Just impulse bought this after seeing it for the first time in a store. Love the practicality of chits over minis in these types of games. Dig the cheaper price and smaller box too!
This is one of those "Games that Need One Change" instances. The game is fun enough but the secret objective aspect sucks...so...hard. If you thought the secret objectives were imbalanced in Twilight Imperium, you haven't seen anything yet. In BfR, you can get dealt a secret and fulfill it DURING SETUP. "Occupy your starting capital". Are you kidding me? The points for the secret objectives often form an entire 30% of your final score. I can testify to the fact that the game is MUCH improved if you just remove the secret objectives entirely and play without them.
I've seen people in the comments that say Rising Sun has diplomacy while this does not. How so? It seems to me that the whole game (Battle for Rokugan) is built around the idea of diplomacy and negotiation.
I suspect that pastel colours are not colour blind friendly; i struggled to tell some apart. Could they not be different terrains or show the clan symbol throughout?
Shogun (the one from Queen Games that is a retheme of Wallenstein) is an excellent Japanese-themed game with strategic placement and area control. And the cube tower is great fun!
Boardgame Fan Girl I haven’t played rokugan. But based on my plays of Ethnos, I think the tactics on Ethnos are more straightforward and less cutthroat.
Ethnos is definitely the lighter of the two and plays more quickly. The rules are also easier for kids to pick up and offers them a reasonable chance of winning against adults. (Yes, I'm speaking from experience.)
I know this video is over two years old, but I think we need to move on from this idea that FFG is going to force feed expansions on every game they produce. That has not been the case, outside of their lifestyle games, for a while. Battlelore, Eldritch Horror, etc have all dried up. Star Wars Outer Rim hasn't gotten an expansion, nor has Heroes of Terrinoth or, hell, Battle for Rokugan.
This seems like L5R without the beautiful character art to go along with the highly simplistic "bigger number wins" style of combat. I wish it had miniatures and more three dimensional components to make the board really pop.
I’ve played a few times and I’m not sold on it. The random selection of actions you are allowed to do each round is a bit of a catch for me. If you get a hand full of 1s and 2s and your opponent drew 4s and 5s you are largely screwed. Don’t have a navy to defend this round? Tough! You wanted to stop them getting that last area but you have no army cards at all. Oh well. Also the random first player cards really seemed to favour the strongest player meaning in every game once someone got ahead they stayed ahead. It is cheap however, and quick, so I didn’t hate it. 😁
Cthulwho? I was sceptical of that at first but I think it works well. Players can save 1 token per round by using the bluff token and everyone goes through their token pool (except for 2 tokens) so everyone get to use the same tokens in the end. There are many things you can do with weak army tokens. You can boost your defenses or just launch attacks on provinces no one cares to defend. Weak army tokens are also an excellent way to have your opponent waste his best tokens for basically nothing. The first player card is something I think was designed for 4-5 players in mind. It's too OP in lower player counts. The other cards are great, though and add another tactical element to players with weak tokens. You can use those cards to remove tokens and mess their game. I just wished there were more of them. It's an aspect of the game where I can easily see FFG introducing an expansion into.
Xenon Doro Well yes you can stack your defences, but those 3 x Army 1 tokens still get stuffed by your opponents 1 x Army 5 one. What’s more your opponent is still taking four other actions around the board whilst you have committed 60% of your actions in one action. Add in the fact that one of your two remaining actions could be wiped out by the First Player card and you can have a really bad round. And yes, you do all roughly get the same actions across the game. But the Army 5 you received in turn 1 May get you a zone you needed for a secret goal but it won’t help you hang on to it till the end of the game. Meanwhile your opponent who draws that in the last turn is well set to get that one area he needs for 10 bonus points.
Save your Shugenja for the last round when your opponents actions are predictable if you're worried about your opponent making a late big play. The odds of someone doing well enough to maintain first turn cards and draw all of their best tokens late seem slim. How are they beating you without their best tokens?
It seems that the design of the game sort of addresses this problem by itself. If you draw all your 1s and 2s on the first round and your opponent gets their 4s and 5s, then that just means there is going to be a future round where your opponent draws their 1s and 2s and you get your 4s and 5s.
The mechanics of this game are very similar to Game of Thrones - The board game. I suppose that has to do with the designer house which is Fantasy Flight. I agree, I like the aesthetics
Rising Sun has a big diplomacy aspect. In some sense that is a good chunk of the point of the game. There is no such aspect in this game. The only way this is Rising Sun Lite is in the fact that it is a Dudes on a Map game set in Japan (or a Japanese based world).
Yeah, it’s far more like Games of Throne Lite than Rising Sun lite. With Rising Sun everything is there to see on the board, you know who’s doing what and where and what they are using to do it. This is far more about secret actions and misdirection.
The physical game is a blast too. He just hates the "watch the piece of crap you built because you were rushed for time fall apart" phase which is all the fun. That's like hating Oregon Trail because your family dies of dysentery. We all know the #1 overrated game of all time is Pandemic.
I generally have a hard time understanding the rules for FFG games. I know Zee says it's not very difficult. Anyone else agree or disagree? Why or why not?
Brandon Z - I've never had a chance to dive into a lot of deeper and heavier games, and especially not ones that I was the sole one trying to learn. To this day I have been unable to figure out Forbidden Stars and World of Warcraft The Boardgame, and they are both FFG, so I've had just a small sampling of their products. I'm sure if I had the time to really sit down and study them that I could figure them out. Xenon Doro - That's great to hear. I can't wait to try it. One of my friends loves Game of Thrones and thinks that this looks just like an almost too light version of that, but that's what draws me to it.
Nicholas Hayes hmm i think ffg games are very different from other boardgames / cardgames so its a one of a kind ruleset But investing a bit of time will help u learn it easy
Zee's reviews are, for me, the only ones that give intelligent, well thought out views on the game. Well spoken and interesting - good stuff
Marco9603 yeah I mean within the dice tower. Outside of there I think SU&SD are the only real intelligent journalists
I agree.
Zee is the only one I can stand watching.
8:13 forward he says that territory cards are returned to the board and can be won again over and over. Neither is true, they are never used again.
Except for the Shadowlands.
Just impulse bought this after seeing it for the first time in a store. Love the practicality of chits over minis in these types of games. Dig the cheaper price and smaller box too!
10/10 for having such a streamlined ruleset yet maintaining variety of types of player interactions
Nice to hear that it works well across multiple player counts. Unlike Game of Thrones which really works best at the top end.
Tom could learn a bit from Zee's reviews! Very well done :)
Molly Glover and Tom Jolly should marry than we had a Molly Jolly
How does it compare to Knizia's Samurai?
This is one of those "Games that Need One Change" instances. The game is fun enough but the secret objective aspect sucks...so...hard. If you thought the secret objectives were imbalanced in Twilight Imperium, you haven't seen anything yet. In BfR, you can get dealt a secret and fulfill it DURING SETUP. "Occupy your starting capital". Are you kidding me? The points for the secret objectives often form an entire 30% of your final score.
I can testify to the fact that the game is MUCH improved if you just remove the secret objectives entirely and play without them.
I've seen people in the comments that say Rising Sun has diplomacy while this does not. How so? It seems to me that the whole game (Battle for Rokugan) is built around the idea of diplomacy and negotiation.
I suspect that pastel colours are not colour blind friendly; i struggled to tell some apart. Could they not be different terrains or show the clan symbol throughout?
The different borders are highlighted.
The backdrop must be the Dice Tower studio, or Tom's because I know Zee doesn't care for Galaxy Trucker behind him.
can anyone recommend any other games like this? strategy games set in feudal japan?
Sekigahara is a good one, but is for 2p only
Shogun (the one from Queen Games that is a retheme of Wallenstein) is an excellent Japanese-themed game with strategic placement and area control. And the cube tower is great fun!
Samurai, rising sun, and onitama
Senji. Hands down the best of the crop.
Anyone able to speak to whether this game works well with just 2 players or not? Thanks.
Amy Wright heard it’s good at 2 but better with more.
I have played once at 2 and did does not seemed suited to it, but I need to try it out a couple more times.
So want to get either this game or Ethnos for my kid. Which is better? I am NOT looking for a heavy area control game. Also no to Small World. Thanks.
Boardgame Fan Girl I haven’t played rokugan. But based on my plays of Ethnos, I think the tactics on Ethnos are more straightforward and less cutthroat.
Ethnos is definitely the lighter of the two and plays more quickly. The rules are also easier for kids to pick up and offers them a reasonable chance of winning against adults. (Yes, I'm speaking from experience.)
Ethnos
Does this play well with just 2?
I know this video is over two years old, but I think we need to move on from this idea that FFG is going to force feed expansions on every game they produce. That has not been the case, outside of their lifestyle games, for a while. Battlelore, Eldritch Horror, etc have all dried up. Star Wars Outer Rim hasn't gotten an expansion, nor has Heroes of Terrinoth or, hell, Battle for Rokugan.
This seems like L5R without the beautiful character art to go along with the highly simplistic "bigger number wins" style of combat. I wish it had miniatures and more three dimensional components to make the board really pop.
King Xerocole The lack of miniature was a big sell for me!
Completely unnecessary and would not really work with minis.
You would turn it into Rising Sun. We already have Rising Sun.
When i love the five rings lore
And i also love dice tower
But scorpion =/= crab feelsbadman
Jk love u giys
I’ve played a few times and I’m not sold on it. The random selection of actions you are allowed to do each round is a bit of a catch for me. If you get a hand full of 1s and 2s and your opponent drew 4s and 5s you are largely screwed. Don’t have a navy to defend this round? Tough! You wanted to stop them getting that last area but you have no army cards at all. Oh well.
Also the random first player cards really seemed to favour the strongest player meaning in every game once someone got ahead they stayed ahead.
It is cheap however, and quick, so I didn’t hate it. 😁
Cthulwho? I was sceptical of that at first but I think it works well. Players can save 1 token per round by using the bluff token and everyone goes through their token pool (except for 2 tokens) so everyone get to use the same tokens in the end. There are many things you can do with weak army tokens. You can boost your defenses or just launch attacks on provinces no one cares to defend. Weak army tokens are also an excellent way to have your opponent waste his best tokens for basically nothing.
The first player card is something I think was designed for 4-5 players in mind. It's too OP in lower player counts. The other cards are great, though and add another tactical element to players with weak tokens. You can use those cards to remove tokens and mess their game. I just wished there were more of them. It's an aspect of the game where I can easily see FFG introducing an expansion into.
Xenon Doro Well yes you can stack your defences, but those 3 x Army 1 tokens still get stuffed by your opponents 1 x Army 5 one. What’s more your opponent is still taking four other actions around the board whilst you have committed 60% of your actions in one action.
Add in the fact that one of your two remaining actions could be wiped out by the First Player card and you can have a really bad round.
And yes, you do all roughly get the same actions across the game. But the Army 5 you received in turn 1 May get you a zone you needed for a secret goal but it won’t help you hang on to it till the end of the game. Meanwhile your opponent who draws that in the last turn is well set to get that one area he needs for 10 bonus points.
Cthulwho? This feeld like one of the games where 3 or less players will be peettt boring
Save your Shugenja for the last round when your opponents actions are predictable if you're worried about your opponent making a late big play.
The odds of someone doing well enough to maintain first turn cards and draw all of their best tokens late seem slim. How are they beating you without their best tokens?
It seems that the design of the game sort of addresses this problem by itself. If you draw all your 1s and 2s on the first round and your opponent gets their 4s and 5s, then that just means there is going to be a future round where your opponent draws their 1s and 2s and you get your 4s and 5s.
The mechanics of this game are very similar to Game of Thrones - The board game. I suppose that has to do with the designer house which is Fantasy Flight. I agree, I like the aesthetics
I loves my Rokugan but I feel like Ticket to Ride had a baby with Risk here. Still gonna get it :p
thx zee
Better then Rising Sun.
Very different games
it looks like Rising Sun lite
This is what I was thinking too.
Brett Petersen That might be a good thing.
Rising Sun has a big diplomacy aspect. In some sense that is a good chunk of the point of the game. There is no such aspect in this game. The only way this is Rising Sun Lite is in the fact that it is a Dudes on a Map game set in Japan (or a Japanese based world).
not really other than the theme they dont look to be that similar
it reminds me of game of thrones a little
Yeah, it’s far more like Games of Throne Lite than Rising Sun lite. With Rising Sun everything is there to see on the board, you know who’s doing what and where and what they are using to do it. This is far more about secret actions and misdirection.
And just behind Zee, getting free publicity, is his number 1 overrated game of all time, Galaxy Trucker ;-)
I've never gotten to play the physical game, but that app is amazing. I wonder if Zee has tried it or not. It might change his opinion.
The physical game is a blast too. He just hates the "watch the piece of crap you built because you were rushed for time fall apart" phase which is all the fun. That's like hating Oregon Trail because your family dies of dysentery.
We all know the #1 overrated game of all time is Pandemic.
I generally have a hard time understanding the rules for FFG games. I know Zee says it's not very difficult. Anyone else agree or disagree? Why or why not?
really? FFG rule books seem to be always some of the best writen rules. They can be more complex games but don't think hard to understand
It's very lightweight and all the rules regarding the tokens are printed on the player screens.
Brandon Z - I've never had a chance to dive into a lot of deeper and heavier games, and especially not ones that I was the sole one trying to learn. To this day I have been unable to figure out Forbidden Stars and World of Warcraft The Boardgame, and they are both FFG, so I've had just a small sampling of their products. I'm sure if I had the time to really sit down and study them that I could figure them out.
Xenon Doro - That's great to hear. I can't wait to try it. One of my friends loves Game of Thrones and thinks that this looks just like an almost too light version of that, but that's what draws me to it.
Nicholas Hayes hmm i think ffg games are very different from other boardgames / cardgames so its a one of a kind ruleset
But investing a bit of time will help u learn it easy
@@mnBroncos1 oh boy they are the worst, especially those games with several rule books