Rumble Nation

A Sengoku-era dice war for Japan's 11 castles: roll soldiers into place and chain reinforcements for a comeback.

Designer: Yogi Shinichi (与儀新一)
Publishers: 77spiele, Hobby Japan
Editions by: asmodee, Rebel Sp. z o.o., Siam Board Games, Studio Supernova

Rumble Nation (2017) is an area-control dice game about the Sengoku era, first released in Japan as Tenka Meidou. You are a warlord fighting for supremacy over Japan's 11 castles. You roll three dice to decide where soldiers get deployed, and tactic cards give you one-off tricks to bend the war your way. Win a castle and reinforcements can chain through your neighbors, so a defeat can turn into a victory if you read the board right. It's a dice-and-cards brawl with a sharp eye for adjacency, quick at 40 minutes and best with four.

Three dice deploy your soldiersReinforcement chains across castlesTactic cards as once-per-game tricks

Who it's for

You like area-control games with dice drama and a historical Japan setting, played with a loud group.

Not for you if…

You want a calm planner with no dice. Luck swings can undo a good plan.

Vibe's take

Dicey and dramatic. Sparks fly from battle to battle, and one lucky chain can flip the whole map in your favor.