Samurai Vassal Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Set Up
• Goal of the Game
• Game Play
  • Step 1. Play Cards
  • Step 2. Proposal Approval
  • "Reject" Rules
  • Step 3. Earning Trust Point
• End of the Game
• Variants
  • Middle Player Mode
  • No Party Mode
  • Samurai Mode
• Character Cards
  • Date Masamune
  • Shima Sakon
  • Maeda Toshiie
  • Naoe Kanetsugu
  • Sanada Yukimura
  • Ishida Mitsunari
  • Takenaka Hanbei
  • Kuroda Kanbei
  • Mastu
  • Nene
  • Tokugawa Ieyasu
  • Oda Nobunaga
  • Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Game Components

• 36 Proposal cards (6 sets)
• 28 Character cards
• 42 Trust tokens (1 trust point and 5 trust points)

Each Proposal card shows a Convincing Level (top left), a Trust Value (the coin icon beneath it), a Name (along the right edge) and a Card Effect (bottom left, in small text). Each Character card shows a Convincing Level, a Trust Value area, a name and a Card Effect.

Set Up

1. Each player gets 6 Proposal cards in the same color.
2. Put all the Trust tokens aside on the table, within easy reach of all players.

Goal of the Game

Be the first player who earns 12 trust points from the Daimyo.

Game Play

Samurai Vassal is played in rounds, which are divided into 3 steps: Play cards, Proposal approval and Earning trust point.

Step 1. Play Cards

After negotiations, each player selects a card from his/her hand and places it face down on the table. When each player's card is down, reveal all of the selections and examine the results.

Step 2. Proposal Approval

Determines which player(s) wins this round by the following rules:

a) The Majority Rule

By examining the cards' convincing level, the majority win the round.

Example: 3 Fortressing (convincing lv. 3) beats 2 War Drills (convincing lv. 4).

b) The Convincing Level Rule

If there's a tie in the Majority rule, the higher convincing level among the tie win the round.

Example: 2 Fortressing (convincing lv. 3) beats 2 Surveying (convincing lv. 2) and 1 War Drills (convincing lv. 4).

c) Card Effects

Some of the cards have card effect(s) that may alter the result.

Following is the card effects explanation of the 6 basic proposal cards.

• Cherry Blossom Party (Convincing level: 1, Trust value: 1): "Reject" card(s) with convincing level 5 played by other player(s) this round (please refer to "Reject" rules below).
• Surveying (Convincing level: 2, Trust value: 2): No effect.
• Fortressing (Convincing level: 3, Trust value: 1): No effect.
• War Drills (Convincing level: 4, Trust value: 0): If you win this round, player(s) losing this round lose 1 trust points.
• Invasion (Convincing level: 5, Trust value: 1): Cancel majority rule. Card(s) with highest convincing level win the round.
• Strategising (Convincing level: 0, Trust value: 0): You lose this round. When this card is played, return all your cards (including this card) to your hand immediately. (Card icon notes: "You lose, cannot be canceled" and "Return your card(s) to hand, cannot be canceled".)

"Reject" Rules

When a card effect indicates "Reject" a target, AND there is at least one suitable target card played in that round:

Target card(s) lose the round, and all the other cards win! This overrules The Majority Rule and The Convincing Level Rule!

Example: Player A plays Cherry Blossom Party, which has the effect "Reject" card(s) with convincing level 5. Player B plays Surveying, Player C plays Fortressing, and Players D and E each play Invasion (convincing level 5). Players D and E lose, and all others win.

Step 3. Earning Trust Point

For Player(s) who win this round:

Tally the trust values of all your face-up cards on the table and get the corresponding trust points.

Example: If you won in the previous round with Fortressing (1 trust point) and in this round with Surveying (2 trust points), you can get 3 trust points this round by accumulating the trust values of both cards.

For Player(s) who lose this round:

Flip all your cards on the table face down, and do not gain any trust point.

Note: When you lose a round, all your cards, including cards played in previous rounds, will be flipped to face-down. Even if you win a round later on, these cards could not earn you any trust point.

If you have couples of face-down cards in front of you, consider playing "Strategising" next round to return them to hand.

Note: Some card effects may activate in this step. Example: "War Drills".

End of the Game

Repeat the 3 steps until a player has earned 12 or more trust points. The game ends and the player with the most trust points wins the game!

In the case of a tie, the player with the most cards on the table is the winner. If it is still a tie, they share the victory!

Variants

After your first game, the following modes could be used to increase the fun!

Middle Player Mode

In set-up, shuffle a set of Proposal cards to form the NPC deck. In every round, reveal one card from the deck firstly, then the players play as normal. The additional NPC card may affect the win/lose result in a round. NPC could win a round, but could not gain any trust point. Therefore, NPC could never win the game.

Note: Players are allowed to look at the NPC cards played in previous turns.

No Party Mode

In set-up, take out all the "Cherry Blossom Party". They cannot be used.

Samurai Mode

In set-up, shuffle all the Character cards and deal 3 cards to all players. Each player chooses 1 out of the 3 and discards the remaining 2 cards face-down. Now, every player has 1 Character card in his/her hand, which is a powerful add-on to your strategy. The detailed explanation of the Character cards follows.

Character Cards

Date Masamune

Convincing level: 3. If you win this round, player(s) losing this round lose 2 trust points.

Shima Sakon

Convincing level: 4. If you win this round, player(s) losing this round lose 1 trust point.

Maeda Toshiie

Convincing level: 3. If player(s) with convincing level 2 wins, you win together with them.

Card effect (bottom of card): If 2 wins → you win.

Naoe Kanetsugu

Convincing level: 2. If you win this round, you gain 1 trust point for each face-down card you have played in front of you.

Sanada Yukimura

Convincing level: none (this card has no convincing level; it could only win the round by card effect). If you lose this round, all other player(s) lose 1 trust point.

Ishida Mitsunari

Convincing level: 2. When this card is played, return all other cards you have played in front of you to your hand immediately. This effect may reduce the number of trust point you earned this round.

Takenaka Hanbei

Convincing level: 3. Cancel majority rule. Card(s) with highest convincing level win the round.

Kuroda Kanbei

Convincing level: 3. Cancel all card effect(s). This effect takes precedence to block all other card effect(s) this round, except the effects of "Strategising". The victory can only be determined by the majority rule and convincing level.

Mastu

Convincing level: 2. If you win this round, you gain 4 trust points.

Nene

Convincing level: 2. If player(s) with convincing level 5 wins, you win together with them.

Card effect (bottom of card): If 5 wins → you win.

Tokugawa Ieyasu

Convincing level: 5. This card has 2 effects:

1. Cancel majority rule. Card(s) with highest convincing level win the round.
2. If you win this round, you gain 2 trust points.

Oda Nobunaga

Convincing level: 5. This card has 2 effects:

1. Cancel majority rule. Card(s) with highest convincing level win the round.
2. When this card is played, you immediately flip all other cards you have played in front of you face-down. This effect may reduce the number of trust point you earned this round.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Convincing level: 5. This card has 2 effects:

1. Cancel majority rule. Card(s) with highest convincing level win the round.
2. No matter you win or lose this round, you must play "Strategising" next round.

Hattori Hanzo

Convincing level: none (this card has no convincing level; it could only win the round by card effect). This card has 2 effects:

1. "Reject" character card(s) played by other player(s) this round (refer to "Reject" rules).
2. When this card is played, return all other cards you have played in front of you to your hand immediately. This effect may reduce the number of trust point you earned this round.

Sarutobi Sasuke

Convincing level: none, copied (this card copies your last played card's convincing level and card effect(s)). Trust value of this card is 1. (This card has no convincing level; it could only win the round by card effect.)

Fuma Kotaro

Convincing level: none (this card has no convincing level; it could only win the round by card effect). This card has 2 effects:

1. All players lose this round.
2. When this card is played, return your last played card to your hand immediately. This effect may reduce the number of trust point you earned this round.

(This card has no way to win the round. If its effect is blocked by Kuroda Kanbei, it will also lose the round as it has no convincing level.)

Asano Nagamasa

Convincing level: 2. If player(s) with convincing level 4 wins, you win together with them.

Kaihime

Convincing level: 1. This card has 2 effects:

1. "Reject" card(s) with convincing level 5 played by other player(s) this round (refer to "Reject" rules).
2. "Reject" card(s) with convincing level 4 played by other player(s) this round (refer to "Reject" rules).

Oichi

Convincing level: 1. This card has 2 effects:

1. "Reject" card(s) with convincing level 5 played by other player(s) this round (refer to "Reject" rules).
2. If you win this round, you gain 2 trust points.

Chacha

Convincing level: 1. This card has 2 effects:

1. "Reject" card(s) with convincing level 5 played by other player(s) this round (refer to "Reject" rules).
2. No matter you win or lose this round, you must play "Strategising" next round.

Honda Tadakatsu

Convincing level: 4. This card has 2 effects:

1. If you win this round, player(s) losing this round lose 1 trust point.
2. When this card is played, player(s) with the most trust point immediately lose 1 trust point. This effect may cause you losing trust point if you are having the most trust point when you play this card.

Takeda Shingen

Convincing level: 4. This card has 2 effects:

1. If you win this round, player(s) losing this round lose 1 trust point.
2. Cancel majority rule. Card(s) with highest convincing level win the round.

Uesugi Kenshin

Convincing level: 4. This card has 2 effects:

1. If you win this round, player(s) losing this round lose 1 trust point.
2. When this card is played, return your last played card to your hand immediately. This effect may reduce the number of trust point you earned this round.

Kato Kiyomasa

Convincing level: 3. If you lose this round, all other player(s) lose 1 trust point.

Fukushima Masanori

Convincing level: 3. If player(s) with convincing level 4 wins, you win together with them.

Shibata Katsuie

Convincing level: 3. When this card is played, player(s) with the most trust point immediately lose 1 trust point. This effect may cause you losing trust point if you are having the most trust point when you play this card.

Akechi Mitsuhide

Convincing level: none (this card has no convincing level; it could only win the round by card effect). Card effect: "Reject" card(s) with convincing level 5 played by other player(s) this round (refer to "Reject" rules).

Nohime

Convincing level: 1. This card has 2 effects:

1. "Reject" card(s) with convincing level 5 played by other player(s) this round (refer to "Reject" rules).
2. When this card is played, you immediately flip all other cards you have played in front of you face-down. This effect may reduce the number of trust point you earned this round.