/pic3880340.jpg)
Box art via BoardGameGeek
Rising Sun
A gorgeous war game where the real fight happens behind a coin screen.
Designed by Eric M. Lang · 2018
It's a sharp, social area-control game wearing a miniatures costume that doesn't quite fit. Love the bidding, shrug at the plastic.
Best for: Groups who'd rather out-bluff each other than roll dice
What it is
Here's the pitch Eric M. Lang sells you: feudal Japan, divine Kami, daimyo forging alliances, monsters stomping onto a map covered in big plastic figures. What you actually get is a tight area-control game about money and timing. You take turns pulling mandate cards (recruit, marshal, harvest, train, betray), and the player who drew it gets a small bonus while everyone follows along. It moves fast for how much it's juggling. The whole thing looks like a brawl and plays like chess with manners.
The catch
The heart of it, and the reason to own it, is combat. Nobody rolls a thing. You see exactly how many troops sit in a contested province, then you secretly split your coins behind a screen across four advantages: seppuku, taking hostages, hiring ronin, winning the imperial poets. Reveal, and the math breaks hearts. Here's the clever part: whoever wins a battle hands their spent coins to the losers, so getting stomped often funds your next punch. That double-bluffing over coins is where the game sings.
Who it's for
The honest caveat is that the theme is mostly paint. Reviewers at Shut Up & Sit Down flat out couldn't recommend it, calling the betrayal more an ambivalent divorce than a knife in the back, since stabbing an ally eats a whole turn. The pricey monsters don't change much mechanically. At three players the alliance dance goes lopsided because someone's always the odd one out, and one bad early season can quietly bury you. Get four or five sharp, social players who love a bid, and it's a real keeper. Otherwise, pass.
What other players say
This write-up is grounded in real reviews and player discussion, not just one opinion. A few worth reading:
Rising Sun is featured in these lists
More from the shelf
All reviews/pic4458123.jpg)
Wingspan
A calm little game about birds that tables get weirdly competitive over.
/pic6973671.png)
Azul
Lovely tiles, simple rules, and a surprising amount of quiet cruelty.
/pic9156909.png)
Catan
The one that started a thousand game nights, and one or two genuine arguments.