Senji
Senji Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- A game board representing a map from Japan divided into 18 provinces with a score track on its perimeter.
- 36 fortress figures (6 per family)
- 18 samurai figures and their corresponding cards
- 6 score counters (1 per family)
- 6 player aid cards
- 72 military unit counters (12 per family)
- 54 order tokens (18 each of 3 different types)
- 96 hanafuda cards representing the economic development of your provinces
- 72 diplomacy cards (12 per family)
- 9 dice of destiny
- One hourglass (4 minutes) that represents the presence of the emperor in Japan
Before your first play, please carefully apply the appropriate label to each samurai's banner. While doing so, please make sure that the direction is correct for reading.
Description of contents
- Hourglass — used to time the winter phase.
- Score track — runs around the perimeter of the board.
- Score marker — tracks each family's honor points on the score track.
- Samurai (take care to label each figure's banner with the appropriate sticker) — each family's samurai figure.
- Sea / Limits between sea zones — the sea areas surrounding Japan, divided into zones by marked limits.
- Frontier — the border between two adjacent provinces, across which units may move without sea movement (moving is possible without sea movement).
- Family symbol — marks which family currently controls a province.
- Province — one of the 18 land areas on the board.
The player aid card shows the family's fortress, a move order, a recruit order, a production order, and the samurai card that starts with that family (with the samurai's honor value, special ability, and, if applicable, its kami power).
Card legend
- Hanafuda cards — carry a color, a number/value, and a symbol (an animal symbol, a sun symbol, or the symbol of a tanzaku/ribbon).
- Diplomacy cards — carry a family symbol and are of three kinds: the family card (hostage), the military support card, and the trading card.
- Samurai cards — carry the samurai's name (and initial), honor value, special ability, and (if any) kami power.
Objective
The objective of the game is to be the one player with the most points of honor at the end of the game (which happens at the end of a turn during which one or more players have reached or exceeded the limit of 60 points of honor).
These points of honor may be gained (or lost!) in the following manners:
- By military means, through glorious victories in combat.
- By economic means, with combinations of hanafuda cards obtained from controlled areas during the production phases.
- By diplomatic means, with combinations of diplomatic cards obtained through exchanges with other families (one can also gain honor points by welcoming other families' members).
Honor points may also be lost during the game if family members are killed. Thus, each player will need to take great care of the security of his own family.
The game will last as many turns as necessary for one or more players to reach or exceed 60 points of honor at the end of a turn.
Set-up
Place the game board on the table.
Each player receives 12 military unit counters, a player aid card as well as the score counter, the 6 fortress figures and the 12 diplomacy cards of the family he has chosen.
The hanafuda cards and the samurai cards are thoroughly shuffled and placed face down beside the game board. The remaining pieces are placed in reserve near the board.
Each player starts the game with 4 hanafuda cards, a samurai card (chosen between three drawn at random), the corresponding samurai figure, 3 fortresses and 3 military units. The order tokens are roughly split between the players or placed in a common pool within reach of all.
Each player starts the game with the number of honor points indicated on the samurai he has chosen. He places his score marker on the score track accordingly. The player having the highest score will have the privilege of hosting the emperor this turn (in case of a tie, choose randomly). As such, he starts by naming each province one by one in the order of his choice.
When one of his provinces is named, a player must place a fortress on it. He may also place his samurai and/or any number of the 3 military units he starts the game with. When all his provinces have been named, all 3 military units and his samurai must have been placed on the board. None may be withheld.
Set-up for 3, 4 and 5 player games
- With 5 players, the starting zone that includes Kyushu island is neutral (no unit may enter it and no order tokens may be placed on it).
- With 4 players, the starting zones that include Kyushu and Shikoku islands are neutral.
- With 3 players, the starting zones that include Kyushu and Shikoku islands are neutral. In addition, the northernmost zone of Japan is also neutral.
Game Turn
Each game turn is broken into 5 phases:
- Welcoming of the emperor
- Winter phase (diplomacy)
- Spring phase (order programming)
- Summer phase (resolution of orders)
- Autumn phase (trading / recruiting / honor)
1. Welcoming of the emperor
Hosting the emperor is a true privilege and confers decisive advantages.
At the beginning of each turn, the emperor will join the family having the highest number of honor points (he visits this family in order to verify that it is worthy of the office of shogun).
During the first game turn, in case of a tie between players, the family being honored by the visit of the emperor is determined by rolling the 9 dice of destiny. The tied player with the most symbols rolled hosts the emperor (in case of a draw, reroll until the tie is broken). After the first turn, in case of a tie, the family that was hosting the emperor during the preceding turn will have to decide which of the tied families he will visit this turn.
The player whose family has been designated now takes the hourglass and places it in front of him.
From now until the game turn ends, this family has the following privileges:
- Deciding the order of resolution of the orders during the summer phase.
- Deciding the order in which the families will play during the autumn phase.
This family also has the responsibility of monitoring the hourglass during the winter phase.
Welcoming of the emperor. As you will discover later, the player with the privilege of hosting the emperor holds a definite advantage over his fellow players. You must not let a player host the emperor several times in a row or he will soon be victorious. You have been warned!
2. Winter phase (diplomacy)
During this phase, families have the 4 minutes of the hourglass (it is the player hosting the emperor who is in charge of monitoring the duration of the negotiations) to negotiate among them different agreements of interest and to possibly give away or exchange diplomacy cards they possess. Diplomacy is coded: each player starts the game with 12 cards representing diplomatic warranties that he may offer to his negotiation partners. Note that players may trade any diplomacy cards they possess, not just those which are of their own family.
Family member cards — very useful to conclude a non-aggression pact. Each of these cards represents a member of your family with a given number of honor points. An opponent may use a member of your family you have entrusted him with in two different ways:
- He may keep this character in hand: if you attack him later in the game, he will be able to reveal this card, remove it from the game, making you lose double the number of points of honor of the card and earning for himself a number of points equal to the honor of the card for doing so (hostage execution).
- He will also be able to reveal the card during an autumn phase, gaining for as long as the card remains exposed (making a hostage) a number of points of honor equal to the value of the card. The number of hostages revealed in such manner is limited to one per opposing family. It is always possible to exchange family members of a family other than your own that you were entrusted with earlier. But only a very crafty person would do such a thing!
Military support cards — receiving military support from other families is very important for the success of the combats in which you are engaged. When resolving a combat, playing a military support card from another family enables you to use for your own benefit the symbols of this family shown by the dice. When you use such a card, you give it back to its original owner. The number shown on the card indicates the maximum number of symbols of this family you will be able to claim during a combat (so the higher the number is, the more valuable the card). It is not possible to use the military support of a family against her.
Important: each player has a military support card with a printed value of 0. This card may not be given to any other player, as it is used as a dummy card during combat resolution.
Trading cards — in exchange for an advantage or a promise from an opponent, you may offer him a trading card. These cards all have a printed value. This value indicates that the player to whom you have given this card will be able, during a later trading phase, to exert his rights by returning the card to you. By doing so, he will be able to choose one hanafuda card among the X cards you will have to show him (X being the value printed on the trading card).
Players may leave the table in small groups in order to secretly confer and negotiate. They may bring along their diplomacy cards for exchange or donation in order to support their negotiations and warrant their promises. Card exchanges may be done either face up or face down at the negotiators' discretion.
It is also possible to negotiate arrangements without exchanges of cards. But as no one is bound to honor a promise made, receiving diplomacy cards from your opponents is the best way to have a minimum guarantee.
Important: it is strictly forbidden to give or exchange hanafuda cards during the winter phase.
Winter Phase for 3, 4 and 5 player games
To compensate for missing players, the following procedure is added to the normal winter phase: the diplomacy cards of the missing families are placed face down next to the board (with the exception of the dummy cards) as separate draw piles (one per family).
Before each new winter phase, 2 cards are drawn from each pile. Players will have the opportunity to make a bid for each of them.
To make a bid, a player needs to place as many diplomacy cards as he wishes, face down, under the desired card. At the end of the winter phase, all the cards played are uncovered.
To determine the value of each bid, total the value of the cards played by each player. When one bid is higher than any other, it wins the auctioned card. As payment, the bet cards are shuffled into the family draw pile the player received the auctioned card from. He will recover the cards during a later winter phase when they are drawn from the pile (when this happens, the card is immediately returned to its owner and no replacement card is drawn. So, there will be available for auction one card less per returned card).
If two or more players tie for the highest bid, their cards remain on the table until the next winter phase (their value will still count to determine the highest bid). In both cases, the cards of the players having too low a total are returned to their owner at the end of the winter phase.
Later in the game, whenever a diplomacy card of an absent family is played, it is simply reshuffled back into its associated draw pile.
3. Spring phase (order programming)
During this phase, each player will place an order token face down on each and every province he controls. These order tokens are of 3 different types:
- Production, to draw two new hanafuda cards.
- Recruitment, to recruit two new military units.
- Movement, to move as many military units as he wishes toward one or more adjacent territories or toward an adjacent sea zone.
Important: it is not necessary to place an order token on military units already at sea.
Order tokens are not tied to a specific player and can be used by anyone.
4. Summer phase (resolution of orders)
The player whose family is hosting the emperor designates the provinces and the fleets to be activated, one by one and in the order of his choice. Upon the activation of a province, the player controlling it flips the order token face up and applies its effect immediately.
Production. The player draws the 2 first hanafuda cards of the pile and adds them to his hand.
Recruitment. The player adds 2 new military units to this province. But be careful, as a province cannot hold more than 6 military units (samurai do not count). And no player may have more than 12 military units in play at any time.
Movement. This order allows three different kinds of movement: ground movement, sea movement, and sea raids.
Ground movement: the player may choose to move any number of military units and samurai present in the activated province toward adjacent provinces.
Sea movement: the player chooses to move any number of military units and samurai present in the activated province into the adjacent sea zone. If he already has units at sea in this zone, the units are regrouped to form a single fleet. The limit of 6 military units (samurai do not count) also applies at sea. No naval combat ever occurs. Thus, groups of military units from different families may coexist in the same sea zone.
As soon as a fleet is activated, the player who controls it must decide whether:
- to leave it in place;
- to move any number of units from the fleet toward the adjacent sea zone;
- to disembark any number of units from the fleet into any number of provinces adjacent to the sea zone (this usually starts a combat: see below).
In all cases (ground movement, sea movement or sea raid) when both provinces belong to the same player, the limit of 6 military units per region applies (samurai do not count for this purpose).
Sea raid: the player may also decide to convoy troops by sea and disembark them the same turn in another province (disembarking is possible in any province adjacent to the same sea zone as the starting province). This movement is risky: the player rolls as many dice of destiny as the number of military units moved by this method. He loses one unit for each symbol of his family rolled (thus, there is 1 chance out of 6 to lose a unit).
When units are moved to a province controlled by another family, a combat takes place. The player having the highest combat value wins.
Combat resolution
To determine the combat value of each player, proceed as follows:
- Each military unit engaged is worth 1 combat point to its family.
- For each samurai participating in the combat, each player takes a die of destiny and places it next to his military units with his family symbol facing up. Each die placed in such a manner is worth 1 combat point.
- Roll the remaining dice (all but the ones set aside for the samurai). Only one roll occurs, the result being used for both players. Each player then picks the dice showing their family symbol and sets them beside his military units. Each die so obtained is worth 1 combat point.
- Each player plays a military support card (a type of diplomacy card) face down in front of him. This card can be either a support card of another family in hope of getting additional combat points, or the dummy card (value 0) of his own color. It is not possible to use a support card of the opponent's color. Only one military support card is permitted.
The support cards are then revealed and each player gains a number of combat points equal to the number of symbols of the supporting family shown on the remaining dice of destiny. It may happen that both players ask for the support of the same family. In such a case, the player having the highest support card value is the only one to receive military support. After use, these cards are returned to their initial owner.
Execution of a hostage. If the defender (the one being invaded) has in his hand an undisclosed family card (a type of diplomacy card) of the attacker (the one who engaged the combat), he can remove it definitively from the game. By doing so, the defender earns as many honor points as indicated on the card while the attacker loses twice as many.
The player having the most combat points wins. (In case of a draw, after the military support cards have been returned to their initial owner, a new round of combat starts, including a new roll of the dice of destiny and a new play of cards.)
The loser loses all his military units and samurai engaged in the combat. The winner loses as many military units as his opponent, but does not lose his samurai. He also scores a number of points of honor equal to:
- Two times the total number of military units lost by both players during the combat if he was the attacker.
- The total number of military units lost by both players during the combat if he was the defender.
He then takes control of the province by placing a fortress figure of his color. If an order token was present in the attacked province, it is discarded if the province is captured. It remains in the province in any other case.
Any samurai who die during the game (either through combat or through performing seppuku) do not cause a loss of honor to their owner.
Important: a player can never control more than 6 provinces. Thus, if a player already controls 6 provinces, he is not allowed to attack.
5. Autumn phase (trading / recruiting / honor)
The player hosting the emperor determines the order in which the families will play this phase. When a family is designated, the corresponding player may undertake as many actions as he can or wants to. Then another family is designated. During this phase, the available actions are:
- Convert a trading card (a type of diplomacy card) of another family: return the card from your hand to its initial owner who must show you as many hanafuda cards as indicated on the trading card. You can then pick one and add it to your hand.
- Score points of honor through diplomatic means: to do so, you must own 5 diplomacy cards of other families (military support, family member or trading). These may come in any combination, provided each color other than your own is represented. By returning them to their initial owners, you forego the possibility of claiming the associated privileges. This attitude is particularly honorable and earns you 10 points of honor. Moreover, each player having been returned a card in this manner loses one point of honor.
- Score points of honor and/or recruit new samurai through economic means: to do so, you must own one of the hanafuda card combinations listed at the end of the rulebook (see Various Economic Combinations). By discarding these cards and based on the combination, you may:
- Hire a samurai (by drawing 3 and choosing 1, or drawing 6 and choosing 2, depending on the combination of hanafuda cards played) and place it in any province you control. Score as many points of honor as indicated on the new samurai.
- Score a number of points of honor corresponding to the combination played.
- Score points of honor by revealing family member cards of other families received during the winter phase. Only one member per family may be revealed this way (even if you possess more than one). These points of honor are temporary. If later in the game you take one or more cards back into your hand, you will lose the corresponding number of points of honor. A revealed family member cannot be executed or exchanged as long as it is exposed.
- Take back into your hand a family member card revealed previously. By doing so, you lose the corresponding number of honor points. It is possible, for example, to take back a family member card of low value in order to replace it with a family member card of the same family but of a higher value. The score would then be adjusted accordingly.
- Hire mercenaries. This is only possible for players who have no provinces left. Up to 6 military units may be hired at a cost of 3 points of honor each. A samurai may also be recruited (draw 3 and choose 1) at a fixed cost of 6 points of honor. These reinforcements are placed on a sea zone of the player's choice. Thus, a player may only be eliminated if he has no provinces and no honor left. Please note that it is potentially feasible to drop to -9 points of honor during the game.
Various economic combinations
Example combinations from the player aid card, and the honor they are worth when discarded:
- Cards of different values: 4 cards of different values score 4 points of honor; 8 cards of different values score 12 points of honor; 12 cards of different values score 24 points of honor.
- 6 cards of the same color score 9 points of honor.
- Animals: 4 animal cards score 8 points of honor.
- Suns: 4 sun cards score 12 points of honor.
- 5 tanzakus (ribbons): draw 3 samurai and choose 1 of them.
The province marker of the sidebar also gives two further worked examples: 5 trading cards of different values (1, 2, 4, 5, 6) let you hire 1 samurai; 8 trading cards of different values (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10) score 12 points of honor.
Revealing a hostage
A revealed hostage (family member card) is worth as many points of honor as its printed value for as long as it remains face up in front of its holder.
End of Game
At the end of the game turn, if no player has reached or exceeded 60 points of honor, a new turn starts with the welcoming of the emperor by the current most honorable family.
It is possible to reach or exceed 60 points of honor at some point during the turn and to go back down before the end of the turn. In such a case, the game continues normally.
If one or more players have achieved 60 points of honor or more, the player with the highest score is named shogun and wins the game. If two players tie for the game, one more turn is played to decide a winner.
Kami (optional rule)
When a samurai dies, he becomes a kami (a spirit). The player who was controlling him will be able to use the power of the kami (indicated on the samurai card by a colored disc behind the initial of the samurai) one time during the remainder of the game. 3 types of kami exist: diplomatic, economic or military.
- Diplomatic kami: discard this kami in order to take a diplomacy card from the hand of another player (except his dummy card with a value of 0) and to add it to your own hand. You may look at his hand to make your choice.
- Economic kami: discard this kami in order to take a hanafuda card of your choice from the draw pile. Shuffle the pile before returning it to the table.
- Military kami: discard this kami in order to reroll as many dice as you wish during a combat (only one reroll per combat). This power does not allow the reroll of the dice set aside for the samurai engaged in the combat.
A player may voluntarily order one of his samurai to commit seppuku in order to take advantage of his kami power later in the game. However, this is only possible during the autumn phase.
Samurai Special Abilities
It is possible for the special ability of a samurai to contradict a game rule. This is normal, and if it occurs, the ability of the samurai takes precedence.
- If Chosogabe and Ekes are in the same province, only Chosogabe's ability is taken into account.
- When Wakizaka is opposed to Baba, the latter always uses (or decides not to use) the abilities of his samurai before Wakizaka does.
- Whenever Daisuke takes part in a battle, he can reroll one of the dice of destiny after it has been rolled.
- During a combat, the defending player just decides not to use just his samurai's ability before the attacker does so.
Scenario for 2 Players
This scenario simulates the help that the emperor may bring to the family foreseen to achieve the office of shogun.
The game starts by placing 3 military units and a samurai (drawn at random) in the province of the family controlling Shikoku island that is on the main island (Honshu). This force will be controlled by the player who is furthest ahead on the honor track. This means that he will be able to place an order token in this province, thus benefiting from one of the following advantages:
- Production: he gains 2 cards.
- Recruitment: the army of the emperor grows by 2 military units (especially interesting if the controlling player is in good position to still host the imperial family for the next turn). It cannot exceed the limit of 6 units, however.
- Movement: he moves the imperial troops as he wishes and resolves the possible combats (gaining the points of honor that may result from this action). When the emperor's troops are annihilated, the controlling player places 3 new military units in the starting province.
This province can never be controlled by another player. If a player attacks the province and beats the emperor's troops, he earns the points of honor related to his victory, but his military units stay in the province from where he attacked.
If the imperial force conquers a second province, it will also be controlled by the family controlling the emperor's troops. However, if taken back by another player, this province will become his property (like a normal province). Only the starting province of the imperial troops is protected against being controlled by another player.
When imperial troops are engaged in a combat, the symbols to be taken into account are those rolled on the dice of destiny for the player controlling the emperor.
Play Example: One Year to Become Shogun
The rulebook closes with a worked example turn, played by four families: Eric (green, currently hosting the emperor), Laurie (yellow), Amy (black), and Max (blue).
Winter phase. Eric, a born warrior, looks for military support cards for future attacks. Laurie, who wants to keep hosting the emperor, looks for diplomacy cards. Amy tries to gather trading cards toward a rewarding hanafuda combination. Max collects hostages for protection and negotiating leverage.
Laurie flips the hourglass. Eric privately trades a family member card to Amy in exchange for a military support card. Amy then gets tanzaku cards from Eric in a trade. Laurie, playing the 3-player auction sub-rule for the two missing families, bids on cards from the absent red and purple families; she wins a military support card from the red family and the sole bid on the purple family's trading card. Max asks Laurie, as host of the emperor, to resolve his order first, and trades her a trading card for an unenforceable promise. Eric fails to get a card from Max, who is wary of Eric's plan to attack him.
Spring phase. Laurie places a move order on her southernmost province, held by 5 military units and her samurai Mori, planning to act last in summer. Eric places move orders on his western and northern provinces. Max, sensing danger, places a recruitment order on his eastern province.
Summer phase. Laurie has Max resolve first: he recruits 2 military units. Eric then resolves his northern province, then his western one, moving 2 units to attack Max with a total of 4 units and his samurai Hosokawa.
Before combat, Max reveals and executes the family member card Eric had entrusted to Amy (who had passed it along), gaining 2 honor and costing Eric 4. Combat proceeds: Eric sets aside 1 die for his samurai and rolls the remaining 8 dice, reaching a strength of 7 (4 units + 3 of his symbols); Max has 5 units + 3 of his symbols for a strength of 8. Each plays a military support card face down: Eric's card of value 1 lets him claim 1 more symbol (total 8); Max's dummy card of value 0 leaves him at 8. It is a tie, but Hosokawa's special ability lets Eric win ties, so Eric wins the combat.
Max loses his 5 units; Eric loses 4. Eric takes the province with a fortress and gains 18 honor (5+4, doubled for attacking). His own provinces are now empty of defenders. Laurie exploits this: she resolves her southern province's move order as a sea raid against Eric's now-undefended southern and western provinces. Thanks to Mori's power, she rolls only 2 dice of destiny (instead of 5) to check for losses and rolls no symbols of her own family, so her full force of 5 units and her samurai disembark safely and take both provinces uncontested. Since Eric had no units there to lose, Laurie earns no honor from this raid.
Autumn phase. Laurie has Max play first: he reveals a hostage worth 4 honor. Amy plays a trading card on Eric's grandfather (Eric's remaining family member card), receiving two hanafuda cards and choosing to keep one worth 5 (over one worth 1). Amy then discards a group of 4 animal cards from her hand for 8 honor, saving stronger combinations for later. Laurie returns a diplomacy card to every player, including the two missing families, without claiming any privilege, earning her 10 honor while everyone else loses 1 honor.
Turn results. Max: +5 honor (2 for the executed hostage, +4 for his revealed hostage, -1 for Laurie's diplomatic action). Eric: +13 honor (18 for the combat, -4 for the hostage executed against him, -1 for Laurie's diplomatic action). Amy: +7 honor (8 for her hanafuda combination, -1 for Laurie's diplomatic action). Laurie: +10 honor for her diplomatic action.
Eric becomes the new host of the emperor for the next turn and will need to recruit heavily. Laurie is close behind, with 4 provinces to produce from. Max should keep a low profile while he rebuilds his forces. Amy still holds many hanafuda cards and is working toward a higher-value combination. The race for the shogunate has only just begun!
Rulebook credits: artist Bertrand Benoit; English translation by Alexandre Figuiere and Eric Franklin.
Game Turn Summary
- Welcoming of the emperor
- Winter phase (diplomacy)
- Spring phase (order programming)
- Summer phase (resolution of orders)
- Autumn phase (trading / recruiting / honor)