Wander the land, masterless (and place your workers)
RONIN
Designer: Emanuele Ornella | Publisher: Queen Games
As someone who started playing modern board games in the early 2000s, I have a real love for classic Euros. And it’s a well-founded love, as many of those great games (Puerto Rico, Power Grid, Caylus, etc) are still in my collection. Consequently, I’m always on the lookout for new titles that give off the same vibe, and the Ronin rulebook did just that.
For me, a classic Eurogame needs several particular elements to qualify: a relatively clean ruleset that gets out of the way quickly; strong but indirect player interaction; a growing asymmetry controlled by the players, including multiple paths to victory; and a play time of less than a few hours. Oh, and no theme to speak of. I’m happy to confirm that Ronin ticks all the boxes.