General Orders: Sengoku Jidai Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Important Concepts
  • Areas & Adjacency
  • Control
  • Supply
  • Unit Restrictions
  • Insufficient Units
• How to Play
  • 1. Deploy Commanders
  • 2. Recall Commanders
  • 3. Advance the Round Marker
• Game End
  • Example of Game End
• Actions
  • Linked Action Icons
  • Support Action Icons
  • Linked Actions
    • Advance
    • Sail
    • Bombard
    • Shell
    • Siege (Fortress game mode only)
• Support Actions
  • Reinforce
  • Embark
  • Plan
• Conflicts
• Area Bonuses
• Operation Cards
  • Reading an Operation Card
• Example Turn

Components

• A 1 game board (double-sided)
• B 1 round marker (double-sided)
• C 4 dice (faces show 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 "pips")
• D 1 support board (double-sided)
• E 48 operation cards (24 per game mode)
• F 1 rulebook
• G 2 reference cards (double-sided)
• H 6 area bonus tokens (5 per game mode)
• I 12 commanders (6 per faction)
• J 50 troops (25 per faction)
• K 20 ships (10 per faction)
• L 10 siege weapons (5 per faction)

Setup

Choose either the Rivers (icon) or Fortress (icon) game mode. If playing for the first time, we recommend you choose the Rivers game mode. If playing the Rivers game mode, ignore elements marked with the Fortress icon. If playing the Fortress game mode, ignore elements marked with the Rivers icon.

1. Each player chooses a faction colour and takes a reference card.
2. Place the game board between both players on the side matching the chosen game mode (Rivers or Fortress), with your faction's headquarters (HQ) closer to you.
3. Place the support board along the short edge of the main board, lining up the chosen game mode icons.
4. Take the area bonus tokens, ignoring the one that does not match the chosen game mode, and randomly place one into each of the slots indicated on the game board.
5. Take commanders equal to the number shown on your support board standby area (5 for Rivers or 6 for Fortress), 25 troops, and 10 ships of your faction colour, and place them into your reserve.
6. For each troop symbol of your faction colour in land areas, place one of your troops there from your reserve.
7. For each ship symbol of your faction colour in water areas, place one of your ships there from your reserve.
8. (Fortress game mode only) Take all 5 siege weapons of your faction colour and place them in your reserve. For each siege weapon symbol of your faction colour in land areas, place one of your siege weapons there from your reserve.
9. Shuffle the 24 operation cards matching your chosen game mode into a face-down deck. Place it next to the game board.
10. Place the four dice within reach.
11. Flip the round marker. The faction whose colour lands on the face-up side has the initiative. Place the marker on the round 1 space of the support board.

Important Concepts

Areas & Adjacency

Areas are separated by solid borders. Multiple hex spaces without borders between them count as single areas. Areas sharing the same border are adjacent.

Control

You control an area (land or water) if you have at least one unit (troops, ships, or siege weapons) in it at the beginning or end of an action.

Supply

An area (land or water) is in supply if both of the following are true:

• You control the area
• The area is connected to your HQ land area through an unbroken line of adjacent areas (land, water, or both) that you control.

Example: Red has control and supply. Black has control and supply. Black has control only where there is no unbroken line of adjacent land and/or water areas that they control between the highlighted area and their HQ.

Unit Restrictions

Troops can be placed into land areas only.

Ships can be placed into water areas only.

(Fortress game mode only) Siege weapons can be placed into land areas only.

At the end of every action, you must reduce the number of units in:

• each land area to 5; and
• each water area to 3.

Return any excess units to your reserve.

You may exceed these limits while you are resolving an action.

Insufficient Units

If there aren't enough units in your reserve to complete an action, you may remove units of that type from areas you control and place them in your reserve. You may then use them to complete the intended action.

You cannot take the last unit from an area.

How to Play

The game is played over a series of rounds. Each round has three phases:

1. Deploy commanders
2. Recall commanders
3. Advance round marker

The game ends when either:

• One player has no units left in their HQ. That player immediately loses.
• The fourth round ends. The player with the highest total of victory points on all the areas they supply wins.

See 'Game End' on page 10.

1. Deploy Commanders

Starting with the player who has initiative, you and your opponent alternate taking turns.

On your turn, take one of your commanders from your reserve, place it into an unoccupied action space, and then perform the associated action. (See actions on page 12.)

This continues until you and your opponent have deployed all your commanders.

If you do not wish to perform any of the available actions, you may pass. To pass, place one of your commanders from your reserve into your standby area, along your edge of the support board.

Commanders placed here are not available until the next round.

If you do pass, on subsequent turns in that round, you may deploy other commanders from your reserve to perform actions as normal.

2. Recall Commanders

Return all the commanders you deployed this round, as well as any in your standby area, to your reserves.

3. Advance the Round Marker

Advance the round marker forward one space on the round track, without changing the initiative holder. You are now ready to start the next round.

At the end of Round 4, the game ends. (See Game End on page 10.)

Game End

The game can end in two ways:

1. One player has no units left in their HQ.

   In this case, that player immediately loses.

2. At the end of the fourth round.

   In this case, the player with the highest total of victory points on all the areas they supply wins.

   Victory points are indicated by the star icon.

If tied, the player with initiative wins.

Example of Game End

No troops left in HQ. Bo (black) has none of his troops left in his HQ. His opponent wins immediately!

End of round 4. The fourth round has ended. In this case, the player with the highest total number of victory points on the areas they supply wins.

Bo (black) has 5 victory points on areas he supplies.

Mali (red) has 4 victory points on areas she controls, but has only 3 victory points on areas she both controls and supplies.

Therefore, Bo wins with 5 victory points against Mali's 3.

Actions

Action spaces are where you deploy commanders to take actions. When you deploy a commander into an action space, resolve the associated action.

You cannot deploy into an action space that is already occupied by a commander, whether it is yours or your opponent's.

Each action space has specific deployment criteria. You cannot deploy commanders into an action space if you do not meet all of its deployment criteria.

Linked Action Icons

• Advance
• Sail
• Bombard
• Shell
• Siege (Fortress game mode only)

Support Action Icons

• Reinforce
• Embark
• Plan

Linked Actions

Linked action spaces are contained within a particular land or water area on the game board, referred to as the linked land area or the linked water area.

Advance

Deployment criteria

• You do not control the linked land area.
• You can move at least one land unit into the linked land area (see below).

To perform an Advance action, do the following:

1. Move in. Take one or more of your land units and move them into the linked land area. You can take a land unit from any area you supply that is adjacent to:

   • the linked land area; and/or
   • a water area that you supply that is itself adjacent to the linked land area.

   You cannot take the last land unit from a land area.

2. Resolve conflict. If the linked area is controlled by your opponent, resolve a conflict (see page 29).

Example of Advance

1. Mali (red) deploys a commander into the circled Advance action space.

2. Mali moves land units from areas A and B that she supplies, and which are adjacent to the linked land area where the commander was deployed.

   Mali also moves land units from land area C as it is adjacent to a water area she supplies that is itself adjacent to the linked land area.

   She could not have moved land units from area D as it is not in supply nor adjacent, nor from area E as its adjacent water area is not adjacent to the linked land area.

3. This Advance action would trigger a conflict as the linked land area is currently controlled by her opponent.

Sail

Deployment criteria

• You do not control the linked water area.
• You are able to move at least one ship into the linked water area (see below).

To perform a Sail action, do the following:

1. Move in. Take one or more of your ships and move them into the linked water area. You can take a ship from any water area you supply that is connected to the linked water area by an unbroken chain of water areas that you also supply.

   You cannot take the last ship from a water area.

2. Resolve conflict. If the linked area is controlled by your opponent, resolve a conflict (see page 29).

Example of Sail

1. Mali (red) deploys a commander into the circled Sail action space.
2. She moves the selected ships from supplied areas through the adjacent water areas she supplies to the linked water area, making sure to leave at least one ship in each water area.

Bombard

Deployment criteria

• You supply the linked water area.

To perform a Bombard action, do the following:

1. Choose a target land area adjacent to the linked water area.

   (Fortress game mode only) The target land area must not contain a fortification.

   (A land area's fortification is shown by its fortification border on the game board.)

2. Bombard the target land area. Roll one dice for each ship in the linked water area. Add up the number of pips rolled. Your opponent must remove this many of their land units from the target land area and place them in their reserve. They may choose which units to remove.

   If there are not enough units, your opponent must remove as many as they can and ignore the remainder.

Example of Bombard

1. Mali (red) deploys a commander to the circled Bombard action space in her supplied water area. She targets the adjacent highlighted land area A with two opposing troops.

   She could have targeted area B but not C nor D as they are not adjacent to the linked water area.

2. She will roll one dice for each of her ships in the linked water area. She rolls two dice and rolls 3 pips.

3. Bo (black) removes his two troops, leaving none remaining. This leaves neither player in control of the contested area.

Shell

Deployment criteria

• You supply the linked land area.

To perform a Shell action, do the following:

1. Choose a target water area adjacent to the linked land area.

2. Shell the target water area. Roll two dice. Add up the number of pips rolled. Your opponent must remove this many of their ships from the target water area and place them in their reserve.

   If there are not enough ships, they must remove as many as they can and ignore the remainder.

Example of Shell

1. Bo (black) deploys a commander into the circled Shell action space. He targets the highlighted adjacent water area A.

2. He rolls two dice and rolls 1 pip.

3. Mali (red) removes one of her ships from the target water area.

Siege (Fortress game mode only)

Deployment criteria

• You supply the linked land area.
• The linked land area contains at least one siege weapon.

To perform a Siege action, do the following:

1. Choose a target land area adjacent to the linked land area.

2. Siege the target land area. Roll one dice for each of your siege weapons in the linked land area. Add up the number of pips rolled. Your opponent must remove this many of their land units from the target land area and place them in their reserve. They may choose which units to remove.

   If there are not enough units, they must remove as many as they can and ignore the remainder.

Example of Siege

1. Bo (black) deploys a commander into the circled Siege action space.

2. Bo targets the highlighted land area A.

3. He will roll one dice for each of his siege weapons in the linked land area. He rolls three dice and rolls 3 pips.

4. Mali (red) decides to lose two of her troops and one of her siege weapons and returns them to her reserve. This leaves her with one troop and one siege weapon behind in the target land area.

Support Actions

Support action spaces are on the support board. They are not linked with specific areas.

Some support actions are followed by an "×N". The value of N is shown next to the action on the support board.

Reinforce

Deployment criteria

• There are two Reinforce action spaces. You may deploy a commander into a maximum of one of these spaces each round.

To perform a Reinforce action, do the following:

1. Take N land units from your reserve. Place these units in land areas that you supply.

   (Fortress game mode only) The action space specifies the maximum number of those units that can be siege weapons (2 of 6 or 1 of 5).

Follow the unit restrictions on page 7.

This is a Reinforce action space. Deploying a commander here would allow you to add 6 troops from your reserve to areas you supply.

(Fortress game mode only) Deploying a commander here would allow you to add 6 land units from your reserve to areas you supply. Up to 2 of those 6 can be siege weapons.

Embark

Deployment criteria

• There are two Embark action spaces. You may deploy a commander into a maximum of one of these spaces each round.

To perform an Embark action, do the following:

1. Take N ships from your reserve. Place them into water areas that:
   • you supply; and/or
   • are adjacent to a land area with a port that you supply and do not contain enemy ships.

Follow the unit restrictions on page 7.

Ports

Ports are linked to the Embark action on the support board. They indicate adjacent water areas you can place ships into when taking an Embark action.

Example of Embark

1. Bo (black) deploys a commander into the circled Embark action space on the support board. This allows him to place three ships.

2. He supplies both highlighted ports, so places one of his ships into a water area next to each port he supplies. He places his third ship into another water area he already supplies.

3. He couldn't place a ship into the water space A because it is not in supply nor adjacent.

   He also couldn't place a ship into the water space B despite it being next to a port he supplies as it is under his opponent's control (unless the operation card Commandeer was used to break this restriction).

Plan

Deployment criteria

• There are two Plan action spaces. You may deploy a commander into a maximum of one of these spaces each round.

To perform a Plan action, do the following:

1. Draw N cards from your operation cards deck and add them to your hand. There is no limit to the number of operation cards you can have in your hand.

2. If you deployed a commander into the Plan action space with the initiative symbol, flip the round marker to your faction. You now have initiative and will deploy the first commander in the next round.

Conflicts

A conflict occurs whenever one player (the attacker) places or moves units into an area controlled by their opponent (the defender). Conflicts can happen in land areas and in water areas.

Resolve the conflict as follows:

1. Defence: The defender rolls one dice. Add up the number of pips rolled. The attacker removes this many attacking units of their choice from the contested area and places them in their reserve. Perform this step even if the defender does not supply the area.

   (Fortress game mode only) If the conflict is in a land area that contains a fortification, the defender instead rolls two dice in the defence step.

2. Attrition: If any attacking units remain, players simultaneously remove their units from the contested area, one each at a time, until at least one player has none remaining. Follow the unit restrictions on page 7.

3. Place all units removed during the conflict in their respective owner's reserve.

Example of Conflict

1. Mali (red) deploys her commander into the circled Advance action space and moves in the six selected land units. This triggers a conflict!

2. First, because Bo (black) is defending a fortified area, he rolls two defence dice instead of one. He rolls 3 pips.

3. Mali must remove three of her land units and she chooses three troops.

4. Next, for the attrition step, Bo and Mali simultaneously remove one of their land units each until only one player's remain. Bo chooses to remove his two troops and one of his siege weapons. Mali must remove all her remaining land units.

5. After attrition, Bo has one of his siege weapons left, so keeps control of the contested area.

Area Bonuses

If you supply a land area with a linked area bonus token, you gain access to its ability.

Barracks: When taking a Reinforce action, add 2 extra troops from your reserve to land areas you supply.

War Room: When taking a Plan action, draw 1 additional operation card.

Pirate Haven: When taking a Bombard action, roll one additional dice in Bombard step 2.

Shipyard: Immediately after you have performed Sail step 1, and before starting step 2, add 1 additional ship from your reserve to the linked water area.

Hidden Base (Rivers game mode only): Immediately after you have performed Advance step 1, before starting step 2, add 1 additional troop from your reserve to the linked land area. Don't apply this ability during the Advance action in which you gain control of this bonus token.

Armoury (Fortress game mode only): When taking a Siege action, roll one additional dice in Siege step 2.

Operation Cards

Players draw operation cards by taking the Plan action. There is no limit to the number of operation cards you can have in your hand.

You can spend an operation card to:

• Resolve its special effect, or
• Reroll all dice you rolled.

You can resolve multiple special effects in the same turn. However, you cannot resolve two of the same special effects in the same turn. There is no limit to how many cards you can spend to reroll dice.

When you spend an operation card, place it into a shared discard pile next to the operation card deck.

Reading an Operation Card

Example card — Commandeer: Take and place up to one additional ship from your reserve. You may place ships into water areas your opponent controls. Condition: When taking an Embark action.

1. Special effect: what the card does when played.
2. Condition: when the card can be played for its special effect.
3. Condition icon: the action space symbol indicates that the card can be played during your turn. The red action space symbol indicates that the card can be played during your opponent's turn.

NOTE: Dice are not intended to be limited. If a special effect would cause you to roll more dice than are supplied in the box, roll all of them and then re-roll as many as necessary, tracking the overall total you have rolled.

Example Turn

1. On his turn, Bo (black) deploys his last commander of the round into the circled Advance action space.

2. Bo moves in five of his troops from three different land areas: two adjacent areas that are in supply, and one area in supply across a water space in supply directly adjacent to the linked space.

3. Bo also moves in one additional troop from his reserve thanks to the Hidden Base area bonus he has access to.

4. As the target land area is controlled by Mali (red), she will roll one dice in defence. However, she decides to increase her chance of success and plays the Ambush operation card to add two additional dice. She will therefore roll three dice. She rolls a 0, 0, 1 for a total of 1 pip.

5. Unhappy with that result, she spends an operation card to reroll all three dice and rolls 4 pips.

6. Bo therefore removes four of his troops from the linked land area, leaving two behind.

7. Through attrition, both players simultaneously remove their units from the area, one at a time, until only Mali has one troop left. She therefore keeps control of the contested area.

8. Since this is the last commander to be played this round, both players recall all of their deployed commanders (along with any in their standby area), move the round marker forward one space, and begin the next round.