First, I really like Princes of the Renaissance a lot. It must be my favorite game since Puerto Rico or even more so. Regarding the one unit per type limit: I think the only reason for limiting the number of units of a certain type to 1 is to make sure that D'Este does not get more then one piece of artillery. Any other permutation of the units just makes the game a richer experience. You can have some great army/city tile strategies. How about a strictly defensive army with 2 field fortifications, a pikes and perhaps one Arq. buying the tile of Sforza? How about buying both light infantries and the Spanish light infantry? Granted, those city tiles gain strength but you have to win them in an auction.... Thus I would only use this limiting rule with inexperienced players who do not realize D'Este is too strong with 2 (or even 3) Guns. Actually in our games D'Este does end up with 2 guns regularly. The game still works great that way, but you do need to keep a very close eye on him... For experienced players I recommend the following rule amendment to avoid "forced" play in the first round. (i.e., the start player takes D'Este and buys a gun, the next players have to buy the other guns or D'Este gets two guns) Rule: "First decide a start player, then pick condottieres counter-clockwise. The last person to pick a general is the first player to take his turn. Play proceeds clockwise." This rule kills two birds with one stone. It eliminates the nuisance of being the last player to pick (i.e., you get the lousiest general, the one with -1 on artists, and you have the last turn to boot....). D'Este can never get away with 2-3 guns (or indeed even 1 gun) unless the other players let him. Back to Table of Contents -- Game! #1 To Game! List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by George Phillies. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com