JAPANESE SWORDS
INTRODUCTION
Board game of warfare in Feudal Japan.
THE CARDS
The deck contains 100+ cards as described in the card list.
The backs of all cards are identical.
The face should contain the name of the card and its Force value.
THE MAP
The map is a 10 X 10 grid.
There are 7 terrain types:
TERRAIN MOVE DEFENSE NOTES
Clear 1 0 Plains
Fortress 1 10 Ancestral Clan Home
Keep 1 5 Minor Castles
Difficult 2 0 Desert
Covered 2 3 Forest, Hills
Treacherous 2 -5 Rivers, swamps
Impassable X X Water, Mountains
Move- This is the number of movement points required to enter the space.
Defense- This is the Force modifier applied to a defending army occupying the space.
When designing the map, place fortresses on opposite sides of the map.
There should be a number of fortresses equal to the number of players.
Include examples of all the terrain types.
There should be 2 or 3 Keeps per player, spread evenly around the map.
THE PIECES
Each player has a set of counters or chits of a unique color.
These pieces are marked with a 'C' or an 'A' or an 'H' or a 'G'.
C-counters are control markers. They are placed on Keeps and Fortresses you control.
A-counters represent an entire army each.
H-counters are Honor counters.
G-counters represent gold.
Alternately, players may use painted miniatures to represent the army pieces.
FORTRESSES, KEEPS & TRAITS
For each Fortress roll 3 times on the Trait Table.
For each Keep roll once on the Trait Table.
Your clan gains the traits of every Keep & Fortress you control.
Combat bonuses apply to your armies during every battle.
SETUP
Each player starts the game controlling one fortress and two armies.
One army is located in the fortress, the other is adjacent.
Players start with 0 honor and gold.
The Keeps start the game as neutral, undefended spaces.
Players determine turn order by rock-paper-scissors.
OBJECT
Capture the fortresses of your opponents.
If a player loses his fortress he is out of the game, and all of his
armies are removed from the board.
Another way to win is to be the first to acquire 50 Honor points.
TURN SEQUENCE
Players take turns.
Each turn consists of the following six phases played in order:
1. Revenue Phase
2. Expense Phase
3. Draw Phase
4. Honor Phase
5. Travel Phase
6. Battle Phase
REVENUE PHASE
Your Fortresses generate 3 gold in this phase.
Your Keeps generate 1 gold in this phase.
Fortresses and keeps are near settlements, ports, trade routes, farmland,
and mines, from which they derive their income.
Certain traits of keeps & Fortresses will provide additional gold.
Gold may be saved from turn to turn.
EXPENSE PHASE
Pay 1 gold per army to supply your armies.
Armies that are not supplied are immediately disbanded and are removed from play.
You may raise a new army at a cost of 4 gold.
A new army starts in or next to its owners fortress.
DRAW PHASE
You may draw 1 card from the deck.
You may repeatedly pay two gold to draw one extra card.
If the deck runs out, reshuffle the discard pile and continue.
HONOR PHASE
You may pay two gold to gain one honor. Up to 2D6 times.
This Honor award is derived from skilled and beautiful efforts in
the arts, literature, dance, theatre, poetry, craftsmanship, tea
ceremonies, courtly etiquitte, and the like.
Certain traits of keeps & Fortresses will generate additional Honor.
TRAVEL PHASE
Each of your armies may move.
Each army has 2 movement points it may use per turn.
See the terrain list for the number of movement points required
to enter each type of terrain.
Only one army may occupy a space at a time.
If you move your army into a fortress or a keep, you gain control of it.
Place a control marker on keeps and fortresses you control.
BATTLE PHASE
You may have your armies attack adjacent enemy armies.
Only two armies are involved in each battle.
Each player in the battle draws 5 cards.
Each player sets aside 1 to 7 cards face down.
Up to 5 of these cards may be peasant, soldier, or samurai cards.
These cards are then revealed simultaneously.
Each player adds up the Force value of all of his revealed cards.
Cards have force values ranging from 1 to 8+.
The defender also gets a Force modifier from the type of terrain he occupies.
The side with the higher force total wins.
The defender wins all ties.
The losing player removes his army from the board.
All revealed cards are discarded and go to the discard pile.
After each battle, the winner must discard down to 8 cards or less.
The loser must discard down to 3 cards or less.
If the loser occupied a keep or fortress the winning army
immediately moves in to occupy it.
The winner gains 3 honor points.
The loser loses 1 honor point.
Note that battles are either at a fortification siege, or are on open ground.
The current active player is considered to be the attacker.
TRADING
Players, at any time, may trade promises, gold, cards, armies, keeps, and honor.
ARMY EXPERIENCE
Each time an army defeats another army it gets one experience point.
In battle, an army gets a force bonus equal to its experience.
Place counters marked with an 'E' under the army counter to keep track of experience.
CARD LIST
# Card Name Force Notes
6 Yari Ashigaru 3 Infantry/ Spears/ Peasant. +1 if Defending
6 Bushi Naginata 4 Infantry/ Soldier. +1 if Defending
6 Warrior Monks 5 Infantry/ Monk.
6 Ashigaru Arquebusiers 5 Guns/ Peasant. +2 at siege
6 Bushi Musketeers 6 Guns/ Soldier. +2 at siege
5 Yari Samurai 6 Samurai/ Infantry/ Spears. +1 if Defending
5 No-Dachi Swordsmen 7 Samurai/ Infantry/ Swords. +1 if Attacking
5 Cavalry Archers 6 Samurai/ Horses/ Bows. +1 in open ground
5 Yari Cavalry 4 Samurai/ Horses. +3 in open ground
5 Samurai Archers 7 Samurai/ Bows. +1 at siege
5 Heavy Cavalry 8 Samurai/ Horses/ Swords. +2 in open ground
10 Superior Tactics 7 Battle Action.
3 Treachery 10 Battle Action. Lose 7 honor.
1 Prosperity 0 Gain 3 gold. Play in revenue phase.
1 Much Honor 0 Gain 4 honor. Play in honor phase.
5 Diplomacy 0 Neither side wins the battle.
5 Shinobi Spies 0 Look at opponents hand.
5 Forced March 0 Target army gets a second travel and
battle phase this turn.
5 Intrigue 0 Opponent must lose 3 cards or 3 honor.
Play in honor phase.
5 Ninja 0 Remove all Experience counters from target Army.
Play in Honor Phase. Lose 3 Honor.
# = number of such cards in the deck.
A player may play multiple superior tactics cards in a battle.
If a diplomacy card is played, neither army is lost, no honor is lost or
gained, and each side must discard down to 5 cards. All revealed cards
are still discarded.
TRAIT TABLE
D6D6 Trait Effect
11 Shinto Temple Gain 1 Honor per turn
12 Trading Posts Gain 1 Tribute per turn
13 Ports Gain 1 Tribute per turn
14 Trade Route Gain 1 Tribute per turn
15 Horses Gain 1 Tribute per turn
16 Geisha House Gain 1 Tribute per turn
21 Tranquil Gardens Gain 1 Honor per turn
22 Buddhist Temple Gain 1 Honor per turn
23 Tea House Gain 1 Honor per turn
24 Art of War Add 1 to your Force total
25 Fortifications Add 3 to your Force total if defending at a Fort/Keep
26 Siegecraft Add 3 to your Force total if attacking a Fort/Keep
31 Sword Dojo Swordsmen get +1 Force
32 Monk Dojo Monks get +3 Force
33 Armory Samurai get +1 Force
34 Ninja House Draw an extra card each turn. Keep it if its a Ninja.
35 Large Populace Ashigaru get +2 Force
36 Archery Dojo Bowmen get +2 Force
41 Spear Dojo Spearmen get +2 Force
42 Bushi Dojo Bushi get +2 Force
43 Gunsmiths Gun troops get +2 Force
44 Stables Horsemen get +1 Force
45 Barracks Infantry get +1 Force
46 Copper Mines Gain 1 Tribute per turn
51 Iron Mines Gain 1 Tribute per turn
52 Silver Mines Gain 1 Tribute per turn
53 Gold Mines Gain 1 Tribute per turn
54 Jade Works Gain 1 Tribute per turn
55 Pearl Beds Gain 1 Tribute per turn
56 Saki House Gain 1 Tribute per turn
61 Ying Add 2 to your Force total if defending
62 Yang Add 2 to your Force total if attacking
63 Silk Farmers Gain 1 Tribute per turn
64 Farms Gain 1 Tribute per turn
65 Much Honor Gain 1 Honor per turn
66 Palace Gain 1 Honor per turn
COMPONENT RULES VARIANT
Written by Frederic Moll (fmoll@geocities.com)
To avoid repetitions of games, the boardgame could be made with
tiles (squared or hexagonal) representing all types of terrain.. And
placement of tiles would be made by each player one tile at a time
(cf the making of the board for "Kings and Things" game for an
example)...
After all tiles are laid down each player will put in sequence his
fortress on one tile... then each player will place his first keep then
his second keep... the restriction is that keep can only be placed
adjacent to the fortress or one tile away...
To allow more possibilities, have 4 or 6 more tiles than the total
required ...