Welcome back to this playthrough of the first voyage of a campaign game of Zheng He! This is the fourth and final part. I won’t be explaining many rules here, so starting here might be a bit confusing. I’d recommend checking out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 to catch up on the voyage and brush up on the rules.

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Turn 12: 

We’re on the second half of the voyage now (in terms of turns), so let’s take stock of where we are.

We are located in Bengal, and just completed the Emperor’s Goal to investigate rumors of the prior Emperors whereabouts.

I’ve got 14 VP – 5 for visits (Champa, Malacca, Palembang, Bengal), plus 4 for the first-time visit bonus for each of those. We got 1 VP for the successful Depose action in Malacca, and 4 for completing the Emperor’s goal. If I end with fewer than 15 points I am Admonished, and since I don’t have a Gratitude yet (for scoring 25+ on a prior voyage) that would end the game for me. But I’m confident I’ll at least be able to get to 15, and if I visit just two more ‘2’ region ports, (worth three each), I’ll reach 20 and avoid Disapproval. So I’m in OK shape on VP.

On the MP side, things are not great – I’ve got 3 for trade goods, plus 1 for Palembang relations. I’ll need at least 2 at the end of this voyage to be able to continue to the next, so that’s not in jeopardy. But any excess Minister Points I earn are used to upgrade the fleet. I need to increase that to put me on a firmer footing for the future.

So I need to get more Ports into green relations. Bengal and Thailand are only one box from green. But I should probably scout to see what else is going on and if there are possible targets for increasing relations, or even for Deposing, which jumps relations up to max (of course the new Encounter card draw may lower that).

First off, let’s see the Tianfei token:

Tianfei: 2+DR

I could try to build a base, but that only succeeds if my die roll is zero.

Instead, I’m going to take a zero action turn and just draw two cards.

Draw: Damage (which gets discarded immediately) and a Battle/Depose 2.

Turn 13:

Tianfei:3

I will use my build 3 to build a Base here. Auto success.

Draw: Scout 3

Turn 14:

Tianfei: 2

I’m going to take a double turn. First, I will Scout, then I will (probably) Resupply in my new base.

Scout 3: DR: 0. Success, I get 4 exploration points

I will check out Pegu (in modern-day Bangladesh), Masulipatam (in India), and Kotte.

Pegu: Timid Leader, Rare Goods Trade

Masulipatam: Unpopular leader (easier to Depose), but an Ambush is waiting for me (good thing I Scouted!).

Kotte: Traveler Leader, Exotic Goods. Unfortunately that Exotic Goods card has a -2 Relations modifier, so relations drop into the red.

Second Action: Resupply. I will use my Resupply 3. DR: 0. Draw 6 cards, plus an extra 1 since it’s the end of the turn.

Turn 15:

Tianfei: 1

The Ambush waiting in Masulipatam, and poor relations in Kotte make it clear that I should just start heading back, and hit Pegu and Thailand and see what I can do about relations there.

This is probably going to not work out, but I’m going to take advantage of the ‘1’ to do another double action turn.

Negotiate: I have one Negotiate 2 card. I will also use 2 battle cards to bring it up to 4. Maybe I can get an envoy. DR: 3. Total = 4. Move up relations (into Green), but no envoy. Sad!

Sail: to Pegu. Distance 1, plus against the wind. So the target is 3. I will use two Troop ships (2 sail each), for a total of 4. DR is 1, so we arrive without incident. 3 more VP for arriving in Pegu (2 for the Region value, and one for first visit).

Draw: Scout 2

Turn 16: 

Tianfei: 3/4/5 (so 4)

I need to get Pegu up two steps to get it into Green. Unfortunately, I have no Negotiate cards (and no Tribute tokens – so I’d need to Negotiate twice anyway), and no Depose cards – which is an option since the leader is timid, so strength is zero.

Instead, I think I’ll just sail to Thailand. Sail target is 6. I can afford to take some damage here I think. I plan to stop at Malacca and do a repair, which will eliminate up to 6 damage cards from my deck. So I’ll just use one Sail 2 card, which gives me four Damage cards.

Thailand gives me two VP, so I am up to 19.

Draw: Treasure Ship

Turn 17:

Tianfei: 1/2/3 (2)

Thailand is one step from green relations, plus both the leader and port give me +1 to Negotiate. So I will just use the single Negotiate 2 card, which has a value of 4 with the bonuses. That’s enough for success, plus an Envoy, which pushes me to 21 VP!

Draw: Resupply 3

Turn 18:

Tianfei: 2

I need to sail to Malacca, Resupply, and Repair the fleet. I am going to try a double action.

Action 1: Sail. Sail target is 3 (with the wind, finally), I will just use a Sail 2. DR: 2. So 3 damage (which is the max I can take anyway since the target was 3).

Action 2: Resupply: Use both Resupply cards for a value of 6. Target is 2, DR 0. Success. Draw 6 new cards (plus one extra for end of turn). One of them is a damage card, so I have 9 cards.

It hasn’t come into play yet, but the hand limit is 10 cards.

Turn 19:

Tianfei: 2+DR

I only have a few things left to do – I want to do a Repair action to clean out the damage cards, possibly depose the leader of Malacca to get relations out of the cellar (which will need another resupply since I have no Depose cards) and then sail back to Nanjing. I’ve got four turns to do all that, so no need to push with double actions I think.

So I just do the repair. I have two repair cards with a total of 6. DR: 4(!) for a total of 6. Barely a success! But I get to remove six damage cards. I had eight, so still two left in the deck.

Draw: Battle/Depose 3

Turn 20: 

Tianfei: DR

I’m going to Depose, using my new Battle 3. I’ll throw in a Scout card to bring it up to 4, just to be safe. Target 1+DR, since Strength is 1. DR = 7(Just kept exploding!!!) which is an absolute disaster. The depose attempt fails. I take 1 damage card, and Thailand and Champa go down one box in Relations. That shifts Thailand back into neutral, and Champa into the red.

MALACCA!!!!

Draw: Patrol Ship

Turn 21

 Tianfei: 2/3/4 (4)

I could resupply, hope to draw my battle cards, and then try to depose Malacca again… But with just two turns left that seems risky, particularly with the Tianfei draw.

Instead, I will just sail to Champa (in the storm).

Sail: 6+DR (from storm). I will use 3 Sail 2 cards, for 6. DR = 0, so no more damage.

Draw: Damage card

Turn 22:

Tianfei: 2+DR

If I got a good Tianfei I might have tried a double action to Negotiate with Champa to get relations up, and then sail home. Instead I will just sail.

Sail: 4+DR. I will use all my cards which is Sail 7.  DR = 1, so we arrive back in Nanjing without further excitement.

AFTERMATH:

VP: 

I score 16 for visits/envoys (8 for visits, 6 for first-time visits, 2 for Thailand envoy), 1 Victory token, and 4 for completing the goal.

Total is 21, which garners me Approval from the Emperor.

MP:

2 for Relations in green (Palembang and Bengal)

3 for Trade Goods

No bonus for undamaged fleet

I returned on time, so no MP losses there.

I have to pay 2 for the cost of the first voyage, so total MP to spend is 3.

3 MP is not great – ideally, I like to end the first voyage with at least 6 MP.  Malacca really did not help me on this voyage! We got off on the wrong foot with me meddling in their internal affairs back at the start of the voyage when I used my military strength to remove their leader. And the relations being in the red makes it possible that my Base there will be destroyed before I visit again next time. I’ll have to definitely deal with that next voyage, or establish a base elsewhere with better relations.

However, I still get to go shopping with the MP I have. There are three things I can spend MP on – upgrading cards, removing damage, and hiring/upgrading officers.

I decide I’m just going to upgrade two cards in my deck – A Treasure Ship card at a cost of 2 MP (a 1 dot card to a 3 dot card – dots are in the lower left of the cards), and a Supply Ship for 1 MP (a 2-dot to 3-dot card). The Treasure ship upgrade will give me another Tribute token, while the Supply Ship will increase my Resupply rating from 4 to 5. That will give me more flexibility when doing a resupply action – a base may not be as necessary, and it won’t hurt as much if I don’t get a full success.

However, because of all the trouble in Malacca, I was unable to get any new Officers – or at least, with so few MPs I prioritized cards over officers. These give you a variety of special once-per-voyage effects. Wang Jinghong is particularly useful, as he allows you to split the fleet in half during the voyage. Each is more vulnerable, but it lets you cover more ground. Well, ocean.  But he’s best around voyage 4 or so, when you need to deal with both Arabia and Africa. So hopefully my voyages will turn around before then!

I also discard all Encounter cards, leaving the Leaders behind. 

Thus ends the first voyage! Normally each voyage is around 30-45 minutes once you are comfortable with the rules.

One of my favorite parts of Zheng He is the way the game builds throughout the voyages. As I mentioned in the playthorugh, Bases and Leaders remain in between each trip, which emulates the evolving political situation in the states bordering the Indian Ocean and enriches the narrative. Being able to upgrade the cards in your fleet deck and recruit and train new officers gives each voyage a fresh and exciting feel as you become a stronger fleet commander. Finally, the new Emperor Goal cards that are introduced reward you for venturing further from China, and having successfully navigated the early voyages in order to fulfill late game goals is very satisfying. I hope you enjoyed this playthrough of the first voyage and that it gave you a good feel for Zheng He’s gameplay. David and I can’t wait to share this game with you!

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Previous Articles: 

Zheng He Playthrough with Geoffrey Engelstein Part 1

Zheng He Playthrough with Geoffrey Engelstein Part 2

Zheng He Playthrough with Geoffrey Engelstein Part 3