Shogun Solitaire
Shogun Solitaire Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Overview 概要
Shogun Solitaire is a card game for one player. You lead a group of four clans that have joined forces to unite feudal Japan. Each of the four clans must seize three objectives within their territory to accomplish unification under a single Shogun. You must deploy armies in combinations to be successful and overcome your enemies.
Cards カード
There are three types of cards in the game, Shogun cards which help you seize your objectives, Enemy cards which get in your way, and Neutral Envoy cards. The Shogun cards come in four colors; red, blue, green and purple. The Enemy cards are black/gray. Neutral cards are bronze.
Shogun Cards
Each color of Shogun cards represents a clan in Japan with its clan symbol in the background. They are:
- Hōjō 北条氏
- Takeda 武田氏
- Katō 加藤
- Amago 尼子氏
There are six types of Shogun cards within each clan that represent the forces available to seize objectives. Some have special abilities:
- Leader 将: Wild card that can be played like any Shogun card of its color.
- Samurai 侍: Cancels/stops enemy cards.
- Ninjas 忍者: Reveals and reorders 4 cards if discarded. When played it does not count towards the 3 required cards in an attack, however it does keep attack color sequence alive.
- Cavalry 騎 and Soldier 兵: No special abilities.
Fleet 艦隊: Wild card that can be played like any Shogun card of any color.
Enemy Cards
Enemy cards represent the enemies opposing the unification of Japan. They come in 4 types:
- Raid 襲: When drawn cause all cards from the your hand or 5 cards from the draw deck to be discarded.
- Assassin 刺客: Removes one leader from your hand and the last card played.
- Ronin 浪人: Return one earned objective counter.
Neutral Cards
Envoy 使節: When drawn become part of your hand but may not be used.
Objective boards and Counters 目的
Each clan has 3 objective locations on their board in the following order from bottom to top; port (港), village (里), castle (館). There are 3 objective counters for each clan that start on the boards and are removed when they are seized.
SETUP 設定
Place the objective board for each of the four clans at the top of your play area with the 3 objectives side up. The order of placement is red, blue, green and purple. Place the objective counters for each clan on their board, one on each objective.
Shuffle the cards and deal yourself a hand of 5 cards, setting aside any enemy cards drawn. Then reshuffle the draw deck with the enemy cards set aside to create the draw deck. Your hand is considered your staging area of forces available and ready to deploy.
Each clan board shows its objectives in order: 1st Port, 2nd Village, 3rd Castle. Then flip over to reveal the Unified side.
The play area consists of the clan boards at the top, the PLAY AREA for played cards, and below it the Draw Deck, your Hand, and the Discard Pile.
Seizing Objectives 目標の奪取
Your goal is to unify Japan under one Shogun. To do this each clan must seize the 3 objectives of its color on its board. This can only be done by attacking each objective with the forces available to you in your hand via card play in the play area. These must be skillfully be played with deployment of the best combinations of force types.
To take an objective location on a board, you must play three Shogun cards of the same color in a row. Two of them may be of the same type (soldiers, etc.) if they are the first and third cards in the sequence. Once you play a third card of a color in a row, with no intervening cards, you win the nearest objective of that color on the board. Collect an objective counter from the location to show it has been seized.
When a objective is seized, clear all cards played to tidy up the play area. They are removed from play for the remainder of the game. The next card played starts a new sequence on the path to seize the next objective.
Once all 3 objectives are seized for a clan, flip the clan board over to its unified side to show the clan has control of all of its objectives.
SEQUENCE OF PLAY 順序
On your turn you may do one of three actions:
A. Play a Shogun card in the play area and draw one new card. B. Discard a Shogun card into the discard pile and draw one card. C. Discard your whole hand into the discard pile.
Under most cases you will play or discard a single card. In those cases, draw one card at a time from the draw deck to fill your hand. If an enemy card is drawn resolve it immediately (do not set them aside or wait until you have filled your hand to resolve them). Put drawn enemy cards in the discard pile after resolving.
At the end of your turn, after resolving any effects of cards, you fill up your hand to 5 cards. If you discarded your whole hand, draw 5 new cards.
IMPORTANT: If you ever need to fill your hand and you cannot do so because there are not enough cards in the draw deck, the game ends immediately.
Playing a Shogun Card 遊ぶ
Playing Shogun cards from your hand for attacks is the only way to obtain objectives. To attack simply play one Shogun card in front of you in the play area, placing it next and to the right of the last card played prior to it. You cannot play the same type card as the last card type played. Thus, you cannot play two cards of the same type next to each other such as two soldiers, two Cavalry, etc. They may not be adjacent to each other in a row, even if a different color.
For example: A red soldier is played. The next card played cannot be a soldier of any color. It may be any other playable card of any color except a soldier.
Draw a card from the draw deck after each card is played.
Note that Ninja cards do not count towards the three cards of the same color requirement in an attack. You may play a Ninja card as part of an attack (to keep the color sequence alive and draw a new card), but the attack does not succeed until you have three non-Ninja cards in single color sequence.
For example: The last 3 cards played (soldier, Ninja, and samurai) are blue but because one of them is a Ninja card the next blue objective cannot be seized. If the next card played is a blue and is any card other than a blue samurai or ninja, the objective will be seized.
Discarding A Card 破棄
You may discard a card from your hand and draw a replacement card from the draw deck. This may be a good choice in a situation where you cannot or do not want to play a card to attack (example, cards in hand do not help continue the color sequence in an attack).
Whenever a card is discarded, draw a new card from the draw deck after resolving any effects from the discard. Note: the Ninja card has a special ability when discarded. The top 4 cards of the draw deck are revealed. One shogun card is discarded and the other three cards are placed face down on the draw deck in any order.
For example: The last 4 cards attacking an objective in played sequence are blue soldier, blue Cavalry, purple soldier, and purple Cavalry. In your hand are no purple cards. Your next card play will break the purple cards attack sequence so playing a card would not be a good idea. In your hand are 1 envoy card (which cannot be played or discarded), 2 red soldier cards, 1 green Samurai and a blue Cavalry card. The blue Cavalry is discarded and a new card drawn, a purple samurai. It can be played next to win the objective.
Discard Your Whole Hand すべて破棄
If you discard your whole hand, draw 5 new cards under the same conditions that your started the game; that is put aside enemy cards drawn and shuffle them back into the draw deck when you are done filling your hand.
For example: Your hand has 2 neutral envoy cards, and 3 red cards. All red objectives have been seized. This would be a good situation to discard your entire hand and draw 5 new cards.
Enemy Card Effects 襲撃
If you draw an enemy card while filling your hand (but not at the start of the game or any time that you have discarded your whole hand or reordered the deck with a Ninja card), your attack on an objective is disrupted.
Raid cards
When an Enemy Raid card is drawn, you have a choice on how to deal with the raid:
- Discard the raid card AND all cards in your hand and draw 5 new cards from the draw deck. Note, if an enemy card is drawn set it aside and draw another card. Once a new hand is drawn any enemy cards set aside are put back in the draw deck and the deck is reshuffled.
- Discard the raid card AND the top 5 cards from the draw deck that are non-enemy cards, revealing them. Any enemy cards revealed from the top of the deck are set aside. Enemy cards set aside are then added back to the draw deck which is then reshuffled. Draw a card to replace the enemy card discarded and bring your hand to 5 cards.
- If you have a Samurai card in your hand you may use it to stop the raid card. In this case, discard the Samurai card and the enemy raid card and draw two cards to fill your hand, one at a time resolving each if any it has an immediate effect (example, another raid) as drawn.
For example: You play a card to attack an objective and draw a card to replace it. It is an enemy raid card. There are no Samurai cards in your hand. You must immediately resolve the raid card by discarding ALL cards in your hand or the top 5 non-enemy cards from the draw deck.
Assassin Cards
Enemy assassin cards target one leader card in your hand when drawn. If a leader is in your hand, it and the assassin card are discarded and two new cards are drawn. If a leader is not in your hand the assassin card and the last played Shogun card are discarded. Draw one new card for the Assassin card discarded.
Ronin Cards
Enemy Ronin card, when drawn force the return of one earned objective counter. The player decides which objective counter to return. If no objectives have been earned, ignore the Ronin card and discard it. Draw one new card.
Neutral Envoy Card Effects 特使
An enemy envoy card represent confused communications. These cards go into your hand like other cards but have no purpose and may not be used in an attack or discarded. The only way you may get rid of an enemy envoy card in your hand is by discarding your whole hand (either voluntarily or through enemy raid card drawn). Envoy cards that are drawn when filling your hand in this way remain in your hand (unlike enemy raid cards, which are set aside and reshuffled into the draw deck). Similarly, envoy cards that you turn over when an enemy raid card affects the draw deck are discarded like other cards, and not reshuffled back into the draw deck.
For example: A enemy raid card is drawn. In your hand are two envoy cards. You decide to discard your whole hand to rid yourself of the envoy cards.
WINNING 勝利
When all 4 clan boards are flipped to the unified Shogun side you win the game immediately as Supreme Shogun. This must occur before the draw deck runs out. If the draw deck does not have enough cards to fill your hand and you still have one or more objectives to seize, the game ends and victory points determine if you become Shogun.
Earn 1 point for each objective seized. You become Shogun as follows:
- 8 or less points = Total Defeat. No Shogun, Japan not unified.
- 9 points = Weak Shogun, your family will rule for only a short time. Japan barely unified.
- 10 to 11 points = Shogun, your family will rule for 100 years. A solid unification of Japan.
- 12 points = Supreme Shogun, your family will rule for centuries and Japan is completely unified.