War of the Roses, Texas

The Basics
Description: Originally published as Texas by db-Spiele.

The battle between farmers and ranchers is fairly abstract. A single pawn travels on a square grid. Each player has a hand of cards face up. These each have a direction and a distance. The player can either draw a card and add it to his hand, or play a card. If he plays a card, then the pawn moves the appropriate distance to an empty square, and the player places one of his markers. Each player also has judge symbols that can each be used only once. The judge lets you move onto a previously placed opposition marker and reverse it. Players score points for each contiguous region equal to the square of the number of markers. If a player is not careful, such a move may be forced, as there is a maximum number of cards that a player may hold.

Contains rules for playing with 4 (in two partnerships of two players).

Later republished 1999 as Rosenkönig by Kosmos, as part of the two-player game series. The republication also included a re-theming of the game. The setting changed from Texas to England, and the factions changed from farmers and ranchers to the factions of the Plantagenet family from the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) - the Lancaster (red rose) and the York (white rose) factions in a similarly abstracted fashion.

How to Play

• Spielezeit (Power Point)
  
• Yucata (Web Guide)
  
• Your Turn My Turn (Web Guide)
  

Where to Play Online

• Yucata (Web Guide)
  
• Your Turn My Turn (Web Guide)
  

Cheat Sheets (None Available)

Game Hints (None Available)

Views

• Opinion: Not at a big fan.
  
• Online: Works fine.
• Work: Very easily played at lunch time.
• Home: Ok, probably will be taught after a lot of other games.

Other Info

• Plays best with: Works fine with 2-4 players, best with 2 (never played 4).
• Gateway Suitability: Very easy to learn, I don't view this a gateway.
• Spouse Suitability: Chrissy hasn't played it.
• Re-playability: For me it is low.
  
• Real Life Setup: A few minutes of sorting out pieces.
• Real Life Time/Length: 45 minutes.
• Geek Link: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/283565