“This is broken,” I sneer, as my opponent plays the Action card 'Backstab' and my Disciple is sent back to the reserve before I can activate him. Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200. But I don't mean it. It's a tongue-in-cheek comment. The type of thing you say to wind up your opponent rather than because it's a legitimate complaint.
I've just lost a Disciple, which is a set back both financially and strategically. Not only that, I didn't get to activate him, which means that I'm going to have to wait for the next turn to complete this mission. It's messed with my timing. Very harsh. But something strange is happening. I'm totally calm. I didn't see this coming and I couldn't do anything about it and normally this kind of thing would cause at least a little simmering under the surface. A tiny build up of rage. But not this time. I'm totally at peace about what has just happened. I understand now, you see. Action cards that can both cause this kind of thing and prevent it are powerful, valuable assets. When I started this game I made sure that, during the Bidding Phase, I was fighting over the more obvious benefits. <PERSON>, more Disciples, Annexes, weapons etc. But now I understand that Action cards are worth fighting over too.
It's the same for the Bonus cards. I pick one up late in the game, in a desperate search for points. It gives me 5 points if I haven't completed any Espionage missions. Nice, I think sarcastically, looking at the two Espionage missions in my completed pile. But, again, although I'm disappointed I'm not angry. I'm calm here as well. 366
Because again I understand. I'm not thinking, “This isn't fair.” Instead I'm thinking, “I should have taken some Bonus cards earlier.” It makes sense. Pick up at least one Bonus card early on and then arrange my strategy around that. If I'd had this card earlier, I could have rejected Espionage missions, for example. That's better than just drawing cards at random late in the game and hoping that you stumble across the one Bonus card that fits with how you've been playing. Although...now I also understood the value of the Foresight action that had just seemed like a last option, “Well, I've got nothing better to do and I've got a Disciple here, so I may as well have a look at the Bonus cards”. Yes. Use the Foresight action to arrange the Bonus cards to suit you, and then win that auction in the next turn. Yes. A strategy develops.
The first time I played Yedo it was a surprisingly easy sell. I described it as 'Lords of Waterdeep set in Japan' (Apologies <PERSON> and <PERSON>, I know that's neither fair nor totally accurate) and both players pounced on it. One of them loves Lords of Waterdeep and the other doesn't care for it at all, but the description was enough for them to be interested. We ran out of time to finish the game, but by the end both players declared that they preferred Yedo to Lords of Waterdeep. One player would stop in the middle of her turn to comment on how 'lovely' the game was. I don't think she was talking about the fact that the church had been burned to the ground or that she had a handful of missions she couldn't complete because there were no Dojos left. I think she meant either the graphic design or just the design generally. I don't know if I would use the word 'lovely', but I think she was right either way.
It is true that the game is harsh and unpredictable. In our first game I removed the cards marked 'Samurai' as it was supposed to create a gentler environment. The first Event of the game was the Sakoku promo card and so the church was gone, and with it one source of income. Even the 'gentler' events lock districts and monkey with your plans. There were a couple of turns where between an inaccessible district and fear of the Watch, it seemed like there was nothing to do but tread water until the next round when you could get things back on track. But I didn't care. I realised quickly that this was game of biding your time, and taking advantage of the break in the action to do something else that was useful, something that you hadn't planned to do originally. You have to adapt, and then pulling off those chains where you complete several missions in one turn becomes very rewarding
Yedo would have been an easy design to mess up. 755