Micro Dojo

Recently I’ve been reviewing a lot of games that make perfect travel companions. And as anyone who is a killer packer will know, smaller is sometimes better when space is at a premium. To that end I’ve been shopping around for games that take up as little space as possible. And I might just have found the perfect game in that regard. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Micro Dojo.

Designed by Prometheus Game Labs, Micro Dojo is a whimsically enjoyable game set in Feudal Japan where players take the role of two feudal Japanese lords or Daimyo who have been charged by the Shogun to improve the prosperity of a small village. By gathering resources, constructing buildings and completing objectives you will strive to gather more influence than your opponent.

As its name suggests, the board itself is both micro and set up as a stylised dojo rich with a Japanese style. I’ve never felt the desire to measure a game board before but this one must be 3 centimetres square. Uniquely for any game I’ve played, players do not have an individual token they control. Instead for your turn you choose to control one of four Meeples representing aspects of Japanese society; Geisha, Sumo Wrestler, Samurai and Ninja. Somewhat cliched maybe yet that moniker could be given to any cultural icons.

Components List

1 x Game Board

2 x Daimyo Tokens

1 x Influence Token

2 x Score markers

4 x Meeple Tokens

12 x Building Tiles

12 x Reference and Automata Cards

9 x Objective Tokens

5 x Advanced Objective Tokens

7 x Gold Tokens

7 x Food Tokens

Setup

When setting up your first game of Micro Dojo I would recommend laying all the pieces out around the board as this will help with selecting the pieces you need. First separate out the four Meeples, the rice and gold tokens, along with the green Daimyo and blue Daimyo tokens, the blue and green score markers and the Influence Token. Then find and separate the 12 building tiles, the 9 Objective Tokens and the 5 Advanced Objective Tokens marked with a brown scroll or a grey scroll on the reverse of the token. I would recommended removing the grey Advanced Objective Tokens until you are very familiar with the game.

That being done, randomly select 5 Objective Tokens and place them face-up along the Objective track at the top of the board, making sure they align with the numbers at the bottom of the track. Then choose 6 random buildings and place 3 along each side of the board. Finally the players decide the colour they will play as, taking the matching Daimyo and score markers before deciding who will go first. This can be decided by any random method; Rock Paper Scissors, Dice Roll, Coin Toss etc. The player who goes second will receive the Influence Token.

Gameplay

The Objective of Micro Dojo is to be the player with the most Victory Points. Victory Points can be earned by completing Objectives, gifting Buildings to the Town or Donating Resources to the same. Following from the 1st Objective which scores 1 Point, subsequent Objectives will score an increasing number of Victory Points as shown by the number marked below each position on the Objective Track. The game ends when any player reaches 7 Victory Points on the Victory Marker or when the 5th Objective is scored.

Regardless of which of these occurs first, the Player with the most Victory Points wins the game. In the event of a tie, if the second Player has not spent the Influence Token they win the game. If they have, the tie break will be decided by who has the most resources. The Rules Sheet doesn’t mention what happens in the case of a tie here, so I would suggest offering a bow to your opponent, calling it an honourable draw and then play again.

The turn sequence of Micro Dojo is fairly simple. Each Player selects a Meeple they will take control of during that turn and may move it one square left, right, up or down. Meeples cannot leave the board edge and cannot move diagonally unless using the Advanced Rules I will cover later. Once the chosen Meeple has moved that Player marks it with his or her Daimyo Token and then Resolves the square they moved too.

Keen eyed Players will have noticed that each square of the board is marked with a variety of Symbols. A Square marked with either a Rice or Gold Symbol grants the Player that many of either resource. A Square marked with a Building allows a Player to either purchase a Building if they can pay the resource cost or to gift a previously purchased Building to the City. Lastly a Square marked with an ‘A’ Symbol allows the player to take that many Actions.

There are four different Actions a Player can perform which I will list and explain below.

Triggering an Objective – The current Player evaluates the left most Objective on the Objective Track that has not yet been scored. The Player that meets the Objective shown on the tile earns the Victory Points listed below. It’s worth mentioning here that this might not be the Player who triggered the Objective. As an example, the Objective might give points to the Player with the most Gold. If the Green Player triggers it and only has 2 Gold compared to the 3 Gold owned by the Blue Player, then the Blue Player will win the Victory Points. In the case of a tie neither Player wins any points. Then the Objective is flipped face down to show it has been scored. This Action is limited to being used once per turn.

Activating a Building – If a Building you control has the Action Symbol on it, you may activate that Ability. Each Building can only be activated once per turn. Some Buildings require a cost to be activated so make sure you posses the required resources.

Trade – A Player may Trade in any number of resources for another at a 2:1 Ratio. Say a Player has 2 Rice he can Trade them for 1 Gold. Or if a Player has 4 Gold he can Trade them for 2 Rice. While this isn’t spelled out in the Rules, I would say that if a Trade would end with a fraction as a result, that number would be rounded down. Lets take 3 Gold as an example. You would Trade that at the 2:1 Ratio meaning you get half as much Rice as you had Gold. Since half of 3 is 1.5 that number would be rounded down to 1 you would only gain as much Rice as if you had Traded 2 Gold so one of those Gold would be wasted.

Donate – A Player may Donate 5 Food or 5 Gold to the City to earn 1 Victory Point. Resources cannot be mixed for the purposes of this Action. You must have either 5 Gold or 5 Rice. Donating 3 Rice and 2 Gold as one Action would not be a valid move.

Solo Mode

Now, this is a feature I really do appreciate. It’s rare to see a board game that can be played solo. Micro Dojo accomplished this by having a Player compete against an Automa. An Automa can do everything a human Player can, with its choice of Meeple and movement being determined by a Meeple Deck and a Movement Deck. Each Automa Turn the Human Player draws one Meeple Card and one Movement Card. Working from the top of the Card to the bottom the Player moves the first available Meeple in the first available direction. Then place the Automa’s Daimyo Marker on that Meeple.

Then Resolve the space the Automa is on. If that space has an Action Symbol they Investigate the Objective and if they win score as normal. Otherwise they gain 1 VP. If that space has the Building Icon the Automa gains a random Building by paying the cost. If they already have 3 buildings or can’t pay the cost, they gain 1 VP. The Automa ignores all abilities of acquired Buildings. If a space offers a choice of either Gold or Food the Automa gains both.

Advanced Gameplay

This is something I always find a nice touch, when a developer includes rules for an enhanced game variant when you have mastered the basic game. And for such a small game, the variation of the rules are quite detailed. Going back to Heroes of the Grid, a game much more expansive and expensive than Micro Dojo, the advanced rules only include modifying the deployments of the enemies. Here you gain access to new more challenging Objectives and additional movement abilities for each Meeple that match each one perfectly. These movement rules replace the standard movement rules for that turn.

For a cost of 2 Food the Sumo Wrestler can push any adjacent Meeple out of its space into an empty one and then move into the space it cleared. An adjacent Meeple can only be moved vertically or horizontally; not diagonally.

For a cost of 2 Gold Ninja can swap places with another Meeple and then immediately resolve the space they have moved into. Why it feels the need to specify that last step I’m not sure since that’s what you do after moving a Meeple anyway.

For a cost of 1 Food and 1 Gold the Geisha can remove a Daimiyo Marker of any colour that has been placed upon itself and then move normally, following the usual rules and restrictions. Very useful if you have been thinking ahead.

For a cost of 1 Food and 1 Gold the Samurai can move diagonally either up or down across the board, rather than just horizontally or vertically. It’s worth reiterating that using this ability locks you out of your normal movements, so think carefully before you use it.

Within these rules for the Advanced Rules, there are a few variations that I will cover below. Firstly you may agree to use the above Meeple ability by paying the resource cost associated with them. Or Secondly, you may agree ignore to cost of the above Meeple ability and play them for free. Thirdly all Players may agree to play with a mix of these rules where some Meeple abilities are available while others are not. To distinguish each Meeple in regards to this rule, each Meeple tile has two sides; the coloured image of the Meeple showing its ability can be used and the greyed out image showing that it cannot use its ability.u

Advanced Objectives

Along with the above Advanced Rules, Players can choose to add Advanced Objectives into the game. As these are designed to add a level of challenge to the game, some of these Objectives require a little more setup to achieve and others can turn the game on its head while providing benefit to a Player trailing behind the others. As I have yet to play with any of these Objectives, I cannot say how much they increase the challenge of a given game, so I would strongly recommend only adding one or two the first time you would use them.

Strategy

In some games it’s quite possible to go into it with a definitive strategy in mind; an overall style of gameplay you intend to adopt or a particular ability or skill set that will serve you well. Chess is a classic example of this way of thinking, with its strong arsenal of opening gambits. Or in Heroes of the Grid where I play with a team of characters who have abilities to add dice to attacks, powering up my core character’s low dice roll, ability focused cards. In Micro Dojo any strategy you chose will depend on the Objectives that are selected at the beginning of the game. Only once those have been revealed can you choose the strategy you are going to play for. As a brief example, if the majority of those Objectives focus around owning both the highest number and most expensive buildings, a Player could rush early on to purchase buildings. Conversely if presented with Objectives that require a high resource count, a Player would do well to start collecting resources early.

Of course, completing Objectives is not the only way to obtain victory. A select number of Buildings offer unique Actions that can be performed to gain Victory Points, usually by trading in resources. Couple this with buildings that either gain Resources themselves or increase Resources gained and this can be a decisive route to victory.

Any strategy you play will of course require you to be flexible in how you play. If for example you hadn’t planned to win by completing Objectives and yet you have met the requirements to complete one, it can be beneficial to complete it before your opponent can. Don’t be afraid to change strategy mid game if the opportunity presents itself.

Overall Rating – 90/100

Complexity – 3/5

Replayability – 5/5

Component Quality – 5/5

On the whole I’m already hooked on Micro Dojo. Yes, it’s small size is something of a bone of contention. However it doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of the game itself. I’ve given it a score of 3 for complexity as the whole game sits fairly solidly in the middle. Not overly complex’s but not overly simply either. Prometheus Game Labs have struck the perfect middle ground.

Likes – As a lover of all things Japanese, the traditional Japanese aesthetic was a strong draw to this game for me. The micro design of the game conjures an almost Bonsai feel about it that is very pleasing. The simplicity of both the setup and gameplay makes it perfect for a quick game. A definite plus since you will be replaying this a lot. Even after 15 games, each one presents a fresh challenge. Micro Dojo has struck the perfect balance of complexity without being dauntingly confusing or overly simplistic. It’s a sign of a strong development team that they knew when to stop.

Dislikes – When they call it Micro Dojo, they aren’t kidding. If I was really to nitpick, both the board and pieces are a little on the small side. Which, despite being a perfect travel game, is one key reason I wouldn’t take it anywhere with me. It would be just too easy to lose one somewhere.

Final Thoughts – One the whole Micro Dojo is a whimsically fun little game with a endearingly oriental flavour; one that offers a great deal of variety between one game and the next. Given the easy setup, this is a good thing as you will be playing a lot of games as you draw on the core tenet held by two players; Best of Three.