旭日

I was blown away by how the alliance system forces you to constantly rethink your strategy—every betrayal or pact feels meaningful. The miniatures are stunning, and the province control mechanics really capture the tension of feudal warfare.

The clan minis are hefty and gorgeous on the table, and negotiating alliances before a war phase got my whole group yelling at each other in the best way. Took us about three hours with five players, but nobody wanted to stop.

The alliance and diplomacy mechanics make this so much more than a typical war game, and the negotiations around the table got surprisingly tense. The minis are gorgeous too, though they take up way more shelf space than I expected.