Will the third time be the charm? I think maybe so.
The rules are in PDF format.
I have replaced the cards I had in the second version with tiles. I'm using blocks which I bought from Columbia Games and affixing stickers to them. Well actually, I'm just taping on pieces of paper at the moment, but you get the idea. The stickers are available as a PDF file or a GIF image; you'll need to print them out on a color printer, cut them out and tape them onto some blocks.
Given the colors Columbia had available, I'm using:
Really, only the first four colors are necessary; the Argive, Syracusan and Persian tiles will only be used during part of the game. The tiles are nice because they let you hide your hand the same way you would with cards, but you can have 20 tiles in front of you, whereas a hand of 20 cards would be unwieldy. Plus, they're satisfyingly chunky.
I've made some changes to the map. My modified version is provided as eight graphic images, which you can print out on standard 8.5-by-11 paper and tape together. Warning: these images are pretty big, and may take a long time to load, depending on your connection speed.
You can also use this map to play the original game. Just ignore the passes (squiggly lines), income markers (solid squares and circles), fortified harbors (little anchors) and area boundaries, treat all blue- and orange-colored spaces as red, and note the following differences in the original:
I've also corrected various spelling errors in the original.
The counters are similar to the existing game counters, but in different colors for the various city-states. I need to make further changes eventually, but for now you can use this PDF or this GIF. The shield-and-spear counters are garrison markers; the dark-colored hoplite counters are home guards.
For playtesting, you can just use the existing counters, remember which city-state they came from, and use spare pieces from some other game to represent the new leaders.
ppw@mountford.net (discussion group)
brian@mountford.net (me)
