Stats:
No. of players: 2-4
Amount of time to play: 60-90 min
Age requirements: 12+
Set-up time: 10 minutes

War of Honor Rules Description:

War of Honor is a Legend of the Five Rings board/card game that comes with four pre-built decks. Four clans are represented and each has its area of expertise. Which clan will you play to try to win this War of Honor?

To win War of Honor you must finish one of the paths to victory. Enlightenment requires you play five rings, Military requires you to destroy five Provinces, Honor and Dishonor require you to score 8 Honor (or Dishonor) in one turn 5 times.

War of Honor starts with you and the other players laying tiles to create a board. You then deal out four Provinces and draw six Fate cards. Provinces get you Holdings (that produce gold for you), Personalities (that fight for you) or Events (that might change some of the basic rules). Provinces are dealt face-down and revealed near the beginning of your turn.

Next you and other players then take actions. Open actions may be taken on anyone’s turn while limited actions may only be taken on your turn. These actions are on some Fate cards, your Personalities in play, or the tiles you laid to start the game.

You may declare attacks on your turn. You say which of your fortress tiles is attacking an opponent’s fortress tile. You may also invite other players to join you in your attack (or defense). In order to invite someone to ally with you, they must have a face-up fortress next to your attacking (or defending) fortress. You assign your attackers to attack one or more of the defender’s Provinces. Then anyone who was invited to attack with you may place units at one of the battlefields. Likewise the defender and his allies may move units to defend those Provinces you are attacking.

Combat continues with players taking Battle actions. The defender starts with one action and then each player may play a Battle action in clock-wise order. Battle actions can buff your units, send enemy units home from the fight and even give out Honor and Dishonor. Once all players have no Battle actions they want to play the Battle is resolved.

If the attacker’s force is higher than the defender’s then all defending units are destroyed. If the attacker has enough force he can even destroy the Province. This effectively reduces the amount of land that player has and thus they have less cards to recruit from.

Through battle you’ll gain Honor, Dishonor others, and get rings into play. If you can climb one of the paths of victory first you win the game.

A Quick Review of War of Honor:

First let me say I have never played Legend of the Five Rings. That is important because it is a deep and complex CCG and my inexperience has greatly colored my review of War of Honor. War of Honor supposedly streamlines some of the rules from the CCG. If that is true it must be hard to learn.

First let me say the game is gorgeous. The components are high-quality and the art is fantastic. The rulebook has a ton of great art and really conveys the theme of the game.

Though beautiful the rulebook is not written very well for someone learning the game. Your first few plays will have you flipping around trying to find a reference to something you read somewhere. And it will be long, very long.

The depth and complexity of War of Honor is a bit too much. I wish I had someone teach it to me as I found there to be too many things to remember and keep track of. I am not even saying learning the game and figuring out the complex system isn’t worth it. The fact it has been around so long shows that is hardly the case. I just don’t think the game is very accessible. I think AEG should post a video of people setting up and playing War of Honor. That would help with the steep learning curve. But at this rate I could never teach this game to a friend.

I think if you play the CCG or know someone who does and can teach you this game War of Honor would be a lot of fun. I have read elsewhere it really adds to the multi-player aspect of the CCG. Through the CCG there are instantly more cards to add or try out which makes War of Honor super expandable and very replayable.

However if you are going to learn this game on your own be prepared for a steep learning curve and some questions. Again I am not saying War of Honor is not worth learning, but it will take time and effort. So be prepared.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 4 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 5 out of 6
Replay Value 5 out of 6
Complexity 6 out of 6
Fun 3 out of 6
Overall 3 out of 6