Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game

Board Game Geek Reviews

1. 6 out of 10

   AnotherHorrorFan

   2019-05: I really like L5R for so many reasons but at the end of the day the design is killed for me by the idea that most of the card play comes down to I go (+1), you go (+2).

2. 5 out of 10

   BrendansBoat

   It makes me so sad to give this game a "meh" rating, because the design of this game was ambitious and the production quality top notch. Not to mention the setting: a fantasy realm inspired by medieval feudal Japan. Samurai warriors. Ninja assassins. Mystical monks with magical tattoos. And mythic creatures from ancient legends of the far east. Who could resist?? Unfortunately, after a promising launch in the fall of 2017, this game totally died at my local game store, so I hardly got a chance to play it. And the game takes so long to play that getting it to the kitchen table with family was always difficult. Ironically, it may have been TOO ambitious. No doubt players fortunate enough to have a vibrant local scene or who enjoyed playing online were able to learn how to find and execute clear lines of play, and were able to appreciate the depth, complexity, and intricacy of this beautiful, immersive, and thematically rich game. But as an occasional player (at best), oftentimes I couldn't figure out what my game plan actually was and how each turn's multiple decision points contributed to it. Perhaps that was the experience of too many players. No doubt L5R LCG also suffered from the Living Card Game Problem: after several sets have been released, starting the game as a new player is just too daunting due to the learning curve AND the financial outlay required. This was in the days when to get a complete play set of the first set of cards, a new player had to buy THREE core sets at $40 each. Then you had to figure out which of the many expansions to buy...egads. No wonder a lot of potential new players said, "No thanks."

3. 6.5 out of 10

   ArcticLancer

   Honestly, just not what I hoped it would be (as good as Netrunner). Does not help that FFG pretty much took every possible step to kill the game as quickly as possible.