So I picked this up last night, and thumbed through the new cards. I like that they've got more pizzazz (i.e. they're stronger and tend to mess with opponents in a greater way).

One question is that the instructions suggested removing original cards and replacing them with new cards in order to maintain the ratio between ware cards and other cards.

Any suggestions or official recommendations on which of the original cards to remove? It's kind of unfortunate, actually, as we'd like to play with all the cards. I'd almost want to pick up another copy of Jambo or at least get some more ware cards, rather than remove original cards.

Hmmm.... That's disappointing. It would have been nice if extra ware cards were included in the expansion to balance the ratio. I guess I may have to buy another copy of Jambo too.

hello,

here is my answer from the spielbox-forum. please excuse, that i can´t added new warecards in the expansion. it was a question of money and a question of rare capacity (only 55 cards on one print sheet).
i hope you can translate the german names.

folgenden karten aus dem grundspiel habe ich aussortiert:
je 1x
löwe
pavian
elefant
schlange
kleiner markt
krokodil
hyäne
maske der umwandlung
sudkessel
häuptlingsstuhl
trommeln
brunnen
waage
boot
leopardenstatue
träger
portugiese
gepard

je 2x

fahrender händler
arabischer kaufmann
regenmacher

folgende karten aus der erweiterung habe ich nicht in das neue deck übernommen:
1x maler
1x kristallstab
1x füllhorn
1x hirtin
1x chameleon
1x fennek
1x mangbetu-krieger



best regards
rüdiger

Roughly translated:

I remove the following cards from the basic deck:

1 of:

Lion
Ape
Elephant
Snake
Small market
Crocodile
Hyena
Mask of Transformation
Kettle
Throne
Drums
Well
Scale
Boat
Leopard statue
Carrier
Portuguese
Cheetah

2 of:

Traveling merchant
Arabian merchant
Rainmaker

The following cards from the expansion are NOT included in the newly formed deck:

1x Artist
1x Crystal staff
1x Horn of plenty
1x Shepherd
1x Chamaeleon
1x Fennec
1x Mangbetu warrior

Edit: Corrected sentence to state the expansion cards are NOT included
Edit: Corrected mistranslation which added an extra item; removed 'Tribal Elder' from the list.

BIG thanks to both of you for your information (and translation). At least this gives me a guideline to start with.

Please report back as to how this suggested "swapping" works out... I should be picking up my copy tomorrow!

I will do that. We plan to play several games to night. We've been waiting for this expansion for weeks!

My wife has suggested we contact the publisher and see if they have any spare ware cards (or a second deck) without having to re-buy Jambo, so we could use all the new expansion cards while keeping the ratio of wares/other cards intact.

We did that for another game a few months ago, and the publisher was fantastic and sent a second deck for a very reasonable cost. Never hurts to ask.

That's one thing about the Killer Bunnies game we play. Their expansions always include additional core cards from the game to maintain the balance. Not that KB is actually balanced in any tangible way, but...

hello john,

thanks for the translation:

please note!

I add the following cards from the extension into the newly formed deck:

that´s not right,
Following cards (of the expansion) are NOT in the new deck!!!

1x Painter
1x Crystal staff
1x Cornucopia
1x Herdswoman
1x Chameleon
1x Fennek
1x Mangbetu warrior

regards
rüdiger

Hi Rüdiger,

My apologies for the mistranslation. I did my best running it through a few on-line translators and dictionaries.

As I am still awaiting my copy to arrive, could someone help me understand the process.

We are aiming to create a "balanced" deck by merging part of the original deck with part of the expansion?

From a "standard" Jambo deck you remove the cards highlighted above
- 1x Lion ... Cheetah
- 2x Traveling merchant, Arabian merchant, Rainmaker

From the New Beginnings "module" you remove the cards highlighted above
- 1x Painter ... Mangbetu warrior

These two decks get mixed together. Is this correct?

- John

hello john.

We are aiming to create a "balanced" deck by merging part of the original deck with part of the expansion?

From a "standard" Jambo deck you remove the cards highlighted above
- 1x Lion ... Cheetah
- 2x Traveling merchant, Arabian merchant, Rainmaker

From the New Beginnings "module" you remove the cards highlighted above
- 1x Painter ... Mangbetu warrior

These two decks get mixed together. Is this correct?

hmm, what do you mean with these two decks?

you don´t need the removed cards and put these cards back to the box.
with ALL OTHER cards (of course without the huts and relict cards)you build the deck you´re playing with ....ok?

rüdiger

- John

>> hmm, what do you mean with these two decks?

Sorry for not being explicit. The two decks I was meaning were those cards remaining in the original deck and the New Beginnings deck after removing the cards noted above (safely stored in the box ).

Thanks, Rüdiger, for your prompt replies... I think were are "speaking the same language" now.

A further note to those following along at home:

Rüdiger's recommendation will remove 24 cards from the base deck, and will add in 33 from the expansion - a delta of nine cards. Of these nine, four are Spirit of the Ancestors (which you could almost consider to be "core" cards; that should always be included).

I picked of my copy last evening so I look forward to seeing what kind of a difference these new cards make to our gameplay.

whew! i totally misread the original post, and so I have a frankendeck of cards that I used for the first play.

I will revisit the deck and arrange it with my new understanding of the guidelines.

We did enjoy the new cards in our first game. there was much more of a "take that!" feel to the game that increased the interaction and the tension (more cards that can foil your opponent, and vice versa).

More later.

We played some Jambo the last couple days, with the expansion deck mixed in per the above suggestions.

Our consensus is that it enhances the game quite a bit, adds more interaction and tension, keeps play from stalling, and generally enhances the game considerably beyond what we already enjoyed about it.

The only real element we didn't necessarily find compelling were the four cards that offered an alternate victory condition. It's not essential to the expansion pack, so players can choose to use it or not.

That's great to hear, Tim! My wife and I are heading to Montreal for a mini-vacation over the next three days and I'm hoping we'll take "new and improved" Jambo along.

Did you use Module 2: The Three Huts? In reading through the instructions it certainly looks like they could add some interesting gameplay.

We did play with the three huts and found them to be a tremendous addition to the game. They really do fill in gaps in original Jambo where you'd have to cycle through many actions to try and find a way to get "that one ware tile", or look for "that one card".

We've played with all three of them since we first got it, and I don't imagine we'd play without them ever again.

Have fun in Montreal, I'll be curious what you think of it, too.

What exactly do the rules say about adding the new cards to the base game? The fact we are having to follow this thread to work out what to add and remove is downrigth shameful. I am now totally regretting ordering the expansion, what with the different colours on the card backs on now this confusion.

Preparation
Shuffle the new cards you want with the cards from the base game. The number of ware cards should equal the total of the other cards. Thus, we recommend you remove sufficient utility, animal, and people cards from the basic game so that the numbers of these two kinds of cards remain equal.

---

Clear as mud? That being said, Rüdiger has given us an excellent "starter" replacement scheme and people can always experiment with different mixes to give the game a slightly different feel. This to me is an advantage, not a detriment.

Over time I hope to see other documented mixes, but for now use the one above. It is easy to say "coulda, shoulda, woulda", but in the end any one who looks on BGG should be able to find this thread.

Hi!

I have a little doubt, in the deustch list Rudiger wrote 24 cards are removed from basic game, so : 70 -24=46 ; 40 expansion -7 = 33; total = 46 + 33= 79.

But in the english translation of that list, 25 cards are removed so: 70 -25= 45; 40 exp - 7 = 33; total= 45+33=78.

Which is correct?

Tchüs,
Aingeru

Hi Aingeru,

Thank-you! You are correct... My translation came primarily through an Internet Transalation tool.

These three items:

sudkessel
häuptlingsstuhl
trommeln

Were translated into

kettle
chieftain chair
drums

By mistake I read that as:

kettle
chieftain (tribal elder)
chair (throne)
drums

When, in fact, chieftain chair was meant to be throne.

I'll correct my list to remove the reference to 'Tribal Elder'.

Ok... So can anyone give a much needed summary for this long post?

Please post a removal list of cards and then an add list of cards for both versions, (with and without the alternate victory cards included)?

Has anyone tried to add another core game and play with 4 players? Any recommendations there?

Thanks
Brian

As I understand the above post:
Rudiger Dorn Reccomendation:

Remove the following cards from the basic deck:

1 of:

Lion
Ape
Elephant
Snake
Small market
Crocodile
Hyena
Mask of Transformation
Kettle
Throne
Drums
Well
Scale
Boat
Leopard statue
Carrier
Portuguese
Cheetah


2 of:

Traveling merchant
Arabian merchant
Rainmaker

The following cards from the expansion are NOT included in the newly formed deck:

1x Artist
1x Crystal staff
1x Horn of plenty
1x Shepherd
1x Chamaeleon
1x Fennec
1x Mangbetu warrior

hello all other JAMBO players/aficionados!

well the expansion was very much anticipated, and has been fun!
i was, as were many, disappointed by the lack of new ware cards, which would have made for a really great addition! with so many combos, that should be the NEXT EXPANSION! (rudiger, hope youre listening!)
the different color backs arent the best, but not that big a deal.
now, onto the addition/removal of cards to/from the deck.
i have played way more games than i could possibly count.
not that this makes me the authority, just an experienced player.
it was a huge let down to follow the recommended removal recommendations. no APE?! no CARRIER?! how many games have we won or lost by these great come from behind cards? what makes these cards so great, is the fact that in order to be truly used fully to potential, you must use STRATEGY, planning, bluffing, etc! that is what makes JAMBO so different from other games!
this got me thinking. rather than take away cards i love, why not play with one of each card!? this way, each card (mostly) is unique! excluding the 40 ware cards, there are 70 other cards in the original game. i didnt want to stray too far away from the original distribution, so mine is the 40 wares plus 65 other cards. i have provided an extra line for those cards needing some explanation. ENJOY!

UTILITIES
1 each:
boat
crystal staff
horn of plenty
kettle
leopard statue
mask of transformation
scale
scroll
supplies
throne
weapons
2 each:
(one extra of these to speed up the game just a little. remember there were one extra of each in the original as well.)
drums
well

PEOPLE
1 each:
artist
basket maker
caravan guide
carrier
chief leopardskin
dancer
drummer
explorer
gatherer
mangbetu warrior
pirate
portugese
psychic
rain maker
shaman
shepard
torch juggler
traveling merchant
tribal elder
venetian merchant
wise man from afar
zombie
5 each:
guard (one less for better distribution)
3 each:
spirit of the ancestors (i struggled with this for some time. the reason i went three instead of four is simply because there is only one each of the people cards. tribal elder, wise man, etc. such good cards have to be used succesfully SOME of the time!)
0 each:
arabian merchant (again, i struggled. this really is the weakest card in the game, one that is only really used in desperation, or in combo with ape or tribal elder. too situational, too awkward. i just dont like it! be honest, how many times have you happily boated away an arabian merchant? see?)

ANIMALS
1 each:
ape
butterfly
chamaeleon
cheetah
elephant
fennec
hyena
lion
parrot
rhino
snake
4 each:
crocodile (again one less than original)

so that makes 60. add in the five small market stands to 65.
the reason i didnt push it to 70 is i didnt want to mess with the distribution too much. i also took out 1 each of the "counter" cards, to keep the game in a flow. otherwise i could see it can get too bogged down. both players holding spirits and guards, just drawing waiting for the lucky ware card draw.

i also want to make another suggestion for the small market stands.
TAKE THEM OUT OF THE DECK! (this makes a nice even 100 by the way!)
they are available whenever, as if you had them in your hand. why?
because there is nothing worse than waiting to draw one of them if you are locked up and NEED one! just as bad, it is so frustrating to spend actions drawing two or three while your opponent gets the boat and supplies! remember my question about happily boating away a useless card? it shouldnt be that way! by taking these out of the deck we are cutting down on the luck factor and increasing the strategy of the game!

TRY IT OUT! GOOD LUCK!

Hi robert, thanks for your Ideas - thought of something similar, too.

But please don't doublepost - http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/225962.
This will only lead to split up discussions.

If you think yours is worth a new post just post a link to it here.