I first came across Daimyo's Fall on Facebook and the art work really stood out. At first I thought it was a computer game or film. I contacted Francesco of Axis Mundi to get a closer look at this game.
The premise of this game is that the Daimyo of Yamashiro has suddenly died leaving his treasures behind tasking you the players to find them.
About Daimyo's Fall
Daimyo's Fall combines deck-building and hand management with variable player powers and take that. Unusually for a deck builder the game has a lot of depth and is more complex than it first appears. You have:
- Hero cards that are unique and are the key to getting hold of the treasure. They come in two classes Samurai and Ninja and again the art on these cards is awesome.
- Reinforcement cards allow bonuses for players and award players bonus points at the end of the game.
- Treasure cards these are the focus of the game and must be won by completing certain conditions on the Hero cards.
- Regalia (regal insignia) cards are very valuable treasures and are hard to obtain.
- Mon (currency) cards these are used to buy reinforcement and hero cards.
To start the game all players will be given a starting deck that is identical (10 cards). You are all given one hero card that is not put into your hand but stays out in front of you. You will then use money to purchase reinforcement and hero cards throughout the game.
There is limit of three heroes per player to consider at all times. Hero cards have special conditions that when met you are able to get treasure cards.
The game is played in rounds and each round is determined by the player's turn. The aim of the game is to increase your deck while choosing reinforcement cards that help complete the treasure conditions on your hero cards.
I won’t go in to great detail in regard to the phase order and what you can do on your turn as this game really is more in depth than most deck builders I have played. If you check out Board Game Geek there is a current rule book on there (non final) which will give you a good idea of how it plays but below is an example of the turn order for those that want a sneak peak.
Final Thoughts
The art work really fits the theme and can easily be mistaken for Japanese Anime. Deck-builders are common place amongst gamers now but this really does stand above most with its more in depth approach.
The story behind Daimyo's Fall also fits the theme and with all this combining I think this game should do well (depending on funding goal etc). The way Daimyo's Fall adds to the simple deck building mechanic we often see and incorporates art, theme and backstory that all fit really does have me excited.
This game hit Kickstarter yesterday (09/05/2017) and I will be watching to see how well it does as I am impressed with the everything I have been shown so far.