Designers: Thomas Vande Ginste, Wolf Planke

In Yedo, you are the patriarch of a powerful Japanese house, attempting to curry favor with the new Emperor. Yedo is often referred to as ‘Lords of Waterdeep with Ninjas’, as mechanically they share a lot in common. You send our your agents (i.e. ninjas) to gather resources and kill people, which are used to satisfy quest cards you’ve picked up.

Yedo does have several advantages over Lords of Waterdeep, though, including a much richer theme and much more gorgeous production values. It also differs on other key ways, including an auction system to grant some initial resources each turn, and which helps to keep the gap between the leaders and the laggers somewhat close.  It also plays much longer.

Favorite Mechanic: the Watchman. Yedo is a worker placement game, but any space the Watchman is in, your Ninja is arrested. Watchmen have a predictable movement pattern, but action cards you can acquire can allow you to manipulate the Watchman, making this one of the most aggressive worker placement games you’re likely to play.

Yedo games tend to go a little long, and it often feels like the auction portion is too rewarding compared to the worker placement portion of the game. Still, if you like Lords of Waterdeep, this is a good step up.

(Photo Source: Red Meeple)