Tabletop Spotlight: Honshu
The Tabletop Spotlight is on Honshu – are you ready to do some city building…IN FEUDAL JAPAN!?
Our buddies at Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy have brought over a fun card game for everyone to check out for this Tabletop Spotlight: Honshu!
The basics are simple – you and up to 4 other players (2-5) are attempting to create their own personal maps for their lands. What’s fun about this game is that it’s card based and you have to play your cards on the previous cards you’ve played. The game only lasts 12 rounds so you’ve got to try and score the most combined points as possible. You get points for your lakes, forests, residential areas, and production of goods in your respective cities. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.
An example a player map
What makes this game really interesting are the scoring and placement mechanics. The only cards tiles you can cover up are the Desert tiles – which are also worthless. You also only score your cities and lakes for your largest contigous section. For example if you have two cities that are not connected, you only get points for the largest – but if you manage to connect them both you’d get points for the entire lot.
Overall, it’s a fun and quick card game. It’s great for family game night and the art is simple and kid friendly. At the same time, there is a lot of strategy that goes into your card placement and the initative of the cards does actually matter for the game. So you have to be smart about how you want to do things. Planning will be key. Plus it’s a game set in feudal Japan which is pretty cool in my book! It’s out now so can look for it online or in your FGLS.
Honshu $25
Honshu is a map building card game set in feudal Japan. Players are lords and ladies of Noble houses seeking new lands and opportunities for fame and fortune.
Honshu is played in rounds, with each round is divided into two phases. During the first phase, Map cards are revealed and the player who played the highest value card gets to pick first from those played. In phase two, the players use their chosen Map card to expand their personal maps. Each player must expand their personal maps to maximize their scoring possibilities. After 12 rounds, players will score points for lakes, forests, residential areas, and production of goods within their city.
Manipulating your position in the player order is crucial for mastering Honshu.
Honshu – City Building in Feudal Japan!
