''Rising Sun'' is a

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

for 3 to 5 players designed by Eric M. Lang and published by

CMON Limited CMON Limited, formerly known as CoolMiniOrNot is a publicly listed miniatures and board game publisher, trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It also operates a miniatures related site coolminiornot.com that features user submitted images of t ...

in 2017. Rising Sun is a game about strategy, negotiation, and warfare in a

feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Paleolithic, around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC whe ...

where the ancient gods (

Kami are the Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. ''Kami'' can be elements of the landscape, forc ...

) have returned to rebuild the empire. The game was originally released via

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

, raising over $4,200,000. ''Rising Sun'' received positive reviews, and was awarded with the ''2018 RPC Fantasy Award Tabletop & Miniatures Game Winner''. The name of a character in the game ''Kotahi'', has been found to be a name used in New Zealand and the Maori word for ''one''.

Gameplay

Rising Sun takes place in a mythical version of Japan. You lead a clan to conquest and gain the favors of the Gods. The game consists of three played seasons. Players, in order to achieve their goals, can Train, Marshall, Harvest, Recruit or Betray. Each of these phases allows different actions. At the end of the season, players resolve combat in provinces claimed by two opponents. The combat has different options:

Seppuku , also known as , is a form of Japanese ritualistic suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honor, but was also practiced by other Japanese people during the Shōwa era (particularly officers near ...

, Hostage,

Rōnin In feudal Japan to early modern Japan (1185–1868), a ''rōnin'' ( ; , , 'drifter' or 'wandering man', ) was a samurai who had no lord or master and in some cases, had also severed all links with his family or clan. A samurai became a ''rō ...

and Imperial Poets. Monsters can be obtained to support the clans.

Release and reception

''Rising Sun'' was initially sold via Kickstarter, with about 31,262 backers contributing to $4,228,060 during the campaign. It was delivered to backers in April 2018 and then released in retail stores. ''Rising Sun'' won the ''2018 RPC Fantasy Award Tabletop & Miniatures''. The website

BoardGameGeek BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition t ...

gave it the score of 8/10 with close to 10,000 ratings and 2,000 comments. The initial reception of the board game was mixed, but favored positive reviews. Ars Technica described it as "A cerebral board game of conquest, diplomacy, and betrayal" and Board Games Land noted that the game is a "showpiece that looks epic and feels grandiose".

Expansions

There were four official expansion released in 2018: * ''Dynasty Invasion'': adds 2 new clans to the game (Moon Clan and Sun Clan), allowing it to be played by 6 players. * ''Daimyo Box'': contains all the exclusive stretch goals unlocked during the Kickstarter, including the Fox Clan * ''Kami Unbound'': new ruleset which makes the presence of the Kami even more potent * ''Monster Pack'': adds four monsters (Oni of Plagues, Fire Dragon, Jinmenju and Jorogumo)

References

External links

how to play by the publisher ''CMON Limited''

on ''GameBoyGeek''

on ''Show Me How To Win'' * {{bgg, 205896 Board games Board games introduced in 2018 Multiplayer games Eric M. Lang games