Z-Man Games | SKU: ZH006

Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan (Z-Man Games Edition)

Name: Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan (Z-Man Games Edition)
Brand: Z-Man Games
SKU: ZH006
Price: 58.66 EUR
Availability: OutOfStock

€58.66 EUR

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Description

Designers	Simone Luciani Daniele Tascini
Publisher	Z-Man Games
Players	2-4
Playtime	60-120 mins
Suggested Age	12 and up
Accessory	The Dicetroyers - Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan (Italy Import)
Honors	2021 GEEKS d'OURO Best Board Game of the Year Nominee 2019 Meeples' Choice Nominee
Additional Info	283948/marco-polo-ii-service-khan http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/283948/marco-polo-ii-service-khan/forums/63

The journeys of Marco Polo continue in Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan, an epic follow-up to The Voyages of Marco Polo. After traveling to Beijing, your travels now take you back to the West in the service of the Khan, sending you to the farthest reaches of his empire in search of wealth and fame.

Marco Polo II is a standalone game based on The Voyages of Marco Polo, and you don't need the original game to play this one. This new journey will present unique challenges, with new and different actions, new scoring rules, and a new good: rare and valuable Chinese jade.

Retread old paths with renewed purpose, or find new ones as you explore farther west, continuing to build the immortal legacy of Marco Polo!

—description from the publisher

Surprisingly Fun!

And way, way better than The Voyages of Marco Polo. Why? Because you can get things done in this game, but it's not like points are handed to you on a silver platter. Great short and long term strategy thinkiness, great use of dice, and a nice selection of player powers. I like it.

If you like resource management...get this game

I have not played the original Marco Polo but this game is superb. Alot of resource options..ALWAYS. You never feel like your turn was wasted...the second or third best options are usually good too. Move around the board, get lots of different resources, and get victory points for fulfilling contracts. Yeah.

bring on the theme

This really adds to the fun when playing the game

Ultimate Guard - Boulder™ 60+ Deck Case (Emerald)

Awesome game

Nice abstract

What I liked:
• Visually, the game is stunning. I'm usually more into mechanics and don't get swayed by aesthetics alone, but here, I found myself enjoying the artwork and the fact that the tokens aren't just circular, but uniquely shaped.
• The player’s board is quite small, so you face interesting decisions about how to squeeze in as many animals as possible and maximize your score. That said, it could potentially lead to analysis paralysis.
• I enjoy 3D abstracts like Santorini, so I really liked the mechanic where you can build mountains, trees, and buildings on multiple levels. It adds another layer of strategy. In Cascadia, you're just rotating a landscape tile to expand similar terrains, but in Harmonies, you think, “Okay, I’ll use this 'one-level' mountain for this animal, and then I’ll build a second level to score even more.” Or, “This building is here, so I need to surround it with different colors, and if I can fit a field near it, that’s an extra five points.” The scoring for terrain feels more engaging.
• I love that there are combo opportunities here. In Cascadia, you populate an eagle, and maybe you get extra points from a fox. But in Harmonies, you could have parrots that need to be near water, and then you draw a fish card and manage to place six of them because everything was already set up with the parrots. When the puzzle clicks into place like that, it’s incredibly satisfying.
What I didn’t like:
• There’s little player interaction, and the draft always has alternatives. Taking animals your opponent needs doesn’t make sense since you can only hold four cards, and you don’t want to be stuck with a useless one. This is why I like Splendor Duel—there you have to pay attention to your opponent and disrupt their engine. Harmonies feels more like a friendly family game where everyone just focuses on their own board (which is a matter of taste).
• There’s no way to discard tokens or cards. You can make something work with almost any card, but some fit better in certain combos. You end up with around 20 cards in a two-player game, and I missed having something like a wild token in Cascadia to refresh the row.
• I feel like they could’ve improved Harmonies by printing some instant bonuses on the player’s board—maybe tokens for discarding, an extra tile of any color, or the ability to hold a fifth card.
Final thoughts: It’s a solid abstract game. We played three games almost in a row. I’m not sure if I’ll keep both Cascadia and Harmonies in my collection, as they leave a similar impression. In Cascadia, I enjoy rotating the tiles, while in Harmonies, it’s more about solving the puzzle of fitting in the animals.
My rating: 8 out of 10

Exactly as seen.

Good card and fast delivery

Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan (Z-Man Games Edition)

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