Daimyo Senso

Daimyo Senso Rulebook

Table of Contents

Quickstart Guide - Standard Rules

The game is divided into 4 years of 4 seasons each. In each of those seasons, players perform one action, as shown on the board. In the first season, each player performs the action in the first slot on the board for his faction, beginning with the Oda clan at the top and going down from there. Once all players have performed their first season's actions, each performs his second season's action. Any bonuses acquired for control of a Region (controlling a majority of Provinces within one of the distinctly colored Regions) are applied during all respective phases of that controller's turn. Any Honor gained for controlling a Province is gained only at the end of a year in which the player ends the year in control of that Province.

Once all 4 actions for all players have been performed and completed, the first year of play is over. All factions should total their Honor according to the number of Castles, Cities, Fortresses, and Regions each controls. Honor is recorded on the Honor Tracker on the board, and each clan adds to their total at the end of each year.

Each faction has 4 General Cards. Only 1 General Card may be played per year, and, once played, the same General Card cannot be played again. Place used General Cards on the General Cards rectangle on the board.

After 4 years have been completed and the final Honor Tracker scores are posted, the game is over. The player with the most Honor wins.

Note: A player is always assumed to have 1 troop left on his home Castle, even if there are no tokens on it. This means that a home Castle can never be taken by another faction.

Castles without a starting player on them (in the event of a game with less than 8 players) can be conquered and taken by players. Please note that Kanto and Chubu cannot be controlled if there are players controlling Hojo and Takeda, or Uesugi and Oda, respectively.

Variable Rules for Less Than 8 Players

In a 7 or 8 player game, the whole board should be accessible for all.

In a 5 or 6 player game, the islands of Kyushu and Hokkaido are inaccessible to all players.

In a 4 player game, Kansai, Chubu, and Kanto are the only accessible Regions.

In a 3 player game, the only areas accessible are Kyushu, Chugoku, Kansai, and Shikoku.

In a 2 player game, it is advisable to play as Takeda vs Hojo, with the region in which both players begin as the only region in play. An alternative can be a battle between Mori and Miyoshi with the Kansai, Chugoku, and Shikoku in play; or a battle between Mori and Shimazu, with Kyushu, Chugoku, and Shikoku in play.

Game Board Reference

The game board carries the following printed reference material.

Action Chart

The action chart in the top left of the board lists, for each daimyo, the four actions he takes in the four seasons of a year, in order. Daimyo are listed in turn order: Oda, Uesugi, Takeda, Hojo, Mori, Miyoshi, Date, Shimazu.

Daimyo	Season 1	Season 2	Season 3	Season 4
Oda	Deploy	Attack	Move	Attack
Uesugi	Move	Attack	Deploy	Attack
Takeda	Attack	Move	Attack	Deploy
Hojo	Attack	Attack	Deploy	Move
Mori	Move	Deploy	Attack	Attack

Action Rules on the Board

Deploy – 1 Troop per City & Castle on your Cities & Castles.
Move – 1 Troop per Fortress & Castle to your or unowned Province.
Attack – Destroy 1 Troop per 2 of your Troops in neighboring Province or take unowned Province. If you destroy all troops in your opponent's Province, you may move troops from your attacking Province into it.

Honor Values

Castle – 3 Honor
City – 2 Honor
Fortress – 1 Honor

The board also carries an Honor Tracker: a row for each daimyo, with spaces numbered 10, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, on which each clan's Honor is recorded at the end of each year.

Regions and Their Bonuses

The board shows 8 Regions, ranging from as few as 2 Provinces to as many as 7. Each Region's printed bonus is:

Hokkaido – Deploy +1 Troop
Tohoku – Move +1 Troop, +1 Honor
Chubu – Deploy +1 Troop, Attack Round Up, +1 Honor
Kanto – Deploy +1 Troop, Attack Round Up, Move +1 Troop
Kansai – Deploy +1 Troop, Attack Round Up, +1 Honor
Chugoku – Deploy +1 Troop, +1 Honor
Shikoku – Move +1 Troop
Kyushu – Deploy +1 Troop, Move +1 Troop

The board's Tohoku box describes the Region as follows: Multiple Provinces make up a Region. Tohoku is made up of Mutsu, Dewa, Sendai, Kozuke, and 3 Provinces with Fortresses.

The board's Region box describes control: Control of a Region means having a majority of the Provinces in a Region under your control, including the Provinces with Castles.

General Cards Box

The board has a "General Cards" rectangle, marked "Only one per year – Place used cards here." Used General Cards are placed there.

Standard Rules - Players 2-8

For variations that allow full board usage with less than 7 players, see the Optional Setup Rules later in this manual.

Variable Setups Based on the Number of Players

In a 7 or 8 player game, leave the whole board accessible for all players.

In a 5 or 6 player game, the islands of Hokkaido and Kyushu are inaccessible to all players, and Shimazu is not a playable daimyo.

In a 4 player game, Kansai, Chubu, and the Kanto are the only accessible Regions. If Uesugi is chosen as a player's daimyo, the Province of Kozuke is also available, but not the rest of Tohoku.

In a 3 player game, Kyushu, Shikoku, Chugoku, and Kansai are the only accessible Regions.

In a 2 player game, it is advisable to play as Takeda vs Hojo with Kanto as the only Region accessible, or as Uesugi vs Oda, with Chubu as the only Region accessible (with Kozuke also being accessible, but not the rest of Tohoku). It is also acceptable to play as Mori vs Miyoshi with Kansai, Chugoku, and Shikoku in play or as Shimazu vs Mori with Kyushu, Chugoku, and Shikoku in play.

Setup and Beginning

The game is divided into 4 years of 4 seasons each. To begin play, each daimyo will arrange his starting 6 troops as indicated on his daimyo card. For instance, Oda will begin with 3 troops in Owari, 2 in Mino, and then he selects a Province with a Fort to place his one remaining troop. The order in which players select their last Province (with the Fort) is the same as their gameplay order, as shown on the board, from top to bottom on the chart: Oda, Uesugi, Takeda, Hojo, Mori, Miyoshi, Date, Shimazu.

The action chart on the top left of the game board is then followed beginning with Oda's DEPLOY action. He must deploy new troops. He must follow the rules for Deployment as listed on the game board. The only exception to the rules on the game board are when a daimyo plays one of his General Cards; in that case, follow exactly as the General Card states. If Oda does not play his Deploy General Card for this first action, then he would count his Castles and Cities (Owari and Mino), and Deploy a new troop for each (2). Those 2 Troops must be placed on his currently-controlled Castles and Cities, in any fashion the Oda player chooses.

Once Oda finishes his Deploy action, Uesugi would begin his Move action. The game board explains in simple terms how to move unless a General Card is used. Assuming he does not use his Move General Card, Uesugi would count his Castles and Forts (Echigo and whichever Fort he chose in the initial choosing stage before the game began) and would be allowed to move that many troops (2). This means he may move 1 troop from a Province to another twice, or move 2 troops from a Province to another once. If he had 10 total Castles and Forts, he could move troops from one Province to another a total of 10 times (1 troop moved 1 time per number of Moves).

Once Uesugi has finished his Move action, Takeda will use his Attack action. Refer to the game board for the rules on Attacks. Assuming Takeda does not use one of his Attack General Cards, he will choose a Province of his own from which to begin an attack, and an enemy-controlled Province adjacent to his chosen Province to attack. After declaring from where he is attacking and to where he is attacking, the Takeda player removes one enemy troop from the Province he is attacking for every two troops in his attacking Province, rounded down, with a minimum of one troop defeated. The defeated troops are given to their daimyo to put back into his supply. If a daimyo eliminates all troops in an enemy Province with an attack, he may then move some or all of his attacking troops into that Province. EXCEPTION: Even if a player eliminates ALL troops on an opposing daimyo's home Castle (the one with that daimyo's symbol next to it) the Castle cannot be taken.

Attacking a Province (assuming no General Card was used and no Region bonuses)

Number attacking	Number defeated
1	1
2	1
3	1
4	2
5	2
6	3
7	3
8	4
9	4

Hojo's turn would be next, and play would continue through the bottom of the chart. If there are unselected daimyo, skip over them and have the next daimyo take his turn. Once all daimyo have taken their first actions, begin again at the top of the chart for their second actions.

General Cards

General Cards make a daimyo's action more powerful, more dynamic, and affect gameplay far more than the standard actions daimyo take. Only 1 General Card may be played by each daimyo each year (remember a year is 4 seasons; 4 actions), and may not be played again during the same game under the standard rules. A General Card can only be played during the action for which it would substitute; i.e. a General Card with "Attack" at the top can only be played during one of a Daimyo's Attack turns. General cards either change the way a Daimyo performs an action, or amplifies its effectiveness. All the specific examples are listed in the following pages.

Oda General Cards

Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Hidden Troops – Deploy – The rules for where troops must be deployed (in Castles and Cities only) need not be applied while using this General Card.
Shibata Katsuie's Pincer – Attack – Combine the number of troops in two of your Provinces that are both adjacent to an enemy Province that you want to Attack (if your Provinces have 3 units each, consider the attacking army to be 6 troops strong), then make the Attack. If you destroy all the enemy troops in the Province which you are attacking, you may move troops from both of your attacking Provinces into it to claim it.
Tokugawa Ieyasu's Forced March – Make your standard Move as the rules for Move at the bottom of the game board say, then, after you are finished Moving, reorganize your troops any way you see fit within your Provinces.
Oda Nobunaga's Rotational Volley Fire – Attack – Make a standard Attack according to the Attack rules. Then make a second standard Attack. The second attack need not come from the same Province, nor must it be against the same enemy Province. Both of these attacks allow you to take empty or enemy Provinces, provided you destroy all enemy troops within those Provinces if they are enemy Provinces.

Uesugi General Cards

Saito Tomonobu's Reinforcements – Deploy – Make a regular Deploy action, then, once that is finished, add an extra Troop to every Castle and City you control.
Kakizaki Kageie's Blitz – Attack – Attack using the standard rules for attacking. If you destroy all troops in an enemy Province, or take over an empty Province, and move some or all of your attacking troops into it, play this General Card (if you haven't played any other General Cards during this game year) to make a second attack. This second attack must come from the Province you just gained and must be an attack to an enemy or empty Province adjacent to it.
Usami Sadamitsu's Trek – Move – Make a standard Move action according to the rules on the bottom of the game board, then move all troops from your home Castle of Echigo into any other Province(s) you want. You may send troops to as many of your own Provinces as you wish.
Uesugi Kenshin's Raid – Attack – Make two consecutive standard attacks from one of your Provinces. These attacks MUST be at two different enemy or empty Provinces.

Takeda General Cards

Takeda Shingen's Regiments – Deploy – Make a standard Deployment according to the bottom of the game board EXCEPT mass all of those troops into one of your Cities or Castles. Make a second Deployment of half that amount (rounded down), and place them on whatever Cities and Castles under your control that you choose.
Kosaka Masanobu's Charge – Attack – Make a standard Attack according to the rules for Attacking on the bottom of the game board against an enemy Province that you DO NOT fully defeat. The enemy MUST have troops left in their Province. Then make a second standard Attack into another enemy or empty Province adjacent to the first Province you attacked as if your troops were there.
Sanada Yukitaka's Assignments – Move – Make a Move action according to the rules on the bottom of the game board. Once completed, make a second Move action.
Yamamoto Kansuke's Defense – Attack – Attack an empty or enemy Province and defeat all troops within it, moving some or all of your attacking troops into it to gain control of the Province. Then, move a troop from each of your Provinces with at least 2 troops into the captured Province.

Hojo General Cards

Hojo Ujiyasu's Rallying Call – Deploy – Make a Deploy action according to the rules on the bottom of the game board. Once completed, make a second Deploy action but this time, you gain the same amount of troops as you have in Forts, and this second round of troops may only be deployed on your forts.
Fuma Kotaro's Shinobi – Attack – Make a standard attack according to the Attack rules on the bottom of the game board EXCEPT your attacking troops can come from ANY of your Provinces, and they may attack ANY enemy or empty Province adjacent to ANY of your Provinces.
Ando Morinari's Feint – Move – Make a standard Move according to the Move rules at the bottom of the game board. Once completed, you may trade the troop amount in one (1) of your Provinces with the troop count in any other one (1) of your Provinces.
Hojo Tsunashige's Bluff – Attack – Move all but one troop from one (1) of your controlled Provinces to another of your controlled Provinces. Then make a standard Attack according to the Attack rules on the bottom of the game board.

Mori General Cards

Kobayakawa Takakage's Letters – Deploy – Make a standard Deploy action according to the rules on the bottom of the game board. Once completed, choose one (1) troop to remove from the board from each other daimyo's clan. You cannot reduce an enemy Province below one (1) troop with this removal.
Nabeshima Naoshige's Cunning – Attack – Make a standard Attack according to the rules on the bottom of the game board. Once completed, choose any enemy Province with a Fort that is adjacent to one (1) of your Provinces. Remove all enemy troops from that Province, and move your troops from any or all adjacent Provinces onto that new Province. Your opponent may then re-deploy the troops you removed wherever he likes on his own controlled Provinces.
Mori Motonari's Wisdom – Move – Make a standard Move action according to the Move rules on the bottom of the game board. During this Move if you Move onto an empty Province, you may Move one more troop without it counting against your total available Moves. This bonus Move may only happen once during this action, even if you subsequently Move into another empty Province.
Kikkawa Motoharu's Will – Attack – You may make standard attacks this turn according to the rules at the bottom of the game board from either: all of your Forts, all of your Cities, or all of your Castles.

Miyoshi General Cards

Miyoshi Yoshitsugu's Navy – Move – You may take any number of troops from one of your coastal Provinces and move them to any other coastal Province with a Fortress. You must have 1 Move available for each troop moved in this fashion. If you displace another Daimyo's troops, he may re-deploy those troops immediately into his own Provinces as he sees fit.
Miyoshi Yoshikata's Vengeance – Attack – Choose an enemy City as a legal target for an Attack. During this Attack, destroy as many enemy troops within that Province as you have troops attacking, instead of the amount prescribed by the rules at the bottom of the game board.
Sogo Kazumasa's Mercenaries – Deploy – Make a standard Deploy action according to the rules at the bottom of the game board EXCEPT count all your Fortresses ALSO to determine how many troops you get. Your troops must still be deployed on Cities and Castles only.
Matsunaga Hisahide's Fire Attack – Attack – Make a standard attack according to the Attack rules at the bottom of the game board against an enemy Province. After the Attack is complete, remove one (1) troop from each enemy Province adjacent to the Province you Attacked. This General Card's fire effect (after the initial Attack) CAN destroy the last troop in an enemy Province, but does not allow you to move troops into that Province even if you're adjacent to it.

Date General Cards

Date Tadamune's Assault – Attack – When attacking an enemy Castle, remove a troop from that Castle, then Attack it according to the Attack rules. Then, if there are any troops remaining, remove another troop from the Castle.
Date Masamune's Ferocity – Attack – Make a standard Attack according to the Attack rules on the bottom of the game board. Once completed, choose an enemy or empty Province adjacent to either your initial Attacking Province or from the Province you just gained, if you gained a new Province from the initial Attack. Make a standard Attack against the adjacent enemy or empty Province, but round up instead of down if you Attack with an odd number.
Date Terumune's Assault – Deploy – Make a standard Deploy action according to the Deploy rules at the bottom of the game board. If you control Sendai, you may add three (3) additional troops to it after you finish the initial Deployment. You can, instead, add the 3 troops to a Province you control adjacent to Sendai whether or not you control Sendai.
Inawashiro Morikuni's Deception – Move – Make a standard Move action according to the Move rules at the bottom of the game board. Once completed, Move all troops but one in one of your controlled Provinces to one of your other controlled Provinces.

Shimazu General Cards

Shimazu Yoshihiro's Stand – Attack – Move as many troops from one of your controlled Provinces to another of your controlled Provinces as you want. Then make a standard Attack according to the rules at the bottom of the game board from the Province that received all the new troops.
Shimazu Yoshihisa's Bargain – Attack – Make a standard Attack according to the Attack rules at the bottom of the game board. Once completed, choose an enemy Province adjacent to any of your Provinces and switch out all of his troops and all of your troops in the adjacent Provinces, giving you his Province and giving him your Province.
Shimazu Takahisa's Call – Deploy – If you have control of every Province on the island of Kyushu, make a Deploy action according to the rules at the bottom of the game board, but count each City under your control twice.
Shimazu Toshihisa's Allies – Move – Make a standard Move action according to the Move rules at the bottom of the game board. Whenever you Move a troop onto an unowned Province during this Move action, take a Troop from your supply and add it to the newly-acquired Province.

Regional Control Bonuses

There are 8 different Regions represented on the game board, ranging from as few as 2 Provinces to as many as 7. To gain control of a Region, you must have at least one (1) troop in a majority of Provinces within that Region (home castles count as always having a troop on them). If this is accomplished, you gain bonuses from that Region in the appropriate time of the year.

Regions that provide more than one bonus only provide their bonuses during the time of the game year appropriate for that particular bonus.

Regional Deploy bonus – This bonus can only be gained if you control enough Provinces within a Region that provides this bonus WHEN your Deploy turn begins. If applicable, this Regional bonus gives you one extra troop during your Deployment. The extra troop must still follow the Deploy rules on the bottom of the game board, unless you have played a General Card that changes these rules for your Deploy phase.

Regional Move bonus – This bonus can be applied if you control enough Provinces within a Region that provides this bonus WHEN your Move turn begins. If applicable, this Regional bonus allows you one extra troop Movement during your Move phase.

Regional Attack Round Up bonus – This bonus can be applied if you control enough Provinces within a Region WHEN your Attack turn begins. This Regional bonus means that instead of rounding down if you have an odd number of attacking troops (7 troops would defeat 3), you round up (7 troops would defeat 4).

Regional Honor bonus – This bonus can be applied if you control enough Provinces within a Region at the end of a year. If applicable, you gain one (1) extra point of Honor that year.

Optional Action Cards

Rather than using the Action Chart on the game board, players can agree to allow themselves to CHOOSE what actions they will accomplish each season. These are accomplished with the white Action Cards that each daimyo has.

A player plays the card corresponding with the Action he wants to take when it is his turn, and if any General Cards are played, they must be played with a matching Action Card (matching the Action; so a General Card labeled Attack must be played with an Attack Action Card).

Alternate Rules of Play for Longer Game (if desired)

If players want a longer game, particularly one involving elimination play, the following rules should be followed.

Begin the game exactly as prescribed in the standard rules, and each player takes their turns exactly as in the standard rules. However, each daimyo's home Castle should no longer be considered unconquerable. To eliminate a daimyo, he must first be trimmed down to three Provinces or less. Once a daimyo has three Provinces or less, any attack against his Home castle that defeats all the troops within it destroys the daimyo.

The player who defeated that daimyo must move at least one of his attacking troops into the Castle. He then KEEPS all troops the former daimyo had elsewhere on the board. The conquering daimyo now has all access to ALL the troops in the conquered daimyo's supply, increasing the potential size of his own armies.

These new troops are now considered to be fully owned by the new daimyo, and any Regional bonuses can be achieved with any combination of a daimyo's own troop supplies.

Typically in a game of this style, if one daimyo manages to assert control of 5 Regions, he is declared the new Shogun and the game is over. If, however, players wish to continue to play until total elimination, it should be allowed.

General Cards in a Longer Game

General Cards are still used in the longer game, but they are allowed to be used multiple times. Only one may be used per year, as in the standard game, but after 4 years are completed, each daimyo has access to his spent General cards again.

When a daimyo is eliminated, the conquering daimyo is allowed to take any two of the conquered daimyo's General Cards and add them to his own hand. They are immediately accessible, and are refreshed at the same time as the conqueror's own General Cards.

It is possible for a daimyo to have up to 16 General Cards available to him when playing a longer game, particularly if the players have agreed to play a total elimination game rather than playing to 5 Regions.

Action Cards in a Longer Game

If using Action Cards with these alternate rules instead of the Action grid, when a daimyo is eliminated the conquering daimyo may also take 1 of the conquered daimyo's Action cards. These additional Action Cards are used in the same way, giving the conqueror more turns per year than the other daimyo.

In a long game, where conquering a certain number of Regions/Provinces is the goal, or where total elimination is the victory condition, the Honor tracker is ignored as there is no reason to keep track of a clan's Honor.

Optional Full Board 1-8 Player Rules

The rulebook's contents list calls this section "Optional Setup Rules".

Setup

Set troops as follows:

Oda – 6 in Owari, 5 in Mino, 7 in Yamashiro, and 4 in the Province with a Fortress East of Owari.
Uesugi – 5 in Echigo, 3 in Kozuke, 3 in Hida, 2 in the Povince with a Fortress North of Hida, and 2 in the Provice with a Fortress Northeast of Echigo.
Takeda – 7 in Shinano, 5 in Kai, 4 in Hitachi, 4 in the Province with a Fortress West of Shinano.
Hojo – 6 in Odawara, 4 in Shimosa, 2 in the Province with a Fortress South of Kai, 3 in Suruga.
Mori – 5 in Suo, 5 in Aki, 3 in Iwami, 4 in Hizen, 4 in Iyo, and 2 in each of the Provinces with Fortresses adjacent to Iwami.
Miyoshi – 5 in Settsu, 4 in Harima, 2 in Ise, 3 in Sanuki, and 3 in each Province with a Fortress adjacent to Settsu.
Date – 5 in Mutsu, 6 in Sendai, 4 in Dewa, 1 in Hokkaido, and 2 in the Province with a Fortress in Hokkaido.
Shimazu – 5 in Satsuma, 3 in Bungo, 3 in each remaining Province with a Fortress adjacent to Bungo, and 2 in the Province with a Fortress in Southwest Shikoku.

Single Player Rules

Your duty as daimyo is to completely overrun your opponents in 5 Regions. One of those Regions must be Kansai. There can be absolutely no enemy troops left in those Provinces. You must accomplish this goal within 4 years. You are allowed the use of your 4 General Cards (one per year) and you are allowed to make whatever Actions you choose (using the Action Cards provided for your Daimyo). To begin the game 4 Actions make a year.

You are allowed to use a Regional bonus only when there are no enemy troops in a Region. Do not keep track of Honor in single player.

To eliminate a daimyo, you must first limit him down to 3 or less Provinces, and then destroy all troops on his Home Castle. Once accomplished, you may take ownership of 2 of his General Cards and 1 of his Action Cards (allowing you the use of an extra Action Card every year), as well as all of his remaining troops on the board. You are also allowed to use his troops along with yours interchangeably. If you defeat a daimyo on the last season of a year, extend the year by one season.

Multiple Players

Play according to whatever rules you choose; Standard (where you must play for 4 years, taking the actions according to the Action Chart on the board, and players cannot lose their Home Castles) or one or all of the optional rules (including choosing your own actions, player elimination, and last daimyo standing options) discussed previously in this rulebook.