Review Detail

Battle for Rokugan takes place in the excellent Rokugan setting of the Legend of the Five Rings card game and rpg. Mechanically, Battle for Rokugan is a very streamlined and efficient version of FFG's Game of Thrones boardgame of the early '00s. Playable by 2-5 players in about one hour.

Each turn, players draw and take turns placing facedown tokens that represent armies, navies, ninja, raids, diplomacy, or even bluffs. There are some card effects and asymmetrical clan abilities that allow peeking at, manipulating or even removing tokens. Then all the tokens get resolved, potentially causing control of map sections to change every turn. After five turns, players count up map sections controlled, honor for each map section, and possibly secret objectives scored, and the highest total wins. The game functions well enough with two or three players, but really needs four or five to bring the game to full life. The clan and card abilities give just a bit of the Rokugan flavor, and the game is very accessible to players who are unfamiliar with Legend of the Five Rings.