Re: Pharaoh's Heir for 2?

["Benedict" <boycat_oh@...>]

Hi

Thanks for the interest in Pharaoh's Heir.

It is possible to play with 2 (haven't tried it), although there 
probably won't be as much angst about scoring as there is in 3 
and 4 player games. This is because you are really just 
competing for first and second place in each area. I could see 2 
player being just as strategic, though! 

Choosing all 5 actions per turn is essential to the gameplay in 
my opinion because it achieves 3 things:

1) There is the least amount of downtime possible between 
player turns.  If 4 are playing, then player order is always 
A,B,C,D,A,B,C,D etc. With 2 it would be A,B,A,B,A etc
Obviously the player order is broken by the Nile phase, so it 
really is A,B,C,D,A,NILE,B,C,D,A,B,NILE,C etc This is different to 
Puerto Rico where, if you are first to choose on one turn, you will 
be  last to choose the next turn (a gap of 6 choosings if there are 
4 players, versus a gap of 3 choosings in Pharaoh's Heir).

With 2 it would be A,B,A,B,A,NILE,B,A,B,A,B,NILE A, etc

2) Five is not evenly divisible by 3 or 4 (and not 2) so it creates 
uneven turns, allowing the start player (who has the advantage) 
to change each turn without using an addiitonal mechanism.

3) It makes the game feel and play differently to Puerto Rico. The 
five phases evolved out of an earlier 'prototype' if you will where 
the phases occurred every turn in a specfic order. I retained the 
fact that they all occur, and added the choosing mechanic to it. [In 
Puerto Rico it is important to have roles left over so that 
doubloons accumulate - otherwise the person who can take 
advantage of the Trader the most will win most of the time.]

However, there is no reason you can't try Pharaoh's Heir with 
your own variants - who knows, maybe you will prefer it! But I 
would encourage you to try the rules as written first.

Yes, you can play with 1 piecepack - you only form 2 stacks of 6 
landtiles per cycle, and each player uses the coins from 2 
different suits.  The nile tiles have to be recycled during the 
Period of Unrest along with the land tiles.

Please let me know how the games turn out if you play with 2 - I 
would be very interested in hearing about your experinece, 
especially since you like 2-player Puerto Rico so much.

Phillip

> 
> My gaming group is usually composed only by my wife and me, 
so I'm always
> looking for good 2-player games or 2-player variants for 
multiplayer games.
> I haven't tried Pharaoh's Heir yet, but just reading the rules it 
seems to
> me that it should be playable by 2. The action choosing 
mechanism is indeed
> similar to Puerto Rico, and 2-player Puerto Rico is one of the 
best games
> I've ever played.
> Has anyone tried it? It could even be played with a single 
piecepack, so if
> it works I think it should definetely be mentioned in the rules!
> 
> Another question. One thing that sounded a bit odd to me 
reading the rules
> is the fact that *all* 5 actions are chosen in a round. Wouldn't it 
be better
> to leave an unchosen action (just like the roles in PR)?
> 
> Ok, I admit I shouldn't comment a game without playing it 
before, so feel free
> to reply with all sorts of unkind remarks... the problem is that 
my wife isn't
> really a gamer, and I have a long list of games waiting in 
queue before
> Pharaoh's Heir :(
> If someone confirms that it's a good 2-player game I could 
move it up a bit!
> 
> Thanks,
> Massimo
> 
> -- 
> Massimo Biasotto               phone: +39 049 8068383
> INFN - Lab. Naz. di Legnaro    fax:   +39 049 641925
> Viale dell'Universita' 2       email: massimo.biasotto@l...
> I-35020 Legnaro (Padova)