Fine mix of gambling with tactics

It took me a bit to warm up to this game, now I'm pretty excited about it. The first few games on it seemed more or less like a gamble, put up very nice, but with few tactical options, the output strongly dependent on the luck of the dice.
Now that I've played it more often, makes me Shanghaien represents as an entertaining, rather complex, quickly learned and repeatedly challenging Bonanza Stratgiespiel.

The goal: spread the risk in order to outmaneuver the enemy with the limited resources and despite eventual dice luck and win themselves.
Interestingly: The moves of the opponent decisively determine what steps you should even do next, you forget that and only listen to their own success, you lose almost inevitably.

The gameplay is simple: six cards, the sailors represent different numbers and different nationalities, are in the middle, the players throw alternately and can then, depending on their throw sailors try to recruit. These dice are placed on the cards, the player who at the end of the round are most cubes on a map could, these sailors successfully recruit and receives the card. For the next round of six new cards are laid out and recruit begins anew. So each player collects sailors. If the sailors card deck runs out, comes the final bill. And here is the special trick of the Game: If both players have accumulated the same nationalities, each of the players who could recruit more sailors that nationality, give up his stack and receives the opponent's stack must. This one has exactly the points of the enemy to keep in mind, otherwise you can experience unpleasant surprises at the end.

The game material is attractively designed, drawn the sailors witty, and learned the rules quickly. A game lasts about 15 minutes, the replay appeal is look up.
I would still like to see a starting player coin or the like, as we on broadcast ever lose when distributing the cards keep track of who has now initiated the broadcast and who therefore must begin the next round. But that's a trifle.

Overall, for me a two-person game that fits well in any game collection!