Chu Han - maybe the two player scout I love scout…
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Chu Han - maybe the two player scout
I love scout, unfortunately I can't get it to the table as often as I like. The 2 player variant plays very differently too. So when I saw Tom Lehmann tried his hand at a similar style of game, I had to get it. Despite Tom Lehmann's name, it doesn't get a lot of coverage. It was not carried by a lot of stores, it wasn't published under Lehmann's own company (sandcastle games), and I barely saw it mentioned here. Despite these warning signs, I was all in.
The game consists of a 46 card deck, a few tokens, and a score track. The deck consists of cards from zero to nine. There are nine "1"s, eight "2"s, seven "3"s, all the way to one "9", and a single zero (wild in this game). Players are each dealt 15 cards, with the remaining 16 cards forming the draw pile. Every game, players try to empty their hand before their opponent can do the same. As soon as you empty your hand, you get points equal to the remaining cards in your opponent's hand (max. 5). The goal is to get to 31 points over the course of multiple games.
One player starts and plays any number of cards with an identical value. The opponent can respond with an equal number of cards of a higher value, or pass. This continues until either player passes, the opponent then gets to lead the next trick (important as the leader can set the number of cards played). For example:
Alice leads:
Alice: 1-1-1-1
Bob: 3-3-3-3
Alice: 4-4-4-4
Bob: 5-5-5-5
Alice passes
Bob may now lead as Alice passed:
Bob: 2-2-2-2-2
Alice passes
etc.
Note here that Bob could've played four "2"s in response to Alice her four "1"s, but he wanted to save them since he knew Alice was unlikely to be able to respond to five "2"s, and essentially give him a free round to dump cards. Also, he would only have a single "2" left, which would be hard to play if he couldn't seize the lead.
This provides the basis of the game. Players trying to figure out how they're going to empty their hand giving as little opportunity to their opponent to shed cards, for maximum points. But then the game adds three extra rules.
First: Playing six or more "2"s in one go gives you six or more VP. (This is fairly minor on it's own.)
Second: Every time a player is to play, he may take a single writ token, and draw two cards from the draw pile. These writs do nothing if you win, but if you lose, each writ is worth +1 point to your opponent.
Third: All the "3" cards and all the "6" cards, have a special ability. They can be played as regular cards with no special effect, but they can also be played for their special effect. These special effects turn the game from a simple climbing game, to a strategic poker game. For example, a card let's you forcefully take the lead in return for 3 VP for your opponent.
This is where the game gets it's depth. Do you give your opponent 3 VP to take the lead and play out your hand? or do you bide your time and hope you can seize the lead the normal way? Or maybe the points you win from winning the hand aren't as many as you give your opponent? Other special powers offer similar tough choices.
I fell in love with the game one round where I played easy after easy set (3-3, 5-5, 1-1-1) and my opponent kept passing. What was going on? Why did he not play anything in return? What was he planning? What can I play to prevent him from ever dumping his giga-combo?
As for drawbacks? The card carry box provided is as high as the box the game came in, barely not allowing you to fit it in the box if you use it. The rules are all over the place, the player aid is the only place that tells you can combo two specific powers.
Knowing what special powers exist is also a learning hurdle. If you play with someone experienced, it will feel like they pull trick after trick on you. They play a "cancel this power" or "cancel the cancel" when you try to make your moves can feel very disheartening.
Some people complain that the "combine different values for a single hand" in combination with the "6+ "2"s" rule makes it very easy to get free points. And indeed, with the games I played, about 80% of the time the bonus points from "2"s happened via this special power. That said, the player doing it often was left with a terrible hand and possibly with multiple writs. Usually both players would score near identical by the end of the round. One time the player didn't ever draw the right cards, and was left with a lot of cards and writs, letting his opponent score a lot. In the end, it didn't feel overpowered.
Honestly, if you like a game like scout, where you have to plan out how to strategically empty your hand, and you want it to be two-player, Chu Han is the game for you. When our game night ended up being a two player night due cancellations, we usually stop early as it isn't as fun with just two. But when I pulled this game out, we ended up playing it for three hours straight.
This post was sponsored by the double quotation mark. I hope it makes the text more readable, rather than less readable.
#games
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I love scout, unfortunately I can't get it to the table as often as I like. The 2 player variant plays very differently too. So when I saw Tom Lehmann tried his hand at a similar style of game, I had to get it. Despite Tom Lehmann's name, it doesn't get a lot of coverage. It was not carried by a lot of stores, it wasn't published under Lehmann's own company (sandcastle games), and I barely saw it mentioned here. Despite these warning signs, I was all in.
The game consists of a 46 card deck, a few tokens, and a score track. The deck consists of cards from zero to nine. There are nine "1"s, eight "2"s, seven "3"s, all the way to one "9", and a single zero (wild in this game). Players are each dealt 15 cards, with the remaining 16 cards forming the draw pile. Every game, players try to empty their hand before their opponent can do the same. As soon as you empty your hand, you get points equal to the remaining cards in your opponent's hand (max. 5). The goal is to get to 31 points over the course of multiple games.
One player starts and plays any number of cards with an identical value. The opponent can respond with an equal number of cards of a higher value, or pass. This continues until either player passes, the opponent then gets to lead the next trick (important as the leader can set the number of cards played). For example:
Alice leads:
Alice: 1-1-1-1
Bob: 3-3-3-3
Alice: 4-4-4-4
Bob: 5-5-5-5
Alice passes
Bob may now lead as Alice passed:
Bob: 2-2-2-2-2
Alice passes
etc.
Note here that Bob could've played four "2"s in response to Alice her four "1"s, but he wanted to save them since he knew Alice was unlikely to be able to respond to five "2"s, and essentially give him a free round to dump cards. Also, he would only have a single "2" left, which would be hard to play if he couldn't seize the lead.
This provides the basis of the game. Players trying to figure out how they're going to empty their hand giving as little opportunity to their opponent to shed cards, for maximum points. But then the game adds three extra rules.
First: Playing six or more "2"s in one go gives you six or more VP. (This is fairly minor on it's own.)
Second: Every time a player is to play, he may take a single writ token, and draw two cards from the draw pile. These writs do nothing if you win, but if you lose, each writ is worth +1 point to your opponent.
Third: All the "3" cards and all the "6" cards, have a special ability. They can be played as regular cards with no special effect, but they can also be played for their special effect. These special effects turn the game from a simple climbing game, to a strategic poker game. For example, a card let's you forcefully take the lead in return for 3 VP for your opponent.
This is where the game gets it's depth. Do you give your opponent 3 VP to take the lead and play out your hand? or do you bide your time and hope you can seize the lead the normal way? Or maybe the points you win from winning the hand aren't as many as you give your opponent? Other special powers offer similar tough choices.
I fell in love with the game one round where I played easy after easy set (3-3, 5-5, 1-1-1) and my opponent kept passing. What was going on? Why did he not play anything in return? What was he planning? What can I play to prevent him from ever dumping his giga-combo?
As for drawbacks? The card carry box provided is as high as the box the game came in, barely not allowing you to fit it in the box if you use it. The rules are all over the place, the player aid is the only place that tells you can combo two specific powers.
Knowing what special powers exist is also a learning hurdle. If you play with someone experienced, it will feel like they pull trick after trick on you. They play a "cancel this power" or "cancel the cancel" when you try to make your moves can feel very disheartening.
Some people complain that the "combine different values for a single hand" in combination with the "6+ "2"s" rule makes it very easy to get free points. And indeed, with the games I played, about 80% of the time the bonus points from "2"s happened via this special power. That said, the player doing it often was left with a terrible hand and possibly with multiple writs. Usually both players would score near identical by the end of the round. One time the player didn't ever draw the right cards, and was left with a lot of cards and writs, letting his opponent score a lot. In the end, it didn't feel overpowered.
Honestly, if you like a game like scout, where you have to plan out how to strategically empty your hand, and you want it to be two-player, Chu Han is the game for you. When our game night ended up being a two player night due cancellations, we usually stop early as it isn't as fun with just two. But when I pulled this game out, we ended up playing it for three hours straight.
This post was sponsored by the double quotation mark. I hope it makes the text more readable, rather than less readable.
#games
source
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