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Game Info
Year
2024
Players
2
Age
14+
Playtime
45 min
Collection
Ratings
Creator Score
Mechanic profile
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Vibe profile
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Description
Chu Han is a two-player card game of dynastic intrigue set in ancient China before and during the Chu-Han Contention, 206-202 BCE. Two clans, the Han and Chu, vie to supplant the weak Qin ruler and forge China's first true dynasty. Historically, the Chu began in a stronger position, but the Han managed to defeat them.
Chu Han is a trick-taking, climbing, and shedding game with special powers consisting of multiple hands. Players begin each hand with a mixture of Chu and Han cards, representing strains within clans, hostage taking, and shifting allegiances. Optional Events and two historical campaigns provide additional variety.
The goal is to score 31 points before the other player. Can you outmaneuver your rival to found a new dynasty?
•••
Chu Han FAQ — Designer Tom Lehmann has clarified rules and answered user questions
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 7
This page: 7
Sentiment:
pos 3 ·
mix 3 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 1
Showing 1–7 of 7
Video v8hjQYBDO4A
All You Can Board Discussion at 26:20 sentiment: positive
video_pk 107330 · mention_pk 310628
Click to watch at 26:20 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
Positive, but with reservations about player count and long-term appeal.
Pros
- Enjoyable to play again.
- Multiple rounds allow for risky plays when behind.
- Campaign mode to explore.
Cons
- Enjoyment might have reached its ceiling.
- Prefers shedding games with more players.
- Unsure if it will remain in collection due to preference for higher player counts.
Thematic elements
none
Comparison games
- Lost Cities
- Scout
- Panda Spin
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Multi-round — The game features multiple rounds, allowing for strategic risk-taking when behind, similar to games like Lost Cities.
- Set Collection — Players aim to collect sets of cards to score points, with a mention of playing risky 'hail mary' plays to double points.
- shedding — A two-player shedding game where players try to score points over multiple rounds.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I think I might have reached my ceiling on how much I enjoy it, which is probably like a solid eight out of 10, but we'll see.
- I tend to like these shedding games more with more players.
- It's sort of like a mind sweep. Imagine like mind sweeper or sudoku style kind of it's a logic deduction puzzle that you can play solo or cooperatively.
- Ingenious was the definite highlight in terms of new games.
- Least favorite if I had to pick would probably be Lawyer Up. Not a bad game by any means, but just in a sea of like really excellent games, it was one that stood out as just kind of okay.
- Ultimately we're making the content that we'd like to watch and hear and that's something that we've always made clear.
- We're not making any grand declarations here of like what we think is right or wrong for other people.
- I don't have anything against paid content and in fact like anyone who does whether it's board game media or like any kind of media um as either like a journalist as a content creator as a reviewer whatever the case may be.
- You should never be getting paid for reviews and and and that's something I can say like across the board.
- If you are doing reviews of games and you're being paid like money for that, I just think that's ethically irresponsible.
- I just I personally I don't see the value in it. I understand why it exists.
- I just think it gets to the point where like if you as a content creator, and again I I want to stress I don't think you're doing anything wrong by taking paid previews.
- And so that that's sort of where I um landed on it.
- The amount of h usefulness that they that how useful they are to people, how many people watch how to play videos, how many people like swear by watching videos instead of reading rule books.
- I just did that because I wanted to know how to play for it.
- But I just think that from the perspective of like I'm a content creator, I'm doing my best to provide content for my audience, and I'm also trying to make a living. Like you're doing their marketing work that should be coming out of their marketing budget for free for them.
- It's it's it's it's tough. Like I from as someone who now was trying to like sort of do this full-time for like you know half a year for 6 months.
- There are a lot of different types of sources and there's creators out there who have done videos uh going into detail about this kind of stuff.
- I agree with you 100% that the review copy is there to provide access to the game.
- Previews weren't fun or enjoyable to make. They just weren't rewarding uh in the same way as most other videos.
- It felt like me just uh freelancing as uh on the marketing team of that company or for that game.
- You realize like I'm basically watching a commercial.
- It's not about that. It's not this isn't supposed to be an opportunity for us to like throw people under the bus or put a spotlight on people that might not want a spotlight on them.
- The other thing is just like a podcast is a better space to have this type of discussion.
- We've never actually paid ourselves yet. Um, in the six and a half years that we've been doing this.
- Quantity content a large part of the time usually means like much less effort content.
- I'm sick of like a news item comes out and it's like something that's really worth discussing, really worth like talking about.
- Rather than it being about like people putting out stuff to discuss it, it's like a 10-minute video of someone summarizing all the things I already know with barely any other insight.
- The quality content takes longer and in a board in a space like board games where you could do quality content and get like you know 5,000 6,000 views and that that's like good for the board game space but that is not good for your wallet.
- It's almost like there's even if I don't threaten it, it's almost like there is a perpetual threat because I made it known, well, we're only here because of Patreon.
- It's just not that there's anything maybe inherently like um disreputable necessarily about someone asking for that. I just I feel like it reminds me a little bit of like relying on customer tips at a restaurant to supplement low wages.
References (from this video)
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Video e34Tr29sQ88
Rolling Dice & Taking Names Analysis at 24:50 sentiment: positive
video_pk 86365 · mention_pk 223160
Click to watch at 24:50 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Liked the scoring system where being stuck with a bad hand isn't overly punished.
- Liked that it requires matching exact numbers, adding strategy.
- Loved the art.
- Appreciates the 'Leman twist'.
- Looks forward to additional plays.
- Clever two-player card game.
Cons
- Wasn't initially keen on some of the card effects.
- Didn't grab reviewer at first play.
- Requires multiple plays to grasp hidden elements.
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card shedding — Trying to get rid of all the cards in hand.
- Drafting — Implied through the process of playing and scoring over multiple hands.
- Hand Management — Managing cards in hand is crucial for scoring and playing sets.
- Ladder Climbing — Trying to exceed what someone else has played before.
- Point scoring — Ultimate goal is to reach 31 points, tracked on a board.
- Set Collection — Playing sets of the same number of cards.
- special abilities — Certain cards (threes and sixes) have special abilities.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- If we knew more about our sleep, what would we do differently?
- Usually [music] you add sauce to the food, but when the sauce is this good, the food is just there to get the sauce [music] to your mouth.
- No kidding, y'all. Marty had written school wagon for me to say, like he's from the 1800s or something.
- God, Atlanta traffic. Y'all y'all can have that. Just have it.
- The ones that's come out in retail, like a Barnes & Noble, is a bigger box, and people don't want that. people want, you know, the small box so they can just throw it in their pocket or throw it in their bag or something like that.
- So, it was remade, like you said, look like it's a in the same that would come out like with Uno or Rook or something like that.
- Free cookies and milk.
- You know, there's there's a lot of businesses around there. So, it was a great location.
- So y'all, we got to play two hot games from last year that everybody talked about and then two games that are newer for this year.
- Biggest surprise of the games that we played.
- Biggest disappointment of the games that we played.
- So, after the when they say 40 minutes per player, they ain't lying.
- It's just one of those things, Tony, you and I, it's like maybe it's just not for us, right?
- Basically, what we used to think was just fun is now considered death traps and you'll never see them again sort of deal.
- When there is the least chance of snow, the guys who have the brine trucks to get it ready, they they get excited and they have to go spread brine.
- You look like an old man sitting there with a blanket around your shoulder. Turn on the heat.
- Can't do it. State can't State won't allow it. Too many crazy people out there.
- They'd pick you up, take you back, and that's how they made their money. Hey, worked.
- So, what that is is when a bus in North Carolina, cuz you know, we don't have crossing guards here for tracks.
- Now, hopefully you looked for the reason why you were running the tracks. You needed to see if there's a train coming.
- I got off the bus. I looked left. I looked right. And there was this big ass train sitting there.
- So, they were shifting the um tanks around, shifting them around u disposing or unloading them.
- It's a civ style tech tree game, which is what it was with the Beyond the Sun.
- The game was coming to the to to an end.
- So, I I don't Here's my final thoughts on this game. I'd play it again. No doubt.
- So, that is Chu Han from Tom Leman and Mato Games.
- So, that is Beyond the Horizon from Kio Creations and Capstone Games.
- Another reason come visit the Discord channel for Rolling Dice and Taking Aims.
- Did you see they're re-releasing Nurosima Hex?
- So, for moving wild, it is fast. It's quick. Those are synonyms, but that's all right because that's the intent of it.
- So, I I definitely think leave it in your game bag for a 10 to 15 minute game at night.
- And the first thing I'm going to say about this game is it is not a trick-taking game.
- Flowcharts. I know you don't need rule books if you got a flowchart. A good flowchart.
- This is definitely a player interaction conflict game. This isn't a Euro where you're just sitting there playing look at your own player board.
- So, the ambition you set is also determined by the cards.
- So, I mean, yes, you're going to get [clears throat] screwed if you don't have a higher value than what was played because you're going to be denying yourself actions, but you're always guaranteed to at least do one of something.
- So, I wish there was a way to take care of that.
- So, a lot of people said Arcs was their game of the year. I think it's a very solid game.
- I like the mechanics that were in there. I would play it again with people who know it. I would not go through the teach again.
- And believe it or not, it is a trick-taking game.
- This is definitely a player interaction conflict game.
- I really enjoyed the battle perspective of this game. It was very quick and it was over very fast and you took on the chance of getting hurt based on the dice that you were rolling.
- It was a tough teach.
- It's a unique experience. I haven't played another game that's like this.
- Believe it or not, it is a trick-taking game.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video dKB7OaNsO6k
Rahdo Runs Through Review at 0:10 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 85659 · mention_pk 311142
Click to watch at 0:10 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- Brilliant design
- Phenomenal game
- Works well as a two-player only ladder climbing game
- Great design by Tom Layman
Cons
- Host does not like this style of game at all
- Takes no pleasure in the outmaneuvering aspect of the game
Thematic elements
- Chinese Waring Dynasty history
- Chinese Waring Dynasty history
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card shedding — Players try to play their cards as fast as they can to empty their hand.
- event cards — At the beginning of every round, a new event card creates new rules for that round.
- Ladder Climbing — Players have a hand of cards and at the beginning of a round, players choose to play a set of cards that has to be beaten by the next player. The first player to empty their hand scores points based on how many cards their opponent was not able to get rid of.
- Push Your Luck — Players can take a 'rit' which means drawing more cards, building more combos or getting cards for special powers, but if these cards are not played, the opponent scores more points. The 'rit' token itself is also a point the opponent gains.
- Special Powers — Threes, sixes, and twos have special powers.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- It is a phenomenal game it is a brilliant design
- Fans of the genre might tell this is one of the greatest Li climbing games of all time quite frankly
- Me I don't like it at all like I said I knew I wasn't going to like it going in but I just wanted to see this Fusion of push your luck and Ladder climbing
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video Nik6ppRUmY4
BoardGameCo Discussion at 0:48 sentiment: negative
video_pk 80740 · mention_pk 333234
Click to watch at 0:48 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
negative
Pros
none
Cons
- Did not appreciate it at all after game one.
- Abilities were convoluted.
- Too many abilities.
- Lack of control.
- Does not reward new players.
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card abilities — There's going to be a whole bunch of abilities going to be some great art there going to be abilities on the various cards and specific suits will have specific numbers not suits will have abilities in them you're trying to figure out how to balance that.
- shedding — It's not a trick taking game it's a shedding game... shedding is a sub genre of trick taking. Generally goes hand in hand but either way this is a shedding game specifically in terms of where you're going to have a random hand of cards you're dealing up those cards to each other and then you're going to go ahead and try to win the tricks or win the shedding of the cards while utilizing abilities.
- token drafting — It has this element where you can basically take a card to draw two cards that taking a card sounds weird take a token let's say to draw two cards and that token basically counts against your score if you lose.
- Trick-Taking — It's not a trick taking game it's a shedding game... shedding is a sub genre of trick taking.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- First Impressions are for to qualify our opinions.
- if a game requires multiple plays to appreciate it in the first place that's usually not a game for me
- I think there are better racing games out there and they will take less time effort and energy to play
- I enjoyed it and I'm not interested enough to pull it out again
- it's a little a little too chaotic in life for my game group and a little too much for my kids
- five games that I've played once and probably will not be playing again unless I happen to for some reason
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video wuXuGIfkjqU
Review at 0:30 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 69028 · mention_pk 165348
Click to watch at 0:30 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- some of the card abilities are definitely clever. Turning your opponent's power into your own game feels really great.
- the historical guide in the box surprisingly detailed and very well done. If you like games that lean into theme and context like that, even if it doesn't really affect gameplay, it's a pretty awesome touch.
Cons
- there really just wasn't much of a wow factor here. There's so many inventive trick takers out now, and this one felt fine.
- the pacing definitely can stall. a few bad draws and suddenly you're just watching your opponent play solitaire while you sit there hoping for some kind of miracle.
- the rule book was pretty rough in the 2020s with tools like chat GPT around that I just don't think there's much of an excuse for a clunky teach like this.
Thematic elements
- battling for dominance in the ashes of an empire, civil war
- ashes of an empire, 3rd century BCE Chinese dynasty
Comparison games
- Race for the Galaxy
- President
- Scout
- Fox in the Forest
- The Cat in the Box
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card Drafting — Each round starts with players getting a third of the deck with the rest going into a central supply.
- Hand Management — a few bad draws and suddenly you're just watching your opponent play solitaire while you sit there hoping for some kind of miracle.
- Push Your Luck — It's all about pushing your luck.
- Set Collection — A set just being any group of the same number.
- Trick-Taking — As you duke it out through a series of tricks until one of you hits 31 points and seizes the dynasty.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Long before Marvel versus DC, Messi versus Ronaldo, Android versus Apple, or even Kendrick versus Drake, there was Chu versus Han. One of history's OG rivalries. No internet beef, just swords, politics, and a lot of ambition.
- Basically, it was the original Clash of Clans, just with fewer gems and a lot more beheadings.
- This one felt fine. Like, honestly, it mainly reminded me of that old card game, President. You know, that one that you would play in high school study hall while pretending to do school work.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video iL-EIDzsrc0
Before You Play Review at 14:25 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 8007 · mention_pk 111447
Click to watch at 14:25 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- Unique card powers
- Historical background
- Compact design
Cons
- Potentially repetitive card distribution
- Limited strategic depth
Thematic elements
- Card play and hand management
- Historical Chinese context
- Two-player card game
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card Powers — Special abilities on different cards
- hand shedding — Players try to get rid of all cards in their hand
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- We are trying to get through as many of the games released in 2024 that we have as possible
- We're trying to do a better job at playing more games this year
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video g2ZRFfT_2EE
The Dice Tower Review at 12:25 sentiment: positive
video_pk 5269 · mention_pk 88320
Click to watch at 12:25 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Phenomenal two-player card shedding game
- Love the distribution of cards in deck
- Interesting strategic choices
- Special powers work well despite seeming bad
Cons
- Has cancel card which shouldn't like
Thematic elements
- Card shedding
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Cancel cards — Special cancel card and cancel-cancel card
- card shedding — Two-player card shedding game to empty hand first
- Set play — Play sets of matching number cards
- Uneven distribution — More ones than twos than threes in deck
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- This is an excellent, excellent trick taking game that you should have in your collection
- One of the most brilliant trick-taking games I've ever seen
- The game has the word kids in the title, but it's better than you might think, but it's simpler than you might think
- Really pleasant. Really surprising how good this is
- There are games that are fine and then there's games that have a lot of tension and those like those games that are really tense, that's when I love it
- It's awful. It's really awful
- I think that it's wonderful. It's an eight for me. Oh, I lost that bout, but my popcorn's popping. Love it
- This is a cool trick taking game
- I would 10 out of 10 times recommend you play distilled instead of this
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
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