Small Samurai Empires: Rise of Tokugawa Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• New Region and 5th Player
  • Overview
  • Gameplay
  • New Region Setup
  • 5th Player Setup
• Dojos
  • Overview
  • Setup
  • Training Your Samurai (During Planning Phase)
  • Recruitment
  • Attack Priority
  • Dojo Abilities
  • Era End (Dojo)
• Solo Mode
  • Overview
  • Location Card Overview
  • Setup
  • Setting up Destiny Cards
  • Gameplay
  • Turn Actions for the Rival Houses
  • Actions Overview
  • Era End (Solo Mode)
  • Adding New Destiny and Location Cards
  • Game End
• Variants
  • New Agenda Tile Explanation

Components

New Map Region and 5th Player components:

• 5 Player Scoreboard
• New Map Region
• 5th Region Influence Board
• 15 Destiny Cards (7 red, 3 orange, 2 teal, 2 grey, 1 violet)
• 2 Seeding Tokens (1 Bushido, 1 Food)
• 4 Influence Track Markers
• 1 Turn Track Marker
• 1 Player Screen
• 16 Samurai Meeples
• 3 Castle Meeples
• 6 Cube Markers (5 Influence Track Markers + 1 Score Track Marker)
• 11 Order Tokens
• 1 Region Agenda Tile + 9 Agenda Player Markers (Variant)
• 4 Neutral Action Tokens (Variant)
• 2 Mountain Tiles (Variant)
• 3 Shrine Meeples (Variant)

Dojos components:

• 5 Dojo Boards
• 15 Archer Meeples (3 per player)
• 5 Generals (1 per player)
• 5 Help Cards (1 per player)

Solo Mode components:

• 1 Solo Action Board
• 32 Location Cards (16 for each Rival house)
• 1 Help Card

New Region and 5th Player

Compatibility: Base Game | Dojo Boards

Overview

As house Tokugawa rises to power, a new battlefield emerges. The new Region adds more Provinces, resources and Shrines the Houses want to hold control of.

Beside the new Region board, this expansion comes with new Destiny cards and a new Influence track. The Tokugawa House adds 5th player components, as well as additional variant components.

Gameplay

By adding the 5th player and new Region board, the rules of the base game stay the same. Depending on the number of players, this is the number of Order tokens each player will place during the game:

• 1st round of an era: with 2 or 3 players, 4 Order tokens; with 4 or 5 players, 3 Order tokens.
• 2nd round of an era: with 2 or 3 players, 3 Order tokens; with 4 or 5 players, 2 Order tokens.

Note: the player-count pictogram on the printed page was read as above (2–3 players and 4–5 players as the two groups in each round).

New Region Setup

1. Add the New Region board on the north side of the board.
2. Each player chooses a color and gets the corresponding pieces: player screen, 16 Armies, 3 Castles, all Order tokens of their color, 2 Bushido and 2 Food tokens. Then each player places all of their tokens behind their screen and their Armies in front of their screen.
3. Take the 7 Bushido and 7 Food seeding tokens. Seed them randomly on each space of the map that has the resource slot symbol. Place the other resource tokens near the board to form a supply.
4. Shuffle all the 15 new Destiny cards from this expansion into the base game Destiny cards deck, then deal 3 to each player.
5. Each player places 2 Samurai Armies from their supply into each Capital City Province, so each player will start with 10 Samurai Armies on the board.
6. Add the New Region Influence board, and then place one cube marker of each player on the starting spaces of the Influence tracks.
7. Each player places their score marker at the "0" space on the score track.
8. Determine first player and place their turn marker on the 1st slot on the turn order board. Then in clockwise order, place all player's markers on the next slots.

5th Player Setup

The 5th player gets the Tokugawa house pieces: 16 Armies, 3 Castles, Tokugawa Order tokens, 2 Bushido tokens, and 2 Food tokens.

When playing with 5 players you must use the New Region components.

Dojos

Compatibility: Base Game | New Region | 5th Player

Overview

Use your Dojos to train your Samurai Armies into Archer Armies, Elite Samurai Armies or the General. Archer Armies will target enemy Castles and besiege them for extra Victory points, while the Elite Samurai Armies will use their special abilities to impact the battlefield. Finally, the General will lead and change the tide of the battle, making for unpredictable game twists.

Setup

1. Choose your Dojo board and place all Samurai meeples on the Barracks space.
2. Place the 3 Archer Armies on the untrained Archers slots.
3. Place the General on the untrained General slot.

Training Your Samurai (During Planning Phase)

With the introduction of the Dojo board, you can train your Samurai Armies into Archer and Elite Samurai Armies, which can in turn be trained into the General. The General is considered an Army for all intents and purposes EXCEPT the effects of all players' General's and Elite Samurai abilities.

During the game, you will be able to recruit the Samurai Armies with the Recruit action from the Barracks space directly on the map, just as you would in the normal game. Additionally, during the Planning Phase, after you place your Order token, you can train exactly one Army and advance it to the upper spaces of the Dojo board by paying the required resources (Bushido / Food):

• To train an Archer Army, pay 1 Bushido and move 1 Samurai Army from the Barracks to the Archery Range.
• To train an Elite Samurai Army, pay 1 Food and move 1 Samurai Army from the Barracks to the Armory.
• To train a General, pay 1 Food and 1 Bushido and move either one Archer Army from the Archery Range to the General's Headquarters, or move one Elite Samurai Army from the Armory to the General's Headquarters.

Example: Red wants to train an Archer Army. They pay the required cost of 1 Bushido and move one Samurai Army from the Barracks to the Archery Range.

Example: In their next turn, Red wants to train the General. They pay the required 1 Bushido and 1 Food, and move one Elite Samurai from the Armory and place it to the General Headquarters.

Recruitment

Whenever you resolve a Recruit action from your Order tokens during the Resolution phase or play a Neutral Recruit action during the Planning phase, you may choose to recruit any of the trained Armies or General instead of a regular Samurai Army.

You can recruit more than 1 Archer and/or Elite Samurai Army with the same Recruit action (within the limit of the action). If you do, resolve each of their abilities separately.

New Rule: Besieging

Besieged Castles are Castles in a Province that contains at least 1 opponent Army. You cannot recruit units (Armies and the General) in besieged Castles.

The Archer and Elite Samurai Armies, as well as the General must be recruited in a Capital City province or a province where you have a Castle (unless it is a Besieged Castle) – the same way as the regular Samurai Armies are recruited.

When you recruit an Archer Army/General, return a Samurai Army from the Archery Range/General Headquarters to the Barracks, then place an Archer/General meeple on the map board. If you chose to recruit an Elite Samurai, place a Samurai meeple from the Armory space on the board.

Additionally, these units have more power or effects than a regular Samurai Army, a) in play (Archer Army), b) on recruit (Elite Samurai Army) or c) both (General). Here are their abilities:

Archer Army

The Archer Army has the same Power as a Samurai Army (1 power) in a Province without an opponent's Castle. However, when an Archer Army is located in a Province containing an opponent's Castle, it has 2 power and that Castle is considered besieged by that Archer Army.

You can have more than 1 Archer Army besieging the same Castle, and each of those Archer Armies will bring you 1 Victory point at the end of the Era.

Elite Samurai Army

The Elite Samurai Army has the same Power as a Samurai Army (1 power). However, when you recruit an Elite Samurai Army, you get to play an immediate ability. (Each Dojo has a unique Elite Samurai immediate ability – more on these abilities on pg. 10.)

The General

The General has 2 power and 1 extra movement point. Additionally at the end of an Era, the General gives you +1 additional Influence for the Region it is located in.

When you recruit the General, you also get to play an immediate ability – same as with the Elite Samurai Armies. (Each Dojo has a unique General immediate ability – more on these abilities on pg. 10.)

Example: During the resolution phase the red player (Void Dojo) wants to recruit an Elite Samurai. When recruited, their Elite Samurai Armies have the power to do the neutral action of any of their already placed Order tokens. So, they have to choose from option 1 where their Elite can do the "Move 1" – neutral action or option 2 where their Elite can do the "Harvest 1" – neutral action.

Attack Priority

New rule: Attack Priority

Whenever you want to destroy any units on the board, you have to destroy them in order of priority:

Samurai Army > Archer Army > General

First, you have to destroy all Samurai Armies of that opponent that are in the Province. If that opponent has no more Samurai Armies in that province, then you can proceed to destroy that opponent's Archer Armies. If there are no Archer Armies left in that Province, then you can proceed to destroy that opponent's General.

Example: Yellow is attacking in the Capital with an Attack action. They choose to pay 1 Bushido and destroy 2 Armies. Since Blue has 2 Samurai Armies and 1 Archer Army in the targeted Province, Yellow, following the attack priority, has to destroy the 2 Samurai Armies.

Example: Red is attacking with a Neutral action. They may choose to destroy 1 Archer Army that belongs to Yellow, 1 Samurai that belongs to Blue in the Bushido Province, or the General that belongs to Blue in the Shrine Province.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

I. When your Archer Armies and/or the General are destroyed, place them back on their corresponding spaces on your Dojo board. They can be trained and recruited again, following the same training and recruitment rules as before.

Dojo Abilities

Each Dojo board has different immediate abilities for the Elite Samurai Armies and the General that may be used only when they are recruited on the map board.

Earth Dojo

• Elite Samurai: Recruit a Samurai Army from your Barracks into this Province.
• General: Destroy all opponent Armies in one Province in this Region.

Wind Dojo

• Elite Samurai: Move this Elite Samurai Army up to 2 Provinces.
• General: Destroy Armies (your own included) in each Province of this Region until there is 1 Army left from each player (following Attack Priority rule).

Fire Dojo

• Elite Samurai: Destroy 1 opponent Army in a Province adjacent to where you recruited this Elite Samurai Army.
• General: Move any number of your Armies from any Region to this Province.

Water Dojo

• Elite Samurai: Move up to 2 opponent Armies from this Province into an adjacent Province.
• General: Gain all resources produced in this Region, then destroy up to 2 opponent Armies in this Region.

Void Dojo

• Elite Samurai: Choose one of your Order tokens placed in this Region and play the Neutral action next to it.
• General: Move this General up to 1 Province and destroy all opponent Armies in that Province.

Further explanation for Void Dojo neutral actions:

• Move: Gain 1 movement point to move this Elite Samurai Army.
• Attack: Destroy one opponent Army in a Province in this region where your Elite Samurai is located.
• Recruit: Recruit a Samurai Army from the Barracks to the Capital City or to a Castle.
• Harvest: Gain 1 Bushido / Food from any one resource Province where you have at least one Army.

When using the power of the Elite Samurai Armies or the General, you still have to follow the Attack Priority rule.

Example: Yellow is recruiting their General. After placing it in the Capital, they need to destroy Armies from the Region until there's 1 in each Province. They destroy 1 red Samurai Army from the Bushido Province, 1 yellow Samurai Army from the Shrine Province and 1 blue Samurai Army from the Food Province. They cannot destroy the blue Archer since there is a blue Samurai Army in the same Province (Attack priority rule, pg. 9). Lastly, they do not destroy the blue Samurai Army in the Shrine Region since it is the only one from that player.

Era End (Dojo)

After the era ends, resolve the following steps:

1. Full Harvest
2. Gain Influence
3. Gain Region bonus points
4. Gain Shrine points
5. Gain Archer points
6. Order Tokens Cleanup
7. Draw new destiny cards
8. Turn track reorder

Example 1: In step 5, Blue and Red each gain +1 Victory point for besieging a Castle with their Archer Army. Blue does not gain 1 Victory point for besieging a Castle with their Samurai Army.

Example 2: In step 2, Blue gains +2 influence since they control the Province with the Shrine, and have a General. Red and Blue only gain +1 influence for the other Shrine Province since they have a Castle and a General, which means that no one controls that Province and they only gain the bonus influence.

Solo Mode

Compatibility: Base Game

Overview

In this mode, you will face the fierce houses Mori and Takeda! Even though you are fighting against larger Rival Armies, with better strategy and discipline, you might outsmart and outbattle them. At the end of the game the house with the most Victory points will become the Emperor of Japan!

Location Card Overview

The Location card overview on the printed page labels the card's Player Color (Rival houses), its Region Color, and its Province symbol (see Turn actions for the Rival houses below for how each side is used).

Setup

1. Take the seeding tokens and place them randomly on the resource Provinces on the map. It is important to make sure that every Region has at least 1 Bushido and 1 Food resource Province.
2. Place 2 of your Samurai Armies in each of the Capital Provinces and collect 2 Food and 2 Bushido for you. The two Rival houses start with 0 resources and 0 Armies on the board.
3. The Rivals (House Mori and Takeda) play with the yellow and blue colours. Remove all move tokens from their Order tokens (3 for each). Shuffle the rest of the Order tokens (8) and put them face down. Take the blue and yellow Samurai Armies and Castles and put them close to the map board.
4. Separate the Rivals' Location cards by Regions. Draw 2 Location cards from each of the Regions, then shuffle them in one pile for each Rival house. This creates two face down piles of 8 cards. Leave the rest on the side.
5. Take 1 Destiny card for each of the Regions, and place them next to the Influence board. There should now be 4 Destiny cards next to the board. Shuffle the rest of the Destiny cards and place them face down.
6. Set up the Score track and the Influence board. Place the Mori and Takeda markers on the first and second slot on the Turn Order track (it doesn't matter which house is on which slot as long as they occupy the first two slots). Place the player's marker on the third slot of the Turn Track.
7. Place the Solo Action board on one side of the map. During the game, your house, house Mori and house Takeda will use the slots on this board to place Order tokens and play actions instead of the printed slots on the map board.

Setting up Destiny Cards

Draw from the Destiny card deck:

Before Era 1	After Era 1	After Era 2	After Era 3
4 Destiny cards (1 per region)	2 Destiny cards (random)	2 Destiny cards (random)	1 Destiny card (random)

Gameplay

The game is divided into 3 Eras. Each Era consists of 2 rounds, where each round is played in 2 phases (Planning phase and Resolution phase). In every Era, you and the Rivals place 3 Order tokens each in the first round and 2 Order tokens each in the second round.

Quick overview of an Era

• 1st round: Planning Phase: place 3 Order tokens. Resolution Phase: resolve Order tokens from bottom upwards.
• 2nd round: Planning Phase: place 2 Order tokens. Resolution Phase: resolve Order tokens from top downwards.

At the start of the first Era, you should be last in the turn order. After the first Era, the player with the least amount of points will go first during the next Era. The player with the next lowest score goes second, and so on.

Turn Actions for the Rival Houses

Houses Mori and Takeda play their Order tokens a bit different than the player. In order to determine in which Region they would place an Order token, they use the back side of the Location cards while the front side of the Location cards will determine in which provinces of that Region they will recruit their Armies.

Turn actions for the Rival houses, 1st round:

Planning Phase

Draw one Location card, take one random (face down) Order token and place it on the bottom-most available space of the Region (the Location card Region). Then, flip the card and recruit one Army for each of the Provinces matching the Location card. If the Rival has any number of Armies present on all corresponding Provinces, the Rival does the neutral action next to its token, instead of recruiting armies. (See Neutral Actions for the Rivals below.)

IMPORTANT NOTES:

I. If the Rival has an Army on only one of the matching Provinces, it still recruits an Army on the empty ones.

II. If the Rival cannot place an Order token to a particular Region (i.e., the Region is full), draw Location cards until there is a free space for an Order token in another Region. The Location cards that are unused are placed on the bottom of the deck.

When a total of 9 Order tokens (3 for each house) have been placed on the Solo Action board, you can proceed to the Resolution Phase.

Resolution Phase

Resolve Order tokens from bottom to top (South to North). (The printed page reads "from from bottom to top"; the duplicated word is treated as a typo.)

After all tokens have been resolved, you can start with the 2nd round of the Era.

Turn actions for the Rival houses, 2nd round:

Planning Phase

Shuffle the remaining Location cards (5 for each Rival). The Rival draws a Location card, then places an Order token on the topmost available space in the Region corresponding with the card. Then, flip the card and recruit one Army for each of the Provinces matching the Location card. If the Rival has any number of Armies present on all corresponding Provinces, the Rival does the neutral action next to its token.

Each Rival house will try and not place Order tokens over their own Order tokens, so their priority is empty space > opponent token > own token. The Rival does not pay any resources for placing a token over another opponent. You have to pay 1 Bushido for covering the first opponent token, and 2 Bushido for covering the second one. However, only one token from you and each Rival can be covered during this Era.

When a total of 6 Order tokens (2 for each house) have been placed on the Solo Action board, you can proceed to the Resolution Phase.

Resolution Phase

Resolve Order tokens from top to bottom (North to South).

After all tokens have been resolved, the Era ends.

Order Token Actions for the Rivals

Order token actions are: Attack, Harvest, Recruit Armies, Build a Castle.

Neutral Actions for the Rivals

Neutral actions are the actions that are on the board. The Rivals can play the neutral action only when they have Armies in all corresponding Provinces matching the Location card.

Neutral actions are: Move, Harvest, Recruit Armies, Attack.

Actions Overview

All Actions Explained: applies to Order token and Neutral Actions.

Attack

Attack in a Province where the Rival has at least one army, matching the Location card.

• If a Token Action: If there are multiple locations where the Rival can attack, the Rival attacks in all locations and destroys 1 Army in each of the Provinces. If the attack is happening in one Province (ex. Capital), destroy 2 Armies.
• If a Neutral Action: Attack in all or one location where the Rival can attack (corresponding with the Location card), and destroys 1 Army in each of the Provinces.

Attack action priority: The Rival wants to attack the enemy that has the most Armies in the targeted Province. In a case of a tie, the Rival prioritizes the player.

Harvest

Harvest the resources from the Provinces of the corresponding Location card.

• If the Armies are in Bushido resource Province: gain Bushido for each Province.
• If the Armies are in Food Province: gain Food for each Province.
• If the Armies are in a Shrine Province: gain 1 Victory point for each Shrine.
• If the Armies are in a Capital City: gain 1 Influence for that Region.

Recruit Armies

Recruit one Army in each Province matching the Location card. If the card is corresponding with 1 Province, recruit 2 Armies in that Province. If the card is corresponding with multiple Provinces, recruit 1 Army in each Province.

If the Rival has only 1 Army left to recruit from the supply, and it has the Recruit Army action, it should put the last Army on the southern-most location corresponding with the card.

The maximum limit of Armies in one Province is 3 for the Rivals. If the Rival has 3 Armies in a Province, and it has the action Recruit, simply skip that action.

Build Castle

Upgrade 1 Army into a Castle in one location. If the Rival has multiple locations to build a Castle, choose the location that is southern-most. The Rival can build Castle with one Army.

The Rival cannot build a Castle in a Province that already contains another Castle. It cannot build in the Capital, and it cannot build a Castle in a Region that already contains a Castle from the same Rival.

Move

Gain 1 Victory point.

Example: When the Rivals play their turn, depending on their Armies on the map, they can have 3 possible actions:

a) The Rival has no Samurai Armies in both Shrine Provinces. In this case, recruit one Army into each of the Shrine Provinces.

b) The Rival has one Samurai Army in one of the Shrine Provinces. In this case, recruit one Army into the Province where the Rival has no Samurai Armies.

c) The Rival has 2 Samurai Armies on both of the Provinces. In this case, the Rival does the Neutral Action (Harvest).

Example: Here, the Rival house Takeda flips its blue token, which is Build a Castle. Since the Rival has 2 Armies in each of the Provinces matching the Location card (Food), the Rival chooses to build a Castle in the southern Food Province.

Era End (Solo Mode)

After the Era ends, proceed to resolve the following steps:

1. Gain Food and Bushido for you and the Rivals.
2. Count and add Influence.
3. Count and add points (from Regions and Shrines).
4. Remove tokens and Location cards.
5. Remove all but one of each Rivals' Armies in every Province on the map.
6. Turn track reorder.
7. Draw new Destiny cards (see setup).
8. Add Location cards (if applicable).

Example: On step 5, you remove all but one of the Rivals' Armies in every Province and prepare the map for the next era.

Example: After step 5, the map is ready for the next era.

Adding New Destiny and Location Cards

For each even number of a new Destiny card (per Region), add 1 new Location card to the deck the Rivals draw from. This means that each time you add the 2nd, 4th, or 6th Destiny card next to the Influence board, you need to add 1 Location card of the corresponding Region.

Example: After Era 2, you draw 2 new Destiny cards. You add the orange and green Destiny cards next to the Influence board, and then you add 1 green Location card to both decks since you drew the even (2nd) green Destiny card.

You can start the new Era.

Game End

After the Third Era ends, resolve "Era End" steps 1–3 (pg. 18). Then, finally, calculate final Influence points and gain Victory points from resources everyone possesses.

The house with the most Victory points wins the game. In case of a tie, the house with the fewest resources wins.

Variants

You can add the new Agenda Tile, the new Mountain Tokens and Shrines when playing the game with the new Region and/or 5 players. The setup and gameplay rules are the same as the base game and can be found on pg. 15 of the Small Samurai Empires rulebook.

New Agenda Tile Explanation

Tile 5 – Side A

• Main Agenda: Supreme Control. Score 4 Victory points immediately if you Control 1 resource, 1 Shrine and 1 Capital Province in this Region.
• Regional Decree: Bountiful Harvest. When you Harvest gain 1 additional resource (Food / Bushido) from each Province.

Tile 5 – Side B

• Main Agenda: Economic Dominion. Score 4 Victory points immediately if you Control all resource Provinces in this Region.
• Regional Decree: Bountiful Harvest. When you Harvest gain 1 additional resource (Food / Bushido) from each Province.