http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/201 en-us Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:19:56 -0500 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:19:56 -0500 aldie@boardgamegeek.com BoardGameGeek features information related to the board gaming hobby The family balzons of the back of the rule book <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic374273_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/374273 2008-09-18T22:27:02+00:00 Toynan Front of the french edition (High Res.) <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic372061_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/372061 2008-09-13T18:25:49+00:00 Toynan Back of the french edition <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic372058_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/372058 2008-09-13T18:22:49+00:00 Toynan Very interesting, I'll have to try it the next chance I get. <br> <br>Thanks. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2474711#2474711 2008-07-16T02:57:27+00:00 glasmaul I was on vacation last week and brought this game with me. I was woken up early one morning by my baby and with nothing else to do, I came up with some solitaire rules for this. <br> <br>The basic premise is to play through the deck as one side until you can't make any moves and then play the other side. The higher the combined score, the better. <br> <br>The hero cards are not used in this game. <br> <br>Round 1: <br>Place the crown in the center and deal yourself five cards. Then, play the cards as normal and wherever you move to, you place a white rose. After moving, draw a card. Keep playing this way until you run out of cards or you can't make a legal move. <br> <br>Round 2: <br>Shuffle any remaining cards and the discard pile together and draw back up to five. Leave the crown in the last space white moved it to. Now play the same way for red and continue until running out of cards or getting stuck. <br> <br>I found that the white player has lots of options and can usually get through the entire deck. The red player has more restricted options and it's a bit trickier to play. <br> <br>Out of five games, I scored more or less as follows: <br>550 <br>500 <br>300 <br>400 <br>400 <br> <br>I don't think I'd buy the game just for solo play, but it was a fun diversion and I'll try it again. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2474666#2474666 2008-07-16T02:34:06+00:00 fractaloon Rosenkönig at <A target='_blank' href="http://www.YourTurnMyTurn.com" rel="nofollow">www.YourTurnMyTurn.com</A> <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic349713_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/349713 2008-07-04T14:30:25+00:00 Joseph Hill Rosenkönig AI on yourturnmyturn.com -- play for free online <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic345085_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/345085 2008-06-19T19:58:04+00:00 chaosbreaker Despite its "War of the Roses" theme, this game is not really a wargame. It more closely resembles the play of Go and to a limited extant, Othello. The abstract nature of the game works at my house because my wife simply won't touch any game that even closely resembles her hated arch-nemesis, Advanced Squad Leader. <br> <br>So, our first game of Rosenkoenig was a relatively nice affair, played in about 45 minutes, and involving enough strategy to keep us both engaged. The exponential scoring really helped me as I built a large area in the center. Even after she played her knights to try to cut into this massive area, there were just too many places where the "mass" of my castles held together. <br> <br>In the end, it was a runaway in my favor as this central area had about 20 castles in it. In turn, I was able to play my cards and use my knights so she had lots of little castle areas 3-5 in size. Happily, despite the lopsided score, the elegance of the game system, and the simplicity of play will probably allow us to play this in the future. This was a nice game to pick up on sale, and I'm glad to have it in my collection. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2034574#2034574 2008-01-25T21:15:44+00:00 BillJ1967 The King in a field of Roses <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic284660_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/284660 2008-01-01T10:34:02+00:00 henk.rolleman Action Cards & Game Board - Dutch Editon 999 Games <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic283570_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/283570 2007-12-29T11:30:30+00:00 henk.rolleman Close up from the Rose on the Gameboard <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic283567_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/283567 2007-12-29T11:27:09+00:00 henk.rolleman The King and the Roses <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic283565_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/283565 2007-12-29T11:24:46+00:00 henk.rolleman Midway through the game <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic265427_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/265427 2007-11-04T09:32:38+00:00 Mosse Hmmm, the translation in my box seemed fine. I wonder if we have different inserts. By any chance is your copy not double sided? The back has the objectives, scoring, how to play cards, etc. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1643066#1643066 2007-08-02T18:53:26+00:00 Stoichi If you are just coming to RK, like I am, take note of what is available in the files. <br> <br>The rules downloads which say "Texas," threw me at first and I kept saying, "I know it was based on Texas, but where are the rules for RosenK?" <br> <br>The English translation that comes in the Kosmos box leaves out critical information-- like how to play the cards, what to do when you play them, and how to actually win the game. <br> <br>Bottom line, non-German speakers can't play the game with what is in the box. <br> <br>However, the files labeled "Texas" here are actually fully adapted to RK. In fact, the PDF file even matches the layout of the color (German) rulebook... and includes everything you need to play the game. <br> <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1642839#1642839 2007-08-02T17:09:21+00:00 kduke <b><font color='#FF6600'>ROSENKONIG</font></b>: Gary & Bob.S, Kathy & Bob.C <br> <br>Kathy suggested that we play this game of area control and squared scoring in partnership mode, which is something I had not tried before. I still haven't tried it, as I gave up my seat to Gary, who arrived just before we started. <br> <br>Kathy and Bob.C were the red roses, and managed to a build up a huge 14 piece area during the game. Gary and Bob.S were the white roses, and managed to build some less impressive 6 piece and 8 piece areas that were oh-so-close to being connected. <br> <br>Bob.C experienced Zugzwang for the first time when he was forced to play his last hero card to flip a piece when he didn't want to, and yet it was his only legal play. This move did not have a major bearing on the final outcome. <br> <br>Near the end of the game Gary was able to flip a red rose with his last hero that split the 14 piece area into 10 piece and 3 piece areas. This proved to be the key move of the game, as white beat red by a mere 2 points. Final scores were: (64+36+25+9+4+4+2) = <b>144</b> to (100+25+9+4+4) = <b>142</b>. <br> <br>I like the idea of playing this with partners, but fear that analysis paralysis will plague me with all cards being face up. Still, I must try this some time. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1581390#1581390 2007-06-29T00:32:55+00:00 Spielfreak <b><i>Rosenkönig </i></b>was formerly known as <b><i>Texas</i></b>, published by DB Spiele. The theme has been changed to the War of the Roses, which is almost what the game title means (it actually means Rose King). The game is quite lovely - a beautiful board with a map of northern England, wooden tokens with a white rose on one side and a red rose on the other, and attractive cards. The game as published is quite good - if you like cerebral games, that is. <br> <br><b>The Game as Written</b> <br> <br>Each player is dealt five power cards, which are placed face up in front of you. Each power card shows a direction and a distance. The board is made up of 81 spaces in a 9x9 square. A wooden crown marker starts on the center square, and the red rose player then plays a power card. The power card will show one of eight directions - the four orthogonal directions and the four diagonal directions - and a number from one to three. The crown marker is moved in the direction shown, the number of spaces shown. At that point, a power stone is placed with the red rose showing. It is now the white rose player's turn, who also plays a power card, moves the crown marker, and places a power stone, but with the white rose side face up. <br> <br>Play continues like this, but instead of playing a power card, you may draw one and add it to your stock of face-up power cards, though you cannot have more than five cards at a time. <br> <br>Each player also has four one-shot Hero cards, by the way, which allow you to land on a power stone of your opponent's and convert it to your color. Large concentrations of power stones are what win the game, so if you can join two smaller groups of your tokens together, it's always a good move ... Provided you don't give your opponent a devastating response, that is. <br> <br><b>Why We Don't Play It as Written</b> <br> <br>Well, the game is far too prone to over-analysis for our tastes. You see, your cards are exposed face up on the table, so before I play, I can see how you'd react to my play. <i>"If I play this card, he can play that and go there. Or he might play that and go there, then I could play this one ..."</i> and so on. This meant, frankly, that it got played less and less - you may as well play Chess if you're going to analyze moves that way. <br> <br><b>The Variant We Play With to Make It One of Our Favorite Fillers</b> <br> <br>The rule change involved is astonishingly simple: play with closed hands instead of open hands. That is, don't lay your cards face up on the table, hold them in your hand like most card games. <br> <br>What this does is change it from a cerebral analysis game to one of taking risks. <i>"I can play here and hope he doesn't have the one card that would connect those two regions. Or I can make this safer but weaker move ... hmmm."</i> This means you still always have choices, often interesting choices, but such choices do not involve the painstaking slowness of the game as written. <br> <br>It's a much quicker game this way, and much lighter - perfect as a two-player game to unwind with after something lengthy and heavy. The game still rewards thought - the more skilled player will still win over a novice - but the luck involved now softens the game to an enjoyable level. <br> <br>This is now the only way I play the game - I can't go back to the slow, analytical version. It's now a fun, light filler for us. Recommended! http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1348336#1348336 2007-02-20T02:33:46+00:00 sos1 Thanks. We figured out that half the game is putting your opponent in unfavorable position(s). <br> <br>My wife and I enjoyed our first two plays (of course, it helped her like of the game that she smashed me both times <img src="http://files.boardgamegeek.com/images/goo.gif" alt="goo" border="0"> ) http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1275876#1275876 2007-01-14T21:40:55+00:00 EvilTimmy <b>glassairports wrote:</b><br><i>Yes using a hero card is a legal move, therefore, even if you don't want to, you are forced to use it.</i> <br> <br>This is the way I've always played it too. This situation is a bummer, but you can always try to position your opponent into this position. During the course of a game try to move in such a way to force passes or to force a hero card. <br> <br><b>glassairports wrote:</b><br><i>I hope you enjoy this game, it's one of my favorite in the Kosmos two player line. </i> <br> <br>I'll second that. Rosenkonig got me hooked on the Kosmos two player line. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1275786#1275786 2007-01-14T20:12:52+00:00 matthewjhoskins Yes using a hero card is a legal move, therefore, even if you don't want to, you are forced to use it. I hope you enjoy this game, it's one of my favorite in the Kosmos two player line. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1275099#1275099 2007-01-14T06:53:55+00:00 glassairports If your only legal move is to play a hero card, are you forced to do it? The English translation here on BGG isn't entirely clear but I assumed that the phrase '<i>until the other player has a <u>legal move</u></i>' means that if you have a legal move then you must make it. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1275094#1275094 2007-01-14T06:45:01+00:00 EvilTimmy I must admit that I do enjoy this game myself. There is quite a bit of strategy involved, even with open hands. I did find that closed hands made it more nerve-wrecking. It's almost inevitable that your opponent will try to push you to the borders neutralizing your movements, but a well-placed card can easily cut your opponent's score dramatically. I never tire of this game. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1191182#1191182 2006-11-25T20:57:01+00:00 stjarna Nice little report. I agree with your rules translation: if, on your turn, the only move you can make is to play a hero card and a power card, then you must do so. In fact, forcing your opponent to spend a hero card in this fashion can be quite satisfying -- so long as doing so doesn't break up a large region of your own! http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/970983#970983 2006-06-29T08:29:03+00:00 Beowulf My wife and I find this to be a very intense game. When we play, there is little or no conversation, deep concentration, and groans of disappointment from the loser. We love it. <br> <br>You have to make some very careful decisions in this game and really pay attention to your own possibilities and your opponent's. We always play with open hands. <br> <br>Bits: <br> <br>When I saw the components of this game at my FLGS, I just had to have it. The board looks like an ancient map of England, with York and Lancaster on opposite sides of the board, although their placement is not relevant to the game. The board is a 9x9 grid. <br> <br>There are 52 powerstones, which are wooden disks used to show ownership of a square. On one side of the powerstone is a white rose for York and on the other a red rose for Lancaster. Also included are 24 power cards, which are rather small. They don't require an immense amount of shuffling so that is okay. These cards indicate direction and distances for the movement of the crown. There are also eight hero cards, four for each side. <br> <br>Finally, one of my favourite game bits, a yellow wooden crown. <br> <br>Setup: <br> <br>Each player is dealt five power cards, which they place in front of them face up. Each card has a crown on it which must be orientated to the crown on the board. In short, everyone's power cards must be pointing in the same direction. The rest of the cards are placed to the side as the draw pile. Each player is also given his hero cards. <br> <br>The crown is placed in middle of the board. <br> <br>The House of Lancaster goes first. <br> <br>Play/Rules: <br> <br>On his turn, a player may play a power card, draw a power card, or play a power and hero card together. There is also the possibility of a player not being able to do any of these, and in that case he must pass. <br> <br>Each power card indicates a direction and number of spaces for the crown to move on the grid; hence the importance of both players aligning their cards' crowns. There are eight directions: N, NW, W, SW, S, SE, E, NE; and distance values of 1, 2, or 3. There are 24 possible movements and 24 cards, so each card is unique. <br> <br>When a card is played, the crown is moved in the direction indicated and exactly the number of spaces indicated, and a powerstone of the appropriate colour is placed under it at its new location. <br> <br>You can never place the crown on a powerstone of your own colour. If you place the crown on one of your opponent's powerstones, you have to use a hero card, and this allows you to flip the powerstone over so it is now of your colour. However, as you only have four hero cards, they must be used sparingly. <br> <br>You may also use your turn to draw a power card to replenish your hand. <br> <br>Deciding when to use your hero cards, and when to draw a power card, are the cruxes of this game: the hero cards because there are only four of them; when to draw because when you draw you don't get to move the crown and may give the advantage to your opponent. <br> <br>You take turns moving the crown and placing powerstones until either all the powerstones have been placed, or neither player has a legal move. <br> <br>The game is scored according to how many powerstones you have on the board; however, the more adjacent you have, the higher your score. Adjacent means that the powerstones share an edge; not a corner. The number of adjacent squares you occupy, called a territory, is squared. For example, if I have ten powerstones which are adjacent, you score 100 points. Points mount up very quickly as you get into larger territories. A territory of 12 scores 144 points, one of 20 scores, 400. Hence it is crucial to try to break up your opponent's larger formations, and build your own. <br> <br>The player with the highest number of points wins. In the event of a tie, the player with the most powerstones on the board wins. <br> <br>Strategy: <br> <br>There is more strategy here than I initially thought. It is very important to keep your eye on your opponent's cards. Sometimes, you can get your opponent into a position where they don't have a card that allows them to move. This makes it safe for you to draw cards. Sometimes you can force your opponent into a position where their only legal move is to expend a hero card, and they are very precious indeed. Forcing your opponent to waste a hero card can be a great coup. <br> <br>Also, it is definitely worthwhile to move the crown far away from the action and place a powerstone if that prevents your opponent from building on to a large territory. The power of squaring your territory is immense. <br> <br>I have found that spreading out your powerstones is not always a bad thing. Obviously you want to concentrate them as much as possible, but there are alot of powerstones, and sometimes smaller cells connect up quite nicely. <br> <br>I usually use one or two hero cards mid-game to break up my opponent's larger territories, but save the rest for the end game. Of course you don't want to hang on to them for too long, and still have them when the game is over. Sometimes lopping off two powerstones from an opponent's territory can make all the difference. <br> <br>Conclusion: <br> <br>We never tire of playing this game. Thematically, there is a sense of a civil war, in that factions pop up all over the map, and can be made less powerful through the intervention of a well-placed hero. Nevertheless, the thin theme is the only reason I give this game a 9, rather than a 10. <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/967689#967689 2006-06-26T20:31:07+00:00 ccarlet1 My wife and I got this game a couple of weeks ago and really like it. It is simple, but strategy and watching your opponent is ever present. Also it has the feel of a civil war--trying to gain and capitalize on support for your side. <br> <br>Most of the initial placementof markers took place in the area of York, and this trend continued throughout the game. By the time there were fifteen markers on the board, I had a group of six, while my wife's largest group was of two. So far I have developed a few basic guidelines for play, and they seemed to be working: drawing cards is preferable to moving the crown unless I am able to place a marker adjacent or diagonal to one already placed. Occassionally I purposefully move the crown away from the action to prevent my opponent building up a group. <br> <br>However, by the time there was about 20 markers on the board I had no choice but to play a hero card (my translation states that you cannot pass unless you cannot take one of the three actions). Immediately after that my wife played a hero card and broke up my growing formation, and I never recovered. <br> <br>After about 30 markers were out my wife was in the lead and we had both used two heroes. She was able to concentrate her forces in the middle of the board and I wasn't able to get a decent sized group again. We both used all of our heroes by the time the last tile was placed (I only had one Zugzwang), and we both held on to the last two of them until close to the end of the game. Having a hero for the last few markers is a good idea, mainly to try to reverse the damage done by your opponent. <br> <br>However, it was too little too late on my part. My wife had a group of fifteen; the best I could do was a group of 8. After cancelling out, our final score was Penny: 233 Chris: 93. <br> <br>I find this to be a very engaging game, that is just right for a medium weight filler, coming in at about 30 minutes. <br> <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/910662#910662 2006-05-11T01:56:55+00:00 ccarlet1 <i>[This review originally written in 2000 -- Brian] <br></i> <br> <br>Texas is another game by db Spiele, a company I greatly admire. It's been re-released by Kosmos as Rosenkonig, part of their two player line of games. I've only ever played Texas, but I hear they are basically identical. <br> <br>In Texas, the battle is between the farmers and the ranchers, butthis is an abstract game. There is a square grid, and a pawn. Each player has a hand of cards face up in front of them. The cards each show a direction and a distance. (For example, 3 steps to the North East). On a player's turn, he can either draw a card and add it to his hand, or play a card. If he plays a card, then the pawn moves the appropriate distance to an empty square, and the player places one of his markers on that square. (In Texas, the markers are double sided. Like Othello chips). Each player also has a two (I believe) judge symbols. The judge lets you move onto a previously placed marker and reverse it. [In Rosenkonig, there are four of these, called Hero]. The game ends when there are no legal moves. At this point, each player scores. For each contiguou region, a player scores points equal to the square of the number of markers. So if I have a regions of 11, 7 and 4 markers, I get 121 + 49 + 16 = 186 points. Obviously the key strategy of the game is linking all of your markers together and cutting your opponents group into two (or more) parts. <br> <br>The game is cerebral, although with limited depth. I'm mildly fond of the 4 player game, and I'm not sure if Rosenkonig presents that as a variant. Basically, you sit opposite your partner, and you share Judge (hero) chits. You each have your own hand of cards, though (face up, remember). Absolutely no communication is allowed. In theory this game is really just a two-player game. However, you have to take into account the fact that your partner might calculate differently than you, so what seems an obvious play to you might seem to be a blunder to your partner. I personally find that dynamic intriguing. (As a note, compare this open information system with no communication to Bridge, which has hidden information but limited communication). <br> <br>Still, Texas is dry and cerebral and I've resisted the compulsion to get a copy long enough that the opportunity has long passed. Even the discounted Rosenkonig won't be seeing any of my money in the near future. But if you like abstract games (and you know who you are), this is a worthy addition. If you're like me, you can pass. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/725714#725714 2005-12-11T03:37:06+00:00 Bankler <b>1. INTRODUCTION</b> <br><i>Rosenkönig</i> (translated: 'King of Roses', although no such English title exists) is a boardgame for two players. The objective of the game is to score more points than your opponent by creating larger areas of interconnected markers of your own colour. You are restricted to playing those markers by means of at most five and ever-changing 'power' cards, which indicate the precise position. You also have four 'hero' cards which force a previously placed marker to change allegiance to your camp. <br> <br><i>Rosenkönig</i> was originally published by db Spiele under the name of <i>Texas</i>, but like so many of Dirk Henn's games was released under a different name and theme. In <i>Rosenkönig</i> players are transported back in time to the time of the War of the Roses, and become anonymous members of the Houses of York and Lancaster, competing for control of the Crown of England. (For more background information I found <A target='_blank' href="http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/5123/faq.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/5123/faq.html</A> pleasantly short and informative, although---of course---much better and more complete material can be found elsewhere.) <i>Texas</i> is all about farmers and ranchers competing for control of land. There are no rule differences between the two releases, save for the fact that <i>Texas</i> allows for a curious four player-variant. You can find this in the files section if you are interested. <br> <br> <br><b>2. GAME MATERIAL</b> <br>In the infamous 2 player-style Kosmos box we find a rules booklet, a sturdy board, a small wooden crown, lots of wooden markers with a red rose on the one side and a white on the other, and small-sized playing cards. And, last but certainly not least, a custom plastic tray which holds the components perfectly. Once again kudos to the publisher for not neglecting this important detail. <br> <br>The artwork on the box itself is quite attractive: the dark background contrasts very well with the drawing of the two roses and the crown. It is therefore disappointing that the game board itself with its map of the region overlayed by a square grid is bland and grainy. Truth be told, all you need is the grid, so there is little point in the illustrations to begin with, but still. The cards themselves have nice and clear artwork, and are instantly identifyable. Rather surprising is the multitude of wooden markers with stamped red and white roses. All in all this game is good value for money: I've seen titles which charge more for less. <br> <br>Perhaps interesting to note for all us 'male geeks' is that my girlfriend repeatedly mentions that with all its roses, <i>Rosenkönig</i> has a very romantic appearance: the game definitely appeals more to her because of this. (She also thinks that it should be the game of choice for a wedding present, but I'm not so sure about that.) <br> <br> <br><b>3. GAME PLAY</b> <br>The players each get five power cards and their four hero cards. All of these are placed open and in full view of the opponent. The yellow crown is placed in the middle of the board, and then the game commences. The players alternate taking turns unless of of them cannot perform an action and passes; then the other plays alone until the blocked player can act once more. Should both players pass, the game ends immediately. An alternative means of ending the game is by running out of markers. <br> <br>When it is his turn, a player <i>must</i> perform one and only one of three actions: <br>*) draw a power card <br>*) play a power card <br>*) play a power card in conjunction with a hero card. <br>The obligatory nature of the actions means that at times you can be forced to do something you do not want to do. <br> <br>Players can draw new power cards from the closed deck and have up to five in front of them; when that number is reached they cannot draw more. <br> <br>With a power card, the wooden crown is moved the indicated number of steps (1, 2 or 3) in the indicated direction (horizontally, vertically or diagonally) to an empty field. Then a rose marker of the player's colour is placed on that field. The card is then discarded. The crown can not be moved over the edge of the board. If the player's power cards do not allow him to move the crown to a legal position, this action cannot be chosen. <br> <br>However, with a hero card that can change. Hero cards are played in conjunction with power cards, and allow the crown to be moved to a field occupied by a marker of the opponent. This marker is turned over Othello-style, after which both cards are discarded. Since a player only has four of these hero cards, he should be careful about using them. Unfortunately, a player can be forced to use them when it is his only option. <br> <br>After the game ends, players count their score. Each region of horizontally and vertically connected rose markers of a single colour is worth the square of the amount of markers: a region of 5 markers is worth 5 x 5 = 25 points, of 8 markers 8 x 8 = 64 points, and so forth. Points for all your regions are added together; the player with the highest total wins the game. Clear tiebreaker rules are provided. <br> <br> <br><b>4. OPINION</b> <br>I was never sure about getting <i>Rosenkönig</i>. The few reviews that were available were not exceedingly positive, so I decided to postpone the purchase. Of course, I postponed it for so long that the (Dutch) distributor had long since pulled it from the market, but with a bit of effort I tracked down a copy. With hindsight, I was glad I did. <br> <br>The rules themselves are simple, clear and mostly self-explanatory, but that did not stop me from getting them wrong in several places. I offer you my own interpretation at the end of this review. When I got the rules right, I was able to begin playing in a more systematic fashion. The quadratic scoring rule means that you should do your utmost best in growing large areas, and keeping your opponent from doing the same. At first sight, the hero cards seem to come in handy in accomplishing that---and they are. But the timing is in all likelihood going to be all wrong. If you spend those cards too early in the game, your opponent has a huge tactical advantage over you in the final stages, especially if you neglected to build a compact region. A well-placed marker can cut an elongated region in two, resulting in a <i>devastating</i> loss of points. (A region of 11 roses cut into two regions of 5 entails a loss of 71 points, for example.) At the same time, if you resist early temptation you are likely going to find yourself being forced to use the heroes, which is simply wasteful. There is a fine balance to be mastered here. <br> <br>Even after playing a dozen or so games, my mind is still not made up whether it makes sense to begin by spreading out all over the board. It makes later marker placement somewhat more likely, as there are still holes left to which you can move the crown. This is very difficult to achieve if the region of red and white roses grows as a single whole: the crown is invariably forced to the edges of the board, and then the person who was lucky enough to draw the small movement cards is at a distinct advantage. At the same time, if your opponent doesn't play along with seemingly random placement but begins to create a tight network of roses you <i>have</i> to act, because such a group is simply too dangerous to leave unchallenged in terms of point value. Once again a fine balance, which probably averages out at creating small and not too-threatening groups in close proximity which can then quickly be strung together at the Right Moment (TM). <br> <br><i>Rosenkönig</i> has a fair share of luck in that it is not possible to predict which cards you will get exactly, although with a bit of practice you should be able to guesstimate what is still in the closed deck: all power cards are unique. Not getting the right cards at the right time can prove quite problematic (to the point of losing), especially when the crown begins to run out of movement options. You should therefore really try to maneuver the crown to a place where you know (open cards!) your opponent has no option but to do something he doesn't want. It takes a while to master this skill, especially since you (I) have a tendency to ignore what the other player has. But it makes it pleasantly challenging too, so in the end I'm inclined to stubbornly try and work my way around the luck of an ill draw. At least it will give the opposition a good run for his money, and keep things open and undecided until the last dozen markers. <br> <br>Playing time sits at a comfortable 30 to 35 minutes, which is short enough to demand a rematch, although a subsequent rematch is probably overasking. The game can become pretty intensive, and you're simply a bit tired at the end of two games. I also found that the game wears well with age: the position on the board requires different tactics every time, keeping the game from getting stale and repetitive, although it remains somewhat annyoing to lose because you were forced to pass while your opponent had free reign of the board for a while. <br> <br>A major disadvantage to the game is its weak theme. The fact that it was restyled so easily from Texan agriculturists to a medieval conflict is sufficient evidence of that. It is simply an abstract game with a nice, but still very much pasted-on theme. However, I am inclined not to judge it too harshly because of this: it is quite difficult to create a properly themed game for two. <br> <br>The game falls squarely in the category of 'easy to learn, yet hard to master'-games, and the fact that it does surprised me considerably. Dirk Henn doesn't usually make this sort of game: to be very honest, I find most of his games boring and irritating. <i>Rosenkönig</i> is a pleasant exception to the rule. <br> <br> <br><b>5. CONCLUSION</b> <br>Easy and simple rules; good if a little bland presentation; interesting ways to try out various (but not too many) different strategies; good and very acceptable playing time; nice tension throughout; but with a very weak theme. A good, fun and much-overlooked title you would do well do add to your collection of 2-player games. <br> <br> <br><b>6. POSSIBLE VARIANTS</b> <br>When I was still learning this game, I misread the placement rules and put a rose marker on the field the crown <i>departed from</i> rather than <i>arrived on</i>. The hero card would still change the marker on which the crown landed. Played like this, it becomes much harder to create large regions straight from the beginning, and things can get really tense near the end when you <i>have</i> to place the crown next to an opponent's rose. The disadvantage is a stronger influence of the luck of the draw, but the tension makes up for it. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/703415#703415 2005-11-22T16:43:07+00:00 cymric I had played this earlier in the evening with Nick and it was simple enough for me to explain to Jon although I did have to look up the win conditions. <br> <br>Battle commenced in the East and built up a sizeable area between us. I managed to link two of my smaller area a two and a two followed by Jon getting a five area in a straight line further South. Every time I tried to move the Crown away from the nice 5 area I had created and closer to the one in the South. Every time I tried the Crown's attention was pulled back North leaving just areas of one or two dotted around the main battle area in the East. I had run out of Heroes but Jon had held one back trying to carve my eight area in two at the weak link. If he managed to do it then he would have had an area of 10 and soundly beaten me. Thankfully, we run out of possible moves before he could see his plan through and was left in a heap guarded by his one Hero. <br> <br>After taking away areas that cancelled each other out it ended like this. <br> <br>Mark - 64 + 4 = 68 <br>Jon - 36 + 1 + 9 = 46 <br> <br>A very nice game and one of my favourites from the kosmos series I have played so far. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/639413#639413 2005-09-28T16:17:20+00:00 CharlieWonka Another Tuesday night in the pub and once again the first two in were Mark and Nick (me). <br> <br>I thought I'd introduce Mark to this neat little game, which Sue and I have only recently discovered ourselves. <br> <br>I played the House of York, and so Mark went first. <br> <br>The crown soon found its way into the southwest corner of the board, making it hard for me to find any cards that played. <br> <br>Mark was in a similar boat, as he was collecting mainly threes as well, and we both found ourselves drawing to find the one's. <br> <br>One strategy that is starting to prove popular: When your opponent can't play, you may as well fill your hand at the same time. (It sounds obvious now, but these things take me a game or two to figure out!) <br> <br>The main battle in the game was going on in the south. I had a group of 6 or 7, as did Mark, but there was a fair amount of trying to split the group (or flip a rose) and claim the larger area. <br> <br>To that end, Mark had used all of his power cards while I had only used a single one, because I had to! <br> <br>This gave me a fairly large advantage later on in the game, as Mark could no longer play whenever there was a rose at the end of his path, whereas I could still pick and choose a little. <br> <br>As it turned out, I eventually came across the necessary card to secure the group of 8 in my favour, splitting Mark's red roses into a seven and a four. <br> <br>The game ended in a stalemate: With the crown at the eastern edge of the board, I had eventually used up my power cards and neither of us could find a card that player. <br> <br>We removed a two sets of four roses each (and a couple of singles) from the board, and we were left with a final score of: <br> <br>Nick: 64 + 25 = 89 <br>Mark: 49 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 52 <br> <br>A good game, which I like a little more each time I play it. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/639020#639020 2005-09-28T09:20:04+00:00 Moviebuffs <u><b>First Game: Rosenkonig</b></u> <br> <br>When we got up and about this morning, Jared was looking through some of his more recently acquired games. This is one that I had told him I was kind of interested in before, so he had it out and ready to go for me. Ostensibly, this game has a War of the Roses theme, but it is really completely abstract. Each player has a hand of cards that determine what direction and the number of spaces they can move a disc. You then place a disc with your color face up here. You score points by squaring the number of discs in each contiguous group. This means you want to try to get as many large groups as possible. In addition, each player has three opportunities to land on an opponent's piece and replace it with one of their own. The game ends when neither player is able to move. <br> <br>Since I had never played before, a lot of my initial moves were probably pretty chaotic. I wanted to try to get groups of my pieces together and limit what Jared could do. However, it seemed that for a while, my cards mostly moved me toward one side / corner of the board and more spaces than I wanted to move. It seemed that no matter what I did, Jared was able to capitalize on it. At least it seemed to change a little bit as the game went on. Still, I was never really able to do what I wanted. It just seemed as though I was at complete mercy of the system. At any rate, Jared always had clearly larger groups than I did. Finally, as the game began winding down, I started getting more of those single space cards. Of course, at this point, they were no where nearly as useful as they had been. Then Jared began to deliberately play to end the game, which occurred soon thereafter. Needless to say, Jared won. <br> <br><b>Final Result:</b> <br> <br>Jared -- 272 <br>Stephen -- 194 <br> <br><i>As a note, these scores are actually a little lower than the actual scores. There were several areas of equal size that we simply cancelled out rather than count to a total. At any rate, this game left me feeling a little dissatisfied. For a large portion of the game, I seemed to be simply going through the motion, without any clear strategy. The strategy I had hoped to pursue really was not doable with the cards I had. Still, the game was interesting and a pleasant diversion. I intend to pick up a copy for myself and see what I can come up with as far as strategy goes. Perhaps there is something that will show itself with repeated plays. Our total playing time was about 30 minutes.</i> <br> <br> <br> <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/610518#610518 2005-09-05T04:52:26+00:00 seppo21 you state something interesting: <br>"It is very easy to discern the best move and execute it." <br> <br>Can you explain how to find the best move? <br>or, <br>show me how, we can play a game at yucata.de! http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/593348#593348 2005-08-20T08:18:35+00:00 Morfinus After playing the Duell, Jon and I decided to go ahead and move onto playing a game of Rosenkonig. I've been hitting this game hard online since Yucata.de offers it but I wanted to get my hands on the pieces and play it for real. <br> <br>It had been a while since Jon had played so I refreshed his memory. <br> <br>I've found that it is useful to push the other player hard into one corner and make him work to get his way out. I grabbed the early lead and held on for dear life. <br> <br>The interesting thing I've found as I've played this game often as of late, every game where I blow my knights before the other guy, I loose. The temptation is always there to use them early and often, but you really need to wait and plan before you just drop them. <br> <br>In the end, the home team came home with the victory. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/448676#448676 2005-03-09T11:40:52+00:00 Don Quixote <i>Rosenkönig</i> is a purely abstract two-player game. It is dressed with different themes in Europe and the US (<i>Texas</i>), probably, to make it more marketable. Although the theme is completely irrelevant to the game, it did lead to a rather nice board and component design. <br> <br><i>Rosenkönig</i> is played on a square board of 9 by 9 fields. Players attempt to control as many adjacent fields as possible. Besides the game board, the components of the game are 52 two-sided (red and white) game pieces, 32 cards and a wooden crown. <br> <br><b>how to get started?</b> <br>The players choose a colour (red or white) and receive the 4 'hero-cards' that correspond to that colour. The other 24 cards are shuffled. Both players receive 5 cards, which they place next to each other and face up in front of them. The rest of the cards is placed face down next to the board. The wooden crown is placed on the middle field on the game board. Red starts the game. <br> <br><b>how to play?</b> <br>When it is a player's turn he must do <i>one</i> of three things: <br>(1) he can play a card; <br>(2) he can draw a card; <br>(3) he can play a card together with one of his 4 hero-cards. <br>I a player <i>cannot</i> do one of these things, he must pass. <br> <br><b>playing cards</b> <br>All cards in the game (the hero-cards excepted) have a crown on them and a sword that points in a certain direction. On the game board there is also a crown and the cards should be placed on the table in front of the players with the crowns pointing in the same direction as the crown on the game board. The direction of the sword on the card then is the direction of movement (there are 4 diagonal and 4 orthogonal directions). The distance is determined by the figure in the crown (1, 2 or 3) and by the (similar) number of red markers behind the sword's blade. <br>If a player chooses to play a card, he selects a card from those that he has placed face up in front of him, and moves the wooden crown in the direction and over (exactly) the distance indicated on the card. He then places one of the game pieces with his colour (red or white) facing up on the field where the wooden crown ends up and puts the wooden crown on top of it. The card used is discarded and placed next to the board. <br>Cards can only be played if the wooden crown ends up in a field where there is <i>no</i> game piece yet (there can be only one game piece in a field). <br> <br><b>drawing cards</b> <br>Every time a player chooses to play a card, his collection of cards is reduced by one. Hence, it is necessary many times to draw new cards. Cards are drawn from the face down deck next to the board. If this deck is finished, shuffle the discarded (used) cards and place these faced down next to the board. Players can have 5 cards at most (hero-cards not included). <br> <br><b>heroes</b> <br>Both players have 4 hero-cards. These can be played together with a 'normal' card. If a player chooses to do so, he moves the wooden crown to a field where there is already a game piece with the <i>other</i> player's colour facing up. He may then turn this piece over (to his own colour). (Of course, the rules for direction and distance of movement are the same; the only difference is that the wooden crown can now be moved to a field controlled by the opposing player rather than to an empty field.) <br> <br><b>scoring</b> <br>Of course, the choice where to move the wooden crown to is not trivial. Scoring in <i>Rosenkönig</i> is based on areas of orthogonally bordering fields. The total score of a player is the sum of the square of the number of pieces / fields in each area (set of orthogonally bordering fields). Hence, if a player ends up with one area with 2 pieces / fields; two areas of 3 pieces / fields; and one area of 11 pieces / fields he scores ( 1 * 2^2 ) + ( 2 * 3^2 ) + ( 1 * 11^2 ) = 4 + 18 + 121 = 143 points. Consequence of this scoring system is that one large area is worth far more points than many small areas. <br> <br><b>end of the game</b> <br>The game ends if both players have to pass (which happens if both players have 5 cards which they cannot use) or when a player uses the last game piece. <br> <br><b>strategy</b> <br>The most important thing to keep in mind in this game is that single bigger areas are worth much more than several smaller areas. Both players will, therefore, try to enlarge or join their own areas, while they try to break up the opponent's areas (using their hero-cards). Hence, the more compact an area is, the less vulnerable. <br>Generally, players should try to hold on to their hero-cards as long as possible because these can be used to break up the other player's area or join own areas at the end of the game. Loosing hero-cards in earlier stages of the game will seriously hamper a player's abilities in the final stages. <br>Although it may seem to be unfavourable to have very little cards left, this is not necessarily the case. Rather in the contrary: if <i>red</i>, for example, manages to corner <i>white</i> while <i>white</i> has many cards left and <i>red</i> has less, he might force <i>white</i> to play a hero-card (and hence weaken him in the final stage of the game). <br> <br><b>conclusion</b> <br><i>Rosenkönig</i> is an abstract game with relatively simple rules, but very complex game play. It is one of those games that are 'easy to learn, but difficult to master'. Of course, there is some luck involved because player's actions are limited by the cards they draw, but the game is never won or lost by luck alone. <i>Rosenkönig</i> is much more a game of strategy, of intentionally improving your own position while deteriorating your opponent's, than a game of chance. It is a well designed abstract two-player game with plenty of depth and, sometimes even, brain burning complexity. <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/40923#40923 2004-06-18T21:40:06+00:00 Lajos William and I (Rick) got together on a lazy Sunday afternoon to while away the hours with a few two-player games. <br> <br>First up is Rosenkonig, another of the Kosmos two-player series. I had played this game before with Dan and had found it simple, yet with good amounts of strategy. This was William’s first go. <br> <br>This was a bit of a different game in that almost all the action was confined to one quadrant of the board. I was attempting to build a big area of my markers and William was building up areas on either side of mine. I ended up amassing a huge area of markers only to have William split it in half using one of his power cards. In the end, William took the win with two seven marker areas for 49 points a piece (plus the a few ones and twos). <br> <br>Score: <br> <br>*William* - 104 <br>Rick – 97 <br> <br>No ratings, but I believe we are in 7 or 8 territory here. Good two-player game and probably even more interesting played with four players in teams. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/16363#16363 2002-06-26T05:48:55+00:00 Deleted User 1 Another weekly Monday session of the Terminal City Gamers begins! First up, was a 2-player game of Rosenkonig between Patrick and myself (Dan). This was Patrick’s first game. <br> <br>This game was a little bit different than some of the previous ones I’ve played in that this time around there was a lot of 3-space jumping into empty territory in order to avoid setting up the other guy for an adjacent placement. <br> <br>Patrick played well but used his heroes up quite early in the game. This worked to his disadvantage towards the end of the game, since he could no longer break up my big group of 7 (worth 49 points). Because the scoring is the total of all the squares of your horizontally and vertically connected men, one extra man in just the right location can mean a huge jump in the score. <br> <br>Final scores: <br>Dan - *110* <br>Patrick - 79 <br> <br>We forgot to rate it. I give it an 8. I think Patrick liked it, but next time he won’t use up his heroes so early! <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/16092#16092 2002-05-08T11:38:21+00:00 Dan Bosley Wongar was STILL going on at the other table. So Corwin and I teamed up against Joe and Jeff for a 4-handed partnership game of Rosenkonig. <br> <br>Same rules as basic 2-player Rosenkonig, except you only get a maximum of 3 cards (instead of 5), and you only get 2 hero cards each. <br> <br>Thanks to a timely hero card intervention, Corwin and I managed to create a rather large 15-piece unit. That was worth 225 points, so that gave us the game. <br> <br>Final scores: <br> <br>*Dan and Corwin* - 252 points <br>Joe and Jeff - 130 points <br> <br>Ratings: <br>Corwin - 8 <br>Dan - 8 <br>Joe - 7 <br>Jeff - 6 <br> <br>I like this game a lot. It’s simple, but it’s challenging at the same time. I’ll be bringing it back for some encore plays the next few weeks. <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/16058#16058 2002-05-02T17:47:19+00:00 Dan Bosley As we were setting up for Nur Peanuts, Joe arrived. Since that made 7, and Nur Peanuts only plays with a maximum of 6, I volunteered to leave Nur Peanuts and play a 2-player game of Rosenkonig with Joe. <br> <br>It was my 2nd time playing, and Joe’s first. The game was pretty even throughout. Joe managed to get one group of 8 pieces, worth 64 points, and I managed to get a 9-piece group for 81. Those were the 2 biggest groups. <br> <br>Final scores: <br> <br>*Dan* - 125 <br>Joe - 100 <br> <br>We both rated the game an 8. I really like the game. It’s really just an abstract, but it’s really easy to learn and to play. And it’s fun. A lot of fun. You only have a limited number of choices each turn, but you have to think both offensively and defensively at the same time. <br> <br>Sometimes you have to accept a less positive move for yourself in order to prevent your opponent from getting a better one. The cards which control how you can move definitely give it a simplified Battle Cry feel. <br> <br>We both rated the game an 8. <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/16054#16054 2002-05-02T17:47:06+00:00 Dan Bosley Rosenkonig is another in the Kosmos two player game series. This one is a fairly abstract game of trying to get control of as many adjacent spaces on a square grid as possible. Neither of us had played it before <br> <br>I started out with a mostly one and two cards, Dan started with mostly two and three cards. Not knowing the game, I figured that Dan’s higher cards would be better, but they really aren’t. My lower cards allowed me to build up a fairly large region of spaces close together, increasing my scoring capability substantially. <br> <br>It became apparent that there is a fair amount of strategy to the game, you have to watch not only the board and your cards, but your opponents a cards as well to determine whether to place a card (and which card to place) or pick up a card. <br> <br>In the end, my large region scored me huge points and I got the win. <br> <br>Score: <br> <br>*Rick* - 335 <br>Dan – 109 <br> <br>Ratings: <br> <br>Rick – 8 <br>Dan – 7 <br> <br>Quotes: <br> <br>Dan – “It’s abstract but quick.”,”The cards give it a Battle Cry flavor” <br> <br>I agree with Dan, it’s a good quick abstract game. <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/16007#16007 2002-04-30T18:49:42+00:00 Deleted User 1 I roped John Moore into this new 2-player game from Dirk Henn. Actually, it is a remake of Dirk's earlier game Texas which was released under his DB Spiele label. As I enjoy both Lost Cities and Caesar & Cleopatra, two other titles in the 2-player Kosmos line-up, I was anxious to add Rosenkonig to my collection. <br> <br> <br>I had played two previous games with my wife Gail on Halloween night and was disappointed. The game was, well ... dull. Very unexciting. All moves were very quick and easy and the game felt bland. Still, I wanted to give it a go with one of our Westbank Gamers, and John was a perfect choice as he is a very capable, intelligent and open-minded guy. Sadly, the game didn't improve. <br> <br> <br>Each player has five directional cards face-up in front of them. On a turn, you perform one of three potential actions: <br> <br> <br>1) Play one of the face-up cards and move the crown pawn in the direction and number of spaces indicated on the card. Place one of your pieces on the space the crown lands on. <br> <br> <br>2) Replace one of your face-up cards from the draw pile IF you have less than five cards face-up. <br> <br> <br>3) Play one of your four 'hero' cards in conjuncture with a directional card. This allows you to move the crown token onto an opponent's piece and convert it to your own. <br> <br> <br>The object of the game is to get as many of your markers adjacent to each other as possible. The larger the area covered, the better. Points are scored on a 'squaring' method. Example: if you have 7 tokens adjacent, you will earn 7 x 7 = 49 points. The player with the largest point total wins. <br> <br> <br>The game concludes when players no longer have any legal moves. This can occur prematurely, which happened in our game, as the crown token was moved to the edge of the board and none of us had directional cards which could move it. <br> <br> <br>When deciding which directional card to play, you must carefully see how this will help your cause and not aid your opponent, based on the cards he/she has face-up. This takes a bit of studying, but it's not terribly taxing or exciting. It is very easy to discern the best move and execute it. With two reasonably competent players the game boils down to who draws the best cards. There's just nothing here which has me excited or wanting to play again. <br> <br> <br>One thing going for it is the game is quick. My two matches with my wife lasted less than 10 minutes each, while John and I's match clocked in at 15 minutes or so. Brevity, however, isn't a virtue unless the game is exciting and fun. Sadly, this one wasn't. <br> <br> <br>Finals: Greg 122, John 29 <br> <br> <br>Ratings: John 3, Greg 2 <br> <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/10916#10916 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00 gschloesser Jason selected this Dirk Henn title, which is a redesign of his earlier Texas game. Again, I've described the mechanics in detail in previous reports. <br> <br> <br>I deliberately kept my opinions of the game to myself just to see if Jason would have the same reaction or perceive the game more favorably. <br> <br> <br>As the game progressed, we were both beset by cards which severely limited our moves. In spite of having as many as five cards in front of you, very often these cards cannot be played as it would either force the token off the board or land it on one of your own tokens, both illegal moves. Thus, your options are severely limited in the game. Plus, I stand by my earlier assessment that it is very easy to calculate your best move as your opponent's cards are also visible, so one can easily discern the move which will best benefit you while not aiding your opponent. <br> <br> <br>Rosenkonig is a great disappointment to me. In spite of giving the illusion of being a game requiring deep thought and planning, it is simply too easy. There is no real challenge here. It does, indeed, boil down to who draws the best cards. In this case, it was Jason, who was able to connect 12 tokens for an impressive 144 score. Along with his other groupings, he captured the victory: <br> <br> <br>Jason 157, Greg 67 <br> <br> <br>Ratings: Jason 6, Greg 4 <br> <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/10952#10952 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00 gschloesser With the mandatory game of Mu starting late in the evening, Doug and Karen filled in the final 45 minutes learning and playing Rosenkonig. <br> <br>This is one of the successful 2 player game line from Kosmos. In this game players are trying to build regions of power in Plantangenet England during the Wars of the Roses. This rather ambitious theme turns out to be a rather simple game of token placement over a gridded board. <br> <br>Players each have a hand of up to five cards face up in front of them. Each card has a crown symbol on it that has to be aligned with the crown symbol on the game board. Once aligned, the cards show a sword pointing in one of 8 directions (North, NE, East, etc) as well as a number of spaces. <br> <br>This direction and spaces is the direction and distance a crown piece moves across the map. If a card is played to move the crown, a control token is placed in the final spot the crown stops in. If a card is not played, then a card can be drawn from the deck. <br> <br>The object is to build up vast regions of adjacent tokens as each region will score points valued at the square of the number of tokens in the region. So a 10 token region will score 100 points, while two 5 token regions will only be 50. <br> <br>The last thorn is the play of hero cards. Each player gets four hero cards to use during the game and once used they are gone for good. A hero is played with a card and can be used to FLIP and opponents token to your side. If used correctly, they can lower an opponents score (or increase your own) dramatically be breaking or joining up groups. <br> <br>Our game was closely fought throughout. Lots of cut and thrust, with combinations of attacking and defensive play. Several times Karen was only a turn away from forming a large region (in the order of 15 tokens) by joining two regions together. Each time Doug scurred the crown away across the board to prevent this happening. The game ended with all the tokens placed on the board and scores were: <br> <br>Doug: 194 <br>Karen: 162 <br> <br>(We'd removed several groups each prior to scoring as recommended by the rules - they essentially cancel each other out). <br> <br>Doug's rating: 6. A nice 2 player game - not as strong as Lost Cities or DSK, but fits nicely into the Kosmos 2 player game line. <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/12188#12188 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00 dougadamsau I like this one. Lots of thought required. You can play it either by short term planning (my favorite) or long term stragtegy. I beat James after putting together a massive territory in one corner. He broke it up a few times, but I kept reconnecting elsewhere. Poor card draw could be devastating, but with so many cards to choose from, it seems somewhat unlikely. Good game. <br> <br>By that time it was 5:30 and time to head back to our poor lonely pets. A somewhat disappointing convention (low turnout and a heck of a lot of GM no shows), but we did get in a bunch of board gaming which made the trip worth it. <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/12502#12502 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00 BoardGameGeek Mark was again the only person free when I arrived, so we settled down to a game of Rosenkönig. This was the first time I'd played it, but Mark was already familiar with it. I found it a strange little game. It requires a simple level of puzzle-solving ability. With perfect knowledge of what your and your opponent's options are, you can always work out the best (or least worst) moves and plan several moves ahead. There is a small enough set of information that this is not onerous - and certainly nowhere near the brain-melting level of Ricochet Robot. As a consequence it is not as challenging (nor as painful), which has to be good news in my book. It is not a game I expect to be playing regularly, but it is a reasonable filler for two players. Of course my view may be tempered by beating Mark. The difference seemed to be that two of his heroes were forced placements in positions that weren't too useful for him. <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/12545#12545 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00 BoardGameGeek Only played this the once and enjoyed it. I like the way the options are visible and limited for each player and you're trying to guess and outguess what the other player will do. I think my problem with abstracts in the past is that I get daunted by the huge range of limitless moves that are available. This isn't a problem here - its a nice blend of thought and luck (the turned up cards dictate what moves are available). <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/13229#13229 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00 PBrennan