I love this game.

Protagonists: Adam, John, Melissa, Jeremy, Deb

After China, Paul had to leave, so we only had 5. Even though it was late in the evening, we started up a game of Shogun. I think we started at 10:30 or so.

When Jeremy had seen China, he said "Is that like Risk?". heh. But I told him that this game was a little like Risk. John and I took turns explaining the rules as the components were set out. Jeremy was like "How much does a game like this cost?!" (Shogun is a rather impressive production). I think I told him $45-50 bucks, which I see is correct.



We played Shogun sunny-side up (see game image). To start I was able to acquire a stronghold on the island, obtaining Iyo, Sanuki, Tosa, Awa-Shikoku, Iwami, and Omi. I dumped my 5 stack in Omi and immediately reinforced it with another 5, which was good because Melissa had Yamato and started an arms build up there as well. I soon took Izumo, and traded Aki with Jeremy. He had Bingo and Bitchu, and I was concerned that he was going to come into Iyo. Fortunately, all 3 of the other provinces touch Iyo and I had arms in both Awa Shikoku and Sanuki, but I didn't have more than 2 armies in Tosa. The reason that I was concerned he was going to launch an attack from Aki was because I had (by the second year) built 3 buildings on Tosa. I didn't have a single force that was too large there, but only Tosa was weak. If either of the other two fell, I could attack with the remaining, hopefully before Tosa was taken (and perhaps even after). It never came to that though.

The first year we were playing wrong, however. You see, I'd migrated my force from Izumo to Iwami, and was going to take Aki (which had a building on it and was the only link to Iyo). I saw that Jeremy was going to attack with Bingo, and so I launched and attack on him instead. In retrospect this seemed unwise, as the attacker is at a disadvantage, but more importantly I shouldn't have been able to see his card in the first place! While simultaneous revelation is fine for most actions, Attack A and B require each person to reveal only on their turns (I suppose this should apply to the "migrate" action as well).

I was pretty much contesting with Jeremy the whole game, though I did have that huge arms build up in Omi to deal with. You see, I'd been putting buildings on there to get majority, and I got majority castle in the center region the first year. When I had all 3 in Omi, and Melissa had this huge buildup in Omi, I knew she was going to go for a fall attack on me in the second year. Fortunately, I'd expanded from Awa-Shikoku to Kii, and had a single piece there she hadn't taken. This gave me the foothold I needed.

I build up there in the second year, adding 5 or 6 to my stack. Money was tight for everyone but Melissa when fall came. I had 4 gold, and was only able to acquire 4 in fall taxes. I spent 4 on my bid to try and ensure that I would attack first, since Attack B was the first action we'd take that year. I moved in with my stack in Kii and weakened Yamato for her. She didn't attack Omi with B though, but with A! This could conceivably have been a fatal flaw for her, since I was able to build-up with 6 in Omi before A came around. She went from having a numerical advantage to having a numerical disadvantage. We still went at it anyway, and I came out on top. It's a good thing that I was able to survive and build up, however, since I'm sure a significantly weak Omi would have been vultched by Jeremy in Echizen.

There was another arms buildup in Kaga and Noto between John and Deb. I'm not sure who came out on top of that one.

In the end, I scored a couple points more than John. We were both around 45 or so. Jeremy and Melissa came in near 35, and Deb was trailing the rest of us somewhere I can't quite recall.

It was a good, tight game. I felt that my call to attack with Kii early was critical for my maintaining Omi, and hence the lead. I feel like I should have taken Aki from Iwami as well - Bingo would have probably gone after Iwami or Izumo instead of Aki anyway, and even if he did go after Aki, I may have been able to move in on him from Iyo (if I had the time!).

(context)