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The Samurai - for centuries, the name has represented unfailing courage, imperturbable loyalty and internal harmony. today the name is no less respected and stories of the Samurai myths and legends have become more and more popular. In Japan, there were three Samurai forces: Peasants, clergy and nobility. The way to power in old Japan led through the peasants, the clergy and the nobility. To become a Samurai, one had to be supported by one of these forces and have strong connections to the other two.

The three forces are represented by rice fields, Buddhas and high helmets. They are presented in molded plexiglass, finely polished and in noble black. The board comes in four pieces, representing the four major Japanese islands. To win, players must skillfully position their forces to gain the majority surrounding the cities and villages to capture the figures.

Contents:
* 13 Plexiglas High Helmets
* 13 Plexiglas Buddhas
* 13 Plexiglas Rice Fields
* 4 Game board pieces
* 80 Tokens, 20 for each player
* 4 Japanese screens
* 1 Game rules

Reviews Review Game

Oridyne

From

Staffs in United Kingdom

Review

This is a beautiful game. The components of this game are of very good quality and very much in line with the whole theme.

The game is deceptively easy to learn but will take time to master the right strategies to win.

You collect pieces from the board either a Buddha, Rice Field or High Helmet by placing tiles around them which various amounts of influence marked on them. Once the item is completely surrounded by tiles the player with the most influence takes the item, if there is a tie the piece is removed and placed next to the board. You have five tiles in your hand and the rest are face down in front of your screen which you use to restock you hand as you play.

In a 3 or 4 player game your captured pieces are stored behind the screen so you never quite know what the other players have got which is what makes the game so strategic is you have to plan carefully what pieces you go for.

It is a very tactical game and leaves you with a lot to think about but plays reasonably fast. There is a certain amount of luck involved in getting the right tile you need to play at the right time but this just adds to the tension and leaves plenty of room for re-playability.

The unique scoring system means that just when you think you may have a winning position it suddenly swings in favour of one of you opponents. If you have the most of 2 or more of the pieces you Win, if more than one player has the most of a piece (ie player 1 has most Rice Fields, Player 2 has most Buddhas) they set aside those pieces and count the pieces they have left and the winner is the one with the most.

I would definitely recommend this one for your collection.

Pallet Ranger

From

Staffs in UK

Review

At first glance, this seems like a simple game of tile placement, with very little to actually think about. However, after playing a few games, it becomes clear that there's actually more to it than first appears.

At it's heart, the game is straightforward enough... place one (or sometimes more) of your tiles so that your total surrounding a piece is greater than that of your opponents. Once every space surrounding the relevant piece is full, it is awarded to the player with the majority.

The art comes in deciding which, of the three different pieces available, you need most. If a player does not have majority in at least 1 of the 3 different pieces at game end, the are immediately eliminated - regardless of how many pieces they have captured in total. Very intersting, and cut-throat, in a 4 player game, where statistically at least one player will be eliminated due to this rule before totals are compared.

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