Mandate of Heaven v2.0 Comments Wanted

[David E. Cohen]

Comments and criticism wanted. This work-in-progress is a complete redrafting of my old Mandate of Heaven variant.  A lot of the funky old rules are gone, and the map is significantly less dense, slightly less dense in fact than Standard.  Non-Standard rules as follows:

1. Victory criterion is 18 Supply Centers, a majority of the 35 Supply Centers on the map.

2. Play begins in the year 369 BCE, which may also be referred to as Year 1.

3. The Barbarian units begin the game unsupplied.

4. The Northern Steppe area is not a province and may not itself be occupied.  It is merely an indicator of adjacency.  There are five Steppe provinces within the Northern Steppe.  Steppe provinces may be occupied in the same manner as any other land province and function like any other land province.  Each Steppe province is adjacent to (a) all of the other Steppe provinces, and (b) all of the provinces visibly adjacent to Northern Steppe area.  For example, NS5 is adjacent to NS1, NS2, NS3, NS4, Chiang, Rong, Xianyun, Wuzhong, Donghu and Yilou.

5. The river systems (Yellow/Wei, Grand Canal, Yangtze and Pearl) are not provinces, but rather are indicators for movement by fleets.  For a fleet to move between two land provinces, the provinces must be adjacent by either coast or by river.

6. A Power may build in any Supply Center owned by that Power.

Note: I am considering a unit transform rule, which if adopted would allow a unit to be ordered to transform from a fleet to an army, or an army to a fleet, during an adjustment turn.

[CrackpotConviction]

I really like your idea to make the river systems important. I wonder how it affects play. If the fleets can move up the rivers, my first guess is that fleets will become much stronger than armies.

Do you need folks to play test the map? I will be the first to volunteer.