Honshu (English)

Honshu transports players to feudal Japan, where they, as rulers (Lords and Ladys), strive to develop their own territory into the most flourishing empire in the land. The game innovatively combines a trick-taking mechanism with tactical card placement.

Gameplay: First Trick, Then Build

Each round in Honshu consists of two central acts:

1. The Trick-Taking Phase: Each player plays a number card from their hand. The player who played the highest number gets to choose one of the played cards first to incorporate it into their own empire. But beware: Low cards often have powerful symbols or resources that can be more valuable than the pure number when building later.

2. The Building Phase: The card won must now be built into the existing village tableau. Each new card must cover at least one space of an already placed card or be tucked underneath.

Strategic Depth Through Resource Management

The goal is to cleverly combine different areas:

• Forests and Lakes: Score points at the end of the game, but often need to be planned in large, contiguous areas.

• Production Sites & Cities: This is where resources (like wood or gold) are acquired, which are needed to activate factories or influence the order in the trick-taking phase.

• City Areas: Only the largest contiguous city area counts for the final scoring – the placement of each individual space is therefore crucial.