Zǐ Xīng 紫骍

Owner:

Cao Zhi 曹植 (son of Cao Cao 曹操, younger brother of Cao Pi 曹丕)

Description:

I must confess to finding little about Zi Xing. All that my research has thrown up is it is of the Da Yuan 大宛 breed of horses and is fast as lightning. The word 骍 is already extinct in the common chinese dictionary. It refers to a cross-breed between a bull and a horse with a reddish body. However it is pretty clear that Zi Xing is but a name borrowing on the strength of the Xing breed, when it truly is a Da Yuan breed.

Zi Xing belonged to Cao Zhi, the drunken poet famous for his "7 Step Poem 七步诗". The life and struggles of Cao Zhi can be made for a dramatic novel all by itself. The pinnacle of Cao Zhi's melodramatic life came when Cao Pi wanted Cao Zhi executed for being too drunk to attend their father Cao Cao's funeral. Cao Zhi was challenged to come up with a poem within 7 walking steps or die. That was when Cao Zhi cited his 7 Step Poem, that moved Cao Pi to tears.

Since this write-up is not about Cao Zhi, you can read more about him here on this Wiki link.

Zhuǎ Huáng Fēi Diàn 爪黄飞电

Owner:

Cao Cao 曹操

Description:

Neither the literal translation nor the actual chinese words put together make much sense. Loosely translated, it says "Yellow Claws, Flying Lightning", where "yellow claws" is referring to its yellow hooves. The way the 4 words are put together is awkward, but I guess that is the way it was meant to be.

Zhua Huang Fei Dian is Cao Cao's ceremonial horse. It has a body that is white as snow with 4 yellow hooves. An awe-inspiring outlook and a unique name makes it the perfect steed for large events and ceremonies. Cao Cao does not ride this horse into battle.

Zhua Huang Fei Dian has very little mention in the story, but where it was mentioned was a significant part of the story. Cao Cao rode this horse for a hunting excursion with the young Emperor of Han. The entire imperial cabinet came along for the hunt. By this time, Cao Cao has already put the Emperor under his "protection" and is starting to show signs of playing the puppet-master.

A deer appears and the young Emperor let fly 3 arrows, but they all missed. Cao Cao volunteers to shoot the deer down, but he picks up the Imperial Bow and loads an Imperial Golden Arrow (nobody else can use these except the Emperor himself). With one shot, Cao Cao kills the deer. The imperial cabinet, seeing the golden arrow but not able to see who shot it, thought the Emperor got his prey and shouted "Long Live the Emperor!". But when Cao Cao came into view holding the Imperial Bow, everyone's faces turned ashen grey. It was the moment it became crystal clear, that Cao Cao's intention was to grasp the Imperial power for himself.

The Shadow 绝影 (jué yǐng)

Owner:

Cao Cao 曹操

Description:

This horse supposedly runs so fast even its own shadow cannot keep up with it. I was extremely tempted to translate its name as "Shadowfax", the name of Gandalf's horse in "Lord of the Rings", but decided not to so as not to cause any confusion between this two stories. The Shadow accompanied Cao Cao during his early days and was said to be with him since the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

The Shadow became a focal point in the story during the battle of Wan Cheng 宛城之战, where Cao Cao suffered the terrible loss of his bodyguard Dian Wei 典韦. During Cao Cao's escape from Zhang Xiu 张绣's ambush, The Shadow carried its master through a rain of arrows. Cao Cao was said to survive only because of the speed of this horse. Thought to be one of the Da Yuan horses 大宛马, The Shadow suffered 3 arrow wounds to its body but kept going. It was only after an arrow pierced its eye did it ultimately fall in that battle.

In the battle of Wan Cheng, Cao Cao lost his horse (The Shadow), his bodyguard (Dian Wei), one of his sons Cao Ang 曹昂, and his nephew Cao An Min 曹安民.

Dí Lú 的卢

Owner:

Liu Bei 刘备

Description:

You could not possibly read Romance of Three Kingdoms and not come across this horse. That is because if not for Di Lu, Liu Bei would have died early on in the story.

Liu Bei first came across this horse whilst he was under the service of Liu Biao 刘表. The enemy, Zhang Wu 张武, was sitting atop this beautiful steed and both Liu Bei and Liu Biao admired it from opposite the front line. Zhao Yun 赵云 quickly understood Liu Bei's unspoken desire to have the horse and said to Liu Bei, "Give me three rounds".

Indeed within 3 rounds, Zhao Yun killed Zhang Wu and brought Di Lu over to Liu Bei. Liu Bei wanted to honor Liu Biao and presented Di Lu to him as a gift, however Liu Biao's advisor hastily discouraged accepting the gift. The advisor claims that the dark recesses under Di Lu's eyes and the spots on its face symbolized a cursed horse that would bring death to its rider. Liu Biao declined the horse and advised Liu Bei not to ride it too, but Liu Bei ignored the superstitions.

Later in the story, Cai Mao 蔡帽 usurped power after Liu Biao's death and planned to ambush Liu Bei. Liu Bei got wind of the plan and hastily escaped with Di Lu, but found no way across a creek several meters wide. He decided to take a gamble and hop over the creek on Di Lu, but Di Lu stumbled into the creek and got stuck in the mud.

Cai Mao was fast approaching and it seems all was lost. Liu Bei said to Di Lu, "Di Lu! Di Lu! Alas, you bring my death as was foretold!" Suddenly Di Lu gave one huge leap and jumped over 10 meters (exaggerated i'm sure) to bring Liu Bei to safety. From that day on, Liu Bei treated Di Lu with utmost care and love.

But the story does not end there. Years later, Liu Bei would lend Di Lu to Pang Tong 庞统 in their invasion of Luo Cheng 雒城. An enemy ambush mistook Pang Tong as Liu Bei since he was riding atop Di Lu and killed him at Luo Feng Po 落凤坡. Di Lu went missing and was never mentioned after that.

Red Hare 赤兔 (chì tù)

Owner:

Dong Zhuo 董卓, Lu Bu 吕布, Guan Yu 关羽

Description from story:

"If Lu Bu is the human amongst humans, then Red Hare is the horse amongst horses 人中吕布, 马中赤兔" This horse is arguably the most prominent in the entire story, due to its link with Lu Bu. The Red Hare first appeared as a gift from Dong Zhuo to Lu Bu. It served as a bribery to tempt Lu Bu to defect to Dong Zhuo's side by killing Lu Bu's his own god-father, Ding Yuan 丁原. Lu Bu loved the Red Hare so much that he agreed to carry out the venomous deed. It was capable of running 400km a day!

After Lu Bu was executed by Cao Cao 曹操, Cao Cao gave the Red Hare to Guan Yu during his short service under Cao Wei 曹魏. Guan Yu was the only person in the Wei Kingdom who could tame the Red Hare. Cao Cao's respect for Guan Yu showed when he allowed Guan Yu to take the Red Hare with him when he left to rejoin Liu Bei 刘备.

The Red Hare fell into the hands of the Wu Kingdom 吴国 after Lu Meng 吕蒙 captured Guan Yu and executed him. However this horse refused to eat or obey anybody within Wu Kingdom. It consequently died of starvation.

Dà Yuān 大宛

Owner:

Not applicable.

Description:

The Da Yuan (commonly mis-pronounced as Dà Wǎn) horse is not one specific horse from the story but an entire breed of horses. During the heyday of the Han Dynasty 汉朝 (approx BC 140), Emperor Han Wu Di 汉武帝 got to know about the stout horses in the western frontier of Da Yuan. Da Yuan is a valley in Kyrgyzstan in today's map. Han Wu Di wanted to exchange 3000 of his golden horses for 3000 Da Yuan horses, but the King of Da Yuan refused and executed the ambassador from Han.

Obviously, Han Wu Di got mega-pissed and arranged for a massive invasion. The population of Da Yuan feared for their lives and murdered their own King to appease the Hans. The Hans then received their 3000 Da Yuan horses, but only 1000 survived the arduous journey back to Han Wu Di. Today, this horse is endangered and can only be found in the Turkmenistan and Russian regions.

To read more about the Da Yuan region and its geographical information, click here to go to its Wiki.

Eight Trigrams 八卦阵 (bā guà zhèn)

Description:

Your guardian angel. This is a godsend to have equipped, but an absolute pain in the arse to overcome if you're the aggressor. Countless times have players been saved from certain death by this armour. If you get it, hang on to it like no tomorrow!

What it does:

Every time there is a need to use DODGE 闪, EIGHT TRIGRAMS can automatically use DODGE for you. Judgement needs to be passed for it to work. If the judgement card is a red suit (hearts or diamonds), the attack is automatically dodged.

How to use it:

Simply equip it during your turn by placing it next to your character card. The player must bear in mind that it is his or her responsibility to use the EIGHT TRIGRAMS. If the player forgets to flip a judgement card and instead uses a DODGE card, too bad suckerrrr!!! Of course, how anal you want to be about rules of engagement is up to the players to decide. The caution here is that many players tend to completely forget that they even have EIGHT TRIGRAMS equipped and are too quick to flash a DODGE card.

Note that you can use the EIGHT TRIGRAMS to auto-dodge when RAINING ARROWS 万箭齐发 has been used by another player against you. This is because RAINING ARROWS requires a DODGE, and EIGHT TRIGRAMS can do just that.

Special characters:

Zhang Jiao 张角 is able to use his "Lightning Bolt 雷击" ability when the EIGHT TRIGRAMS auto-dodges for him. This makes the combination of Zhang Jiao equipped with EIGHT TRIGRAMS are ridiculously deadly combination.

Trivia:

Although it is listed as an "armour" in the San Guo Sha 三国杀 card game, the words 八卦阵 actually refers to a military formation used in the Three Kindgoms Era. Zhu Ge Liang's successor, Jiang Wei 姜维, once challenged his enemy counterpart Deng Ai 邓艾 to a military formation showdown. Jiang Wei won but both of them have a fair amount of respect for each other. Another depiction is the Stone Sentinel Maze 石兵八阵 laid by Zhu Ge Liang to trap Lu Xun 陆逊 after the Battle of Yiling 夷陵之战. Either way, both really should not have anything to do with the ability to auto-dodge, but its a fancy armour to have in the game anyways.

Zhu Ge Crossbow 诸葛连弩 (zhū gě lián nǔ)

Description:

The game-changer. The 20% that makes the 80% irrelevant. Every player sweats buckets when his neighbour suddenly equips the ZHU GE CROSSBOW, and for good reason. This weapon allows any character to use as many ATTACK 杀 cards as they like in their turn. I have seen entire rounds end within 3 minutes of game-play thanks to this weapon. When your opponents have this equipped, pray that Gan Ning 甘宁 is on your side to use DISMANTLE 过河拆桥 on it. If this weapon falls into the hands of Lu Meng 吕蒙, it's about to start raining blood! Be very very afraid!!

Attacking range: 1

Special ability:

During the action phase of your turn, you can use as many ATTACK cards as you wish.

Characters that match this weapon best:

Many many characters match this weapon very well. People who have a multitude of ATTACK cards such as Guan Yu 关羽 and Zhao Yun 赵云 are especially lethal. But the most dangerous character to have the ZHU GE CROSSBOW is Lu Meng. Lu Meng is always a freaking time-bomb waiting to go off, and the ZHU GE CROSSBOW is just the spark it needs to ignite the blast. My personal experience playing in a game of 8 players is Lu Meng keeping quiet with almost 20 on-hand cards. Once he draws this weapon from the deck, he unleashes a string of over 12 consecutive ATTACK cards. Wiping out the player on his left first, then going straight for the RULER 主公 two places to his left. Despite a bunch of DODGE 闪 and PEACH 桃 cards that temporarily saved the RULER, the sheer number of ATTACKs blasted away whatever defense and rescue the RULER and LOYALISTS 忠臣 had. The round was 45 minutes in without much drama, then it was all over within 2 minutes in the hands of Lu Meng. The same danger is possible with Zhen Ji 甄姬 when she's on a lucky streak and draws a string of black ATTACK cards, but that is mostly up to luck.

Serpent Halberd 丈八蛇矛 (zhàng bā shé máo)

Description:

A funny-looking weapon that is most likely romanticized by the story-teller. The SERPENT HALBERD is Zhang Fei 张飞's weapon and it supposedly has a wavey lance-like shaft. Whether it is a spear or a halberd remains debatable. The direct translation for 矛 is "spear" and not halberd, but the very extensive translation of the story by C.H. Brewitt-Taylor calls it a "halberd". It is unlikely that Brewitt-Taylor would get "spear" and "halberd" mixed up as there are thousands more insanely difficult chinese characters which was precisely translated. In the card game, this weapon is mildly popular for its special ability and range. It probably is not as heavily desired because it is not lethal enough (unlike the ZHU GE CROSSBOW 诸葛连弩). Nonetheless, the above average attacking range helps, whether or not you use its ability.

Attacking range: 3

Special ability:

You can choose to use ATTACK 杀 by discarding any 2 on-hand cards.

Characters that match this weapon best:

Although this is Zhang Fei's weapon, I have to say that it benefits him in this card game only under certain conditions. The key reason for this is the fact that Zhang Fei will seldom have the chance to hold more than 6 cards in his hand. If Zhang Fei needs to use his "Barrage 咆哮" ability but has no ATTACK cards on hand, the SERPENT HALBERD will allow him to unleash 3 consecutively ATTACKs if he does have 6 on-hand cards. It may be enough to win, but I still think it is too big a cost. On the other hand, this weapon will not benefit Card-hoarders like Lu Meng 吕蒙 very much because they are unable to consecutively unleash ATTACKs (only Zhang Fei can do this with his "Barrage" ability). So it satisfies neither parties fully. What a pity.

"Colour" of the ATTACK produced:
The colour of the ATTACK matters when used against Ren Wang Shield 仁王盾 (not found in Q version). "Red" cards here refer to cards with heart or diamond suit. "Black" cards refer to spades or clubs.
- If 2 red cards are used - The attack is RED
- If 2 black cards are used - The attack is BLACK
- If 1 red and 1 black card is used - The attack is "colourless".

Green Dragon Crescent Blade 青龙偃月刀 (qīng lóng yǎn yuè dāo)

Description:

Here's a little test you might want to conduct. Show this card to any random Chinese person, preferably aged 20 or older, and ask them which historical figure this weapon belongs to. Chances are they would recognize it as Guan Yu 关羽 or Guan Gong 关公's (his deity-fied name) weapon. In fact, most depictions of Guan Yu show him holding this weapon. The entire blade is said to weigh over 18 kilograms. It was forged together with Liu Bei 刘备's "Double Swords 双股剑" and Zhang Fei 张飞's "Serpent Halberd 丈八蛇矛" in Chapter 1 of the story. In the card game, the GREEN DRAGON CRESCENT BLADE is one of only two weapons that allows multiple ATTACK 杀 in one turn, making it a fairly popular weapon with players.

Attacking range: 3

Special ability:

When your target evades your ATTACK, you can choose to use another ATTACK immediately on the same target. This ability loops itself, meaning the when the second ATTACK is evaded, you can immediately use a third ATTACK, and so on. (For disambiguation of "evading" an ATTACK, please see the disambiguation section under "ROCK CLEAVING AXE 贯石斧")

Characters that match this weapon best:

For this weapon to be most effectively used, the character must be able to have a shit-load of ATTACK cards. This would mean characters such as Zhao Yun 赵云 and, of course, Guan Yu himself. Remember that once the damage is inflicted, you cannot use anymore ATTACKS. So the point is not to deal a mountain of damage (that is for the Zhu Ge Crossbow 诸葛连弩), but to deplete the target's DODGE 闪 cards for your team-mates to cut down.

Blue Steel Blade 青釭剑 (qīng gāng jiàn)

Description:

A blade shimmering with a bluish tint that cuts through humans like knife through tofu. Though the word 青 means "green" instead of blue, these two colours were used interchangeably in the ancient days. Even the present day Japanese kanji for blue is 青 (aoi). The story goes that this blade originally belonged to Cao Cao 曹操. It so happens that during the battle of Chang Ban 长板之战, one of Cao Cao's generals, Xia Hou En 夏侯恩 carried this blade into battle. Along comes Zhao Yun 赵云 who was slicing and dicing his way through thousands of Cao Wei 曹魏 troops. Seeing Xia Hou En and the BLUE STEEL BLADE, Zhao Yun kills Xia Hou En and grabs the blade for himself. The blade belonged to him ever since. The reason why the blade has its bluish tint is due to the strange metal that was used to forge it. Maybe it is Adamantium that Wolverine also used to forged his claws... hmm...

Attacking range: 2

Special abilities:

[Enforced ability] Whenever you use an ATTACK 杀 card, you can ignore the armour your target has equipped.

Characters that match this weapon best:

None! This weapon is so freaking awesome that it is equally great with any character. If you ever need to kill Younger Zhu Ge Liang 卧龙诸葛亮 in a hurry, this is your solution!

Unicorn Bow 麒麟弓 (qí lín gōng)

Description:
Before you send me hate-mail, let me say that the mythical chinese creature known as the Qi Lin 麒麟 is NOT a unicorn. I could call it "Chimera Bow" but that would make it sound too demonic. Since most would be familiar with unicorns, I decided it would be close enough. Anyways, this weapon is a very very important weapon in the entire San Guo Sha 三国杀 arsenal. If you love strategy play, this weapon is a must since it can get rid of that irritating "+1 horse" defending your team-mate's target. This weapon also has the biggest attacking range in the entire game. I'm led to believe that this bow was owned by Huang Zhong 黄忠 since he is known for his superb archery skills, however some have commented that this weapon actually belongs to Lu Bu 吕布. Indeed Lu Bu was also an incredible archer, so this is also plausible. If you know the truth behind who owns this weapon in the story, do leave a comment and share!

Attacking range: 5 (max)

Special ability:
When your ATTACK 杀 causes damage to your target, you can choose to discard one of his/her horses that is in the equipped items area.

Characters that match this weapon best:
Without a doubt, Huang Zhong. Though the ability to discard horses is useful regardless of character, the UNICORN BOW's incredible range poses a real danger in the hands of Huang Zhong. When equipped, his "Fearsome Archer 烈弓" ability practically makes his ATTACK unavoidable. The damage is compounded when the target almost certainly loses a horse. Definitely a huge asset to Huang Zhong! A number one priority for DISMANTLE 过河拆桥 if you are in the opposing team!

Trivia:
You may know of the Qi Lin by it's other name, Kirin in Japanese culture. Although the Qi Lin is a mythical being, it was once used to refer to giraffes back in ancient China. In fact, I visited Malacca in Malaysia and saw a bust of a giraffe with the words 麒麟 used to describe it. It was with reference to a Zheng He 郑和 exhibit, a historical explorer in the 14th Century. Till today, giraffes are known as "Kirin" in Japan and Korea.

Rock Cleaving Axe 贯石斧 (guàn shí fǔ)

Description:

A battle axe of questionable origin. The ROCK CLEAVING AXE may undoubtedly be a fantastic weapon in the card game, but it is raising a lot of questions about how its original owner is in the Romance of Three Kingdoms story. So far, the two most likely heroes that may have used this axe are Xu Huang 徐晃 and Xu Chu 许褚. As this weapon does not seem to bring any special advantage to any particular character, I'm tempted to say that this weapon did not actually exist in the story at all. Game maker says "Hey we need an axe as a weapon card. Don't all RPGs have an axe? Let's just give it some ancient sounding name like 贯石斧."

Attacking Range: 3

Special ability:

When your ATTACK 杀 has been evaded, you can choose to discard any 2 cards (on-hand or equipped) and force the relevant damage back on to the targeted player. You should realize that by doing so, you are effectively using up 3 cards (1 ATTACK and 2 discarded) just to force that damage, so it better be worth it!

Disambiguation:

Let me be honest and say that I did not translate the chinese instructions for the special ability literally. That is because the literal translation is "when your ATTACK has been neutralized (抵消)..." Now everyones inference of ATTACK getting neutralized varies. Some say it has to be DODGED, others say a deflection such as Da Qiao 大乔's "Displacement 流离" counts, while others say to "neutralize" requires the ATTACK to be rendered ineffective. I have chosen to replace "neutralized" with "evaded", which should disambiguate things a little. As long as the ATTACK was meant for a player, but he or she did not receive damage as a result of the ATTACK, that would be considered as being evaded.

Therefore,

- DODGE is considered evaded

- Da Qiao's "Displacement" ability is considered evaded

But Xiao Qiao 小乔's "Heavenly Scent 天香" ability is NOT considered evaded since that only deflects the damage already received, and not the ATTACK itself.

Characters that match this weapon best:

Xu Chu is a relatively good match since his "Bare-Chested 裸衣" ability allows him to deal 2 units of damage. To allow your opponent to evade that ATTACK is going too easy on him. However I still feel the ROCK CLEAVING AXE is useful to any character. Perhaps you have an opinion that I would love to hear. Drop me a comment!