Honor the samurai

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Honor the samurai
Game data
author Scott Kimball
graphic Alexander Farquharson , Barbara Spelger
publishing company Amigo
Publishing year 2003
Art Card game
Teammates 3 to 6
Duration about 60 minutes
Age from 12 years

The Honor of the Samurai is a card game in which players slip into the roles of samurai of the 15th century. Each samurai serves an honorable daimyo and tries to collect honor himself , which counts as victory points in the game . He achieves this, for example, by marrying an Okugata (honorable wife), owning a valuable sword or a mighty castle or helping his daimyo to become and remain a shogun . He has to be careful of thieves, assassins and loss of face. The game ends when a player manages to collect 400 or more Honor Points.

Game material

  • 110 playing cards
  • 60 honor points
  • 6 dice
  • 1 set of instructions

Game flow

The game is turn-based, with each player performing three phases during their turn. Each player starts with two houses on top of each other : the samurai house and the daimyo house.

Playing cards

Apart from the action cards, each card has 3 values:

  • Honor determines the number of honor points received in phase 1
  • Ki (Japanese for mental strength) determines the number of possible card actions in phase 2
  • Strength determines the number of possible dice in the event of a fight
Playing card number meaning honor Ki Strength
Samurai / Ronin 6th Basic card, the player does not have a Daimyo, so this card is on the side Ronin turned 0 6th 0
Start daimyo 3/3 Basic card for owning a daimyo house, a player starts with this daimyo 5/10 0 1/2
Daimyo 1/1/1/1 Basic card for owning a daimyo house, a player starts with this daimyo 10/15/20/30 0/2/1/1 4/3/5/4
No-Dachi of the ancestors 1 Possession (sword) 5 1 3
Daisho of the ancestors 1 Possession (sword) 10 1 1
Blacksmith Masamune 1 Property 10 1 4th
Noh theater 1 Property 20th 3 0
Firearms 1 Property -20 -2 6th
warrior 13/16/9/7 Ownership - only five warriors per house 0/0/0/0 0/0/1/0 1/2/1/3
Okugata 4/5 honorable lady - only one okugata per house 5/10 4/3 0/0
Odawara Castle 1 only one castle per daimyo house, the strength of the castle is only used for defense 5 0 3
Osaka Castle 1 only one castle per daimyo house, the strength of the castle is only used for defense 10 1 4th
Himeji Castle 1 only one castle per daimyo house, the strength of the castle is only used for defense 15th 2 5
Bodyguard 5 Protect a house once from an assassin who rolls four or less. Then this card is always put on the discard pile. 0 0 0
Dishonor 4th An opponent loses 75 honor points or commits seppuku. Counts as two card actions
Save face 9 After a defeat in combat, the daimyo house is not discarded or the loss of honor due to dishonor is reduced to 30 honor points. Does not count as a card promotion. The shogun cannot use the card. Playable at any time.
Ninja thief 3 Steals property from any house. The user loses 15 honor points.
Elite ninja thief 5 Steal two possessions from any house or two. The user loses 25 honor points.
Ninja assassin 5 Defeat a Daimyo or Samurai with a roll of three or more. The user loses 25 honor points.
Shogun 1 Shogun by imperial decree. Special card, see description below. Honor: 50 (3 players), 75 (4 players), 100 (5 players), 150 (6 players)

At the beginning the players get a starting daimyo and a samurai, then all cards are shuffled with the exception of the remaining samurai and the shogun. This is laid out in the middle.

Phase 1: Determine and receive honor points

If a player owns a samurai, he may take honor points. If he owns a daimyo himself, he adds up his own honor points and receives honor accordingly. If he is allied with a foreign daimyo, he adds his honor points to those of the allied daimyo house, divides this number by two and takes - rounded up - corresponding honor points. If a player forgets phase 1, he does not receive any honor points this turn.

Phase 2: Carry out card actions, possibly make a declaration

At this stage , the player can make a statement, potentially including:

  • My daimyo is now a shogun : If no player has the shogun card yet, the player may take the shogun card, provided he has a daimyo. This announcement is mandatory at the latest when a player has 100 honor points.
  • I attack : Only a player who is in possession of the Shogun card or who has a castle may be attacked. A player without a daimyo may not make this announcement. After this explanation comes a fight:
    • Both players determine the number of their possible dice (strength points / 3, round down, maximum six dice). If one of the two players has an ally, he may add his strength points.
    • Both players roll the dice and add their numbers together. The one with the higher number wins; if there is a tie, the dice are rolled again.
    • Result:
      • The defeated must discard all cards of his daimyo house, including the daimyo himself, and his samurai becomes ronin, unless a face-up card is played in accordance with the rules . For example, it is also possible to play a face-up card when you weren't involved in the fight.
      • The winner may incorporate the loser's castle into his daimyo house; if the winner already has a castle, there is the possibility of exchanging it
      • If the defeated player has the Shogun card , the winner takes it over.
  • I ally myself with : If a player is ronin , he can make this announcement and ally himself with another player who has a daimyo and no other ally. Now he can possibly collect honor again in the next phase 1. The other player must accept the alliance.
  • I dissolve the alliance with : This declaration dissolves an existing alliance, the declaring one loses 25 honor points. The alliance is only dissolved one round later.

In addition, the player must take card actions. To find out the number of his card actions, he adds the Ki values ​​of the cards he played and divides them by 3 (round down). If the player gets more Ki during the turn, he may immediately carry out any card action he may have won. However, a maximum of five card actions are possible. The following are card promotions:

  • draw a card from the draw pile, making sure that a player can hold a maximum of seven cards in hand.
  • Put a card from your hand on the discard pile with no effect.
  • play a permitted card from your hand at the respective conditions and with the respective effects.

Phase 3: Announce the end of the turn

At the end of his turn, the player must announce that he has finished his turn. It is now his turn to the left of his neighbor.

Other rules

  • It is possible to get negative honor
  • It is possible to play ninja cards against your own houses
  • There are three ways to respond to the Dishonor card :
    • The player pays 75 honor points
    • The player uses the face-up card in accordance with the rules
    • The player can let his daimyo or samurai commit seppuku . In this case he does not have to give up any honor, but loses all cards of the respective house with the exception of the Samurai / Ronin card
  • In an alliance:
    • the allies may play cards in all allied houses
    • It can be resolved ahead of time by:
      • the Dishonor card , which is played on the ally unless the Save Face card is played
      • a clever assassination attempt on either the samurai without a daimyo or the daimyo
      • Playing a new daimyo
    • If the daimyoless samurai defeats the ally samurai with the help of an assassin, he receives his entire daimyo house including all cards played in this house. However, this action costs 50 instead of 25 honor points.

criticism

The game was not well received due to the complex instructions. Another flaw is that the luck component from rolling the dice and drawing cards is too high to really develop strategies.

Web links

http://www.hall9000.de/frames/rezi.html?/rubriken/spiele/rezensions/kritiken/ehre_der_samurai.htm