More info on alea's website!





Players are Chinese rulers around the year 1000. Every month you try to protect yourself and your subjects as best as you can against disease, hunger or attacks from the Mongols. Good planning is key here, as every month new perils come again.

Im Jahr des Drachen is number 12 in alea's Big Box Series. Illustrations by Michael Menzel (Boxcover) and Harald Lieske. Playing time: 50-100 minutes; depending on the number of players.

http://www.aleaspiele.de/Pages/News/

(doublepost: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/167277)

Looks pretty sweet, but they always do.

Feld's third Big Box game in a row? Impressive!

Looks nice! Same artist as Jambo looks like. I do like Jambo's art.

If this plays well with 2 I might get it.

Now if only I can get the time and energy to learn how to play the last Alea game, Notre Dame....

Well it could go either way.

Notre Dame: Big Winner.
Rum and Pirates: Blah.

Rum and Pirates is a fine family game. Just not a gamer's game.
On the alea game weight scale (1-10):
Rum and Pirates: 2
Notre Dame: 4-
Im Jahr des Drachen: 5+
Puerto Rico: 7

Rum and Pirates was a yawner, and didn't belong in the ALEA Line.(Call Amigo for that)

My "gamer's German" says that a translation would be "In the Year of the Dragon," but Babelfish wants to call it "In the Year of Kites."

That's because the german word 'Drache' means both 'Dragon' and 'Kite' (plus the additional meaning of a contentious/malicious woman). Since nowadays dragons are pretty rare compared to kites, Babelfish translates wrong. Not that I've seen anything translated correctly by Babelfish.

No argument from me that the overly light 'n' fluffy Rum and Pirates doesn't deserve to be a Big Box game, but I'm still impressed that Stefan is cranking out games (that Alea chooses to publish in their large game format) quickly enough to manage three in a row.

I only have one game with the Alea big box number on it, Chinatown. I have some game that were big box games but I don't have the Alea version. I'm a little behind, so collecting at this point is moot. I am, however, looking forward to this game, I like the theme.

Agreed - and given the greatness of both Notre Dame and Rum & Pirates, I'm looking forward to this one quite a bit.

WOWWWWWWWWW

I love Stefan Feld... If this game has something similar to Notredame (in innovating mechanics or feeling) then this should be a MUST BUY...

Well, he's piqued my interest.

Personally, I love Rum & Pirates. I think it looks great, and is a load of fun to play. I can see though why folks who expect strategic depth from Alea would be hugely disappointed.

I played Notre Dame a couple of times and liked it enough to buy it. I don't ever have a real strong urge to play it though, and I'm not sure why. I would play if someone else suggested it, but I guess I just got it at the same time as some other games that excited me more, and it's waiting its turn.

This Draggin' the Kites thing looks pretty cool, however, and it's officially on my radar.

What he said. I own Rum & Pirates, I don't own Notre Dame and if asked I'd choose to play R&P over ND. Not that ND isn't a good game, but I liked R&P more.

I thought it was a fun game and it's a fine addition to the Alea line.

Quit dragon my...
Quit dragon my...
QUIT DRAGON MY KITE A-ROUND!

In the Year of the Dragon

Will be it out for Essen????

Yes.

Is any one else buying Alea big box games, wether you like them or not, just to add to the big box collection...they look nice.

Not me. Here's what I have so far:



A friend has Tadsch Mahal and Augsburg. I don't expect to add many more (older) games to the alea collection.

I'm waiting for Fifth Avenue and Rum & Pirates to arrive this week...

My collection now is something like this (medium and small Alea Games not shown):



Must absolutely buy...

It's Show and Tell!

Thank you.
I'm having a blast with Notre Dame and this game is promising