SIX SWORDS OF WU 吴六剑 (wú liù jiàn)

Description:
It is a tradition that every heroic figure possesses a precious sword, like King Arthur had the Excalibur and Zhao Yun had the BLUE STEEL BLADE 青釭剑. Sun Quan孙权, the head of Wu Kingdom, had not only one, but six. They were White Rainbow 白虹, Purple Lightning 紫电, Vile Disperser 辟邪, Shooting Star 流星, Azure Heaven 青冥 and Hundred Lis 百里. In Kingdom Wars, these swords grant an “aura” to everyone in the same kingdom as the user.

Attacking range: 2

Special ability:
[Enforced Ability] The attack range of all other players of your kingdom is increased by 1.

Characters that match this weapon best:
Since this is an “aura” weapon that benefits everyone, there is no character specially matched this weapon.

TRIDENT GLAIVE 三尖两刃刀 (sān jiān liǎng rèn dāo)

Description:
A polearm that combines halberd and glaive, TRIDENT GLAIVE is a rare class of weapon. One of the most famous users of this weapon is Erlang Shen 二郎神, a Chinese deity with a third eye from the classic novel "Journey to the West 西游记". In the Romance of Three Kingdoms, Ji Ling 纪灵 used this kind of weapon. Since Ji Ling is one of the new character, it is quite reasonable that his weapon appears in Kingdom Wars. Nevertheless, it is still a good add-on. Its abilities allows you to lay waste to multiple enemies easily.

Attacking range: 3

Special ability:
After your ATTACK杀 inflicts damage to your victim, you can discard an on-hand card and select another player at physical distance of 1 from that victim. You inflict 1 unit of damage to the selected player.

(Note: If you are at physical distance of 1 from the target player, you can choose to inflict the damage to yourself.)

Characters that match this weapon best:
Those who can inflict damage by ATTACKs easily, including those who have less dodgeable ATTACKs (e.g. Huang Zhong黄忠 and Ma Chao马超) and those who can use lots of ATTACKs in a single turn. Ji Ling, its original owner, can generate ATTACKs and attack twice with his “Double Edge”, thus being another desirable owner of this weapon.

Also, since this weapon can deal damage to its owner, some characters with damage-triggered abilities can utilize this feature to support their allies, namely Guo Jia 郭嘉 and Xun Yu 荀彧.

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 use or play two on-hand cards as an ATTACK杀.

Characters that match this weapon best:
Those who need ATTACKs to activate their abilities, e.g. Zhang Fei张飞 (the original owner), Huang Zhong黄忠 and Ma Chao马超. This weapon allows them to use ATTACK even if they cannot draw an ATTACK from the deck.

…also, Zhang Liao favours this weapon. This is because his “Sudden Strike” allows him to steal cards from the hand of others instead of drawing from the deck. It is not likely that Zhang Liao can steal an ATTACK, thus the SERPENT HALBERD saves the day for him!

"Colour" of the ATTACK produced:
The colour of the ATTACK matters when used against DIVINE GUARDIAN SHIELD 仁王盾. "Red" cards here refer to cards with heart or diamond suit. "Black" cards refer to spades or clubs.
- If 2 red-suited cards are used - The ATTACK is red-suited.
- If 2 black-suited cards are used - The ATTACK is black-suited.
- If 1 red-suited and 1 black-suited card are used - The ATTACK is "colourless".

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] After selecting a player as the target of your ATTACK 杀, you ignore his/her armour.

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!

FEATHERED FAN 朱雀羽扇 (zhū què yǔ shàn)

Description:
While he was alive Zhu Ge Liang 诸葛亮 was always seen with a fan made of feathers in one hand, gently fanning himself. How that fan morphed into a fire-breathing weapon, I have no idea. The logic of how this weapon came to be in the card game is the appearance of RATTAN ARMOUR 藤甲 in the Battle Expansion Pack. The FEATHERED FAN is a weapon addition that comes with the Pack as a balancing factor, dealing massive damage for players that equip RATTAN ARMOUR. Still, this is one of those cards that did not go down well with me due to its loose link with the storyline (and common logic!).

Attacking range: 4

Special ability:
You can use your normal ATTACK杀 as FIRE ATTACK火杀.

Characters that match this weapon best:
Ironically, Younger Zhu Ge Liang 卧龙诸葛亮 will probably find this weapon the least useful. This weapon allows the character to deal fire damage, but Younger Zhu Ge Liang can already use BLAZE 火攻 readily. He does not need this weapon to flame his opponents. The thing about this weapon is that it was generated not to fit characters, but to specifically counter RATTAN ARMOUR. Therefore it is equally useful for most characters.

Trivia:
朱雀 is a mythological creature that symbolizes the direction South and the fire element. Also 朱雀羽扇 is the ultimate weapon of Zhuge Liang of the Dynasty Warriors series, so it is likely that the game makers simply borrow its name.

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

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.

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:
1. Characters that can convert their cards to ATTACK, e.g. Guan Yu 关羽 and Zhao Yun 赵云.
2. Characters that can draw/store a lot of cards in a single turn, e.g. Lu Meng吕蒙 and Lady Zhen甄姬.
3. Characters that have abilities concerning ATTACKs and have stored several ATTACKs, e.g. Xu Chu许褚 and Lu Bu吕布.

FROST BLADE 寒冰剑 (hán bīng jiàn)

Description:
This felt like a weapon that did not fit San Guo Sha 三国杀 the first time I saw it. Something just did not feel right about having an elemental component (frost/ice) in-built in a blade while being set in a semi-historical storyline. Till now, I still feel like this belongs in Final Fantasy more than Romance of Three Kingdoms. A search on the ownership of this blade in the story turned up nothing, which adds to my guess that this weapon was created purely for this card game. That's not to say that I am condemning this weapon to the trash bin. It may not be as dangerous as ZHU GE CROSSBOW 诸葛连弩 or as strategically useful as UNICORN BOW 麒麟弓, but it can still tip the scales when the need arises.

Attacking range: 2

Special ability:
When you inflict damage to your target by using ATTACK杀, if the target player has at least one card (on-hand or equipped), you can prevent the damage and discard two cards (one by one) from that player.

Characters that match this weapon best:
Instead of “who match this weapon best”, a better way is to say “who are more vulnerable to this weapon”. Characters with damage-triggered abilities like Cao Cao曹操 and Guo Jia郭嘉 are vulnerable to this weapon because they cannot activate their abilities by suffering damage.

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:
Whenever your ATTACK杀 is neutralized by a DODGE闪 used by the target player, you can discard two cards (on-hand or equipped) so that this ATTACK deals the relevant damage to the target player.

Characters that match this weapon best:
1. Sun Shangxiang孙尚香, who can discard equipped cards to activate “Warrior Lady”, which in turn draws more cards.
2. Characters that can deal additional damage by ATTACK, e.g. Xu Chu许褚.
3. Characters that can activate their abilities when their ATTACKS deal damage, e.g. Zhu Rong祝融, Wei Yan魏延 and Pan Feng潘凤.
4. Characters with too many cards to discard, e.g. Zhou Yu周瑜

GENDER DOUBLE SWORDS 雌雄双股剑 (cí xióng shuāng gǔ jiàn)

Description:
In the card game, I would say 85% of everything found is imported direct from the story, 10% is created purely for the game, and the last 5% is found in the story but the name has been modified. This weapon is one of them. WHAT KIND OF STUPID NAME IS "GENDER DOUBLE SWORDS"?!?! Of course, a large part of the reason the name sounds so stupid is because I translated it that way... but I'm open to suggestions! Names aside, this weapon is a pretty awesome when used against characters of the opposite gender.

Attacking range: 2

Special ability:
After selecting a player as the target of your ATTACK 杀, if the gender of the target player’s combined character is different from your combined character, you can force him/her to choose 1 of the 2 options.
1. Discard one of his/her on-hand cards.
2. Allow you to draw a card.
If the target player has no on-hand card, he/she must choose option 2.

Disambiguation:
Beginner players often make the mistake of targeting PLAYERS of the opposite gender instead of CHARACTERS. This weapon only considers the character picked (eg: Cao Cao 曹操, Liu Bei 刘备, Xiao Qiao 小乔 etc.) and disregards the gender of the player actually playing the game!

Note that in Kingdom Wars, the gender of the player is determined according to the following priorities.

Priority 1: When both character cards are exposed, the gender is always that of the Main Character (the character card nearest the health card).

Priority 2: When only one character card is exposed, the gender is temporarily that of the character card that is exposed. Once the 2nd character card is exposed, refer to Priority 1.

Priority 3: If both character cards are not exposed, the player has no gender! All cards and abilities that require gender specifications do not apply to this player.

Characters that match this weapon best:
No specific character has a clear advantage when using this weapon. However a clear benefit emerges when you select female characters to use. This is because probably 8 out of 10 characters in the game are male characters!