Klaus Teuber's brilliant, nay, extraordinary, game of knights & territorial expansion!

last update: November 20, 2004

As you may have realized by now, I'm a big fan of Klaus Teuber's Lowenherz (meaning "Lionheart" and not be confused with the odd miniatures/dice game from Hasbro.) What follows is my attempt to answer some frequently (or not-so-frequently asked questions) about the rules and offer some simple strategy hints. (Honestly, finishing this page is also about convincing some folks to join me in another game of this overlooked classic "German" board game.)

Note: since I originally published this page, a new version of Lowenherz was released, entitled Domaine in English. It retains some of the same mechanisms but is not the same game.

FAQ

The answers in this FAQ are from Jay Tummelson, head honcho and chief bottle washer of Rio Grande Games, unless otherwise noted.

Q: Can a player expand one of his territories and take over part of another one of his own territiories?

A: No. Under "Rules for Extending Regions," the penultimate bullet point is "A player may not extend into one of his own regions."

 

Q: A player expanded his territory and cut off the second player's territory and created two neutral areas that had been part of the second player's territory. The first neutral area was 3 spaces and the second neutral area was 1 space. Does the player that lost the spaces lose 3 points (4 spaces) or 6 points (3 spaces and 1 space)?

A: The player loses one point for each space directly taken over by the expansion and 3 points for the 4 neutral spaces created. (The ruling on the neutral spaces comes directly from Klaus Teuber, who said, "I never had such a situation. But I think he should lose only 3 points (two neutral zones count as one) , otherwise the result is too strong for the player.")

 

Q: Once you have walled in 3 territories, the rules state you may not build walls. Can you choose walls in order to stop another player from receiving them?

A: You may not build walls, but you may choose walls to keep another from using that action.

 

Q: How many Politics cards (Renegade/Alliance) may you play per turn?

A: So far, no one has come up with a definitive answer... but both Ben Baldanza & I (the Conductor) lean toward ONE per turn... the cards are nasty enough as is.

Setting up the Game

According to Jay Tummelson, purple probably has the advantage in the "learning" game set-up illustrated on the insert card. "Remember, however," says Jay, "that this setup is intended to be used just once... After your first game, it is best to play with setting up your own pieces."

Jay also suggests a modified start that works quite well: each player places their first piece in a corner and immediately creates a six space region similar to the beginning setup. The other two castle/knight pairs are placed and the game starts with the "B" cards. (Leave out the "A" cards.) I've used a number of times and found it works well.

Strategy

Part A: Pat Brennan's Copyrighted "Go the Knights" Strategy

My vast experience of 3 games says "Go the Knights, Go the Knights" (and I'm not even a Newcastle fan for those Aussies out there). Let other people fence things off, and then whack it back off them - losing territory loses them much more points than they earned gaining the territory. Of course, if everyone wants the Knights, then "take their money, take their money" in the bidding wars. Then, with all the money, "Take the Knights, take the Knights, expand, expand".

(This strategic analysis is copyrighted Pat Brennan 2001 and may only be reproduced with express permission of the author. The author accepts no responsibility for outcomes resulting from direct usage of this strategy.)

Part B: Jonathan Degann with a list of Helpful Ideas

1) Negotiating for actions:

Keep a sense as to how much money other players have. Most times, when two players choose the same action, they will negotiate a settlement. However, if you're going to pay 8 gold for an action, you'd rather pay the bank than pay an opponent. So if you are aware that your challenger has only seven gold, you can low ball. Offer him four or five gold. If he pushes you - he's just trying to take your money. Go directly to a duel, pay eight, and leave him high and dry.

2) Play for the long term:

This is not a game in which holding on to territory gets you income (except for silver mines). It is often better to start the game building up your knight force rather than grabbing territory. You'll have the dual advantage of not looking like a leader, and also intimidating opponents from encroaching. Then you can go for your land grab in the end game.

3) Knight placement:

Try building your territories and knight placement in such a way that you are never forced to place knights in forests. Sometimes a little foresight can avoid a harsh expense. Often, you can use the physical placement of a knight to serve as a barrier against encroachment. Keep an eye out for those opportunities.

4) Choosing cards:

I'm not a fan of "truce" cards, which seem inherently weaker than traitors. Sometimes, you can take on a nice stealth strategy by going for all the VP cards. You should almost certainly take a traitor card at some point - partly to keep it out of others' hands.

5) Bidding wars:

One of the really tense things about the game is that you sometimes get into a bidding war for an action where you know that if you win the bid you can decimate the other guy, and that if he wins it he can decimate you. But you both also know that the price you need to pay, because the action is so hotly contested, is likely to decimate you in other ways. So you get into a bidding war and feel like you blew it if you don't bid high but also feel you blew it if you do bid high. Generally, in situations like this, whether in Lowenherz or another games, I find that it's usually the better choice to bid high and worry later. Actually, that strategy also served me well in Capitol.

A final note from Jonathan: "Man - I sometimes forget how good a game Lowenherz is. I think the only thing that keeps me from playing it more often is the fact that it is one of the NASTIEST German games I own."

Departures

For more information about Lowenherz, check out Boardgamegeek. (Interestingly enough, many of the reviews of Lowenherz are wishy-washy... wanting to like it but not quite getting there. As you can probably guess, I don't agree with them - this is one of the classics of German gaming.)