Designers: Thomas Vande Ginste (Dragonsgate College, Kill Shakespeare, Yedo), Wolf Plancke (Dragonsgate College, Kill Shakespeare, Yedo)

Artist: Franz Vohwinkel (6 nimmt!, Amun-Re, Astra, Blue Moon City, Bohnanza, Catan, Catan Card Game, Chinatown, Clank! In! Space!, Domaine, Dominion: Intrigue, Egizia, Exit: The Game – The Abandoned Cabin, Exit: The Game – The Pharaoh’s Tomb, Exit: The Game – The Secret Lab, Finca, Francis Drake, A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, Genoa, Java, Lords of Vegas, Lost Cities, Louis XIV, Magic: The Gathering, Maharaja: The Game of Palace Building in India, Medici, Medina, Mega Civilization, Mexica, The Palaces of Carrara, The Princes of Florence, Puerto Rico, The Quest for El Dorado, Ra, Ricochet Robots, RoboRally, Samurai, San Juan, Star Trek: Catan, Starship Catan, The Staufer Dynasty, Sticheln, Taj Mahal, Targi, Tichu, Tikal, Torres, Tsuro, Union Pacific, Web of Power, Winner’s Circle, Wizard, Wyatt Earp, Yedo)

Publisher: Board & Dice (Dice Settlers, The Networks, Teotihuacan: City of Gods)

Genre/Mechanisms: action/movement programming, auction/bidding, hand management, set collection, worker placement

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Yedo Deluxe Master Set is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges currently total over 6x the initial funding goal with 7 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes (solo mode by David Turczi)

Complexity: heavy

Risk: medium-low

What It’s About:  A Deluxe version of heavy worker placement game Yedo, featuring borderless cards with new art, custom wooden screen-printed Disciples, an updated main board, updated Clan boards with new art and better functionality, upgraded tokens, new missions and modules, and a new, bigger box to hold it all.

How It Works: Yedo is set in Japan in 1605, and gameplay takes place over 11 rounds. Each round consists of the following 7 phases: Prep, Bidding, Event, Assigning, Watch Patrol, Trade, and Action. During the Prep phase, players retrieve their Markers from the Bidding spaces, add more Mon (money) to the Church in the Harbor District, and adjust the Round Marker. During the Bidding phase, player bid on Action Cards, Bonus Cards, Weapons, Annexes, Geisha, Disciples, and Mission Cards. During the Event phase, the Market is adjusted, and an Event card revealed. During the Assigning phase, players take turns assigning their Disciples to spaces on the main game board or on their personal Annexes. During the Watch Patrol phase, the Watch Patrol moves, and Disciples may be arrested, although players can spend Action Cards to prevent this. During the Trade phase, players have the opportunity to trade Weapons in the Market District and all kinds of goods in the Tavern District. And finally, during the Action phase and in turn order, players take the actions they assigned their Disciples during the Assigning Phase or may complete Missions.

The various districts available to player include: the Gates District, where players can Recruit a Disciple, Beg for a Prestige Point, or rearrange the top 3 Action Cards in their deck; the Tavern District, where players can visit a Carpenter to build an Annex, or rearrange the top 3 Weapon Cards in their deck; the Red Light District, where players can Recruit a Geisha or buy the top Action Card for 4 Mon; the Market District, where players can Buy a Weapon Card from the market, or sell a Bonus Card or Action Card; the Harbor District, where players can Visit the Church and collect all of the Mon there, buy Luxury Goods from the European Merchants, or rearrange the top 3 Bonus Cards in their deck; the Temple District, where players can receive a Blessing, or rearrange the top 3 Mission Cards or peek at the top 3 Event Cards in their respective decks; and the Castle District, where players can gain an audience with the Shogun, gaining them a Prestige Point, gain an audience with the Bakufu, gaining them a top card from one of the Mission Decks, or Relax at the Bower and alter the player order. Using a players own Annex may allow them to do one of the following: exchange an Action, Mission, or Weapon Card; rearrange the top 3 cards of any of the Action, Bonus, Mission, or Weapon Decks; or peek at the top 3 Event Cards.

After 11 rounds the game ends, and players score additional Prestige Points for completed Bonus Cards. Players still in possession of their Blackmail Card receive an additional 2 Prestige Points, and then the player with the most Prestige Points wins.

Comparisons:  Yedo is currently receiving a lot of comparisons to Lords of Waterdeep, but that seems to simply be a result of Waterdeep being the most commonly known worker placement game among casual gamers. Boardgamegeek has the original Yedo weighted at a 3.36, and some similarly-weighted worker placement games include Edge of Darkness, Empires: Age of Discovery, Era of Tribes, Haspelknect: The Ruhr Valley, Keyflower, Lewis & Clark, Lords of Hellas, Lorenzo il Magnifico, Luna, One Small Step, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Railroad Revolution, Rise to Nobility, The Ruhr: A Story of Coal Trade, Russian Railroads, Troyes, and Yokohama.

What Should I Pledge?:
$71 Esteemed Geisha Pledge: a copy of Yedo Deluxe Master Set and all unlocked stretch goals.
$91 Daimyo Pledge: also includes the Great Wealth Coin Set.
$98 Shogun Pledge: also includes the Paladin Premium Sleeves Pack.

Add-Ons:
$44 Sensai Mat Set: includes 6 neoprene mats, one main game mat and 5 player mats.
$25 Great Wealth Coin Set: includes 80 metal coins.
$15 Paladin Protector Premium Sleeves Pack: all the sleeves you’ll need for all of the various cards in the game, including stretch goal cards.
$12 Advisor Deluxe Set: this was an reward for early bird backers, but is also available as an add-on for everyone else; it includes a special double-sided Watch Patrol Coin and 16 custom-printed wooden Annexes to replace the cardboard ones packaged in the game.

KS Exclusives:
The whole project is a Kickstarter exclusive. There will never be English-language copies offered at retail apart from those retailers who purchase copies via the Kickstarter.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $98 for the Shogun Pledge,$12 for the Advisor Deluxe Set, $8 in shipping, and an estimated $3 in shipping increases due to tariffs, for a total of $121. If you want those neoprene mats, then it’s $165.

Yedo Deluxe Master Set completes its Kickstarter on Friday, September 20th and tentatively ships in August 2020.