This article covers my (evolving) thoughts about Chu Han. There are (much) better players than me (I assume), but they aren’t writing anything, so you know the drill. Usual Disclaimer applies.
Right now I only have a dozen or so games under my belt, but the number is growing quickly. This does not cover the game with events or the historical campaign (as I’ve only played the base game).
I thank those who provided some insight in private conversations earlier.
The Deck
First of, there are nine ‘1s’ up to a single ‘9’, plus the 0/wild (named Xiong Xin, but I’ll call it the ‘wild’). Forty-six cards in total. It is helpful to remember that (apart from the wild) the value of the card plus the number totals 10. (So there are five ‘5s’). The 3s have special power (so, seven of those) and the 6s have powers (so, four of those). So that’s eleven special cards, and the wild is special, and the only nine has no power, but possession of the ‘9’ is kind of a big deal, so let’s say there are thirteen special cards. Some of them will — at any given point — not really be useful, but thirteen out of forty-six cards being is important.
At the start of the hand, any cards you can’t see are about every so slightly more likely to be in the writ deck instead of your opponents hand1.
Some Tips That Will Improve Your Play
- Pay attention to which special cards are missing & learn how they can be used.
- Ask yourself “How often do you need to take the lead from your opponent?” and “How many ways do you have to do that?”
- If you need one risky play to survive, consider making it as early as possible, before your opponent can dig for a set to stop it (or the cancel card).
- Consider the score when deciding on a hand strategy. There are some hands where your aim is simply to lose small.
- Unless you have a set hand or are sure you are going to just lose (and want to control the score), do not be afraid to take 1 or 2 writs at your first opportunities. (This will be discussed below)
Tactics and the Special Cards
I’m going to discuss these first, because it it is more concrete. Many of the special cards are excellent, some are positional. I’m going to mention some tactics that may be surprising (and are hopefully legal, see the Chu Han Faq by Tom).
Much like the Amber RPG auction, each of the special cards is the Most Powerful Card (MPC) in the deck.2
Xiong Xin “The Wild” (0/add to a set) — A good card to have, because it is highly flexible and often lets you grab the lead or know that your opponent can’t beat you ‘naturally.’
Fan Zeng (the 2s) — Score six+ points when you play a set of six+ cards. Not really a special card, but I’m mentioning it because of …
Zhongli Mo (3) — Modifies a set so you can play different values. The only article in the Chu Han BGG Strategy Forum is a complaint that Zhongli Mo is too powerful and anticlimatic, because it lets you end the game with Fan Zeng meld (unless cancelled) using 2,3,4,5,6,7 (or even 8/9, but not the Wild, which would turn it into a meld of ‘0s’). But wait, there’s more! Zhongli Mo also lets you suddenly go out with a bunch of random cards, like Z.M. + six different values. Play Z.M., drop your hand and score! You can also respond to a difficult to beat set (like four 4s) with Z.M. + 5678 or such (which may again get rid of some spare cards). Zhongli Mo is probably the actual MPC, but it can of course be cancelled.
Peng Yue (3) — Respond with an equal set. This is usually much easier than beating the set.
Xiahou Ying (3) — Pass to take the lead, but your rival gets 3VP. A rookie mistake is to say “Aha, I’ll play this monster set, then I’ll go out with my trips 1s” and then a) you get three points and b) you lose the hand at least three points (plus any writs). Leads are powerful.
Han Xin (6) — Skip your response; your rival gets +1 VP but then has to beat his own set. Often this is a more economical Xiahou Ying, effectively earning you the lead at a cost of 1VP, but sometimes it plays into your opponents hands (like they led two 7s and have two 8s as well).
The Emperor aka Ziying (9) — The highest single card, so of importance for single card leads, except that…
Liu Bang (6) — Counts as a ’10’ is played on top of The Emperor. Having both Liu Bang and Ziying means you can play a single card with impunity, knowing that you can keep the lead (and you can use Liu Bang as a set of ‘6s’).
Ji Bu (3) — (Lead Power) Look at the top four cards of the writ deck and put them back. You can then draw the top two (assuming you haven’t already). If all the writs are taken, this forces your opponent to play with their hand exposed, which is obviously a big deal.
Yu Ji (3) — (Lead) Discard a card.
Xiang Yu (6) — You play this when you pass, but it doubles VPs for the rest of the hand. And yes, you can play this as your final card (in response only) and then double points. Xiang Yu is often played as a prelude to Zhongli Mo to get twelve points …. I did that in my first hand against the TaoLing; but he happened to have a hand of ‘2s’ as well3, and I had to give him VPs (double) to grab the lead again, and he almost got thirty points on a single hand.
Ying Bu (6) — (Lead) Pick up a discard, but only rank 1-5. Note that you can take one of the ‘3s.’ But also good for grabbing your sixth ‘2.’
Lyu Zhi (3) — (React) Cancel a power. Given the awesomeness of the special powers, this is also awesome. If nothing else, having this means you know your powers will go through. But …
Xiao He (3) can cancel Lyu Zhi. Note that you can cancel your own power with Lyu Zhi and/or play Xiao He to cancel your own Lyu Zhi (just to get them out of your hand).
The other thing about special cards is that often having a combination is great. Certainly having Zhongli Mo + a cancel (or the cancel-cancel) guarantees it. Similarly, if you have both lead grabbing cards, you don’t necessarily have to use both, but you also know that your opponent doesn’t have it. In fact, knowing that your opponent can’t Do X, where X is whatever, is very valuable and greatly simplifies the decision space you have to consider.
Taking Writs
Let’s say its the first play. Should you draw a writ? As a thought experiment, let’s ignore your hand. You’d be happy to draw at least one special card. Checking the hypergeometric probability for 46 cards with “13 successes” it’s almost a 50/50 shot. You have about a 49% shot of drawing at least one special card (and a 7.5% shot of two)! So you 1.something special cards. Looking good!
After the TaoLing’s4 first game, he said “always take cards,” and the math backs him up. Getting a special card also denies it to your opponent and lets you plan better.
Some of those ‘special’ cards will be duds, but if you assume eight of them are always good, you still have a 30% shot of drawing one per writ, and presumably you will have other hits, such as your third seven, second eight, etc.
So — that’s the benefit. What does a writ cost? Nothing if you win. If you lose it’s a point plus points for the cards (assuming you weren’t going to lose with 5+ cards already). So that’s pretty hefty … but in my experience it is difficult to win if you let your opponent take four quick writs if you take none.
Apart from any special cards, more cards usually makes it easier to build a high set, which helps to grab the lead. You have more cards to play, but you’ll likely need the same number of plays (see The Lead, below). Grabbing eight extra cards (say) gives you a much better shot at six+ ‘2s’ or Zhongli Mo to score 6+ points.
I won’t go so far as to say that taking writs is positive expected value on points — I hope that isn’t true (because its boring) and given Tom’s track record I suspect it is more complicated than that — but so far the TaoLing’s “A.B.C.” of Always Be-taking Cards is doing fine. I suspect that taking a writ at your first opportunity (and probably taking one at the second opportunity) is reasonable.
I polled some other people who’ve played a bit and it was pointed out that at times that too many special cards can cost you time, but in that case you could always drop them as sets of 3s or 6s. But if you have a higher number of good cards, then the writ deck will necessarily be worse.
The worst position is to know your opponent is ready to go out and having to take a writ and draw lucky. In that case, wouldn’t you have rather taken a writ earlier, when it may have also filled out your well?
The worst writ is one that turns your position from winning to losing, but those seem rare (and hard to identify). If you have a near pat hand you sometimes draw the annoying single card you can’t get rid of. But even if you take a writ and still lose, it’s often the case (in my experience) that you tend to wind up with roughly the same points on cards (or better) assuming you took the writ early. If a writ lets you take the lead once you should be able to dump the extra few cards you’ve gotten.
So let’s defer more discussion of writs and segue into …
The Lead
Leading is powerful. It is difficult to win the hand without the lead, because even if you have a nicely grouped hand, your opponent might not lead sets which let you shed your cards efficiently. For example, if you had 444-555-777, you can lead three ‘4s’, cover your opponents trips with sevens and (assuming your opponent has no special or 88+wild), go out.
If its your opponents turn and he leads a pair of deuces … what? Do you split your ‘4s’ or ‘5s’ and hit a pair of ‘6s?’ If you play two ‘7s’ then 88 or 8/9+wild are much more likely than 88+wild and even though you’ve dropped a few cards you are not really closer to going out.
If your opponent leads five ‘1s’ do you really want to play five ‘2s?’ Wouldn’t you rather dig for sixth one?
Leading is so good that the Xiahou Ying which takes the lead gives your opponent 3VPs … and both the TaoLing and I will often cancelling it (forfeiting the points) to keep the lead. It is often worth not scoring as well as you can just to start out on lead on the following hand.
How Often can you (Grab or Keep) the lead?
In shedding games (like this or Tichu), to evaluate a hand ask “how many times must I risk the lead” and “how often can I keep the lead?” Sometimes you simply have to risk playing a “probably safe” or “unsafe” set or use powers to re-grab the lead. For example (ignoring special powers), if you have 8 ‘1s’ and 7 ‘2s’ you can almost certainly go out … if you have the lead, but are dead without it. That’s extreme, but demonstrates the point. If you have Xiahou Ying / Han Xin or (to a lesser extent) Peng Yue / Zhongli Mo / The Wild you are poised to grab the lead; but if you too many weak sets to play your opponent might keep winning it back.
Once you play shedding games you’ll be able to tell when a hand is weak or strong, not just because you are loaded with specials, but because your hand can flow out. Hands like the 444-555-777 above work well … the small, low sets you need to lead are protected by the high-value sets of similar length.
Tying back to writs — The downside of a writ is that you might draw a card that forces your hand to require taking/keeping the lead an extra time (or even worse, twice). For example, a ‘1’ when you don’t have any other 1s. That’s a card you could end with; but if you have another risky set (like an unprotected low pair) you will likely to lose the lead and now you’ve lost (assuming you could have ended by playing the middle pair).
Stacking and Protecting your Lead
Probably the most interesting decision is how to split up your large, low groups. For example, if you have six 1s, you don’t necessarily want to lead all six; and not just because that risks six 2s. You are unlikely to have a set of six higher cards you can play.
But if you have something like 444-555-777 above, then leading out three 1s, and then simply topping your opponents play is going to be great. For example, if they play three 4s, you play 5s. If that wins, another three 1s and you probably golden. But if you have 44-55-66-88-? then you probably want to lead a pair of ones multiple times (or you might risk it and lead six 1s and then your pair of fours).
If you have a risky lead the time to do it is earlier, before your opponent is loaded up on writs. Your opponent having a pair of 8s (or 8-wild) on the deal is unlucky. But after 3+ writs if you haven’t seen any of those cards, they are probably in your opponents hand. A Trick One Zhongli Mo is basically 50/50 to be cancelled. Etc.
The toughest cards to get rid of are single cards (assuming Zhongli Mo isn’t available). In that case you’ll definitely want to
If you have a weak hand, you may want to just lead out the massive sets that stack well together, and then punt and give up a few points …
Endgame Effects and Total Points
The game ends at 31 points; as you get closer to the end you:
- Threaten to win with a six-card set of ‘2s’ (or Zhongli Mo) once you are 25 points (or sometimes less).
- Become immune to Ziahou Ying at 28 points, and additionally to Han Xin at 30.
Once your opponent is at a high score, writs have little/no downside unless they turn your hand from a winner to a loser, because giving up the 32nd point is meaningless. As you back up from the endgame to the midgame you should be aware of those effects. Often you can make a play to effectively ‘push’ a hand …. you get points during the play and your opponent goes out and gets a similar number of points. If you are losing 22-18 then ‘pushing’ a hand for six points (so now you are losing 28-24) is arguably worse than playing it safe and dumping all your cards but one, but not scoring any points (and losing 23-18).5 On the gripping hand, if you could somehow push for seven points (29-25) then you might go out on the opening lead and win! (Six ‘2s’ are much more likely than seven).
It is definitely worth arranging your score to get the lead on the last hand. (I’d sacrifice one point if it let me lead off the next hand at almost any score, but I’m not sure this is right).
Closing Thoughts / Summary
- Special Cards Good, sometimes simply because you know what your opponent can’t do.
- Writs good, probably not as good as I think, but I can’t figure out why. If early writs are costing me hands, it is too subtle for me to spot (or we are not good enough at exploiting it yet). This may be a case where I need another 25+ games to figure it out.
- In general you want to lead a set that will either win outright or that you can “cover” with a higher set of same length.
- Hand evaluation is knowing how often you risk giving up the lead and how many times you can take the lead.
I’m sure I’ll think of more later, but I’ll do a follow up post.
- Which is great, because when your opponent has it you can complain about ‘how unlucky you are’ again. ︎
- In Amber the GM explains the stats and lets players auction them off, before knowing what the other stats are, and each is “this is the best one.” ︎
- Which I should have guessed, since I only had two of them. ︎
- Who just graduated with a degree in computational physics, and if you know any job that needs one of those please ping me. ︎
- Of course winning the hand would be best, but let’s assume those were the only options. ︎
