Anno 1452 by Gerhard Kodys packs a wide variety of mechanisms into a two hour time frame. Although the game is enjoyable, many folks (including myself) have experienced some problems with the game. Francois Bedard of Quebec, Canada has offered a variety of suggestions and variants to improve teh game. Included here are his ideas.

PROBLEM # 1: A TURN RARELY LASTS 3 FULL ROUNDS
Roll one die to determine if there is a second round.
Roll two dice to determine if there is a third round.

PROBLEM # 2: THE KING IS TOO POWERFUL

There are three proposed alternatives for this problem:

A) Give the King only 8 armies.

B) The king's prestige is limited by the 'Shrinking Privileges' factor:

If a player is king who was not already king in the previous round, he gets +3 prestige and +3 action cards.

If a player is king who was also king in the previous round, he only receives +2 prestige and +2 action cards.

A player who was already king in the preceding two rounds receives only +1 prestige and +1 action card.

After being king for three consecutive rounds, the player receives no additional prestige bonus or action cards.

He does get full use of the armies each round.

C) Each player determines their total victory points for the turn from settlements, cities, citizens and territory cards. The player with the fewest victory point total is named 'King'.

If two or more players are tied for fewest points, the player with the fewest settlements is the king.

If they are still tied, the player with the fewest cities is king.

If still tied, the player with the fewest citizens is king.

PROBLEM # 3: MONEY IS TOO PLENTIFUL
Starting prestige = 5
Estate Income = 2 gold
Reduced Estate Income = 0 gold
2 citizens = 1 gold
Citizen cost = 2 gold
1 city = 1 gold
Starting money = 20 gold
Marriage card Jutta: receive 10 gold
Marriage card Johanna: receive 10 gold
Marriage card Liselotte: receive 15 gold
Marriage card Gertrud: receive 20 gold
Special action card on Rebuilding: All estates on the board yield a normal income of 2 gold.

PROBLEM #4: LARGER TERRITORIES HAVE NO ADDED IMPORTANCE

Maximum number of settlements in principality = Income of Principality card
2 = 1 gold
3 = 1 gold
4 = 2 gold
5 = 2 gold
6 = 3 gold