From: "James B. Byrne" Subject: Re: Old China games was Obscure Game Topics On 19 Sep 96 at 6:13, Alan Poulter wrote: > > There was also an old generic conquest type board game called > 'Emperor of China' which I have read reviews of but never seen. Emperor of China - 1972 - c G. L. Lamborn Published by : Dynamic Games 1433 North Central Park Anaheim, CA 92802 714-535-2171 Current status unknown Components: Book Case Box, no slip cover; Hardback, quad fold map 18" x 18" divided into 21 named areas called provinces; 125 population counters in five colours (5 x 25 pylons) red, green, yellow, black and white; 12 resource counters (3 x 4 disks) red - cities, yellow - mines, green - agriculture; 2 random event card decks ( 2 x 33 cards) red - yang - special advantages, blue - yin - calamities; 2 six sided dice; 1 rule book (2 x 11"x17" centre folded and stapled giving an eight page booklet) four (4) printed pages of rules, three (3) printed pages of historical and geograpic notes along with a biblography and pronunciation guide. The remaining page is the booklet cover which reproduces the box art in black and white. Game Objective: To conquer China by being the first player to occupy fifteen (15) provinces at the completion of a complete round of play (all players have had an equal number of turns). Alternative point scoring is used where the game ends by player consent prior to the final victory conditions being achived Play of the game: Players throw two dice to determine the first player. Play continues in a clockwise fashion from that point. Each player recieves three population counters at the begining of his turn. On the first player turn of the game the player choses a number of provinces depending upon the total number of players from which he will attempt to establish his empire. The player then draws both a yin and a yang card which may not be examined until the player states in which provinces the effects of each will be felt. Provinces are controlled by placing population counters of the player's colour into unoccupied provinces or by acquiring another player's provinces by merger, diplomacy or force. Certain provinces which have received economic benefits through the play of yang cards will receive additional population counters each turn. The General Turn Sequence: 1. Player obtains three population counters which may be placed in any unoccupied province or in any province already under the player's control. Provinces under the player's control which have an economic counter receive additional population counters which must be placed in that province. 2. Player may colonize any unoccupied areas as he desires using his basic three population counters 3. Player may now move any number of population counter from any provinces into any adjacent provinces. Provinces may be vacated in this manner. Provinces with economic markers which are vacated provide no player with any benefit. No more than ten population points may be placed in a single province. Some provinces have natural barriers which may only be crossed by the possession of the requisit yang card. A population counter may not move further than one province per turn. 4. Player may now attempt to expand his empire at the expense or with the cooperation of any competeing empire. A player may attempt to convince another player to merge with his empire. If the second player agrees then the two empires are merged into the larger empire and both players continue play as senior (larger) and junior (smaller) partners. The absorbed (smaller) empire no longer has a separate turn and the new empire continues to recieve only three population points per turn. Alternatively, a player may attempt to convince another player to vacate a province in favour of himself. This may be in return for future considerations (other territories), alliances, or threat of violence (game that is). Finally, a player may resort to warfare to impose his will on another empire through conquest. To attack the player must be able to legally move the attacking population into the defending province. This may require the expenditure of a yang card. If the attacker does not possess the necessary card then the attack may not take place. Note however, the player may certainly use the threat of an attack to aid his negotiations even if in fact such an attack would not be possible with the cards that he held. The attacker may roll one six (6) sided die for each population point that he has in the attacking province. An even number (2-4-6) will destroy one defending population marker, an odd number (1-3-5) will destroy one attacker. The attacker may continue to attack until he prevails, is totally destroyed or stops of his own volition. The defender may withdraw from a province at any point during the attack without incurring further loss to himself. This option may only be taken if the defender has an adjoining controlled province that he may legally move into. A withdrawing defender may not enter an unoccupied territory. A victorious attacker may advance any number of his surviving attackers into the vacated province. 5. After all movement, diplomacy and conflict are complete the player draws one (1) yin and one (1) yang card. He then specifies which provinces will feel the effects of each and only then my he examine the cards. He then carries out the instructions contained on the cards, or holds the card for fututre use where permitted. Review: This is a simple to learn but extremely subtle game of resource management requiring the sucessful player to master the concepts of economy of force, unity of purpose, and deception. It rewards diplomacy and negotiating skills and punishes players who constantly resort to brute force. Successful play requires the player to take risks with his assests as an unfavourable yin card may strip him of all those which he has horded against future need. The game allows any number of players but components are only provided for five. My play has been limited to two (2) and three (3) player games which have proven to be very entertaining. A well fought game with three players can take two to three (2-3) hours to complete but the average playing time is around one (1) hour. The rules are sparce and written in a freehand style which may leave some points unclear, but there are no unresolveable ambiguities. The nature of the negotiations phase makes it advantageous for a weaker player to seek an accomodation with a stronger one as the weaker player then remains in the game and may share a victory. The use of terrain and careful placement of the yang economic markers is essential to obtain victory. A good family game with strong crossover possiblities into conflict gaming. This game is suitable for children with grade III - IV reading skills. The biblography is good but dated and leans somewhat to the drier side of acedamia. The fiction component of the reading list has all of the old standbys (The Good Earth, Tai-Pan, The Sand Pebbles, The Crippled Tree etc.) but it may be of interest to the younger crowd. After all, there can be little in life more satisfing in life than reading about the empire that you conquered before you were ten years old. Regards, Jim --- James B. Byrne mailto:byrnejb@harte-lyne.ca Harte & Lyne Limited http://www.harte-lyne.ca Hamilton, Ontario 905-561-1241