Introduction
Daimyo is a strategic game for 2-4 players simulating a samurai battle in a very abstract manner.

Gameplay
The game board is built from several hexagon tiles called Hans. The lay-out of the board differs according to the number of players. Each player has a home section of 3 Hans in their own colour and places a general (Daimyo) and three soldiers (Bushi) on them.

The goal of the game is to eliminate the Daimyo of an opponent or capture Hans of the opponent(s). To achieve this goal, each player receives a set of action cards. These cards depict an action and are labelled with a character and a number:

A) Bushi movement: move one of your Bushi or a group of your Bushi from a Han to an adjacent Han.
B) Bushi recruitment: add a Bushi from your reserve to the Han where your Daimyo is present.
C) Daimyo movement: move your Daimyo to an adjacent Han.
D) New Han: add a new Han to the game board.
E) Han movement: move an empty Han to another position of the game board.

Every round, each player selects two of his action cards and places them, face down, in front of him. Then all players reveal their selected action cards simultaneously. The action cards are resolved in alphabetical and numerical order, thus ensuring that action A always occurs before action B and card A1 resolves before A2, etc.

After all the cards have been resolved, each player has to give their played action cards to their opponent(s). This rule will make sure that every move you make can be made against you in a later stage of the game and allows for a lot of strategic depth in the game.

Combat occurs when a group of Bushi is moved to a Han which contains Bushi and/ or the Daimyo of an opponent. The rules for combat are very simple: the Bushi of both players are removed in a 1:1 ratio. This means the Bushi that one player has in excess of the other player are the only ones remaining on the game board after combat. A Daimyo also counts as a Bushi in combat, but it is eliminated if it has to be removed from the game board as a result of the combat.

When a player successfully eliminates the Daimyo of another player or occupies a Han of each opponent with a set number of Bushi, he immediately wins the game.

The manual describes a number of advanced rules which can be introduced individually. An example of the advanced rules is the ‘defensive fortifications’ rule that lets your Bushi combat as if they have an additional Bushi when they are placed on one of your own Hans.

The game also comes with a set of special action cards which allow players to perform a unique action (for example: a Ninja attack). This set of action cards is very flavourful and makes the game feel a little less abstract.

Components
The game looks very abstract, but is decorated with a lot of Japanese symbols to enhance the flavour.
The Han tiles are made of thick, sturdy cardboard. The Bushi are represented with simple wooden discs in four different colours. The Daimyo are very nice looking pieces made of coloured wooden cones with a metal samurai head on them. The action cards are of normal quality and illustrated with a basic picture representing the action. The illustration, combined with the character, give you a general idea of the use of the cards in the case of the standard action cards, but you will often need to look up the special action cards in the manual. This manual is very clear, because of the use of illustrations and examples, and explains the game in five languages (English, French, German, Italian and Dutch). The box is much larger then it needs to be for the components, so the initial impression of the game may be disappointing.
Other people have reported that the game is much too expensive for the components, but here in the Netherlands the game can be bought for about 25 EUR, which is a good price for a game like this.



Entertainment
Daimyo is a strategic game and has no luck factor if you use the optional rule of a balanced distribution of the action cards at the start of the game (which I recommend).

The strategy of the game comes from distributing your played action cards among your opponents, because this allows you to control what cards your opponents have access to during the game. However, because of the priority system of the action cards it’s possible you need to rethink the use of your action card because the intended use is no longer optimal. This adds a tactical layer to the game.

Each game lasts between 45-60 minutes and is very tense. Because of the limited manoeuvring space on the game board, almost any mistake is fatal. This is especially noticeable when playing with two players, but it is also a big factor when playing with three or four players, because only one player has to be eliminated to end the game. A three player game almost always ends with two players starting a battle and the third player winning the game by attacking one of the weakened opponents. Although the game is easily taught, it is not a good idea to introduce a new player in a 3 or 4 player game, because the game will end for everyone if they make a mistake.

The optional advanced rules and special action cards allow for many options to enhance and customize gameplay, making this a game that will remain interesting for a long time.