One of the last major releases from Board & Dice for 2025, Tianxia places players in the roles of noble leaders. Your goal is to improve your standing with the rulers of the warring Seven Kingdoms. This is a heavy Euro-style game with many moving parts and numerous decisions to make. At times, it even requires players to cooperate. I enjoy Tianxia a lot; it offers experiences rarely seen in modern games. However, there might be too much going on for those who prefer medium-weight games, and the setup can be tedious. Continue reading to see if this game suits your taste.

Managing Your Actions

Tianxia requires you to juggle many tasks simultaneously. The core mechanic is worker placement, where you deploy action markers to different regions on the map to perform actions. The challenge is that you only have three workers per round, and the resources needed to perform actions are scarce. With these limited resources, you are expected to install governors, train soldiers, build walls and towers, and trade at ports.

You obtain resources by sending workers to one of three barges on the river. However, space on the barges is limited. As new workers board, they push others off the opposite end. Getting bumped off a barge is not a disaster, though. The displaced workers return to your player board to special action spaces. These spaces can be activated later if you have enough workers on them.

The first interesting aspect is the choice between gaining resources and placing workers, as both actions consume one of your turns. If you want to use an action space already occupied by another player, you must pay a coin for each marker already there. This means you want to reach action spaces early to save money, but you cannot use those spaces unless you have the resources to carry out the actions. It creates a real chicken-and-egg situation.

I mentioned walls earlier because defending the kingdoms is central to the game. As play progresses, Nomad forces gather strength and approach the northern edge of the board. You know at the start of each of the four rounds which of the four regions will be attacked and which need defending. Defenses consist of the towers you build and the soldiers you train.

You have a vested interest in building defenses for a couple of reasons. First, there are victory points available for players who participate in the defense. Second, and more importantly, you are defending your own buildings. Your buildings provide ongoing income bonuses, which are vital when resources are hard to come by. The biggest problem, however, is that defending a region by yourself is nearly impossible.

Balance of Power

Tianxia does things you don’t normally see in Euro games regarding shared responsibility. If the Nomads break through the walls, they rampage down the board, following printed paths. As they march, they remove governors in their way. Sometimes, this is not a bad thing—especially if it is your opponents’ governors. If you lose a governor, you lose the benefit of the building they were in.

It is a double-edged sword, though. You might find that by letting someone get trampled, you are cutting off your nose to spite your face. The cost of placing governors in a once-ravaged building increases each time it is hit.

This is an interesting twist because it adds a layer of indirect interaction between players. You aren’t directly targeting another player, but through your own inaction and decisions, you can allow someone to take a beating.

Of course, being a Board & Dice game, there are several tracks on the board to climb, offering a nice variety of benefits along the way. It differs from some games in that you can definitely climb more than just one track. If you played the venerable Teotihuacan, you might remember the three tracks in the middle of the board and the feeling of choosing one to focus on. In Tianxia, it is perfectly plausible to do well on two or even three of the four tracks. What was the last game you could say that about?

It is a funny feeling, though, playing a game where you try to score big, build things, and gather resources while the Nomads inch closer. The wolves are at the door, and you are trying to balance your own plans with those for the greater good.

Complexity and Setup

No game is perfect, and Tianxia has its flaws. First, it is a very fussy game to set up. There is an abundance of components that need sorting and placing before the game starts. If you don’t count the piles of resources—six different kinds, no less—there are around 130 pieces to organize. Fortunately, the player boards and pieces are more sedate, but it is still worth knowing that there is a lot going on.

The abundance extends to learning and teaching Tianxia. Even without the looming Nomads each round, it would be a heavy game to teach. Understanding how resources can be upgraded to goods, how those are used to pay for other actions, how to trade at ports, the way bumped traders can be invested in future bonus actions, and the decision of when to pass to determine turn order—all of these require significant mental effort.

When you factor in understanding Nomad strength versus defense, the drawbacks and benefits of adding to a section’s defenders (or not), and what the changing landscape might mean for you and others, it is a lot to take in.

None of this is to say it is necessarily bad because of everything going on. It just doesn’t feel particularly streamlined, and it is a daunting prospect to teach anyone who isn’t already keen to play it.

Enjoying this article? Consider supporting me.

---

Final Thoughts

Tianxia is an odd duck. It didn’t have the fanfare of many other games released in 2025, and it doesn’t feel like most other big board, component-heavy Euro games. In many ways, it feels like an older Euro because of the level of interaction between players. This is not just in the semi-cooperative defense of the realm, but also in the worker bumping mechanism on the barges.

For some people, it won’t be a hit. There is a generation of gamers who love Euros full of content but with a lack of interaction. This allows them to optimize their multiplayer solitaire strategy without worrying about getting their toes stepped on. Tianxia is not that game. It actually shares quite a bit in common with The Great Wall (2021), with its shared, somewhat compulsory defending. Tower defense game fans will love that aspect.

If you don’t mind the sheer number of bits in the game, the time it takes to get the game ready and packed away, and you enjoy the interaction, Tianxia is actually pretty awesome. I love how the track climbing is linked to the action selection. I love how different every game can feel thanks to the randomized setup. In a sadistic way, I really enjoy seeing the trail of destruction the rampaging nomads leave on the map. Tianxia is a solid, heavy Euro, but it is probably best played with 3 or 4 players. This way, you don’t have to bolster the game with an (admittedly easy to run) automa player.

Tianxia (2025)

Design: Antonio Petrelli, Daniele Tascini
Publisher: Board & Dice
Art: Fernando Abravanel
Players: 1-4
Playing time: 90-180 mins