Taj Mahal Variant: Shorter Game

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I haven't yet played Taj Majal enough to review it - check back later. Right now I like it but also feel it drags on a bit too long. So I've come up with a shorter game, which I also haven't yet played with enough to know if it's worth keeping ...

So give the following rules a try and let me know what you think. By the way, if I end up not liking these rules, they'll disappear, so if you like them, better make a copy.

Shorter Game

This isn't rocket science - anyone could figue out how to do this, but I'll post it anyway.

1. Lay out the map so that you can read the word Agra right-side up. West is now to your left, and north is the edge farthest from you.
2. Don't use the three western-most provinces in the game - you can cover them with paper, if you wish.
3. Remove the #10, #11, and #12 octagonal province tiles - you won't use them.
4. Of the 15 square bonus tiles, remove 1 each of "+1 card" and "+2 influence points" - you won't use them.
5. There are now nine provinces on the map which will be in play, with Agra in the center province. The new westernmost provinces are, north to south, a brown one, a purple one with two tigers, and a green one. The northwestern city in the purple province needs to be connected by a road to the southwestern fortress city in the brown province. I use a piece of the cardboard sprue I cut to size - you can use a road piece from Settlers of Catan or a toothpick.
6. Shuffle the remaining 13 square bonus chits and place ten of them on the fortresses in the provinces you'll be playing with. In addition, the southwestern city of the green province is now a fortress city - place an eleventh square bonus chit there. Return the other two square bonus chits to the box - they'll not be used this game.
7. Place the #9 octagonal province tile in the Agra province.
8. The rest of the set-up and gameplay is as per the rules.

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