I had never heard of the term "daimyo" as a teenager until I played Samurai Swords, by Milton Bradley, in which they played an important role. My interest with that game led me to read up on the subject, and I read some interesting back stories and novels about daimyo. A game with the same name, Daimyo (Tenki Games, 2005 - Piero Cioni), sounded like an excellent way to capture their essence, and I looked forward to trying it out. After opening the box, I wasn't so sure. The game components were tremendous, but the theme seemed to be almost separate from the game, which looked more abstract.
After playing the game, I say - who cares! This is an excellent game of careful card game management and has the feel of a superbly designed abstract game. When played with the basic game (the advanced version I didn't care so much for), the game becomes one of cat and mouse, where for about forty-five minutes, players "hunt" the daimyos of their opponent. Daimyo reminded me of another abstracted Japanese war game, Tenjo; but while Tenjo was large and awfully clunky, Daimyo is extremely light and elegant. I haven't yet won a game of Daimyo, but I am impressed with the cleverness of its design.
Each player takes a daimyo of their color, along with twelve Bushi - regular troops. A battlefield is constructed of hexagons - the layout differing depending on the number of players (two through four), but each player has three hexes of their own color with the remainder in a neutral color. A pile of neutral "Hans" (hexagons) is placed near the board. Each player places a Bushi warrior on each one of their three hexes, and their daimyo on the hex farthest away from the opponents. The rest of the troops are placed on a player's board that identifies their color. There are piles of "Densho" cards that are split into five different types - each distributed evenly between all the players. The cards (which all have the same backing) form players' starting hands. The first round is ready to begin.
Players each play two cards down in front of themselves, and then reveal them simultaneously. Cards are played in order, alphabetically then numerically. For example, A1 is played, then A6, B3, B4, D5, and E2 - in that order. Each card has a different effect:
- A: Bushi Move: The player moves as many Bushi warriors as they want to an adjacent hexagon. All warriors moving must end up in the same hex.
- B: Bushi Recruitment: The player adds one Bushi to the hex upon which their Daimyo is currently at.
- C: Daimyo Move: The player moves their Daimyo to one adjacent hexagon.
- D: New Han: The player adds a new neutral "Han" (hexagon) to the board, with at least one side adjacent to a current Han.
- E: Han Move: The player can move any Han on the board that has no units on it to another position, as long as they don't split the board and position it to at least one other hex.
When players move Bushi into a space containing enemy units, combat occurs. The player with more Bushi warriors wins and removes both the losing units from the board (returning them to their owner) and an equal number of units from their own force. In battle a Daimyo counts simply as one Bushi warrior.
After all cards have been played, players give each of their discarded cards to their opponent(s) - one to the player on their right, the other to the player on their left. Another round then starts, and play continues until one player's Daimyo is eliminated. AT this point the game ends, and the player who managed to kill an opponent's Daimyo is the winner! The game can also end if a player manages to control one colored hexagon of each opponent with a total of at least three Bushi warriors.
Some comments about the game…
1.) Components: My favorite pieces in the game are the Daimyo pieces, which are metal samurai heads stuck into a colored wooden pawn. They look hilarious and serious all at the same time, and just add a smidgen of theme to a game that really doesn't have much of it. The Bushi warriors are simply large wooden discs and stand out well on the hexes. The hexes are smaller than those found in Settlers of Catan and have nice colored backgrounds with Japanese symbols printed on them. The game may fell abstract, but it certainly looks Oriental. The cards are of high quality (although white borders would have been better than black borders) and show the letter and number of the card quite clearly, as well as a pictorial description of each one. Everything fits easily into a large square box (which is certainly at least three times the size needed to store the game). The game has a great "feel" to it and looks extremely professional.
2.) Rules: The rulebook, which comes in three languages, is the same size as the box and is really well done. Full color pages with absolutely beautiful illustrations and clear explanations of each component and piece are tremendously helpful. The game is actually rather simple, but the rules make sure that no mistakes are easily made. The rules are fairly easy to teach; and even though there are special cards without text, all of them are simple to explain, and there are only five different types. Combat is simple to explain, movement is easy to understand, and the complexity of the game comes from strategy, not the rules.
3.) Advanced Rules: There are two optional rules that I like using - one is that the Han hexagons of a player's color give them a +1 (defensive fortifications), the other is a balanced game start, where players receive exact cards to ensure perfect fairness in the initial setup. However, a set of eight action cards are included that I'm not so fond of. These cards, which are randomly inserted into the setup of the game and are designated by the letter "F", are simply more difficult to work with. Some of them are extremely powerful and end up changing the strategy of the game. For example, one card allows a player to destroy three Bushi warriors in the same territory. This card can greatly affect the game, putting a player into a very poor position. We tried the cards out, but after one play, decided that they unbalanced the game too much. "Mastery" cards are also included, which give each player a special ability. Some of these abilities appear to be unbalanced, although it would take me several more plays to determine that. Either way, I wasn't very impressed by them.
4.) Cards: Knowing which cards to play when is definitely the key to this game. Players must consider what actions they wish to do and what cards their opponents will receive when done. This last bit is especially crucial. If someone is constantly attacking me, should I give them movement cards? If someone is low on men, shouldn't I keep reinforcements cards from them? For me, this was the most clever part of the game - and sometimes the most frustrating. I often thought that I "needed" a certain card and was annoyed that I didn't receive it. At the same time, other players were simply working with the cards they got and strategically feeding me cards that didn't help. The system works excellently; if you want to play that A1 movement card, you're going to have to give it to your opponent.
5.) Players: Because of the card system, I think that I enjoy the four player game the most, although the three player game does work extremely well. The two player game is okay, but the choice of which opponent to give which card to isn't present and for me that's a large draw of the game. The game doesn't really feature player elimination either; since if one player's Daimyo is eliminated, the game immediately ends.
6.) Victory Conditions: Because there are two different victory conditions, the game plays out very well balanced. Players must guard their own Daimyo, but at the same time they must also protect their colored hexes, because a slower, more subtle attack by the enemy can give them the victory.
7.) Hexes: The movement of the hexes (which, by the way, totally disrupts the theme. How were the ancient Japanese able to move entire blocks of land around like that?) is very similar to another game, Trias. It certainly adds a lot of tactical options, as players can force other players to attack them through narrow gaps, or bring an enemy's colored hex right next door to their forces. Players must spread their troops out, or their opponent will move the hexes, putting them in bad positions both offensively and defensively. When it comes to moving the hexes, this is another situation where I prefer the multiplayer game to the two-player game, as the options and results of moving each hex are more intriguing.
8.) Fun Factor: Daimyo is a lot of fun because when a player wins, they know that they've done so because of their own clever playing. With a no-luck combat system (kind of like that of the older game Dune), and cards that all players share to a degree, a sharp player will dominate others. Yes, I've never won a game of Daimyo yet. But after every game, I'm immediately eager to play again, because I want to try another strategy. That's the mark of a good game.
I like Daimyo because it's fast, rewards clever play, and just is a lot of fun to play. It mixes card management with hex movement in ways that combine not to produce a thematic Daimyo battle but more of a very well done abstract strategy game. While the advanced rules don't really raise my enthusiasm, the basic game certainly does, and I expect to be playing this quite a bit this year. In fact, while typing this review, I thought of a new strategy to try out in the next game. So excuse me while I go check it out, playing the game is that much fun.
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games."
www.tomvasel.com
