Sensō: Battle For Japan
Sensō: Battle For Japan Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 x 54 card Battle for Japan deck (includes 1 x Wood Ninja and 1 x Jade Ninja).
- 1 x 16 card Sensō deck:
- 4 x Map cards.
- 1 x Game Setup / Conflict Rewards card (double-sided).
- 1 x Scoring / Emperor Rules card (double-sided).
- 1 x First Player card.
- 5 x Faction cards (Takeda, Uesugi, Oda, Mori, Emperor).
- 4 x Faction Advantage cards.
- 32 x Faction cubes (8 x red, 8 x blue, 8 x yellow, 8 x grey).
- 6 x Affected Region cubes (black).
Setup
- Place the four Map cards face up in ascending Region number order, starting with Region 01 on the left, to create the Map.
- Place Faction cubes onto Regions as shown on the Game Setup card. The number and colour of cubes placed must match the Game Setup card, regardless of how many players there are.
- If there are fewer than 5 players, remove the Emperor Faction card.
- Shuffle the Faction cards and deal 1, face down, to each player. Remove unused Faction cards from the game.
- Each player then reveals their Faction card, placing it face up in front of them.
- Players take the remaining Faction cubes (i.e. those not on the Map) matching their Faction card colour.
- Some players will have less Faction cubes to take than others. In a 5 player game, the Emperor does not take any Faction cubes. Remove the remaining unused Faction cubes from the game.
- Place the 6 black Affected Region cubes near the Map.
- Flip the Game Setup card to the Conflict Rewards side and place it next to the Scoring card, near the Map.
- Shuffle the 4 Faction Advantage cards and deal them in a face up row.
- Slide the leftmost Faction Advantage card upwards; this suit is active and has advantage in the 1st round.
- Shuffle the 54 card deck.
- Randomly choose a First Player and give them the First Player card.
1st Round
In Sensō, there are 8 Rounds. Each round is made up of multiple Conflicts.
To begin the 1st round, the First Player deals 6 face down cards to each player, starting with the player to their left and moving clockwise. In subsequent rounds the number of cards dealt to each player will increase, as shown in the table below:
| Round | Cards dealt to each player (2-4 player game) | Cards dealt to each player (5 player game) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 6 |
| 2 | 7 | 7 |
| 3 | 8 | 8 |
| 4 | 9 | 9 |
| 5 | 10 | 10 |
| 6 | 11 | 10 |
| 7 | 12 | 10 |
| 8 | 13 | 10 |
The First Player then plays a card from their hand, face up, to the middle of the table. This is the leading card and it dictates the leading suit for the subsequent Conflict.
Play proceeds clockwise. Each player must play a card from their hand; if possible, the card played must match the leading suit.
If a player cannot follow the leading suit, then they must play another card from their hand. After all players have played a single card, the Conflict is resolved in the following manner:
- Non-Ninja cards that do not match the leading or active Faction Advantage suit are ignored.
- If a single Ninja was played, then the player who played that Ninja wins the Conflict. If both Ninjas were played, the player who played the Jade Ninja wins the Conflict.
- If no Ninjas were played, the player who played the highest value card of the active Faction Advantage suit wins the Conflict.
- If no Ninjas or active Faction Advantage suit cards were played, the player who played the highest value card of the leading suit wins the Conflict.
N.B.: Aces are considered the highest value card in each suit.
Example of a 5 player Conflict; Takeda is the Faction Advantage suit - Jade Ninja wins.
The player who wins the Conflict plays the first card (and therefore dictates the leading suit) at the start of the next Conflict.
Conflicts continue in the manner described above until players have played all of the cards in their hand; this marks the end of the Round.
At the end of the Round, each player counts the number of Conflicts that they won. They may now exchange these victories for Conflict Rewards in order to influence their Faction's control over the Map.
Conflict Rewards
The player with the most Conflict victories chooses and resolves their Conflict Reward first. If multiple players are tied, they choose and resolve in clockwise order, starting with the player closest to the left of the First Player.
The Conflict Rewards available to a player depend on the number of Conflict victories they have earned during the Round, as shown in the table below.
In 5 player games, the Emperor can control any Faction cube when resolving Conflict Rewards.
| Conflict Victories | Conflict Reward | Reward Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 or more | Balance | The player swaps 1 of their own Faction cubes currently on a Map Region square with an opponent's Faction cube directly above within the same Region. OR The player moves 1 of their own Faction cubes currently on a Map Region square to the highest empty square in an adjacent Region (Regions considered adjacent are connected by lines). N.B.: If there are no empty squares in adjacent Regions, then you may instead replace an opponent's Faction cube in the lowest space in that Region, returning the cube to that opponent. |
| 3 or more | Determination | The player adds 1 of their own Faction cubes to the highest empty square of any Region. |
| 5 or more | Aggression | The player removes 1 Faction cube of any opponent's colour from a Region square and replaces it with 1 of their own. N.B.: If the player does not have a Faction cube to place after removing their opponent's cube, all Faction cubes within that Region move upwards to fill the gap created. |
| 7 or more | Focus | The player chooses any 2 of the above Conflict Rewards, but they may not use the same Conflict Reward twice. |
Whenever a player interacts with a Region, they must place a black Affected Region cube over that Region's number. This indicates that no other player can interact with that Region during this Conflict Reward phase. In the case of Faction cubes which move from one Region to another, it is the destination Region that is classed as Affected.
End of the Round
When all players with Conflict victories have exchanged them for Conflict Rewards, return the active Faction Advantage card to the row and slide the next card in the row upwards; this is the new active suit and has advantage in the next round.
Shuffle all cards played during the round back into the 54 card deck.
Remove any black Affected Region cubes from the Map and pass the First Player card clockwise to the next player.
End of the 4th Round
At the end of the 4th round, all players may immediately add one Faction cube of their colour (if available) to the highest empty square within any Region, starting with the player closest to the left of the First Player and moving clockwise. The Affected Region rule is ignored for the placement of these cubes (i.e. players may place their Faction cube into the same Region as another player).
In a 5 player game, the player controlling the Emperor Faction does not add a Faction cube at this time.
Shuffle the Faction Advantage cards and deal a new row of 4, sliding the leftmost Faction Advantage card upwards as in previous rounds.
End of the Game & Scoring
At the end of the 8th round, all players calculate their scores.
2, 3 and 4 Player Games
Players score Victory Points (VP) equal to the pip value beside each cube (1, 2 or 3 VP).
In addition, they score 1 VP for every Region containing 2 or more of their Faction cubes; they are said to Control this Region.
5 Player Games
All non-Emperor players score as above (page 06).
The player controlling the Emperor Faction scores 2 VP for every Region that contains no Faction cubes and 2 VP for every Region where no single other player has Control (see page 06).
If Region 04 or Region 08 contains a cube, the Emperor player does not score any points for that Region.
Scoring Example
Player 1 (Mori): 9 VP. Player 2 (Oda): 12 VP. Player 3 (Takeda): 13 VP. Player 4 (Uesugi): 10 VP. Player 5 (Emperor): 10 VP.
Region 07 Scoring Example:
- Player 3 (Takeda) scores 6 VP (3 VP + 2 VP (+1 VP for Control)).
- Player 4 (Uesugi) scores 1 VP.
- Player 5 (Emperor) scores 0 VP (as Takeda has Control).
The player with the highest score wins. In the case of a tie, the player who has the most Faction cubes on the Map wins. If the tie persists, the Emperor is declared winner, whether the Emperor Faction was playing or not.
2 vs 2 Gameplay Variant (Optional)
If you are playing Sensō with 4 players and would like to play in teams rather than individually, play the game as detailed above, but with the following changes:
At the start of the game, after the Faction cards are revealed, form 2 Teams; 1 consisting of the Oda (yellow) and Mori (grey) players and 1 consisting of the Takeda (red) and Uesugi (blue) players.
At the end of the game, combine team-mate points to calculate a Team Score; the team with the highest Team Score wins. In the case of a tie, the Team who had the highest combined number of Faction cubes on the Map wins. If the tie persists, neither Team wins.