Small Samurai Empires

To set up Small Samurai Empires, place the map board in the center of the table, showing the four regions of Japan. Each player chooses a color and receives a player screen, 16 samurai armies, 3 castles, order tokens, food resources, and bushido tokens. Hide your order and resource tokens behind your screen. Position two armies in the capital province of each region. Shuffle the destiny cards and deal three to each player. Randomly place food and bushido tokens on the map spaces. Set up the influence board with cubes matching player colors above the four region columns, and place player markers on the zero space of the score track. Determine a random first player, and play proceeds clockwise in three eras.

The main objective of Small Samurai Empires is to become the most powerful warlord in Japan by scoring the highest number of victory points. Players achieve this by conquering provinces, building castles, controlling strategic regions, and fulfilling secret destiny cards. You must balance military expansion with resource management to outmaneuver your opponents.

Each era is divided into two rounds. In the planning phase, players secretly choose and place order tokens face down on the map. In a two-player game, an extra neutral card is added. Once all tokens are placed, they are revealed simultaneously. During the resolution phase, players activate their placed tokens one by one from the bottom up. Orders allow players to spawn armies, collect food or bushido, move armies across land or sea, attack enemy armies, or build castles. Neutral actions adjacent to your placed tokens can also be triggered for extra effects. Players can cover opponent tokens in the second round by spending bushido tokens.

Scoring occurs at the end of each era. Players gain resources based on the provinces they control. Cubes on the influence board advance based on controlled provinces and castles, and points are awarded for majority control in each region multiplied by the region's destiny card count. Additionally, every three leftover resources convert into one victory point, and players earn one point for each shrine in their controlled provinces.

The game concludes at the end of the third era after the final scoring phase. The player with the highest total victory points on the score track wins the game. In the event of a tie for first place, the tied player with the fewer armies on the board wins. If still tied, the player with the most remaining resources wins, and further ties share the victory.