Kenjin

About this board game

Kenjin is a quick tactical card game for 2–4 players, with games lasting around 30 minutes. Set in feudal Japan, it casts each player as a great lord defending territory while seeking power—or peace—through carefully chosen military commands.

Each player receives a hand of thirteen cards numbered from 0 to 3. These cards represent peasants, thugs, and lords, and they are played across shared battlefields. Each player shares two random battlefields with every adjacent opponent: one battlefield is worth 4 points, while the other is worth 6.

On your turn, send two cards to one or two of your battlefields. Some cards are always played face up, while others remain face down, creating room for bluffing and uncertainty. When all cards have been played, each battlefield goes to the player with the highest total card value there.

• Use peasants with a value of 0 to lure an opponent’s troops to another battlefield.
• Let surviving peasants score more points through their special power.
• Play a Lord early, since it is strengthened by each new reinforcement that follows.
• Account for terrain, where peasants can take up arms to protect rice fields and military strength may not be enough to win a palace.

Victory depends on more than simply committing your strongest cards. You must read your opponents’ strategy, decide when to reveal information, and choose where each reinforcement matters most. The battlefields are scored after every card has been played, and the player with the most victory points wins.

With hidden information, special powers, and terrain that changes the value of military strength, Kenjin delivers a compact contest of timing, deception, and tactical positioning.