In the board game Rising Sun, you’ll plan epic warfare, meet mythical monsters, and test honor in feudal Japan. Check out our breakdown of this game’s features!
Designed by Eric Lang and featuring beautiful artwork by Adrian Smith and published by CMON games. The area control game is suited to 3-5 players but could suit 6 with the dynasty invasion expansion. Rising Sun plays in around 90 to 120 minutes and has a mid weight complexity.
In Rising Sun you play as one of seven different clans trying to control the various provinces of Japan. The game features area control and area influence as well as set collection and action drafting. Each game plays in three seasons or rounds. There is a spring, summer, autumn phase in which players draft actions and worship the Kami for various bonuses then wage war.
Afterward is the winter phase which signifies the end of the game and points and bonuses are tallied up. Ties are broken by the honor track so if you play honorably then you will have a better chance to win. Prior to each season, there is a Tea Ceremony in which players make deals and form alliances and this isn’t represented by matching their yin-yangs fragments together to form one.
There are benefits to having allies as your actions grant bonuses to you and your ally. However, there is the ability to use betrayal to replace other players units with your own but you will lose honor and break any alliance you currently have.
The actions you can take in Rising Sun are taken by drafting style and in player order. Recruit allows all players to summon a figure per stronghold you control, you and your ally can summon one additional piece. Marshal lets you move each of your pieces across an adjacent border or a connecting sea route into another province, you and your ally can build a stronghold.
Train allows you to acquire a card that is either a war advantage, virtue, enhancement or even Monsters, you and your ally pay one coin less. Harvest allows all players to gain one coin, you and your ally gain harvest rewards from each province you have superior force at.
Finally, you can choose betrayal which you can replace enemies’ units with two of your own at the cost of honor and your alliance as I mentioned earlier.
Each player has three basic units, Bushi, Shinto, and a Daimyo. The Bushi are your basic foot soldiers who are just used for fighting. Shinto you can use for force in provinces or you can send them to the temples on the mountains to worship one of the four randomly chosen Kami who grant gifts to those who send the most force to each. Your Daimyo is your general who is just for basic force but cannot be affected by betrayal, taken hostage or any other game effects.
During the war phase, each player has four different actions they can take during battle. You can have your forces commit seppuku in order to save face from defeat and gain honor. You can take hostages in order to limit bloodshed and gain honor and coins for their safe return.
You can hire ronin in order to boost your military ranks. And you can also hire imperial poets to tell heroic tales or your conquest and gain points for each killed unit. The way these actions are taken are by bidding coins and if you bid more than your opponents you can either take the action or simply deny your opponents the opportunity to use those actions on your army.
Rising Sun also features a Kami Unbound module which changes how Shinto worship works. Not only do you get the gift from the Kami for having the most force at the temple, the actual Kami themselves come down and join your army and grant their combat powers to you.
The Dynasty Invasion expansion adds two Chinese themed clans to the pool of choices. These clans cannot hire monsters or worship the Kami. They do, however, have their own Seven Lucky Gods they can recruit instead.
Overall this has earned its place among my collection as one of my favorite games. Great player interaction, negotiation, and area control through battles. The component quality is simply amazing, beautifully sculpted miniatures and stunning artwork and if you were lucky enough to back this on Kickstarter, the extras such as metal coins and the larger neoprene board are just a huge bonus to the atmosphere this game provides.
If your game group are fans of “dudes on a map” games with a touch of deal-making then I would highly recommend this to add to your game nights.
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About the Author: Christopher Guyton
