More about Shogun no Katana

What’s the most annoying thing about Kickstarter games for you? For me it’s small expansions sold separately (or not at all), which we feel are very much essential for the game. Shogun no Katana does have a few of those.

If you have read our last post about the game, you know this is a cool worker-placement game with a super unique sliding-puzzle mechanic for forging swords. 😉

In our first play we liked the puzzle that the game offered, but felt like we didn’t have the means to properly enjoy it. With only 4 rounds and not many workers there is only so much you can do. This is where the expansions come in! ☝️

First, a very minor addition (that could have been a cardboard tile) - the Metal Katana 🗡️. This only serves to help unlock your workers faster so you get more actions overall. Plus it gives some end-of-round bonus to the player who last finished a contract.

The other expansion is the Wandering Characters - there are 9 characters in total (2 of which you have to buy separately 🙄 - classic KS approach). In each game you choose 4 of them. They take worker placement spots at setup, then anytime you go to the same spot as one of them, you get to use their special action and send them somewhere else. So they dynamically enhance the basic worker placement actions, so you get more out of your workers, and have an additional layer to your decisions. Basically you get a lot more variability and means to have fun with the awesome puzzle that the game provides.

I also like the general flow of the game. Many actions and e.g. finishing swords give you money or bonus resources, so you can start working on the next swords. These self-sustaining combo-chains feel satisfying if you can pull them off, and can save you from wasting actions at the market. The expansions are fun, as you will generally have more actions and those actions will be more effective. 🙃

The production quality is nice - for example the double layered tiles for the swords feel very luxurious. You get minis as workers and monks, and they look cool, yet I can’t help but wish they were screen-printed meeples instead. Overall we are happy with how the game works and don’t regret buying it! 👍