Variants

Articles detailing interesting game variations from sources both hither and yon.

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April 24, 2006 - Variant: China - Das Duell (China - The Duel)
April 24, 2006 - Variant: China - Die Grenzstreitigkeiten (China - The Border Fights)
February 9, 2006 - Variant: Funkenschlag: Atolla Modulis - A Big Power Grid Expansion
December 6, 2005 - Variant: New Buildings For Elasund

Articles

Variant: China - Das Duell (China - The Duel)

Michael Schacht, on his website Spiele aus Timbuktu, has posted a two player variant for China called China - Das Duel (this is equivalent to Kardinal & Konig: Das Duell but themed to suit China). To play this variant you will need to download, print and cut out some additional tiles - here is the China - Das Duell - Front and China - Das Duell - Back. Here are the rules for the variant, translated into English by Patrick Korner:

China - The Duel

Game Preparation
To play this 2-player expansion, first cut the cards on the page apart along the light grey lines using a knife and ruler (even better: a steel ruler).

The game is set up according to the 3-player rules with the following additions:

- The third colour is that of the Emperor. The pieces of that colour are placed next to the board (the score marker and fortification are not used). The Emperor gets three cards, which are placed face-up onto the table.
- The five influence cards that come with this expansion are laid out.
- Each player gets a set of three different special cards from this expansion, which he lays out in front of himself.

Gameplay
The rules for China all count, with the following additions.

Of the cards that a player plays out on his turn to place his pieces, he keeps one, which is placed face-up in front of himself. If the player now has at least as many cards of that colour as his opponent, then he claims the influence card in the matching colour.
Immediately after a player has taken his turn, he takes control of the Emperor. He uses the Emperor’s cards to place one of the Emperor’s pieces onto the board according to the usual placement rules. The Emperor’s cards are then replenished to three by drawing the topmost card from the draw pile.

Note: The Emperor always places only one piece.

The Emperor may only place a house in an unoccupied region if there are no other options.

The cards a player draws for himself can, as usual, be drawn either from the draw pile or the set of four face-up cards.

House Scoring
While scoring a region, the Emperor’s points in that region count for the player who has the influence card for that province.

Example: Alex has 5 houses in Chu as well as the purple influence card. Bert has 1 house, while the Emperor has 2 houses. Alex gets 8 points for all the houses as well as 5 points from the Emperor (for second place). Bert gets 2 points.

No player gets points from the Emperor for alliances or roads - they are not counted.

The Special Cards
A player can use the special cards to perform special actions. Each card can only be used once and is then removed from the game.

“Der Kaiser setzt zuerst”: The player plays for the Emperor before his turn instead of afterwards.
“2 verschiedene Provincen moglich”: On a player’s turn, he may place his pieces into two different regions, regardless of colour.
“1 Handkarte mit Auslage tauschen”: On a player’s turn, he may exchange one of his cards in hand with one of the four face-up cards. The Emperor’s cards are taboo, of course.

Source: Spiele aus Timbuktu, Translated by Patrick Korner

Posted by Rick Thornquist on April 24, 2006 at 07:01 PM in Special Features > Variants - Comments (0) - Link

Variant: China - Die Grenzstreitigkeiten (China - The Border Fights)

Michael Schacht, on his website Spiele aus Timbuktu, has posted a new board and variant rules for China called China - Die Grenzstreitigkeiten (China - The Border Fights). To play this variant you will need to download and print out the new board - here is the China - Die Grenzstreitigkeiten Board. Here are the rules for the variant, translated into English by Patrick Korner:

China - The Border Fights

The instability in the Middle Kingdom grows and grows. Regional leaders have a harder and harder time maintaining control of their borders. A tense competition for the border cities begins.

The usual China rules are in effect, with the following changes:

- This variant can only be played with 3 or 5 players.

- This variant is played without fortifications.

- There are six border cities (distinguished by the circle around them). When a player builds a house there, it counts for both neighbouring regions.

- To place a house on a border space, one of two requirements must be met:
a) Play out one card for each of the two neighbouring regions,
or
b) Play out two cards for one of the two neighbouring regions.

- It is permitted to build a border house as well as a normal house on the same turn, provided the usual placement rules are not broken. Even for border houses, it is important to note that only one house (which could be the border house) can be built in an unoccupied region.

- Otherwise, border houses are treated just like normal houses during scoring and over the course of the game.

- There are seven house spaces with anchor symbols - these are the “Harbour Towns”. The harbour towns are also scored at the end of the game, with points awarded as in house scoring.

Example: All 7 harbour towns have been built on. Player A has built on 4 of them, so he gets 7 points (i.e. one for each harbour town). The second-place player would be 4 points, etc.

Source: Spiele aus Timbuktu, Translated by Patrick Korner

Posted by Rick Thornquist on April 24, 2006 at 07:00 PM in Special Features > Variants - Comments (0) - Link

Variant: Funkenschlag: Atolla Modulis - A Big Power Grid Expansion

Jean-Claude Adelmand has created a free unofficial expansion for Power Grid (which as published in German as Funkenschlag by 2F-Spiele). The expansion is called Atolla Modulis and it’s a big one - including all new map tiles that make up an archipelago of connected atolls. The new art for the expansion matches the original game and is by the same artist - Maura.

Until now, the rules for the expansion where only available in the native French or an Italian translation. Our French translator Jasen Robillard has taken on the task of creating an English translation and has done a beautiful job using the same graphics and format as the original.

To check out the expansion, check out the Funkenschlag: Atolla Modulis website. Click the TELECHARGEMENTS link to get to a page with links to download the graphics for all the tiles, plus other components (note that there are quite a few components in the expansion to download and print). For the English rules for the expansion, check out Jasen’s Variant - Funkenschlag: Atolla Modulis - English Rules v1.0 (in PDF format).

Source: Funkenschlag: Atolla Modulis, Tric Trac

Posted by Rick Thornquist on February 9, 2006 at 04:30 PM in Special Features > Variants - Comments (0) - Link

Variant: New Buildings For Elasund

The German Abenteuer Catan (Adventure Catan) website has posted a free expansion for Elasund with some new buildings for the game. To get the expansion, head over to the Neue Gebäude im Spiel Elasund page and download the Elasund_Gebaeude.pdf file. For those who can’t read German, our intrepid translator Patrick Korner has translated the page and the expansion for you.