: Fast Boats to China

toku42 — 2008-03-17T16:04:29+00:00

Good review! I just ordered a copy off the marketplace last night, before the remaining english copies start to dry up

Thread: Re: Fast Boats to China

caffeinehead — 2008-03-17T13:04:07+00:00

Mark's right. (Good catch.) Also, to score an alliance, you need to have the majority *in* both regions, not *of* both regions. And if two people tie for majority, they both get the points.

Thread: Re: Fast Boats to China

Randougall — 2008-03-17T12:55:47+00:00

Nice review on a great game. Unless I missed something though, I don't think you can score a point per emissary per region.

You can only score emissaries by alliance scoring.

Thread: Re: Fast Boats to China

caffeinehead — 2008-03-17T12:36:20+00:00

El Hidalgo wrote:
Rules
On you turn you can play cards to play a House or Houses/Emmissary or Emmissaries in one region. If the region has no houses on it...you can only place one house. Once a region has one house, you can place up to three house in one region if you have the cards to do so.Not sure if this is just a typo, but you can't place more than two playing pieces on your turn.

Thread: Fast Boats to China

El Hidalgo — 2008-03-17T08:19:49+00:00

Okay we have all heard about a "Slow Boat to China"...but after playing this game...that changes. This game has straightforward rules, multiple ways to score points, and a short playing time!

This is an Abstract Game with a fairly strong theme that uses Territory Building, Hand Management, and Area Control to secure a network of Houses, and Alliances of Emmisaries across Nine Regions in China.

This review is based on a Five Star rating system.

COMPONENTS

Map-China has a beautifully colored two sided map. One side is for two to three players. The other side is for four or more players. The Map has 1 Purple, 2 Green, 2 Orange, 2 Red, and 2 Yellow Regions. Of all the components I found the map to be the nicest.

Cards-The cards in this game correspond to the colored regions on the map. Where there are two regions with the same color, the cards list the names of both the regions and the player has the option to play on one or the other. The cards are simple, colorful, and have Chinese characters on them. I feel more could have been done with the graphics here to add to the theme, but in the end they are functional and correspond to the theme.

Houses-These are small colored wooden houses...more than cubes...they have the sloping roofs of remeniscent of palace structures in China. There are 20 of these for each player. My new boxed set was one yellow house short

Emmisaries-These are tall colored wood tokens that look like tall mushrooms or umbrellas. They are used both as political markers, and a point marker. This token is perhaps the most poorly designed component of the game. Because they are top heavy they are always falling over when being handled.

Fortification/Region Markers-The fortification markers are small flat black square wood tiles. Pretty unimaginative. The Region Markers are larger flat black circular tiles.

While the colors of the player components and the map components might seem to correspond...one has nothing to do with the other. There are blue tokens/components, and no blue region. There is an orange region, and no orange tokens/components. Somehow that annoyed and still annoys me.

Also the Fortification Tiles did nothing to add to the theme. A stronger theme connection could have been had with more imaginative work than square Tiles, as well as creating better graphics on the cards.

RULES/MECHANICS

Rules
On you turn you can play cards to play a House or Houses/Emmissary or Emmissaries in one region. If the region has no houses on it...you can only place one house. Once a region has one house, you can place up to two tokens (house/emmissary) in one region if you have the cards to do so.

Hand Management
This mechanic drives this game. Players have three cards in their hands. When the have to redraft cards they can do it from either the facedown deck, or from four faceup cards that also get restocked on the table.

Play Selection
You can only work in one region at a time. In your turn you can play to place houses or emmissaries.

Token Placement
Players can place a House/Emmissary in a region for which they have a card of that color. So with one yellow region card I can place one House/Emmissary in a yellow region. As an alternate choice I can use two of the same color card to place a token in a region of a different color. So with two yellow cards I can place a House/Emmissary in a Purple, Green, Orange, or Red region. Emmissaries get placed once there is a majority of a certain house in a region. A region can only have as many Emmissaries as there are number of houses in the majority of one color. So in a seven house region, if the majority of houses, say 5 are red...then 5 Emmissaries of any combination of colors can occupy the marked circle for that region.

GAMEPLAY

In order to fully understand this game...you have to play it through once and get to the end of the game scoring. This is when the light bulbs will go off and you will want to immediately go back and replay.

Scoring Houses
A region is scored if all the houses that can be placed have been placed in that region. The majority house scores a point each for all the houses in the region. The player with the second most number of houses scores points for the houses of the majority color...that's right! The player with the third most number of houses scores points for the houses in the second majority color...that's right too! So in a seven house region...if one player has six of his houses there...and you have one of your houses there...he gets seven points...and you get six points...OUCH! Now that is a game play changer!!!

Scoring Fortifications
You can place a Fortification in a blank house space. Fortifications allow you to score double for your houses. Thus, if you place a fortification you will want to place a house on top of it ASAP otherwise someone else will benefit.

Scoring Roads
If you have a consecutive series of 4 or more houses on a given line of road, you score a point for each house.

Scoring Alliances
You get a point for every emmissary between two regions if 1) you have emmissaries in both regions, and 2) your emmissaries are in the majority in each region. So if between two regions you have two blue emmisaries for a majority in one region and three blue emmissaries for a majority in an adjacent region...and there are other emmissaries of other colors for a total of three of other colors...you get eight points! Pretty sweet...and the other players get nothing...even sweeter!!!

OVERALL

Simple rules get you into the game quickly

Hand Managment & Card Drafting gives you options and is quick

Multiple ways to score make you think Strategy!!!

Quick game play allows multiple games in short time periods

Game components are okay with a nice map.

I really liked this game...the scoring is where the strategic thinking comes into play and this allows one to easily reflect on playing the game again as well as doing something different next time. This plays like a Euro filler on steroids and triple doses of caffeine. Substantive and quick!!!

Thread: Re: China Vs. El Grande?

Quixote171 — 2008-03-08T21:35:54+00:00

It's funny, I've had China now for quite a little while, and I'd forgotten all about this thread.
Yes, they are very different games.
Thanks to everyone for trying to explain this to me. ;-)
And like everybody said, I like both games very much, for different reasons.

Thread: Re: Couple quick questions on the Expansion...

Liumas — 2008-03-03T23:25:08+00:00

1) Refill the Emperor's hand from the deck, not from the face up cards.

2) When you place an influence card, if you equal the other player's influence cards in a color then you take the influence marker of that color. This is only checked when you place an influence card.

3) Place as an influence card one of the cards you used to place a piece, instead of discarding it. You would not be able to place an influence card if you did not play at least one card to place a piece.

Note A: #2 above only happens just after doing #3 above.

Note B: It is a mildly interesting variant to refill the Emperor from the deck or from the face up cards.

Thread: Re: Road scoring

iagomonk — 2008-02-01T20:14:08+00:00

There are certainly heated opinions on both sides of this. We would absolutely not allow this:
spearjr wrote:
...you can "spilt" a connected group of houses into 2 roads, for scoring, so long as each spilt has at least 4 in a row.

The most obvious thing to us was to define road(s) just as you do "the longest road" in Settlers. The longest continuous string you can make out of a "blob" of connected houses is the score for that group. A line of five houses that connects to the midpoint of another line of five houses scores seven points:

x
x
3 4 5 6 7
2
1

Thread: Couple quick questions on the Expansion...

ColtsFan76 — 2007-12-16T02:13:18+00:00

I just got China and looking to print out the 2-player variant (when I am back at work with the nice laser printer). A couple of clarifications needed, I think. I originally posted this in the expansion forum but it must not get a lot of traffic.

1) The English translation states you refill the Emperor's hand from either the deck or the 4 face up cards. However, someone commetned on the translation that this was incorrect and the orignal rules said to only refill the emperor's hand from the deck. Which is correct?

2) An influence marker can be taken if you have the same number of cards as your opponent in that color. It only has to be equal? and not greater than? So if my opponent had 2 yellow cards in front of him and I have 1. But now it's my turn and I place one in front of me, we are tied at 2 so I take the influence marker. On his turn, can't he just take it back again since we are tied? Am I understanding this right?

3) I don't quite get which card goes in front of me on my turn. Do I specifically select a card and only lay it down in front of me (effectively only allowing me to play 2 cards that turn)?
Or of the cards I use to place pieces, instead of discarding all of them, I may keep one in front of me/ And if the 2nd case, then I assume if I choose not to place any pieces and just discard, I don't have the otpion to place a card in front of me, correct?

Thread: Re: Trying to turn my parents into gamers

manutd03 — 2007-12-10T18:51:27+00:00

Maybe your parents would do a better with a slightly simpler intro game, like Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride: Europe.

This one isn't a bad game to try, though. I also introduced it to my parents (who are gamers), with similar results: My mom picked up on it pretty quickly and really enjoys it now, whereas my dad doesn't quite get it and doesn't really like it.

Thread: Re: House 2 Player Variant

manutd03 — 2007-12-10T18:47:40+00:00

olavf wrote:
I wonder if there won't be a problem with the Emperors turn beiing at the end of the round. Player 1 is always after the Emperor, player 2 before.

I think having the players alternate who controls the Emperor avoids any real advantage for Player 1. But I suppose if you played more than one game, you could just rotate who got to be P1 and P2 each time.

Also, to reply to Rygel, the expansion rules in English are in the Files section, under "chinaduell.pdf". (Sorry I couldn't post a link, but my computer is crapping out on me just now. )

Thread: Re: House 2 Player Variant

Rygel — 2007-12-10T18:05:09+00:00

Not being lazy. The expansion rules are in French.

Thread: Re: House 2 Player Variant

GSReis — 2007-12-10T17:41:27+00:00

Until you said something I wasn't even aware that there was an official 2player variant.
It should be noticed that the official 2-player expansion is completely free to download. Even if you are too lazy to print and assemble it, you can easily play it, just using one marker of each color (cubes from other games, for example) and writing the text of the few cards in pieces of paper.

Thread: Re: House 2 Player Variant

cratex — 2007-12-10T16:20:45+00:00

Well, heck. Until you said something I wasn't even aware that there was an official 2player variant. My son and I have been struggling to figure out how to make a good two player game. We'll have to try this. Thanks.

Thread: Re: House 2 Player Variant

olavf — 2007-12-10T09:56:22+00:00

I wonder if there won't be a problem with the Emperors turn beiing at the end of the round. Player 1 is always after the Emperor, player 2 before.

Thread: House 2 Player Variant

manutd03 — 2007-12-10T08:37:21+00:00

Here's the variant we've developed at our house for a 2 player variant of China. It's similar to those laid out in the official China - Das Duell (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/25532) variant, but without adding any new elements to the gameplay. In other words, simplified.

2 Player Variant: The Emperor joins the fray
1) The Emperor gets a turn at the end of each round (e.g.: P1, P2, Emperor).
2) Players alternate playing as the Emperor.
3) The Emperor may only play one piece.
4) The Emperor may NOT play into a new territory unless he is unable to do anything else.
5) The Emperor may refill his hand only from the closed deck.

We've found that it maintains a good balance with just 2 players.

Thread: Trying to turn my parents into gamers

cane — 2007-11-11T18:28:12+00:00

I had the chance to spend a weekend with my parents in their summer cottage. Summer cottages are really cool but in November one shoudn't emphasise the word summer too much. It was snowing, cold and dark (so dark that if you went outside the light perimeter of the cottage you couldn't see farther than an arms length) and therefore the surroundings were perfect for some gaming.

My parents haven't played board games. China is relatively easy to play and I figured that it wouldn't be too complex for them. I set the board and began to go through the rules. After 5 minutes I could notice that they were looking at each other and were lost. So I quickened the pace of the explanation ; there isn't a better way to learn a game than to play it.

After we started playing it became obvious that my mother got the idea of the game. She made some nice moves and played her cards well. My father on the other hand didn't do so well. He was drawing cards mainly from the deck and was asking what to do all the time. I helped him and tried not just tell what's the best move but also why it's the best move. I didn't succeed to make my father understand the game but my mother got a bit annoyed. She was trying hard to beat my father and I was only helping him. Fonrtunately my mom isn't a competitive person and she didn't take me helping my dad too hard.

The final score of the game was:

Me 59
Dad 52
Mom 49

We did take another try right after the first game which my mother won. My dad didn't do much better than the first time but he did like Lost Cities a lot and beat me 3-1 in the four games we had during the weekend after I had introduced the game to him.

I'm quite positive that this was not the last time I'm going to play games with my parents and I think I really should buy them a couple of games that they can take to the summer cottage.

Thread: Re: She felt "bamboozled"

adam.skinner — 2007-10-16T01:54:52+00:00

Well, if you're honestly curious, I do take pleasure in playing well. I do my best to instruct new players according to the wisdom I have in a game, and it is rare for me to take on an "evil councilor" role with anyone, let alone a new player. You see, in the past I've played too heavily in emissary and was pleased to see the effects of a more balanced strategy.

When I play games with adults, I don't pull punches, and I often explain my thinking to new players so they can understand some of the rationale that goes into meaningful, strategic, or tactical play. It is by modeling this openly that I hope to teach them how to play. I win because I play better than they do (and who would think otherwise?).

I'm neither decrying or proud, but simply stating a fact (cf "surprise surprise"). It's not unexpected that I would win. Usually games are closer though, and 50+ points isn't shabby in my book. I haven't played a lot of China, but this is the most I've ever scored in the game, and though I imagine it's due in part to my opponents' skill, it is in part due to my own.

I believe that there are two paradigms in gaming: those who play to explore, enjoy, and excel, and those who play to triumph. I am in the first camp. Your question leads me to believe you are in the second (as you assume that them getting beaten soundly in their first game would have "produced resentment").

Each to his own.

Thread: Re: She felt "bamboozled"

reapersaurus — 2007-10-15T20:55:24+00:00

adam.skinner wrote:
Anyway, I ended up totally crushing both of them (surprise surprise). I had like 70-80pts, Paul had like 30 and Deb had 50-60 (I think).I'm curious -
do you take pleasure in crushing new players you're instructing?

Your conclusion is ambiguous - are you decrying the fact that you probably made the other players' experience worse with your dominant defeat that may have produced resentment, or are you proud that you beat them so convincingly?

Thread: She felt "bamboozled"

adam.skinner — 2007-10-15T14:44:52+00:00

Paul and Deb and I, on the other hand, played a game of China. I explained the rules and answered the questions they had, but it was still about half way through before Paul understood emissary scoring.

]]>

Deb had started placing in Chu (the purple province at the bottom of the board) and made this massive line there. This opened up the possibilities for emissary placement, and I had already developed a majority in Han (green), so I got a majority there as well.

I realise now that we were playing on the wrong side of the board! We only had 3 people, but we were playing with the 5p board.

Deb had 2 houses and an emissary in Shu, and I had a house and an emissary in Shu. She had 6 houses in Chu and 3 emissaries, and I had 2 houses in Chu and 3 emissaries. I was all out of emissaries (I'd placed my last in Shu) and she still had 2 left.

She was making to place more houses/emissaries in Shu, and I took a little time to reason with her. I explained and since she had an emissary left, I wouldn't place my two houses to close the province and take majority from her, since I would then be vulnerable to her placing another emissary there and squeezing me out of majority. I needed a max of two of a single color in there to maintain majority with my one emissary. She could play in the yellow region above it (Ch'in) and leverage the 6 emissaries she had majority with in Chu instead. That made sense to all of us, and that's what she did.

She felt tricked, however, later in the game, when I placed those two houses I said I wouldn't place! You see, it was part of a house train for me, and she was out of emissaries as well! No danger, all profit, and so I did it, but she still felt like I said I wouldn't do it and then I went and did it. Perhaps the rationale went over her head.

Anyway, I ended up totally crushing both of them (surprise surprise). I had like 70-80pts, Paul had like 30 and Deb had 50-60 (I think).

Thread: Re: Mulan takes China

Port Power 1914 — 2007-10-07T14:09:36+00:00

An excellent example of what can be accomplished with younger ones when you sit down to board games .
Your "Princess" (I bet she is cute !! - my adorable girls are now 11 and 8 and just passing out of that range) will enjoy the interaction - so keep it up as I am sure you will .
She will remember playing "Daddy's Game" just as we rejoiced in the face-to-face thrill of board games played when we were younger .
With the faceless and anonymous and solitary way of gaming via the computer and Net and gaming consoles which prevails today - playing board games together as our young family does is just so worthwhile .

We have only been doing so for the last year or so but as a family we now play Mah Jongg , Blokus , China , TTR , Settlers , Through The Desert and even Ra and Santiago and the times spent and the skills our girls are acquiring in social and even combative and/or competitive areas of life can only bode well for them as they develop into adults.

You have started your "Princess" on a fun , fulfilling and fruitful road , I'm sure ...

Thread: Re: Trivia Contest: Earn 1 GG

deleted — 2007-10-05T19:32:39+00:00

fehrmeister earns 1 GG. The contest is now over.

Thread: Re: Trivia Contest: Earn 1 GG

fehrmeister — 2007-10-05T19:26:14+00:00

I just had them counted and found the following:

There are:
13 red cards
11 orange cards
11 yellow cards
10 purple cards
12 green cards

Hope this helps!

Thread: Trivia Contest: Earn 1 GG

deleted — 2007-10-05T19:01:56+00:00

I will give 1 GG to the person who first posts on this forum the correct distribution of cards in this game. (How many red, how many yellow, etc.)

Thread: Contemplating China

adam.skinner — 2007-10-04T12:28:38+00:00

When Kelly decided to join Nate, Don, Lisa, and me in some designer game action, that limited our options somewhat. Samurai and TTD only handle 4. Nexus Ops only handles 4 and would likely take too long anyway. Tichu was out, Loot too light. It was Ark of the Covenant or China, and we went for China.

I brought out the components, and they checked out the differences in the two sides of the board. When they were doing this, I decided to bust out with the Shogun board (since I had it there) and show them how it was similar to the China board. This teased a little interest out of them. There was a query about what the cube tower looked like. "Mmmmmmmm, cube tower /drool/."

I explained the rules, Don clarified and Lisa asked questions.

Lisa made a single placement in purple, so I placed a house there as well and put an emissary besides (iirc - maybe it was just an emmisary). I went with an emissary stragegy - locking in majorities in a number of places. Not everywhere that leveraged my strength in Chu, but 3 of the 4 adjacent territories.

Kelly had this massive blue train, and Nate had a big red one. Lisa and Don were establishing house majorities, with Don pulling in a surprising number of "second place" scorings as well - some of which he got a great bang for the buck out of.

At the end, it was a close game all around. Don edged me out by 2 or 3 points, I edged Lisa out by a couple points, and she was only a few ahead of Kelly and Nate (I think Nate was bringing up the rear on this one).

I would have done better to pursue a more balanced strategy, leveraging majority in Chu less...intently. I was too focused on emissary majority. I also need to learn how to share emissary majority with others, instead of taking it all for myself. If I'd have done so, a couple of my opponents would have scored more, but so would I. That usually translates to a net gain for me against all of my other opponents. Share with the weak, overcome the strong?

Near the end of the game, I was concerned that Lisa was going to place a 5th man in Chu and then squeeze me out of majority there, unraveling my plans. It was only me in there, with 2 emissaries. But then I saw the draw deck (which had already been replenished once). Something like 5 cards left - not enough for her to steal majority from me, since it was my turn and she was to my right. I let it lie and played elsewhere.

I would have done better to have placed more emissaries at the locus of my power. I would have reaped the benefit more than once. Instead of establishing a majority with two of my emissaries up in the hinter-regions of the board to work with my majority in the center, I should have placed more emissaries in Chu, and let them work with my 3. If I'd have done that, it might have meant the game going in my favor.

Focus your power for emissary scoring?

The opposite is true for house scoring, of course. There, you want to do "just enough" to ensure a majority. The same goes true for emissaries in a contested region, but there is an extra incentive to boost those before end-game scoring, due to the multiple alliances each has available.

I enjoy China. I'm still learning =)

(geeklist context)

Image

kilroy_locke — 2007-10-03T04:58:26+00:00

Image

matthew.marquand — 2007-09-09T23:22:43+00:00

Close up of beautiful board art