This is a game about Tea, with players playing Farmers and Traders plying their tea along the “Ancient Tea-Horse Road”.
Components:The artwork on the board is very good and evokes the theme quite well.
The player pieces are wooden, which is always nice, and again the designs fit well with theme.
The other components are cardboard tokens and coins, with the coins nicely shaped.
Shaping is used as well to help distinguish function for some pieces which is a really helpful idea.
Gameplay:There is an auction phase where players bid for certain benefits like prestige, extra traders, move movement etc. On each building providing these there are several slots, the cheapest 2 slots you can be out-bid and forced to remove your bid. Later slots are more costly but are "safe" from being removed. This provides some interesting choices for players, especially as there is also a Bank option where once you place there you remove your other bids, if any, to the Pu'er starting position. The banks provides an amount of money based on the total bids that turn, so careful planning can drive the prices up before taking the bank!.
The rest of the turn is made up of several phases where players move their traders along the road, build items if they can, deal with the inspector, earn presents and calculate their potential income. One of the things with income is that you have an option to split this between money and VP's. Knowing when to start this and how to manipulate that split is a strong tactical part of the game.
There is also pro version of the rules where you can go into debt during the Auction phase, where as the normal game you have to have the right funds available.
The game provides some interesting choices as well as some player interaction that can have significant effect on their options. Whilst this is not a short game it certainly does not outstay its welcome and provides meaningful choices for the players in how to progress.
Summary:I really like this game there is some real strategy and tactics to be put into play here in order to maximise your earnings/point scoring options. There are choices to be made during this game which can impact what can be done later in the turn as well as other players options.
Given the choices available each game does play differently enough to warrant many repeat plays, I have not yet played the Pro version of the rules but can see this being an interesting option once players become familiar with the gameplay.
The rulebook is well written, with the addition of side panels with the essential steps laid out to work as a memory aid for future games, rather than having to re-read all the rules.
I can recommend this game and it should see a good amount of table time as it has proved an excellent addition to my collection.
