Last night saw the gathering of the gentlemen for our monthly board game night. The game: Samurai Swords, the reprinting of Milton Bradley's excellent Shogun game. Both Samurai Swords and the nearly identical Shogun are difficult to find, and I was delighted to nab my then-sealed Samurai Swords game on ebay a few years ago.
Last night was techincally our first full-length game, excepting Schizohedron, who had some Shogun experience years ago.
Willie immediately set up shop on the Island of Shikoku and Schizo established a major power base on the larger island of Kyushu. Meanwhile Dom, Mark, and I landed the bulk of our troops on the "mainland" of Honshu—Dom to the west, me to the middle, and Mark to the south. Dom and Schizo also esatblished minor strongholds down south, as did Willie, and I claimed nearly all the small northern isles for my own.
The arrows flew fast and the initial combatants took much ground on Round One, leaving Mark—the last in line for combat—worrying just what he would have left to attack with come his turrn at bat (or at sword?). Willie attempted to rid Shikoku of my one-province presence. He attacked my province of Iyo, triggering the appearance of my hidden ronin, to which he responded by deploying ronin of his own! We know each other's tactics well it seems! A long battle resulted, and what should have been an easy task left Willie severely weakened and me no less for the wear, mainly due to a series of cursed rolls by the Willster. Willie swore revenge on me.
I then made good inroads on Honshu, marking me as an early leader. Schizo quickly consolidated his hold over Kyushu, taking 90% of the island and out-doing my own conquest. Dom meanwwhile stayed conservative and planted the first castle smack in the middle of Honshu. When Mark finally got his chance, he was reduced in forces but made some gains. Dom and Willie took losses in Honshu. No one hired the ninja this first turn.
The following turn saw more ronin deployment and multiple castles being built. Dom upgraded a castle into a fortress, a move that would prove wise down the road. I hired the ninja. Schizo gobbled up the rest of Kyushu while Willie, Mark, and I traded blows on the mainland. I cursed "stranding" some extra troops up on various islands. I had intended the tiny islands to be "fall-back bases"—places to where I could retreat if things went badly and not be eliminated from the game, but it was a mistake. I wasted koku on more ronin that were soon triggered but proved useless due to lame die rolls. Mark attacked multiple provinces and I responded by assassinating his daimyo with the ninja.
The third turn was Mark's last, as he had to leave the proceedings early. He attacked my army with his and I again assassinated his daimyo. He was so depressed his army was immobilized I let him attack anyway, a decision that left both our armies weakened. Schizo meanwhile made inroads into Honshu from the south, Willie spent every cent rebuilding his forces, and I placed my second castle down in the center of Honshu. We randomly distributed Mark's provines after his departure, trading out colors. Mark had been running a fairly successful game and we each gained a good 5 provinces. This effectively brought Willie back from the dead.
The next turn was momentous.
Willie hired the ninja and attempted an assassination on Dom's daimyo—a failure! Dom rolled for the ninja counter-attack and missed by one.
Dom ("Larry") then began two battles that nearly destroyed him. The first (against a castle I think) wiped out his first army group. The second battle saw him ignore a 1-spearman province held by Schizohedron and instead attack Willie's neighboring army head-to-head. Their rolls had all witnesses on the edge of their seats, as the dice mirrored each other: loss, loss, win, win, loss, loss, win, win. Every time Dom would score a hit Willie would return a balanced amount of damage, leaving their armies nearly equal at all times. Dom's daimyo now led two bowmen and Willie's daimyo led a bowman and gunner. We expected Dom to call for a cease fire, but no, he kept going! Soon only the two daimyos remained. Dom rolls a miss, immediately mirrored by Willie. I knew in my gut this would lead to a double-daimyo-death. Sure enough, when Dom finally rolled a hit Willie returned in kind! Boom—two armies destroyed. We were incredulous!
I continued the turn with the same self-destructive spirit, targeting Dom's fortress with my army. There was a method to my madness: I already had two nearby castles, and taking the fortress would yield me a solid line of castles across the neck of Honshu, potentially allowing me to push westward and eventually weaken Schizo's island stronghold without worrying about my rear. When the 5 ronin actually appeared on the table I thought about the odds and began to worry. Alas, the 5 ronin that joined Dom's spearmen did a number on my army. My skrimishers did some damage, but I soon was forced to retreat and the fortress remained in Dom's hands.
The end game saw a large push by Schizo north and west, including several successful naval assaults with large forces. He branched out from his island and even began a brave attack on castle territory. I ran rampant over Honshu. Dom and Willie took nibbles here and there. As the clock approached 3 am we decided on a 5 province margin to declare a victor. It looked like it would be Schizo or me, and we both had pushed our forces to the limit in an effort to take a maximum number of provinces. The end of the last turn saw Schizo easily win the game with some 27-odd provinces. I followed in Second and Dom and Willie were tied for Third Place. Meanwhile, Japan had seen so much warfare it looked as if Godzilla had taken a stroll. A good game enjoyed by all!
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