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Friday, April 20, 2012

Shogun - Board Game

Shogun is a game from 2006 which uses Cubetower to decide the outcome of battles fought in the game. The cube tower was first used in Im Zeichen des Kreuzes and then in Wallenstein. Wallenstein game system is used for Shogun game. The game is set in Sengoku Era Japan. You take on the role of a daimyo (land lord) and you are trying to become a Shogun.

Them main piece of the game is a game board. On it there are drawn provinces you are trying to conquer and hold. In addition each player has a Daimyo card and action grid.

Two years are played. Each year is divided into 4 seasons. Only three seasons are actually rounds in which players take actions. When winter comes players count their points. Each season ten action cards are randomly put on the table. First five are visible, the rest is unknown. According to this you take your province cards and war chest cards and put them face down on your actions grid. Actions that can be done for example are - recruiting more warriors, earning money, building temples or other kind of buildings etc, attacking a province etc. One of the fields on the actions' grid is also initiative. This decides who goes first, this can play a big role. There are also event cards that effect the round and each player will get a special action card for that round.

Battles in this game are important and they are decided by the combat tower. When a battle is fought the result is decided by throwing cubes representing your and enemy army into the tower. In the tower there are various shelves that each can catch some of the cubes. The cubes that fall out of the tower decide the outcome of the battle. This also means that the loser still has his cubes in the tower so attacking the player next time can mean that he has a higher chance of winning. The losing player's cubes are destroyed in 1:1 ratio. The reminder of the winner's cubes are placed on the province and he takes the province card as well.

When winter comes if a player has less rice than his provinces peasants revolt. If the revolt is not quelled the player loses the province (it becomes neutral). After all players do this points are counted. Players get points for number of provinces, buildings, highest number of buildings in an area etc.

The game might seem complicated but it isn't. Or at least that's my impression. You just need to use your cards wisely according to what you know. The game is quite a mix of two different board game types. I really like this game. The time needed to finish the game is quite long though - especially when the players are not sure how the game works, so if you are going to play it for the first time keep in mind that you'll need at least few hours of free time. It is advised that you play the first game with someone who already knows it.

The game is mainly about managing your resources. The combat tower adds another element which you need to take in account. It's not just some dice rolling so it is good to remember whose cubes are in the tower and in what numbers.

I give this game 4.5/5 on my scale.

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