Fuji Koro Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup
• Two Modes of Play
• The Map
• Competitive Mode: Goal of the Game
• Gameplay
• Actions
  • 1. Move
  • 2. Explore
  • 3. Gather
  • Your Backpack
  • 4. Rest (& Craft)
• Gear
  • Helmet
  • Sandals
  • Weapons
• Gear Cards and Magical Blueprints
  • 1. Gear Cards
  • 2. Magical Blueprints
• Combat
  • 1. Dragon Combat
  • Initiative
  • The Heroic Monk
  • Fighting the Dragon
  • Damaged Weapon or Dragon Teeth
  • 2. Samurai Combat
  • Peaceful Variant
• The Final Chapter
  • Escaping the Volcano
  • Shōgun Bonuses
  • Bonus Tracks
• Winning the Game
• Cooperative Mode
  • Goal of the Game
  • Cooperative Setup
  • Gameplay Changes
    • 1. Dragon Movement
    • 2. Other small rules adjustments
  • Final Chapter and Winning the Game (Cooperative)
• Appendix A: Asymmetrical Player Boards
  • Yoshihiro (義弘)
  • Masako (雅子)
  • Masatsura (正行)
  • Mitsuhide (光秀)
  • Takeko (武子)
  • Tomoe (友恵)
• Appendix B: Scenarios
  • 1. To Each His Own
  • 2. Dragons on the Move
  • 3. It's Getting Hot in Here
  • 4. Who Is Worthy?
  • 5. Survival of the Fittest
  • 6. Tame the Beast
  • 7. The 3 Fallen Samurai
  • 8. Ronin
• Game Materials
• Game Overview
  • Competitive Mode
  • Cooperative Mode

Setup

1. Assemble and place the Frame in the middle of the table and the Imperial Board (side with the competitive symbol faceup) next to it. Give each player a Player Board in the color of their choice. Use either the symmetrical Player Boards for ALL players or asymmetrical Player Boards for ALL players. We recommend using the symmetrical Player Boards for your first few games. This setup is valid for both the symmetrical and asymmetrical Player Boards, unless depicted otherwise on the asymmetrical Player Board. See "Asymmetrical Player Boards" for information about the asymmetrical Player Boards.
2. Place the Central Tile faceup in the middle of the Frame, representing the crater of the Volcano.
3. Assemble and place the 3 Sacred Temples on the indicated locations.
4. Place the 3 Bridge Tiles faceup on the indicated locations.
5. Sort the Volcano Tiles into 3 draw piles, according to the number on their back (I, II, III). Shuffle each pile and place them facedown next to the Imperial Board.
6. Place all the Resource Cubes (a), Dragon Teeth Cubes (b), Magical Cubes (c), Dice (d), Dragons (e), Dragon Tokens (f), Damage Tokens (g), Monks (h), Lava Tiles (i), Rope Tile (j), Countdown Marker (k), Magical Blueprint Tokens (l) and square Resource Tokens (m) next to the Imperial Board. When playing with 5 or 6 players add the hexagon Resource Tokens. Adventure Tokens are optional (see Player Aid).
7. Place each player's Samurai on the Central Tile.
8. Randomly draw 1 Helmet, 1 Weapon and 1 Sandals Gear Card per player and place them faceup next to the Imperial Board. Return the remaining Gear Cards to the box.
9. Shuffle the Sacred Scroll Cards and place them as a draw pile on the indicated location next to the Imperial Board. Draw 3 Sacred Scroll Cards and place them faceup next to the draw pile.
10. Randomly draw 1 Magical Helmet, 1 Magical Weapon and 1 Magical Sandals Blueprint Card per player. Return the remaining Magical Blueprint Cards to the box. Deal the Magical Helmet Blueprint Cards one at a time to the Sacred Temples. Then, continuing from where you left off, deal the Magical Weapon Cards, and finally the Magical Sandals Cards. This will result in the Cards distributed amongst the Temples according to the table below. Slide all the Cards into the Temples.

Players	Temple 1	Temple 2	Temple 3
2 players	1 Helmet, 1 Weapon	1 Helmet, 1 Sandals	1 Weapon, 1 Sandals
3 players	1 Helmet, 1 Weapon, 1 Sandals	1 Helmet, 1 Weapon, 1 Sandals	1 Helmet, 1 Weapon, 1 Sandals
4 players	2 Helmets, 1 Weapon, 1 Sandals	1 Helmet, 2 Weapons, 1 Sandals	1 Helmet, 1 Weapon, 2 Sandals
5 players	2 Helmets, 2 Weapons, 1 Sandals	2 Helmets, 1 Weapon, 2 Sandals	1 Helmet, 2 Weapons, 2 Sandals
6 players	2 Helmets, 2 Weapons, 2 Sandals	2 Helmets, 2 Weapons, 2 Sandals	2 Helmets, 2 Weapons, 2 Sandals

11. Give each player their Action Discs as indicated on the appropriate location on their Player Board. Give them their Victory Point (VP) Marker and place it on the "0" space of the VP track of the Frame.
12. Each player receives a number of Resource Cubes as indicated on their Player Board and places them on the appropriate Grid(s). Players also receive their respective Sacred Scroll Tokens and place them next to their Player Board.
13. Give each player a number of starting Monk(s) according to the player count:

Player Boards	up to 5 players	6 players
Symmetrical Player Boards	1 Monk	2 Monks
Asymmetrical Player Boards	0 Monks	1 Monk

The received Monks can be placed on Monk locations of the player's choice on their Player Board (see "Monks").

14. Place the Countdown Token and the Dragon Health Token on their indicated location on the Imperial Board.
15. Randomly determine a Start Player.

Two Modes of Play

Fuji Koro can be played in a competitive mode with 2 to 6 players or a cooperative mode with 1 to 6 players. The rules for both sets are very similar, so this rulebook will first explain the competitive version, including all important game concepts, followed by the specific ruleset for the cooperative version. Players should decide which version of the game they would like to play before starting the game. If you are already an experienced Samurai warrior, you can try the extra scenarios to bring more variety to the game.

The Map

In Fuji Koro, players will explore the cavern in mount Fuji, which will gradually be revealed during the game.

• There are 3 Levels of Volcano Tiles, to be placed in 3 rings around the Central Tile. The first ring can contain up to 6 Level I Tiles, the second ring up to 12 Level II Tiles and the third ring up to 12 Level III Tiles. A location without any Tile is called an "unexplored location". The Level III ring also contains 3 Bridges and 3 Temples.
• The Central Tile, the Bridge Tiles and the Temples are safe (non-combat) places. Players can't attack each other on these Tiles, and Dragons never go there.
• The Central Tile and the Temples each consist of 1 big Space. The Bridges consist of 2 Spaces. All the other Volcano Tiles are divided into 7 Spaces, indicated by the pattern on each Tile. Samurai walk from Space to Space. Dragons will walk from Tile to Tile (only in a cooperative game) and defend a whole Tile.
• At any time, there can be no more than 2 Samurai on 1 Space. This also means that you can never pass a Space containing 2 Samurai. A Tile can never hold more than 1 Dragon, but there can be multiple Samurai on a Tile, with or without a Dragon.
• Some Spaces contain Lava. Some Spaces will be covered with Lava in the End Phase of the game. Samurai are only able to Move over Lava if their feet are protected by Sandals (see "Sandals"). Dragons are big enough to safely cross Lava.
• Monks, Resources, Scrolls, Dragons and Adventure Tokens (optional gameplay, see Player Aid) will appear on the explored Volcano Tiles. Only use the hexagonal Resource Tokens in a 5 or 6 player game.
• The Central Tile and the 3 Temples are the only Tiles with a permanent supply of Resources (1 Wood and 1 Metal). At the 3 Temples you can also Gather Magical Blueprints.
• At the end of the game, the Shōgun will await the Samurai and give bonuses to the Samurai who escaped the Volcano in time.

Competitive Mode: Goal of the Game

In Fuji Koro, players will try and Gather Sacred Scrolls and Blueprints for Magical Weapons, Gather Resources (Wood and Metal), Craft the best possible Gear, and try to get out of the Volcano before it fully erupts. To make matters worse, players will encounter fantastical Dragons that they will have to try and defeat by themselves or with the help of other players. The game continues until the End Phase of the game, which is triggered by one player reaching 30 Victory Points (VP). Once that happens, players will have 8 final turns to escape the Volcano.

To win the game, a player will have to score the most Victory Points by defeating Dragons, Exploring the Volcano, Crafting the right Weapons and bringing Magical Gear, Dragon Teeth and Monks to the Shōgun during the End Phase of the game.

Gameplay

Beginning with the Start Player and continuing around the table in clockwise order for the rest of the game, each player must perform 2 actions.

There are 4 types of actions to choose from: Move, Explore, Gather and Rest. To perform any of the first 3 actions, you must move 1 Action Disc from your Action Disc pool to the appropriate Action Field on your Player Board. It's allowed to have more than 1 Action Disc on the same Action Field.

In order to Rest, you must return all the Action Discs on your Action Fields to the Action Disc pool. If you run out of Action Discs in your pool, you must Rest. You may Rest at any time, provided that you have at least 1 Action Disc on the Action Fields.

Whenever you Rest, you may also Craft as part of your Rest Action.

Actions

1. Move

When you choose the Move Action, you may Move your Samurai up to 2 Spaces on any visible Volcano Tile, Bridge and/or Sacred Temple. Completed Sandals allow you to Move an additional step (see "Sandals").

Moving onto a Space with Lava will cause Damage to your Sandals (see "Damage"). Your Movement always has to end on a Space without Lava.

If you Move onto a Volcano Tile with a Dragon, your Move Action immediately ends on the first Space where you stepped on the Tile, and Combat occurs. See "Combat".

If you Move onto a Space containing another player's Samurai (which is not a Temple, Bridge, or the Central Tile) your Movement ends immediately if you or the other player wishes to initiate Combat. See "Combat". If you and the other player decide not to Combat, you may continue your Movement.

2. Explore

If you are at the edge of a Tile, adjacent to an unexplored location on Level I, II or III, you may Explore the Volcano by adding a Tile to the Board on the adjacent empty location.

First, you announce to the other players where you want to Explore. Then you take the top Tile of the appropriate pile, matching the right Level of the unexplored location. Place the Tile faceup in the orientation of your choice.

Immediately earn 1 VP if you Explore a Level II Tile or 2 VP if you Explore a Level III Tile.

Place the following items on the indicated Spaces of the Tile:

• Square Resource icon: All player counts: Place a random square Resource Token of the same Level faceup on this Space.
• Hexagon Resource icon: Only 5-6 players: Place a random hexagon Resource Token of the same Level faceup on this Space. If the Token shows a Monk, immediately remove it and replace it by a Monk.
• Scroll icon: Place a Sacred Scroll Token of the indicated player color on this Space. (If that player color is not in play, just leave it empty.)
• Dragon icon: Take a random Dragon Token of the right color and place the according Dragon on the middle of this Tile. Discard the Dragon Token.
• Monk icon: Place a Monk on this Space.
• Adventure icon: When playing with Adventure Tokens: Place an Adventure Token on this Space (see Player Aid).

Finally, flip any facedown Resource Tokens on any Volcano Tiles adjacent to the newly explored Tile, so that they are faceup. These Resource Tokens are now available to be Gathered again (see "Gather", the next action, for more explanation).

3. Gather

Gathering allows you to pick up any items on the Space your Samurai occupies. You can Gather Resources, Sacred Scrolls, Monks, or Magical Blueprints.

Resources: If you are on a Space with a faceup Resource Token, take the indicated Resources and place them on available spots in your Backpack on your Player Board (see "Your Backpack"). After you have taken the Resources, turn the Resource Token facedown. These Resources will be unavailable until the Token is turned faceup again by Exploring an adjacent Tile.

The Central Tile and the 3 Temples don't have any Resource Tokens and contain a permanent supply of Resources. Only once per turn, you can Gather 1 Wood and 1 Metal here. The supply on the Central Tile disappears in the End Phase, when it's covered by the Rope Tile.

Sacred Scrolls: If you are on a Space with a Sacred Scroll Token in your player color, take the Scroll Token and place it on an available spot in your Backpack. Then take any one of the 3 faceup Sacred Scroll Cards or the topmost Scroll Card from the draw pile. Slide the Card under your Player Board in an available empty slot and immediately score 3 VP. Refill the open Scroll Cards up to 3 Cards.

If there's no available slot on your Player Board, you must discard an existing Sacred Scroll and replace it by the new Scroll you just picked up. You still score 3 VP for the new Scroll though, without losing any VP for discarding the old one.

If you replace an existing Sacred Scroll Card, simply discard the Scroll Token that you just Gathered from the Volcano Tile. The number of Sacred Scroll Cards in your slots always has to be the same as the number of Scroll Tokens in your Backpack.

At any time, you may use the ability of the Sacred Scroll(s) in your collection. You of course lose the ability of any discarded Scrolls. You can find a list of all Sacred Scrolls and their effects on the Player Aid.

Monks: If you are on a Space with a Monk, take the Monk and place him on an unoccupied Monk location of your choice on your Player Board, or in your Backpack if all Monk locations are occupied. (Yes, these Monks are actually small enough to fit in your Backpack. Please let their head stick out, though, to prevent suffocation.)

• A Monk in your Action Discs pool can be used as a fourth Action Disc. You will not need to Rest as often.
• A Monk next to the second slot for your Sacred Scrolls enables you to have (and use) 2 Scrolls instead of 1.
• A Monk below your Weapon Grid enables you to craft a Two-Handed Weapon, or 2 One-Handed Weapons (see "Craft").
• A Monk next to your second Backpack gains you extra Storage spots.

Once a Monk Disc is assigned to a location, it can't be reassigned to another location. Occasionally, a Monk can be removed from your Player Board at the start of a Dragon Combat (see "The Heroic Monk").

Magical Blueprints: If you are in one of the 3 Sacred Temples, you may choose and take up to 2 Magical Blueprint Cards from that Temple (as indicated on the Temple roof) and place them next to the indicated slots on the right side of your Player Board.

Place the corresponding Magical Blueprint Token(s) (Helmet, Weapon, or Sandals) in your Backpack.

Important: You may only possess 1 Magical Blueprint of each type (Helmet/Weapon/Sandals), matching the icons on your Player Board.

The Blueprints in the Temples are open information. Players can look at the Cards at any time during the game.

Unlike picking up resources at Temples, which is allowed only once during your turn, it is allowed to take Magical Blueprints twice in a row, or to take Blueprints in one Gather action and Resources in another Gather action, both during the same turn.

Your Backpack

Whenever you need to store something in your Backpack, but there aren't enough free Storage spots left, you may free up spots by returning Resources (Wood, Metal, or Dragon Teeth) to the general supply.

Samurai may not remove Sacred Scrolls, Magical Blueprints, or Monks from their Backpack, with 2 exceptions: you may replace a Scroll by another Scroll (see "Sacred Scrolls"), or send a Heroic Monk into Combat (see "The Heroic Monk").

If you cannot or do not want to make room in your Backpack for a new item, you cannot Gather this item.

4. Rest (& Craft)

When you choose to (or have to) Rest, return all of your Action Discs to your Action Discs pool. You can Rest at any time, provided that you have at least 1 Action Disc on your Action Fields. This means that it's not possible to Rest twice in a row.

You may then choose to Craft ONE type of Gear: Helmets, Weapons or Sandals. It's forbidden to Craft more than one type of Gear at once. Each type of Gear has a different function. Your Helmet protects you in Combat, your Weapon causes Damage to your opponent, and Sandals help you to Move farther and to go over Lava.

Crafting consists of moving Resource Cubes between your Backpack and ONE selected type of Gear. Any number or type of Cubes (except Magic) can be moved in either direction. However, if any Cubes are moved from the selected Gear to your Backpack, one of those Cubes is considered waste and must be returned to the general supply.

When you Craft an item of Gear, you may rearrange it completely by moving the Cubes on this Gear's Grid as you wish. You can be as creative as you want when you Craft or rearrange your Helmet, Weapon or Sandals. It can be worthwhile to Craft Gear that matches a Gear Card (see "Gear Cards") or a Magical Blueprint (see "Magical Blueprints"), but there's no obligation to do this.

Gear

Helmet

A Helmet can be composed of 1 to 8 Resource Cubes. A Helmet can have any shape or pattern and can consist of multiple parts that aren't connected.

In Combat, your Helmet will suffer 1 Damage for each hit (see "Combat"). How many points of Damage your Helmet can absorb is determined by the type of Resources it is made of. To calculate the total strength of your Helmet, just add up the Damage values that each Cube can absorb:

• Wood: absorbs 1 Damage
• Metal: absorbs up to 2 Damage
• Dragon Tooth: absorbs up to 3 Damage
• Magical Cube: absorbs up to 4 Damage

Example: This Helmet has a strength of 8: 2 Metal absorb 4 Damage (2x2) and 4 Wood also absorb 4 Damage (4x1).

Sandals

Sandals can be composed of 1 to 3 Resource Cubes. Sandals can have any shape or pattern, and it is allowed to have Cubes that aren't connected.

Completed Sandals (containing 3 Resource Cubes) will allow you to Move one additional step during your Move Action. Sandals made from enough strong materials will allow you to walk over Spaces with Lava, but sustain Damage in the process. After your Move Action is complete, you must remove enough Resource Cubes from your Sandals to absorb 5 Damage for each Space with Lava that you crossed. (Remember that you may never end your Movement on a Space with Lava.)

The amount of Damage that the Resource Cubes in your Sandals can absorb is the same as in your Helmet. If the Cubes you remove could absorb more than the suffered Damage, the overpaid value is lost.

Samurai will never commit suicide, meaning that they will never jump into Lava without Sandals that are strong enough to protect them.

Example: Mitsuhide suffers 5 damage to his Sandals. His Sandals are made out of 3 Metal Cubes, with a total strength of 6. He has to remove the 3 Metal Cubes to "pay" for the suffered damage. The 1 strength he "paid" too much is lost, without any compensation.

Weapons

A Weapon can have many shapes or patterns, but there are a few rules that must be followed. To begin with, all Resource Cubes in a Weapon must be connected to each other vertically and/or horizontally.

A standard Weapon (also called a One-Handed Weapon) can be composed of 1 to 8 Resource Cubes and always has to lie entirely in the left Weapon Grid OR the right Weapon Grid (with a Monk to unlock the right Grid). This means that a One-Handed Weapon will never have a length of more than 5 Cubes, which limits your Initiative in Combat (see "Combat").

Once you've unlocked the right Weapon Grid with a Monk, you can Craft 2 One-Handed Weapons, 1 in the left Grid and 1 in the right Grid expansion, containing up to 8 Resource Cubes in each One-Handed Weapon (16 in total).

Alternatively, with an unlocked right Grid you can also Craft 1 Two-Handed Weapon, containing up to 12 Resource Cubes. Whenever Cubes in the left and right Grid are connected to each other, they are immediately considered to form a Two-Handed Weapon.

A Weapon doesn't have to be complete. However to be usable in Combat, a One-Handed Weapon must contain at least 2 Wood, representing the hilt of the Weapon. A Two-Handed Weapon must contain at least 3 Wood to use it in Combat. These Wooden Cubes don't have to be adjacent to each other.

It's never allowed to Craft or keep an illegal Weapon (e.g. a Weapon with too many Cubes, or a third Weapon, or a One- and Two-Handed Weapon at the same time, or 2 Weapons in the same Grid part). If a situation like this occurs on your Player Board, and you're not in the middle of Crafting your Weapon, then you'll have to remove Cubes immediately (without rearranging any) until you've resolved any issues with your Weapon(s). Typically, this may happen when a Weapon is damaged during Combat, causing it to lose Cubes (see "Combat"), or if a Crafting mistake is discovered after the fact.

Weapon examples:

• A Two-Handed Weapon with 13 Cubes is illegal. 1 Cube has to be removed immediately.
• A Weapon in the right Grid may be legal while the one in the left Grid contains too many Cubes (9). One of the Cubes in the left Grid must be removed immediately.
• 1 Weapon with 8 Cubes in the left Grid + 1 Weapon with 4 Cubes in the right Grid, but with 1 extra Cube in the left Grid, is illegal. The Cube in the left Grid has to be removed immediately.
• The same shape as an illegal one, but with all Cubes connected to each other, is a legal Weapon.
• A Weapon with 11 Cubes, but containing only 2 Wood, is a legal, but unusable Two-Handed Weapon (there are not enough Wooden Cubes to form a hilt).
• A Weapon with 12 Cubes containing 3 Wood is a legal, usable Two-Handed Weapon.

Gear Cards and Magical Blueprints

1. Gear Cards

You can be very creative when it comes to Crafting Gear, but you can unlock special Bonus Actions if you manage to Craft a specific type of Helmet, Weapon, or Sandals. If, after a Rest & Craft Action, your Gear matches a Gear Card from next to the Imperial Board, you immediately obtain that Card, allowing you to boost one of the 3 Main Actions (Explore, Move, Gather).

To obtain the Card, your Helmet, Weapon or Sandals must match the Cubes on the Gear Card exactly. The orientation of your Cubes can be different, and your Gear may contain more Cubes than indicated on the Card.

When you obtain a Gear Card, slide it under an available slot of your choice on the top part of your Player Board, leaving only the Bonus Action on the Card visible. Note that obtained Gear Cards do not take up space in your Backpack like Scrolls or Blueprints do.

Important: You can only obtain 1 Gear Card of each type and each Card must be linked to a different action. So, you can never have more than 1 Gear Card linked to each action. Once a Card is linked to an action, it remains there for the remainder of the game.

Whenever you move your Action Disc to an Action Field with a Gear Card linked to it, you may choose to perform the Main Action OR the Bonus Action OR both, and in the order of your choice.

The Gear Cards offer the following Bonus Actions:

• Helmets: You may take the indicated Resource and place it in your Backpack.
• Weapons: Choose one of the following Bonus Actions for the remaining of the game:
  • You immediately receive 1 VP.
  • OR, you may look at the top Volcano Tile of any Level. You may share this information with other players (especially useful in the co-op version).
• Sandals: You may Move your Samurai 1 step.

2. Magical Blueprints

Magical Blueprints may be obtained by a normal Gather Action at the Sacred Temples (see "Gather").

If your Sandals, Weapon(s), or Helmet match with 1 of the Magical Blueprint Cards next to your Player Board, they become magical! (Note: The orientation of your Cubes can be different, and your Magical Gear may contain more Cubes than indicated on the Card.) You indicate this by placing 1 Magical Cube from the general supply on top of your matching Gear. With 2 One-Handed Weapons you place 1 Magical Cube on one of the two Weapons.

A Magical Cube has a strength of 4:

• In your Helmet, a Magical Cube can absorb 4 Damage in Combat.
• In your Weapon, the Magical Cube will allow you to roll a special Magical Die (see "Combat"), which is the strongest Die you can obtain, having up to 4 hits. Furthermore, a Magical Cube boosts your Weapon with 4 extra Initiative Points.
• In your Sandals, a Magical Cube can absorb 4 Damage when you walk over Lava.

As long as your Gear matches your Magical Blueprint, the Magical Cube stays on top of it. However, the moment your Gear doesn't match the Magical Gear Card anymore, you immediately have to remove the Magical Cube and place it back in the general supply. This can happen during a Combat or during an action, whenever you lose a Cube from your Gear.

If, after the completion of any action or Combat, your Gear matches the Magical Blueprint, it immediately becomes Magical again (provided you still own the specific Blueprint).

In case you somehow lose your Blueprint (e.g. by theft by another player), your Gear doesn't automatically lose it's Magic. But as soon as your Magical Gear then loses 1 Cube (even 1 that wasn't part of the Blueprint), the Magical Cube has to be removed immediately and you won't know how to restore the Magical Gear, because you've lost the Blueprint.

In the rare case that you manage to Craft a Gear that matches your Magical Blueprint and a Gear Card at the same time, you may both claim the Gear Card and add a Magical Cube to your Gear.

Magical Gear can potentially be worth a lot of VP at the end of the game, so don't hesitate to Craft these incredible pieces of Gear!

Combat

1. Dragon Combat

If you Move onto a Volcano Tile with a Dragon, your Move Action immediately ends on the first Space where you stepped onto the Tile, and Combat occurs.

Other Samurai who are on a Space immediately adjacent to the same Dragon Tile (a Tile containing a Dragon) may decide to join you in this Combat, and you will try to defeat this Dragon together. If more than 1 player is eligible to join, they announce in turn order whether they want to join (starting with the player to your left) and if they do, immediately move their Samurai by 1 step onto an available adjacent Space on the Dragon Tile.

As always, no more than 2 Samurai can be on the same Space and of course they won't fight each other when they're involved in a Dragon Combat together.

Initiative

The Initiative of all involved Samurai and the Dragon will determine the turn order of the Dice rolls in the Combat. The Initiative of the Samurai is determined by the length of their longest Weapon, being the number of Resource Cubes either in a horizontal or vertical direction. Remember to add 4 extra Initiative to a Magical Weapon.

The Initiative of the Dragon is indicated on the Dragon.

The combatant (Dragon or Samurai) with the highest Initiative gets to roll their Dice first, the combatant with the second highest Initiative goes second, and so on.

As a general rule, the defender wins Initiative ties. Thus, in a normal Dragon Combat in the competitive game mode, the Dragon will always win a tied Initiative. In case of a tied Initiative between Samurai during a Dragon Combat, the turn order decides, starting with the active player who initiated this Combat.

This Initiative order is determined at the beginning of the Combat and does not change during this entire Combat.

Example: Takeko's Weapon has an Initiative of 7. The Dragon she attacks has an Initiative of 8, so despite her being the attacker, the Dragon will deliver the first blow.

The Heroic Monk

At the beginning of a Combat against a non-Legendary Dragon, you may send 1 of your Monks from your Player Board to the Dragon to distract it. That Monk quickly grabs 1 Resource (Wood, Metal or Dragon Tooth) from your Backpack (if available) and throws it towards the Dragon. Roll 1 Die for this throw, in the corresponding color, and deal Damage to the Dragon according to the result of the Die. If there's no available Resource in your Backpack, the Heroic Monk will shout out loud to the Dragon, which will still successfully distract it. (Note: If other Samurai have joined Combat, each of them may, in turn order, choose to send one of their Monks as well.)

The result of sending a Heroic Monk is that you automatically gain Initiative against the Dragon and all other players who didn't send a Monk. If more than 1 player sent their Monk, the normal rules to determine Initiative order apply between those players.

Unfortunately, a Heroic Monk won't find his way back to your Player Board. He mysteriously disappears. And of course, the abilities of the disappeared Monk will also be lost immediately, before the rest of the Combat is executed. This may require you to adjust your Player Board accordingly, and you are not allowed to rearrange any of your items first. This can involve losing items from your second Backpack (Resources, Scrolls, Blueprints or Monks), losing your second Scroll (without losing any VP), or losing Resources from your Weapon Grid expansion.

Fighting the Dragon

Place the Dragon Health Token on the Dragon Health track, on the value indicated by the Dragon. Flip the Dragon Health Token to its +30 side if the Dragon's Health exceeds 30. In a 2 player game, take the Health value indicated by the 2-player icon into account for the Legendary Dragon. (In the co-op version, use the solo Health for the solo game.)

Everyone participating in Combat will take turns rolling Dice, in an order decided by their Initiative. A randomly selected player takes on the role of the Dragon.

When rolling, the Samurai players MAY use 1 corresponding Die for each Resource Cube in their Weapon. The Dice have different levels of hit power:

• Brown Dice (Wood) deal up to 1 Damage (0.67 average roll)
• Grey Dice (Metal) deal up to 2 Damage (1.0 average roll)
• White Dice (Dragon Tooth) deal up to 3 Damage (1.5 average roll)
• Green Dice (Magic) deal up to 4 Damage (2.0 average roll)

If a Samurai fights with 2 One-Handed Weapons, they should roll once for each Weapon, one right after the other. Don't roll all Dice together for 2 Weapons, as this may influence the implementation of Damage done to Weapons (see further).

After each Dice roll, the total amount of Damage is calculated according to the number of hits rolled. Deduct the Dragon's Health accordingly by moving the Dragon Health Token.

Select any player to roll for the Dragon, using a number of White Dragon Tooth Dice as indicated on the Imperial Board. The Dice rolls of the Dragon deal the same amount of Damage to all involved Samurai simultaneously.

For each hit a Samurai receives, that player must remove enough Resource Cubes from their Helmet to absorb the Damage (see the Damage absorption values under "Helmet"). If you're not able to remove Cubes exactly equal to the suffered Damage, you'll have to remove more and the overpaid Damage absorption value will be lost.

A Dragon loses a Combat if its Health is reduced to zero. When this happens, that Dragon is immediately defeated and removed from the game. All players still involved in this Combat (players who are still conscious and have not retreated), receive VP as indicated on the Imperial Board (each player the whole amount of VP). In addition, each of these players receives a Dragon Tooth that they may add to their Backpack if they have (or make) an available spot.

A Samurai loses a Combat if they don't have a Helmet left and the Dragon deals at least one more hit. The Samurai is knocked unconscious and must be placed on its side on the Space where they came from before entering the Dragon Tile. This Samurai will no longer be involved in this Combat. At the beginning of a defeated player's next turn, their Samurai will automatically wake up from their unconsciousness and be placed upright again. While knocked unconscious, a Samurai can't be attacked.

After their Dice roll a player may decide to retreat from Combat if, and only if, their Samurai has no usable Weapon left (because it broke off during their Dice roll). They move their Samurai back to the Space where they came from and will no longer be involved in this Combat.

Combat ends when either:

• The Dragon is defeated.
• All involved Samurai are either knocked unconscious or retreated.

If the initiation of this Combat was the first action of the active player and their Samurai survived Combat, they may now continue their turn. In all other cases, the player to their left commence their turn.

If a Dragon is not defeated in Combat, it's Health will reset to full capacity before the next Combat. Any permanent Damage Tokens remain though.

Dragons have various Initiative and Health values and different attack strength. If this is the first game that you or your friends are playing, it's advisable to inform players that the Red Dragons are meant to be attacked as a group. In the competitive mode, it is very hard to defeat a Red Dragon (and nearly impossible to defeat the Legendary Dragon) without getting help from your competing Samurai. In that sense, Fuji Koro is actually a semi-cooperative game.

Damaged Weapon or Dragon Teeth

All non-Magical Dice show 1 side with a broken-Weapon icon. For each Die that a Samurai player rolls showing this result, they need to return a Resource Cube matching the Die color from their Weapon to the general supply. This is done immediately after each Dice roll and may cause further Damage if the Weapon breaks apart into several pieces. It's not allowed to have an illegal Weapon at any moment, as described under "Rest (& Craft)". In that case, resources must be removed until the player only holds 1 or 2 legal Weapons or no Weapon at all.

When the Dragon's Dice are rolled and one or more Dice show the broken-Weapon icon, all Samurai involved in Combat immediately receive 1 Dragon Tooth per icon rolled, which they may place in their Backpack.

2. Samurai Combat

In a Combat between 2 Samurai, the rules are the same as for Dragon Combat, except for the following.

If you Move onto a (non-safe) Space containing another player's (standing up) Samurai, Combat may occur. Before the Samurai may Move any further, both players must decide (the active player first) if they want to engage in Combat. If both players decline, gameplay continues as normal and the Move Action of the active player may then continue. If either of the players decides to engage in Combat, the Move Action of the active players ends and Combat is resolved immediately.

If you begin your turn on the same Space as another Samurai, no Combat is started automatically, but you may decide to Move out of this Space and immediately back in, in order to initiate Combat.

Samurai Combat between 2 players can't be joined by other players. Initiative is determined according to the length of the Samurai's Weapons. The defending Samurai wins a tied Initiative. Heroic Monks can never be used in Samurai Combat.

Samurai Combat itself is resolved in the same way as Dragon Combat. Immediately after their Dice roll, and only if they do not have a usable Weapon left (because it broke off during their Dice roll), a player may decide to stop the Combat and surrender. If no one surrenders, Combat continues until someone sustains Damage greater than their Helmet can absorb. This player is then defeated. The defeated Samurai is knocked unconscious and must be placed on its side on an adjacent Space without any Lava, to be chosen by their opponent. If it was the defeated Samurai's turn, their turn now ends.

While unconscious, a Samurai can't be attacked. At the beginning of their next turn, the player's unconscious Samurai will automatically wake up again and gameplay will continue as normal.

If you surrender or are defeated, your opponent may steal 1 item from your Backpack:

• A Magical Blueprint Token and its matching Card. Note: a Magic Gear item stays Magical, even when the Blueprint gets stolen. But if it later loses any Resource Cubes, it loses its Magic immediately and can't be fixed anymore because the Blueprint is missing.
• A Monk (only from your Backpack, not the rest of your Player Board).
• A Sacred Scroll Token and its matching Card. (If you have 2 active Sacred Scrolls, your opponent may choose which Scroll they steal.) The same rules apply as if the stealing player were Gathering a Scroll, including scoring 3 VP. The victim doesn't lose any VP.
• A Resource Cube.

Peaceful Variant

If your player group doesn't like direct Combat against each other, you may prefer a gameplay variant in which Samurai don't fight each other and only fight Dragons. This doesn't change any of the other rules.

The Final Chapter

The final 8 rounds of the game are triggered the moment any player reaches 30 VP or more. When this happens, place the Countdown Marker between the player who reached 30 VP and the player to their left. From now on, every time the player with the Countdown Marker to their left finishes their turn (including the turn in which the Countdown was triggered), advance the Countdown Token 1 Space on the Countdown track. The Countdown Token triggers certain events when it reaches them on the track:

• Lava icon: Place Lava Tiles on all erupting Lava Spaces with the indicated number.
• Rope icon: Place the Rope Tile on top of the Central Tile. The Samurai can now escape the Volcano with this Rope.
• Blank: Nothing happens.
• Final space: The game ends immediately and the final scoring occurs. Players who reached the big Palace may score their remaining Tokens (see further).

Notes:

• If your Samurai happens to be standing on a Space where Lava is erupting, your Sandals immediately sustain 5 Damage and you must move your Samurai to an adjacent Space without any Lava.
• If your Samurai lands on a Space with another Samurai this way, it does not trigger Combat.
• If there's no available Space without any Lava, you must move your Samurai to an adjacent Space with Lava. Your Sandals sustain 5 Damage again and you must move your Samurai again to an available Space without any Lava.
• If your Sandals can't sustain the Damage (the first or second time), or if your Samurai was lying there unconscious, your Samurai perishes and immediately gets resurrected in 1 of the 3 Temples of your choice.

Escaping the Volcano

There are 2 ways to escape the Volcano: either from the central Rope Tile after it is revealed, or through the Secret Exit (also a Rope icon) on one of the Level II Tiles, if this Tile has been discovered.

When you end your turn on a Space containing a Rope, you immediately move your Samurai:

• By the Bonus tracks on the palaces on the Imperial Board, if you escape from the central Rope Tile;
• By the Bonus tracks at the foot of the mountain on the Imperial Board, if you escape through the Secret Exit.

Shōgun Bonuses

When you have escaped from the Volcano, you don't perform anymore actions. Instead, you may claim one Shōgun Bonus each turn by placing Tokens on the appropriate Bonus track and immediately scoring the associated VP. The earlier you escape the Volcano, the higher the amount of VP you will receive.

Once in each of your remaining turns (including the turn in which you escaped the Volcano) and as long as the game continues, you may place one of your Tokens on the highest available spot on a Bonus track of your choice and immediately score the indicated VP.

At the end of the game, you may place all of your remaining Tokens on the last spot of the appropriate Bonus tracks (on the palaces), granting you the minimum amount of VP (1 VP for Monks and Dragon Teeth and 3 VP for Magical Blueprints) on each Bonus track for each of your Tokens at the end of the game.

If your Samurai escaped the Volcano using the Secret Exit, note that there is only 1 Shōgun bonus for each category, and you do NOT get any VP for your collected Dragon Teeth.

Bonus Tracks

At the Bonus tracks on the palaces, you may receive Bonus VP for:

• A Magical Helmet Blueprint with a completed Magical Helmet
• A Magical Weapon Blueprint with a completed Magical Weapon
• A Magical Sandals Blueprint with completed Magical Sandals
• Monks (coming from anywhere on your Player Board)
• Dragon Teeth (coming from anywhere on your Player Board)

The Bonus track at the foot of the mountain has only 3 spots to gain 5 Bonus VP for Magical Blueprints with completed Magical Gear and only 1 spot to gain 5 Bonus VP for 1 Monk.

Winning the Game

The player with the most VP wins the game.

Note that you do NOT have to escape the Volcano to win the game, but it really helps. In case of a tie, the tied player who left the Volcano first wins the game.

If none of the tied players left the Volcano, they must engage in a real-life battle, with Weapons of their choice, until all but one surrender. We suggest using chopsticks.

Cooperative Mode

The cooperative variant keeps most of the rules of the competitive game, but here players will have to cooperate very closely to achieve victory together. Dragons will actually MOVE in this variant, chasing the Samurai and making sure they don't escape. Are you up for the challenge?

Goal of the Game

The goal of the game is to achieve the following objectives before the game ends:

• The Legendary Dragon has to be defeated.
• Each player must successfully escape through the Secret Exit.
• Each player has at least 1 completed Magical Gear item. Additionally, the players must collectively have at least one completed Magical Helmet, one Magical Weapon and one Magical Sandals to present to the Shōgun.

Players have to achieve those objectives in a set number of rounds:

Player count	Rounds
1 player	25 rounds + 8 final rounds
2-6 players	20 rounds + 8 final rounds

Optional gameplay:

• Adventure Tokens (see Player Aid): If you include the Adventure Tokens, reduce the number of rounds with 2.
• Asymmetrical Player Boards (see "Asymmetrical Player Boards"): They don't influence the number of rounds to achieve the objectives.
• Play another scenario (see "Scenarios").

Cooperative Setup

Set up the game as you would for the competitive version, with the following changes to the steps:

Step 1. Place the Frame in the middle of the table and the Imperial Board (side with the cooperative symbol faceup) next to it. Give each player a Player Board in the color of their choice.

Step 5. Remove these Tiles from the game: 1 specific Level II Tile and 1 specific Level III Tile, as indicated in the rulebook's illustration for 1-2 players, 3-4 players and 5-6 players respectively.

Separate the Tiles with the Legendary Dragon (Level III) and the Secret Exit (Level II) from the other Tiles and compile 3 draw piles (one for each Level):

• Take 3 random Level II Tiles and the Tile with the Secret Exit and shuffle them.
• Take 3 random Level III Tiles and the Tile with the Legendary Dragon and shuffle them.

In a 1-2 player game:

• Shuffle 4 of the remaining Level II Tiles and place them as a draw pile next to the Imperial Board. Place the pile with the Secret Exit on top of it. Shuffle the 4 remaining Level II Tiles and place them on top of the same draw pile.
• Shuffle 4 of the remaining Level III Tiles and place them as a draw pile next to the Imperial Board. Place the pile with the Legendary Dragon on top of it. Shuffle the 4 remaining Level III Tiles and place them on top of the same draw pile.

In a 3-4 player game:

• Shuffle 2 of the remaining Level II Tiles and place them as a draw pile next to the Imperial Board. Place the pile with the Secret Exit on top of it. Shuffle the 6 remaining Level II Tiles and place them on top of the same draw pile.
• Shuffle 2 of the remaining Level III Tiles and place them as a draw pile next to the Imperial Board. Place the pile with the Legendary Dragon on top of it. Shuffle the 6 remaining Level III Tiles and place them on top of the same draw pile.

In a 5-6 player game:

• Place the pile with the Secret Exit as a draw pile next to the Imperial Board. Shuffle the 8 remaining Level II Tiles and place them on top of the draw pile.
• Place the pile with the Legendary Dragon as a draw pile next to the Imperial Board. Shuffle the 8 remaining Level III Tiles and place them on top of the draw pile.

Step 12. When playing with symmetrical Player Boards, each player takes 1 Helmet OR 1 Weapon OR 1 Sandals Gear Card from the available Cards next to the Imperial Board, but as much as possible, the types of Gear have to be equally chosen. Players decide together what Cards they take.

Example: In a 3 player game, 1 player will always have a Weapon Card, 1 player will have a Helmet Card and 1 player will have a Sandals Card. In a 4 player game, the cards for 3 players will be divided like in a 3 player game, the fourth player will get to choose a fourth Gear Card of the group's choice.

Players who received a Weapon Card MUST place their starting Monk below their Weapon Grid. All players receive the Resource Cubes that are indicated on the Gear Card that they took and build their Gear exactly the same as pictured on the Card on the corresponding Grid on their Player Board. Players who didn't take a Weapon Card receive 2 Wooden and 2 Metal Cubes on the Weapon Grid.

Each Player slides their obtained Gear Card under an available slot of their choice on the top part of their Player Board, leaving only the Bonus Action on the Card visible. Players will be able to use the Bonus Action on this Card during the whole game.

When playing with asymmetrical Player Boards, players receive the number of Resource Cubes as indicated on their Player Board and places them on the appropriate Grid(s).

Step 14. Place the Countdown Token on the correct starting location, according to the number of players, as described in the "Goal of the Game".

Step 15. Randomly determine a Start Player and give them the Tokugawa Start Player Marker.

Step 16. Each player receives a Life Token and places it with the "2 Lives" faceup in front of them.

Gameplay Changes

Players will take turns as in the competitive game, but there are a few differences in the gameplay.

1. Dragon Movement

When a player discovers a Dragon during the Explore Action, they place a Status Token next to it, with the Sleeping side faceup. The Dragon won't move yet, but you are free to attack it as per the usual rules.

When a new round begins (i.e., just before the Start Player performs their 2 actions), the Start Player advances the Countdown Token 1 step. Then they must remove all Status Tokens with their Awake side faceup and flip all Sleeping Status Token(s) to their Awake side. Each Dragon that does not have a Status Token next to it then moves.

The order in which those Dragons move is chosen by consensus of all players. Dragons always move 1 step, from Tile to Tile, and always directly towards the Tile containing the nearest Samurai (counted in Tiles as seen from above). Samurai on safe places (the Central Tile, Bridges, and the Temples) are invisible to the Dragons. If there are multiple Samurai that are equally close to a Dragon, players decide together in which direction that Dragon moves.

Dragons never move onto the Central Tile, Bridges, and the Temples (these are safe places) or onto a Tile already containing a Dragon. A Dragon will always want to move 1 step closer, e.g. by going around the Central Tile. In the rare case that a Dragon can't move (because it's blocked by other Dragons or the Central Tile), it doesn't move.

If a Dragon moves onto a Tile containing 1 or more Samurai, Combat takes place as per the usual rules. Samurai who are on an adjacent Space, may join the Combat if they can. But in this case, it's the Samurai who are the defenders, meaning that they will win an Initiative tie against the Dragon. If one or more defending Samurai are knocked unconscious during Combat, they resurrect on the Central Tile.

2. Other small rules adjustments

• Players don't gain any VP in the cooperative mode and Samurai don't fight against each other.
• Each Samurai has only 2 Lives. In the cooperative mode, being knocked unconscious by a Dragon counts as a loss of 1 Life. Falling into Lava in the End Phase of the game, is the second way to lose 1 Life. In case a Samurai loses their first Life, they must flip their Life Token. If one of the Samurai loses a Life for the second time, the game ends immediately and everyone loses.
• When a Samurai is knocked unconscious, they resurrect on the Central Tile.
• In a solo game use the Health indicated by the solo icon on the Red and Legendary Dragon. In a two player game use the Health indicated by the 2-player icon.
• When the Dragon's Dice are rolled and 1 or more Dice show the broken-Weapon icon, players decide together how to divide the obtained Dragon Teeth among the Samurai that are still involved in Combat.
• After a Dragon is defeated, all players that were still involved in this Combat receive the amount of Dragon Teeth as indicated on the Imperial Board. Those players now decide together how to divide the obtained Dragon Teeth.
• Whenever 2 Samurai are on the same Space, they can freely exchange items from their Backpack with each other. This includes Resources, Scrolls, Blueprints and Monks (only the ones in your Backpack). If you exchange Scrolls and Blueprints you also exchange the corresponding Cards.
• There's no limit to the number of Magical Blueprint Cards that a Samurai can carry, but each Card will come with a corresponding Blueprint Token in your Backpack.

Final Chapter and Winning the Game (Cooperative)

Once the Countdown Token has reached the first "Eruption" Space, the End Phase (with 8 final turns) of the game is triggered.

When all of the objectives are achieved, as described in "Goal of the Game", and no Samurai has lost 2 Lives, all the players win the game immediately.

Appendix A: Asymmetrical Player Boards

Instead of using the standard symmetrical Player Boards, players can choose to use the asymmetrical Player Boards. All those characters have a specific setup as depicted on the Player Boards and special abilities as described below.

Yoshihiro (義弘)

• He uses 4 regular Action Discs and can add a Monk later in the game to have a total of 5 Action Discs.
• After every Action (Move, Explore, Gather, Rest) he may Craft one type of Gear.

Masako (雅子)

• She doesn't need a Monk to unlock her Weapon Grid.
• She can Craft a Weapon with a maximum length (Initiative) of 10.
• She can Move up to 3 Spaces standard (instead of 2). With 5 Resource Cubes in her Sandals (instead of 3), she gains an additional step.
• Whenever she Crafts a Helmet or Weapon, she can also Craft Sandals at the same time.

Masatsura (正行)

• His Helmet can contain up to 12 Cubes (instead of 8) and his Backpack up to 15 Cubes (instead of 11).
• He doesn't need a Monk to unlock a second Backpack.

Mitsuhide (光秀)

• He starts with 1 Sacred Scroll Card that he can choose from the faceup cards next to the Imperial Board and scores the 3 VP. For this Scroll he places 1 Sacred Scroll Token in his Backpack.
• He doesn't need a Monk for the second Scroll.
• When Moving, he can jump over 1 Lava Space by burning 1 Wooden Cube from his Weapon (place it back in the general supply).

Takeko (武子)

• She can only Craft a Two-Handed Weapon (no One-Handed Weapons) with up to 16 Resource Cubes.
• She doesn't need a Monk to unlock her Weapon Grid.

Tomoe (友恵)

• She can only Craft One-Handed Weapons (no Two-Handed Weapon).
• She can use her Sandals as a third One-Handed Weapon.
• She doesn't need a Monk to unlock her Weapon Grid.
• She starts with 2 regular Action Discs and 1 Monk as an Action Disc. She can add an additional Monk to have a total of 4 Action Discs.
• Make sure to add a Magical Blueprint Weapon Card with 2 One-Handed Weapons to the game.

Appendix B: Scenarios

Beyond the competitive and cooperative version of the game, we've created 5 extra scenarios for the competitive version and 5 for the cooperative version (from which 2 are for the solo mode).

The normal rules for the competitive version and the cooperative version are the basics for these scenarios. Any adjustments and the new goals to win the game are listed in the description of each scenario.

1. To Each His Own

Competitive mode

• Don't use the Secret Exit (Level II Tile) in this game. The End Phase will be triggered when someone reaches 20 VP. Blueprints in the Temples are dealt randomly and are hidden information until someone Gathers them.
• Use the symmetrical Player Boards, with the same abilities for all players.
• Resource Tokens don't get flipped when used; the indicated Resources are always available for Gathering.
• Combat against a Dragon can't be joined by another Samurai. Use the solo mode Health of the Red Dragons and the Legendary Dragon.
• When 2 Samurai are on the same Space, Combat is initiated immediately. Samurai can't pass each other without Combat.
• To escape from the Volcano, a Samurai needs to end their turn on the Rope Tile and will only leave the Volcano at the beginning of their next turn.
• When a Dragon is revealed, a Dragon Tooth and a Status Token are placed next to it. When a player defeats a Dragon, the only reward is VP. The Dragon is removed from the game and the remaining Dragon Tooth and Status Token can be Gathered together at the Space where the Dragon stood earlier, with 1 Gather Action.
• Status Tokens are kept near a player's Player Board and are the only way to walk over Lava. For each step over Lava, you need to discard 1 Status Token.
• A Status Token can also be exchanged for an extra action during your turn. Remaining Status Tokens are worth 5 VP at the end of the game.

2. Dragons on the Move

Competitive mode

• At the end of every round the Dragons move 1 Tile towards the Samurai nearest to them. See "Dragon Movement". Note: if two or more samurai are at equal distances from the Dragon, he doesn't move.
• When a Samurai is knocked unconscious, they resurrect in one of the three Temples.
• When Samurai beat a Dragon, the player who dealt the final blow keeps the Dragon near his Player Board. At the end of the game, players gain extra VP for each Dragon in their collection: Blue Dragon: 2 VP, Green Dragon: 3 VP, Red Dragon: 5 VP, Legendary Dragon: 7 VP, Set of 3 Dragons of the same color: Additional 7 VP, Set of 3 different Dragons: Additional 10 VP.

3. It's Getting Hot in Here

Competitive mode

• The End Phase is executed twice: as a Lava Phase and as a real End Phase. The Lava Phase is triggered when someone reaches 10 VP. Lava will already rise, but the Rope won't appear and the game won't end once the Lava Phase has ended.
• The real End Phase is triggered as normal when someone reaches 30 VP.
• If the Lava Phase wasn't finished yet, move the Countdown Token back to 1 at the start of the End Phase. Lava will appear again if it was removed by the Adventure Token that allows the removal of Lava Tiles.

Cooperative mode

• The End Phase is executed twice: as a Lava Phase and as a real End Phase.
• At the beginning of the game, place the Countdown Token on number 5. The Lava Phase is triggered after 5 rounds. Lava will already rise, but the game won't end yet when the Lava Phase has ended. After the Lava Phase, move the Countdown Token to number 5 again (2-6 players) or to number 10 in a solo game. Lava will appear again in the final Lava Phase, if it was removed by the Adventure Token that allows the removal of Lava Tiles.

4. Who Is Worthy?

Competitive mode

• Monks are not Gathered but conquered. When a Monk and a Samurai are on the same Space, Combat is initiated. A Monk Combat can't be joined by other Samurai. If this would happen on a tile containing a Dragon, Dragon Combat occurs first.
• All Monks have infinite Initiative and 4 Health. They roll with 4 Wooden Dice (broken Weapon results gives the player 1 Wood). When defeated, the Monk is placed on your Player Board as normal. When a Monk defeats a Samurai, this player is knocked unconscious as usual and this player loses 5 VP (because of severe reputation damage).
• At the end of every round (use the Tokugawa Start Player Marker) the Monks move 2 Spaces towards the Samurai nearest to them. If 2 Samurai are on the same Space, a Monk won't move towards them (he would be outnumbered). If Samurai are at the same distance (number of Tiles as seen from above) from a Monk, this Monk will not move. If a Monk moves onto a Space with a Samurai, Combat is initiated immediately.

5. Survival of the Fittest

Competitive mode

• No one can escape the Volcano while any visible Dragons are alive. Samurai that already escaped the Volcano will return bravely (on the same Rope where they escaped) if another Dragon is discovered before the end of the game. Their already-performed end scoring is not affected.

Cooperative mode

• The goal of the game is to kill the Legendary Dragon and all other visible Dragons, and after this is achieved, for all players to escape through the Secret Exit as normal.

6. Tame the Beast

Cooperative mode

• The Central Tile is not a safe place. Dragons can move onto the Central Tile and attack Samurai there.
• There's only one goal in this game: Players have to lure the Legendary Dragon to the Central Tile. Fight against this Dragon on the Central Tile and reduce its Health to 10 or below. If the Legendary Dragon is killed, the game is lost.

7. The 3 Fallen Samurai

Solo game mode

• Each Temple is guarded by a hostile Samurai. Place an unused, symmetrical Player Board near each Temple. Randomly take Magical Blueprints for each hostile Samurai and Craft a Magical Helmet, Weapon and Sandals for each of them, matching the Blueprints. Place the Blueprints next to the Player Boards of the hostile Samurai and the matching Magical Blueprint Tokens in its Backpack.
• The goal of the game is to defeat the 3 hostile Samurai in the Temples and escape through the Secret Exit afterwards with 3 completed Magical Gear items. Follow the rules of "Samurai Combat". After each Combat, the Damage dealt to the hostile Samurai is not repaired. (Although a Magical Helmet can become Magical again if it still matches the Blueprint.)
• If the player wins in Combat against a hostile Samurai, they may steal 1 Magical Blueprint Token and its matching Blueprint. The hostile Samurai is removed from the game.

8. Ronin

Solo game mode

• Use the competitive side of the Imperial Board and score VP as in the competitive mode. All the other rules of the cooperative mode apply.
• The goal of the game is to end with at least 50 VP and escape via the Rope on the Central Tile. The End Phase starts at 20 VP.

Game Materials

• 1 Game Frame
• 1 double-sided Imperial Board
• 6 Player Boards
• 1 Central Tile
• 3 Sacred Temples (assembly required)
• 33 Volcano Tiles (7x Level I, 13x Level II, 13x Level III)
• 3 Bridge Tiles
• 51 Lava Tiles
• 1 Rope Tile
• 38 Resource Tokens (21 for 1-6 players, 17 extra for 5-6 players)
• 6 Samurai
• 6 VP Markers
• 1 Countdown Token
• 1 Countdown / Tokugawa Marker
• 9 Status Tokens
• 6 Life Tokens
• 13 Dragons: 4 Fearsome Dragons (S), 4 Dreadful Dragons (M), 4 Terrifying Dragons (L), 1 Legendary Dragon (XL)
• 13 Dragon Tiles
• 1 Dragon Health Token
• 12 Damage Tokens
• 20 Adventure Tokens
• 24 Gear Cards (8 Helmets, 8 Weapons, 8 Sandals)
• 60 Wooden Cubes
• 90 Metal Cubes
• 25 Dragon Teeth
• 20 Magic Cubes
• 24 Magical Blueprint Cards (8 Helmets, 8 Weapons, 8 Sandals)
• 8 Wooden Dice
• 8 Metal Dice
• 6 Dragon Tooth Dice
• 1 Magic Die
• 18 Magical Blueprint Tokens (6 Helmets, 6 Weapons, 6 Sandals)
• 16 Sacred Scroll Cards
• 42 Sacred Scroll Tokens
• 18 Action Discs
• 38 Monks

Game Overview

Competitive Mode

Gameplay. When it's your turn, you must perform 2 actions:

• Move: Move up to 2 Spaces (3 if you have completed Sandals).
• Explore: Add a Level I, II or III Tile adjacent to the Space your Samurai is standing on. Place the indicated items (Resource Token, Sacred Scroll Token, Dragon, Monk, Adventure Token) on the new Tile. Flip any facedown Resource Tokens on adjacent Tiles.
• Gather: Take the indicated Resources, Sacred Scroll or Monk (on a Tile) or up to 2 Magical Blueprints (in a Temple) and place them in your Backpack (or on any available Monk location in case of a Monk).
• Rest & Craft: Return all the Action Discs on your Action Fields to the Action Discs pool. When you Rest, you may Craft one type of Gear: Helmet, Weapon or Sandals.

Gear Cards. Match your Gear with a Gear Card. Slide the Card underneath one of your actions. From now on, when you choose this action, perform the Card Bonus Action, the Main Action, or both.

Magical Blueprint. If your Gear matches with one of your Magical Blueprint Cards, place a Magical Cube on top of it. Remove it immediately any time your Gear doesn't match the Blueprint anymore.

• Magical Helmet: Magic absorbs 4 Damage in Combat.
• Magical Weapon: Add 4 points to your Initiative and use the Magical Die.
• Magical Sandals: Magic absorbs 4 Damage when you walk over Lava.

Combat. Initiative determines the order of Dice rolls. The length of your longest Weapon is your Initiative value. The defender wins a tie. Send a Heroic Monk to win Initiative against a non-Legendary Dragon.

Dragon Combat: Fight a Dragon when you're on the same Tile. Samurai on adjacent Spaces may join Combat. Roll Dice matching the Cubes in your Weapon. Remove Resources from your Weapon for each broken-Weapon icon.

Deduct the Dragon's Health according to the number of hits. When the Dragon is defeated, all players still involved receive the indicated VP and a Dragon Tooth.

The hits of the Dragon damage the Samurai's Helmets simultaneously. A Samurai loses a Combat when taking a hit after their Helmet is completely destroyed. Place the Samurai on its side on the Space where it came from. If the Dragon is not defeated, it returns to full Health before the next Combat.

Samurai Combat: Same rules as the Dragon Combat, except:

• If you are on the same Space and both decide (in play order) not to Combat, the active player may continue their turn or Movement. Otherwise Combat must be resolved.
• A Samurai Combat can't be joined by other players and you cannot use a Heroic Monk.
• If you surrender or you are defeated, your opponent may steal 1 item from your Backpack (Magical Blueprint Token + matching card, Monk, Sacred Scroll Token + matching card, Resource Cube).

If the active player's Samurai survived the Combat, they may continue their turn as normal.

Final Chapter. The 8 final rounds are triggered the moment any player reaches 30 VP or more. Every time this player finishes their turn, advance the Countdown Token 1 step.

If you end your turn on a Rope, move your Samurai to the appropriate Bonus Track. Claim a Shōgun Bonus on every remaining turn.

The player with the most VP wins the game.

Cooperative Mode

Goal. Defeat the Legendary Dragon. Then, every player needs to escape through the Secret Exit with at least one completed Magical Gear. Collectively you must have at least one Magical Gear of each type. Achieve these objectives in a set number of rounds:

• 1 player: 25 rounds + 8 final rounds
• 2-6 players: 20 rounds + 8 final rounds

Gameplay changes.

• Use the Status Tokens and move the Dragons without a Token towards the nearest Samurai (counted in Tiles seen from above) at the beginning of every round.
• Samurai don't fight each other.
• When the Dragon's Dice are rolled and 1 or more Dice show the broken-Weapon icon, you decide how to divide the obtained Dragon Teeth among the Samurai that are still involved in Combat. The same for the Dragon Teeth you obtain after defeating the Dragon.
• When a Samurai is knocked unconscious, they resurrect on the Central Tile.
• 2 Samurai on the same Space can exchange Backpack items.
• There's no limit to the number of Magical Blueprints Cards that a Samurai can carry.