Riki Rolls — Independent Tabletop Studio
We build tabletop experiences around tactical positioning, meaningful choices, and direct player interaction — no heads-down solitaire, just sharp tables where smart maneuvers win the day.
Studio Philosophy
Board games should be tense, highly strategic, and deeply engaging. We design for players who want to out-think each other, not just out-roll the dice.
Where you stand on the board matters as much as what's in your hand. Terrain, timing, and formation decide outcomes.
Every decision carries real weight and real cost. No filler turns, no choices that don't change the table.
Your opponents are the game. We build systems where players clash, negotiate, and outmaneuver one another directly.
Our Flagship Title
Sengoku Jidai · Japan's Age of War
Pocket Shoguns
2–4 Players·Ages 12+·Skirmish 45–75 Min · Campaign 90–120 Min
Eleven Daimyō. One Japan. Seize it with steel, honor, or treachery — but only one banner flies over Kyōto when the dust settles.
What's In The Box
Note: our prototype photos and video show early production samples. We’re working to bring the final miniatures as close as possible to the quality and detail shown in our promotional material.
The Daimyō Registry
Every Daimyō commands their domain differently — each with their own unique starting army and a bonus that shapes how they fight. The Brute hits harder, the Admiral rules the sea, the Trickster breaks the rules everyone else is playing by. Players can sit down with the same map and never fight the same war.
Two more warlords — The Rider and The Spiritual Leader — join the roster as Kickstarter stretch goals. Watch the carousel for the marker.
From the Rulebook
Honor is a second currency. Sparing a defeated samurai. Refusing a duel. Burning a castle to ash. Every act you commit is carved into your legacy as Honor — and Honor buys what gold never could: the loyalty of the legendary Rōnin, the allegiance of clans who were never going to kneel to the highest bidder, or the cold edge of an underhanded tactic — if you’re willing to gamble everything you’ve built for one shot at victory.
The neutral clans don’t stay neutral. The Honor Clan joins whoever holds the most honor. The Territorial Clan joins whoever holds the most land. The Mercenary Clan joins whoever pays the highest price — and that price climbs every time the clan changes hands.
Two warlords, sharing a tile or standing adjacent. One demands a duel. Before a blade is drawn, both sides can raise the stakes — publicly wagering Honor for the edge in the fight, spent whether they win or lose. Then dice fly back and forth, first to land two solid hits wins and eliminates the other — or eight rounds pass and both walk away Fatigued, having risked everything for nothing. Refuse, and it costs you Honor.
Surround a castle and it earns no gold until the siege breaks — but defenders inside double their counter-dice, only artillery can strike inside from outside the walls, and archers on the battlements fire down on anyone camped at the gate. Sieges are a gamble, not a guarantee.
Before a single tile is claimed, the war begins at the treasury. Every player secretly bids Gold for Daimyō pick order — highest bid chooses first. Once every Daimyō is chosen, players bid again from what Gold remains, this time for position order — highest bid claims first choice of Starting Position and takes the first turn. All Gold bid, across both rounds, is spent regardless of outcome. Patience has a price. So does impatience.
Lose your daimyō or your castle, and you don’t just lose — you draw a permanent upgrade. A steady flow of Honor, every turn. An extra action every turn. A free unit pulled straight from the reserves. In Pocket Shoguns, getting knocked down is sometimes how a campaign really starts.
Step a Special Unit onto a forest tile, and it disappears completely — untouchable, invisible until it chooses to strike.
Gunpowder came to Japan by sea. Portuguese traders and Nanban ships brought the matchlock to these shores — and in Pocket Shoguns, it still arrives that way. Command a port, or fight the old-fashioned way — steel against steel.
Every unit not already on the board is up for recruitment — by anyone with the gold. Every unit that falls in battle goes back into that same reserve. The war is fought, in part, over a shrinking box of miniatures everyone is drawing from.
She doesn’t fight fair. Stop a daimyō’s movement cold, or slip him something fatal — either way, he never saw it coming.
Half demon, half folklore, all terror — capable of scaring an entire enemy army three tiles back with nothing but a scream.
Some warriors can’t be bought with gold — only earned with Honor. Reputation, not coin, is what brings him to your banner.
Hiring a Ninja or a Kunoichi isn’t free in more ways than one — it costs you Honor the moment you recruit them. Assassination works. It also stains you.
In Your Hands