Rising Sun
Rising Sun is a game about honor, negotiation, and warfare in a feudal Japan where the ancient gods (kami) have returned to rebuild the empire.
90m - 120m
2 - 5 Players
Ages 14+
Rising Sun is a game about honor, negotiation, and warfare in a feudal Japan where the ancient gods (kami) have returned to rebuild the empire.
Aennea
Pasted on theme. Unbalanced to the point that it's essentially broken. Feels like the designer cared only about the miniatures (which are cool looking) but couldn't figure out how to streamline the play of the game so he tacked on negotiation as a mechanic. So glad I didn't back this game. Looks like it tanks at the retail level too as that version is incomplete. I've played a lot of games, many of which have left much to be desired. However I've never been inspired to rate s game before this one. Which makes this rating of a "1" that much more significant to me. Ugh. Tonight's game night was saved by the good company which is great because this game was absolutely awful.
Ace_of_Diamonds
Nice mechanics here. I liked the alliances of working together but also not completely as to make sure you are always getting the most benefit out of mandates. Faction abilities and season cards were both powerful and fun. I actually liked that monsters could be captured by a regular troop, keeps monsters from being overly powerful. I liked the honor system being the tiebreaker in all things. I mainly liked the combat system. It was difficult knowing how opponents would bid on actions and anticipating everyone's moves. I actually made a clever move during the war phase in round three on an earlier battle that barely tipped the scale in my favor for the final battle between me and second place that won me the game. There is some bluffing that can be done too. Clever choices to be made in this game.
ajewo
Beautiful area control game with Japanese theme. All game mechanisms are elegantly intertwined which makes the game tense and complex in an interesting way, but also a bit hard to grasp on the first sight. The loosely alliances are fun to play, especially because certain players teaming up the whole game is not a dominant strategy like it often happens in other games. The fighting-system is not very thematic but very unique: each player has a hidden screen and bids on different effects, but all resources are open information so that there is no "memory element" in the game. The loser of a fight gets all the money from the winner. Above all, there is the honor-system that allows different strategies. [b]Replaced by:[/b] Ankh: similar Euro dudes on the map feel, combat area order, bidding, quicker playing time, works great with 2 players, more catch-up opportunities. [b]What makes it special?[/b] * Temporary alliances and minor negotiation * Combat system based on bidding on different areas. Loser gets money * Recruit monsters [b]Pros:[/b] + Artwork (beautiful) + Theme (unusual Japanese medieval, monsters, gods) + Components (a lot of detailed minis and plastic tokens) + Slightly asymmetric factions + Combat system by bidding + Dynamic alliance system with alliance boni. Going solo is still an option. + Resolving battle order is very important since players will exchange money to each other from battle to battle. + Honor track breaks ties which is important as well for combat. Battles may impact one's position on the honor track which may influence upcoming battles. + Competition for Kami (another area control) for special abilities + Season upgrade cards grant special abilities, monsters, or victory points (first come, first serve) + Replayability: many different deck of cards that can be exchanged from game to game + Rules book and player aid [b]Neutrals:[/b] # Language dependent # Direct player interaction (area control, combat) # No luck, very strategic. However, you depend on the actions of the other players. # Set-up takes some time (sorting deck of cards) # Takes some time to teach # All expansion content fits tightly into the main box # Big game box + expansion boxes # Some faction abilities seem more powerful than others # Play time quite long especially with high player counts (6 players) # The negotiation aspect of the game is less used than advertised in the rulesbook. [b]Cons:[/b] - Unforgiving / Hard to catch-up. Even the first round can be decisive. - Many miniatures are not essential or have a very low effect on the gameplay (increased price tag). - The loser of a combat gets coins from the winner, which is a good balance mechanism and also important for the combat order, but makes thematically no sense to me. [b]Similar games:[/b] * Ankh (combats are resolved in a certain order, dynamic areas, merge of two players as catch-up mechanic, only one asymmetric god power for each player) * Chaos in the Old World (area control, asymmetric factions, intertwined factions, no alliances but some still some loosely cooperation, dice rolls) * Cry Havoc (area control, hand management, asymmetric factions, unique combat system, no alliances but factions must balance each other) * Circadians: Chaos Order: asymmetric factions, money exchanged between players, no alliances, less tight economy, less luck elements, no negotiation, hidden and card-based combat * Tsukuyumi: Full Moon Down (area control, asymmetric factions, no luck, card drafting)