Katana: Samurai Action Card Game
Katana: Samurai Action Card Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents and Components
The game is made up of four decks:
- Action deck: 48 cards
- Kami deck: 12 cards
- Health and Armor deck: 22 cards
- Shrine deck: 24 cards
Set Up
Each player draws three kami cards, selects one and places it face up on the table. Use the diagram on the kami card to arrange your health and armor: armor must always be placed on top of health.
Draw five (5) action cards. The youngest player or winner of the previous game takes the first turn.
Gameplay Overview
The goal is to eliminate your opponent's armor and health. Gameplay occurs in turns, organized into three phases:
FIRST
Draw from the action deck until you have five (5) cards in your hand.
SECOND
Take an action: attack, purify to activate your kami, initiate kamikaze, pollute your opponent's kami, or draw a shrine card. You may also discard any number of your action cards and draw new ones.
THIRD
Designate a stance: play an action card face down. Flip it over if attacked during your opponent's turn and activate the ability at the bottom of the card. Discard if not attacked.
Attack and Defense
Combat in Katana operates on a simple concept: for every single action there is one reaction. Play one (1) card with an attack value during the action phase of your turn to attack. You cannot attack with multiple cards simultaneously.
You may issue follow-up attacks for every instance your opponent defends against attack. If not responded to with a defensive card, your attack succeeds; however, the turn ends and follow-up attacks are prohibited.
Play one (1) card with a defense value when attacked to mount a defense. You are not allowed to defend with multiple cards simultaneously. You may elect not to play a card, but you must absorb any damage dealt in the attack.
You have the option of playing a pollute card to dispel a bonus or impair your opponent's kami; however, it does not defend against attack and you must take any damage from the attack.
Example: Player 1 uses their turn to attack for 3. Player 2 defends for 3. Player 1 refuses to quit and follows up with an attack of 2. Player 2 defends for 1 and takes 1 damage. Player 1 follows up again, a hit for 2 damage since no defense card is played, and the turn ends.
In this configuration, the top row is open to attack, but not the second row.
The health and armor in the top row need to be eliminated before attacking those in the second row.
Attack only health and armor in the top-most row. Eliminate this row before attacking the next row behind it. Call out the stack of health and armor you want to attack when initiating battle.
Each point of damage eliminates one (1) health or armor. All armor stacked on a health must be eliminated first before the underlying health can be removed.
A battle sequence ends when health is lost. Only one health can be lost in any single battle sequence.
Medieval Japanese considered any contact with blood as having a polluting effect, requiring purification to resolve. Therefore, eliminating an opponent's health pollutes your kami. Reflected attacks are self-polluting.
REFLECT
Damage is redirected to the attacker, who may defend against the reflected attack before the battle ends. Instances of kamikaze are nullified, not reflected.
SHATTER
Your opponent loses one (1) armor, but you must resolve their attack as normal.
FUTURE ATTACK
You receive a +1 future attack bonus, but you must resolve the attack as normal. Set card aside for future use; you may save as many bonuses as you like. Note that a pollute card played as an action or in defense can dispel one (1) bonus.
DEFEND
You receive +1 defense against an initial attack; does not extend to any follow-up attacks. Alternately, you gain an armor if not using it for immediate defense.
Stance
Stance is a card played face-down after you take an action; it is the final phase of a turn. It is the ability noted at the bottom of each action card.
A stance card is activated when you are attacked; if you are not attacked, discard it. You are not required to play a card in stance, as it is optional.
Kami
Each kami possesses a passive ability and active one. Passive abilities in the steel panel are accessible at anytime as long as your kami has not been polluted.
Active abilities, noted in the red section, require playing a purify card as an action during your turn. Draw a shrine card when using an active ability.
Kamikaze
Sacrifice your kami as an action during a turn to attack your opponent with the value listed on the card; attack bonuses can be applied. Reflect in stance nullifies kamikaze. Follow-up attacks are not permitted. Draw a shrine card once the kamikaze attack is resolved.
Discard kami for the duration of the game after kamikaze. You may play a card in stance. Health and armor remain in place until a new kami is summoned.
Draft a new kami by playing a purify card and sacrificing one (1) armor as an action during your turn. If you do not have armor, you cannot summon a kami. Draw the top card from kami deck and rearrange your health and armor to align with your new kami as best as possible.
Purify and Pollute
Purify cards activate kami abilities and reverse the damaging effects of pollute cards. Play a purify card as an action during your turn to do one of the following: trigger an active ability, negate one instance of pollution on your kami, or summon a kami if you do not have one.
Pollute cards are the opposite of purify. Play a pollute card as an action during your turn to negate one opponent attack bonuses or impair their kami.
Draw a shrine card whenever you play a purify card. Resolve the shrine card then continue your turn.
You may play a pollute card when attacked; however, it does not defend against the attack, but impairs the other player's kami and forces an end to battle. Draw a shrine card and resolve it before your opponent plays a card in stance.
You must stack three (3) pollute cards on a kami to banish it: first bars use of the active ability, second restricts the passive ability, while the third pollute card destroys the kami.
A third pollute card can banish this kami from the game, but a purify card can also save it.
Tips
Do not fear kamikaze: go for it! While sacrificing your kami is scary, it can help you. Plus, you can summon a new one.
Pollute to your advantage: pollute cards not only impair a kami, but it also forces your opponent to spend valuable turns purifying it away.
Armor doesn't need to be placed evenly across health: consider bulking up armor at strategic points to improve defense.
Playing a card in stance is optional: usually it makes sense to play a card in stance, although it might benefit you to skip it if you're low on cards or don't think your opponent will attack.