Shogun Rules.pdf

SAMURAI SWORDS ™ (SHOGUN)

BRIEF RULES SUMMARY WITH UNOFFICIAL CLARIFICATIONS

AND SOME ALTERNATE RULES

• Each player represents a 16th century Japanese Warlord commanding three generals, or daimyos.

Warlords do no fight directly; they battle through the armies of their daimyos and their provincial

forces. The goal of a Warlord is to become the Shogun of all Japan by controlling a certain number

of the 68 provinces. A Warlord is eliminated from play by eliminating his three daimyos.

Military Units

For fairness, all players must have the same number of plastic figures available to them, i.e., 36 spearmen,

and so forth, as these are a limited resource. Keep in mind that each plastic figure, or military unit,

represents a large number of 16th century Japanese fighting men. These men can be broadly classed as

either Samurai (noble warriors), Ashigaru (fighting peasants), or Ronin (masterless Samurai Swordsmen

who act as mercenaries for hire). There is also a Ninja. Every regular unit must either be part of an

army (i.e., placed on an army card) or a provincial force (i.e., placed directly in a province). The limit

of samurai and ashigaru in an army is indicated by the "S" and "A" blocks on the army cards-- the daimyo

and four samurai, plus ten ashigaru, is the maximum amount of regular units in an army. The maximum

amount of regular units in a provincial force is five . Note that ronin do not count as regular units, nor

do the army markers, nor do bonus defensive units assigned to a castle or fortress. Note also than only

one army can occupy any one province at a time .

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SAMURAI

Daimyos: A daimyo is the general of an army, and as such is always placed on the army card. A daimyo

represents both the actual commander and his elite cavalry units. Each Warlord can never have more

than three daimyo. A daimyo fights in hand-to-hand combat and scores a kill on a 6 or less. New

daimyos cannot be levied ( but see optional rules below ). Each daimyo has a pegged experience marker to

mark experience points on the army card, with a matching army marker to show the position of the army

on the game board. Daimyos gain experience by fighting successful battles and thus gain more movement

and attack capabilities.

Bowmen: One bowman is initially placed in each army. Samurai bowmen strike during the ranged-

weapon phase of combat, and score a kill on a 6 or less. Hand-to-hand combat units that are killed by

ranged weapons do not get a chance to return fire, making bowmen very powerful. They cost 1 koku to

levy.

Swordsmen: One samurai swordsman is initially placed in each army. Swordsmen strike during the

hand-to-hand combat phase and score a kill on a five or less. They cost one-half of a koku to levy (you

can buy either two swordsmen or one swordsman and one gunner with your one koku).

RONIN

Ronin: Ronin are essentially samurai swordsmen that can be hired as mercenaries for one round at a time.

There must always be at least one more regular unit in the army or province where the ronin will be

placed than the number of ronin you intend to place there. Placement of ronin is done in secret; the ronin

are placed on top of the corresponding face-down province card. Ronin strike during the hand-to-hand

combat phase and score a kill on a five or less. They cost two per 1 koku to hire, and a minimum of two

must be hired if you chose to hire any.

ASHIGARU

Gunners: Gunners are peasant warriors who fight with a primitive firearm called the arquebus. Two

gunners are initially placed in each army. gunners strike during the ranged-weapon phase of combat, and

score a kill on a 4 or less. Remember, hand-to-hand combat units that are killed by ranged weapons do

not get a chance to return fire. Gunners cost one-half of a koku to levy (you can buy either two gunners

or one gunner and one swordsman with your one koku).

Spearmen: One peasant spearman is initially placed in each province controlled by a warlord, making up

the beginning provincial forces. Spearmen strike during the hand-to-hand combat phase and score a kill

on a four or less. They cost 3 per one koku to levy.

NINJA

There is a special black figure representing the ninja. The ninja may be hired for one round of play by

being the highest bidder. The ninja may perform one of two services: either to attempt the assassination

of an opponent's daimyo on the current round of play (on a roll of 8 or less); or to spy on an opponent's

plans at the beginning of the next round of play (automatic). If the ninja fails in an assassination attempt,

your opponent gets a free attempt to use the ninja to assassinate one of your daimyos (success on a 9 or

higher ).

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Set-up

Shuffle the 68 province cards and deal them one at a time to each player. For five players, each player

starts with 13 provinces with 3 provinces empty. For four players, each player starts with 17 provinces

with no provinces empty. For three players, each player starts with 22 provinces with two provinces

empty. For two players, each player controls two separate colours, so treat as a four-player game in set-

up. Any empty province is "up for grabs" to the first player to move in. Cards for empty provinces are

placed on the red rectangle on the game board.

Every turn, each player gets one koku for each three provinces controlled, dropping remainders and with

a minimum of three koku . Thus, five players start with 4 koku each, four get 5, three get 7, and two

get 5 for each colour (and must keep them separate). All koku must be allocated during the planning

stage; they cannot be saved or loaned.

The official ways to win depend on whether you're playing a long game, a short game, a "quick-start"

game, or a two-player game. We suggest you adopt these alternate rules to standardise the winning

criterion: A player must control a certain number of provinces at the end of a complete round of play in

order to be declared Shogun. For five players, the number is 30 provinces. For four, 35. For three, 40.

And for two, 50 provinces for the two colours combined.

Set up the three armies as described above, and put one spearman on each controlled province. Draw

swords to determine order to place the other spearmen and army markers. Now take 12 spearman and

place them, by pairs, in any owned provinces, in order of swords drawn. Note that during this stage only

you may not have more than three spearmen in any one province! Finally, place the three army markers,

one at a time, in owned provinces in order of swords drawn.

Action Sequence

Each of the nine actions in the Action Sequence making up a round of play is performed simultaneously

by all players, except for Action 7: Wage War. Wage War is composed of 4 phases; all 4 phases are

performed by one player at a time, in the turn order established during Action 6: Take Swords. Note:

since everyone reveals their koku allocation at the end of Action 1 and the first thing everyone looks at is

who hired the Ninja, we suggest you adopt this alternate rule to switch Actions 2 and 6, since taking

swords affects nothing until Action 7 (unless you count who gets to buy a castle, a fortification base, or

hire ronin when the master tray is low on those pieces; in that rare case, simply wait until Action 6 to

resolve the conflict).

ACTION 1: PLAN

Secretly allocate all koku to any or all of the five planning bins. Players then simultaneously reveal their

plans to each other. Note: if you hired the ninja during the previous round and didn't use him as an

assassin, you can use him during this action to spy on one player's koku allocation before you allocate

your own koku. Chosen player shows you his allocation (and cannot change it), you then allocate your

koku, and then all players (including you) simultaneously reveal their plans to each other.

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ACTION 2: HIRE NINJA

Players compare the koku in their HIRE NINJA bins. The player with the most koku buys one of the two

services of the ninja as described above for that round of play. In case of a tie for the most koku, no one

hires the ninja! Place the ninja figure in front of the Warlord who hired him until he is used. If you hire

the ninja, you don't need to decide right away which service (if any) you'll use him for; you may hire him

only to prevent another player from hiring him. Don't reveal the ninja's mission until you're ready to use

him!

Special First Round Rule: Daimyo assassination attempts are not permitted on the first round of

play. If you hire the ninja on the first round of play, you can only use him as a spy during Action 1 of the

second round.

The ninja assassin can announce one strike on any opponent's daimyo at any point during Action 7 on the

current round of play. Assassination attempts are resolved as described above. If a daimyo is

assassinated, turn the assassinated daimyo unit on its side on your army card. Then turn the matching

army marker on its side in the game board province.

The assassinated daimyo cannot move, attack or defend for the rest of the current round. During that

time, its army is "disrupted": they cannot move or attack; but when attacked, they must defend. At the

end of the current round, if at least one unit of the assassinated daimyo's army survived combat; appoint

the daimyo's successor by removing a unit from the army and returning the assassinated daimyo and his

army marker to their standing positions. Return the experience marker to the beginning level of

experience. Alternate rule: the unit promoted to be the new daimyo must be a samurai swordsman or

bowman, in that order of preference, never an ashigaru. If only ashigaru remain, the army is disbanded

and the ashigaru are added to the provincial force if room exists; excess ashigaru are lost.

If the daimyo's entire army is eliminated in battle, the daimyo is out of the game. This is true whether or

not the daimyo was assassinated by the ninja, or was removed as the last casualty of battle (the daimyo

must always be chosen as the last to be killed). If a Warlord loses his last daimyo, he is out of the game.

If you don't use the ninja as an assassin, you may use him as a spy on the next round of play as described

above

ACTION 3: BUILD

Players who allocated 2 koku to their BUILD bins buy and place either 1 castle or 1 fortification base. A

player can build only one castle (or upgrade one castle to a fortress by adding a fortification base) per

round of play, so either zero or two 2 koku may be allocated to build. Castles may be placed in any

owned province, one to a province. A castle adds four temporary spearmen in defence of a province

when attacked; a fortress add five temporary ronin. It does not matter if the player actually has enough

extra plastic units to represent them; anything may be used for that purpose. These temporary defensive

units must be chosen as the first casualties before any regular units are hit. Any killed defensive spearmen

or ronin are fully replenished upon attack by a different player, or at the start of the next round. These

defensive units never strike during a naval first strike defence, and never can be used to attack. They do

not count as regular units for figuring maximum provincial force size or number of ronin. If there are not

enough castles or fortresses to go around, they are purchased in order of swords drawn. Players unable

to build lose their two koku. Castles and fortresses may be captured, but can never be destroyed or

moved. See also the optional Seat of Power rules below.

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ACTION 4: LEVY UNITS

Players who allocated koku to their LEVY UNITS bins buy and place reinforcement units from their

planning trays, at the costs and limits set forth above. You can place only one levied unit per province ,

and placing the unit in an army counts as placing it in the province the army is in! Therefore, you can

never levy more units than the number of provinces you own. If you run out of a particular unit in your

planning tray, you may not levy more of that unit until some are returned to the tray as casualties.

ACTION 5: HIRE RONIN

Players who allocated koku to their HIRE RONIN bins buy ronin units, then secretly deploy them as

described above. Until they attack, defend or move, the exact ronin locations remain a secret from

opponents. You may split up hired ronin in any proportion to one or more provinces; you may decide the

ronin will join the army or the provincial force. Option: To clarify exactly where ronin will appear while

maximising surprise, have the player write the name of the provinces, the number of ronin, and whether

the ronin are part of the army or the provincial force on a scrap of paper and place all hired ronin atop the

paper. Remember that ronin units cannot move or fight by themselves ; they must be accompanied by

the army or the provincial force they joined. When choosing casualties, you must always be sure there is

still at least one more regular unit in an army and/or provincial force than the number of ronin present. In

the unlikely event that there aren't enough ronin in the master tray for all players who need them, players

hire ronin in the turn order indicated by their swords. Any players who aren't able to hire ronin lose their

koku to the master tray.

ACTION 6: TAKE SWORDS

Swords are drawn randomly from a closed fist to determine turn order in Action 7. Players compare the

koku in their TAKE SWORDS bins. Players who placed koku take the swords of their choice in order of

most koku allocated; players who didn't, draw remaining swords at random. In the case of a tie for koku

allocated, and if tied players want the same sword, tying players alone must draw randomly from their

first and second choices.

ACTION 7: WAGE WAR

In the turn order indicated by his sword, each player completes the entire 4-phase Wage War action, from

A to D. There are three critical concepts/terms involved in various phases of the Wage War action:

ownership of provinces, garrisons and daimyo experience. All are explained briefly here:

Ownership of Provinces

Provinces are adjacent if they share a common border; provinces which meet at a point are not considered

to be adjacent. A friendly province contains at least one of your military units. You own the province;

you hold the corresponding province card. An enemy province contains at least one military unit of an

opponent. This opponent owns the province; he holds the corresponding province card. An empty

province is unowned and contains no military units because no player has moved in to take it. The

province cards for these provinces should be placed in the red rectangle on the game board.

Garrisons

You cannot leave a province empty when you move out; you must leave at least one regular unit behind

as you move. Units left behind for this purpose are provincial forces called garrisons .

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