From: mark_montreuil@yahoo.com (Mark Montreuil) Subject: Idea - 2 player HOTW variant - The San Marco Variant I just had this idea pop into my head, and I haven't had a chance to try this out. For 2 player History of the World, each player takes two colours, but scores the total army strength and VP for each one on the same track, ie, player one plays red and blue, and uses only a red set of VP and Army strength markers. For the first round, roll dice to determine who is the first divider, and this player takes the cards for the epoch and divides them into two piles, which may contain as few as 1 card. The other player, the chooser, gets to select one of the piles, and then take any two empires that they wish from that pile. The chooser then gets to select two Empires from the remaining pile, and play proceeds normally. The two piles of empires are displayed face up so that the chooser knows exactly what is in each pile before they make their choice. In the case where one of the piles has only one empire, if this pile is chosen, the other player may give any of the unchosen empires in his pile to the other player who then must play it. After the first round, the divider is the player with the lowest accumulated strength, ties broken by VP's. Any thoughts? mark