Board Game Arena

The setting is a vibe, I've appreciated L5R from afar for a long time. I'm enjoying moving my little boat around and accumulating resources, but I would appreciate a rundown of what some of the more popular strategies are, what the trade-offs are, and if there's a sort of rock paper scissors to take note of.

Ha I came looking for the same thing.

My biggest piece of advice for your first few games is to make sure you're paying attention to the influence tracks of the 6 regions. They are a lot of points at the end of the game and you'll want to be sure you're not falling too far behind.

Divine favor is very important - look for ways to get more throughout the game and try and save some for the final few turns where it can be critical to get the die values you need.

Use the 3 masteries to give you some guidance for what to do in the early to mid game - make sure you're working towards at least 1-2 of these.

And last, the game can be very tactical. You may decide that you're going to deliver to as many customers as possible this game, but don't be afraid to change plans. Go with the flow - pun intended!

After a few games:

1. The passage of time runs through buildings left. They are advanced by building stuff and by finishing river journeys. Most players are building too aggressively and not looking at regional influence or deliveries, especially in 4 player mode.

2. There are points for second place in a lot of regions, but the score varies by game. I try to be at least competitive in most regions.

3. In general people won't visit buildings as often as you think, but you can double dip on hitting both visitor and host bonuses if you're willing to spend divine favor before sailing.