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I’m going to cut straight to the chase: Huang is a modern masterpiece. It’s a complex, intricate gem. Maybe not quite perfect, but pretty darn close.
Now in my defence this only came out mid-November – usually a dead time in the release schedule – so it caught us slightly off-balance. Maybe complex is slightly inaccurate, at least in terms of BGG ratings, but it’s certainly a deviously twisty game, from the mind of the legendary Reiner Knizia. It’s actually an evolution of his legendary Tigris & Euphrates, though it’s no mere reskin: in fact, it’s a revised edition of the sequel to T&E – Yellow & Yangtze. For 2-4 players (or 5… see my criticisms), your aim is to rule unite the realm under banner, taking the role of 1 of the 7 Warring States (475-221BC) Chu, Qi, Yan, Han, Wei, Zhao and of course Qin (who put the Qin in Qin-a). Will you be victorious and shape the kingdoms in your image? Can you keep your leaders in their place, and ensure their loyalty – or will all be lost to War and Revolt?
Your leaders are the engine of your success: Governor, Soldier, Farmer, Trader, and Artisan (each a different colour); compared to T&E having farming, religion, trading and government, you can see immediately there’s another level of strategy from the outset, but actually this makes the game faster, somehow. Luckily, there are excellent player screens, and setup is a breeze: place 7 yellow tiles on the marked regional capitals, and then you simply draw further tiles from the (very lovely) bag.
Predominately a tile placement game, with a wee splash of area majority, each turn you take 2 of 5 possible actions (same or different):
❖ Position a leader
❖ Place a tile
❖ Discard 2 blue Farmer tiles to cause a peasants’ riot
❖ Discard 2 green Trader tiles to establish a pagoda (where you have placed the third of 3 tiles in a triangle of the same colour)
❖ Replace up to 6 tiles from behind your screen
If the matching colour Leader is in the state at the end of turn, you gain a point in that colour; naturally, the most points overall wins at the end of the game.
THE PEASANTS ARE REVOLTING!
A key concept in Huang is the difference between War, Revolt and Riot, which can be a little confusing
REVOLT
If you place your Leader into a State with an opponent’s Leader of that same colour, there is revolt. Each player simultaneously reveals a number of YELLOW tiles; highest bidding player wins (and scores a point in the colour) and losing Leader withdraws.
WAR
If you place a tile connecting 2 states where the leaders match colour, a War begins. You can discard RED tiles and add these to your Leaders. The losing Leader(s) withdraw and the winner gains a point in the Leader's colour.
RIOTS and FARMLAND
2 Blues can be discarded to trigger a RIOT (yes, another type of uprising!), discarding any tile – even a regional governor tile, those initial 7 yellows - from the board. BLUE can also be placed continuously connected until they would trigger war or create a pagoda.
MARKETS AND MONEY
So what about Green and White ? Well, placing a GREEN tile allows you to immediately take a face -up tile from the market next to the board. And WHITE? Well, it does… nothing – except score your lowest colour as points at the end, so you can’t ignore it, either.
With its clean aesthetic and absurdly, deceptively simple core mechanics, Huang is an absolute winner. It's a constant push-pull, balancing and sacrificing your resources, taking shots at opponents and keeping your different colours ticking over. This is a game that feels like it SHOULD be straightforward, but like all the greats is monstrously intricate, subtle and restrained whilst utterly cutthroat. It absolutely sings at 3 or more players, as the savage diplomacy comes to the fore (especially at 3/4), but at all counts it's satisfying: you're always scoring, always moving forwards and even when battling against the odds feels like you can win. At 2 players, you simply remove some tiles before beginning, and the game feels faster and more ruthless for it, though I still feel it’s better at 3+.
RAISING YOUR GAME
Another superb feature is the fact Huang comes with not one but 2 expansions as standard. The Bandit tiles add marauding Rogue soldiery wandering across the map, causing havoc. This adds a further level of complexity as you must ensure that your lands do not become over-run. In my experience, this adds to the cross-table communication, as it’s often in the interest of more than one player to deal with them. The reverse of the board, meanwhile, is different version entirely, set in the aftermath of unification, where you must control grain supplies across the whole realm in order to maintain peace and order. It’s a very different map, denying specific strategies that can dominate the basic game - chaining farmland, specifically, which makes sense given that it’s about controlling grain. So you get even more value out of your basic game box.
I’ve already hinted at the quality of the components, with the excellent silk effect tile bag and satin player screens being particular highlights. The tokens are clear, distinct and chunky, high-quality cardstock with a good matte finish – lots of accessibility points. The different types of pagodas are all constructed in situ, though I’d be happier if the box was slightly taller so you could leave them assembled. The standees for the different factions use their zodiacal animals – Hare, Rat, Tiger and Goat – and are all distinct in style and shape, with chunky solid plastic bases.
On to my gripes. Huang is absolutely stonking at 5 players… and that requires the expansion or upgraded wooden player tiles. This is pretty annoying, but even more so by the fact that there are blank tiles filling space on the component sheet. It would literally have cost NOTHING to print the 5th set of faction components. Similarly, the Governor’s capital tile (a T-shaped quad hex) is also only available as an exclusive despite there being 2 additional blank triple hexes on the component sheet. Still, given that its rules are included, it’s an easy fudge… just, annoying.
Still. Huang is nothing short of stellar, and should be on every shelf.