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Samurai
From the Publisher...
For centuries, Samurai have represented unfailing courage, imperturbable loyalty and internal harmony. There are three SAMURAI forces: peasants, clergy and nobility. The way to power leads through these three: peasants, represented by rice fields, clergy, represented by Buddhas and nobility, represented by high helmets. To become a SAMURAI, one has to be supported by one of these forces and have strong connections to the other two. Each player has an identical force and they deploy their forces to the spaces around the power figures. When a figure is surrounded, it is captured by the player with the strongest sympathetic force. To win, a player must gain dominance in one of the powers while getting better support from the other powers than the other players.
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more information at the Board Game Geek website
Customer Raves - Write your own Rave about this game!
(Click on a person's name or game group to see other raves by the same person or group.
Jim Carvin -
Berks Boardgamers
| I'm glad to see this is back in print. This is an excellent game from Knizia that's very simple to learn and teach. The scoring at the end is unusual but not complicated, classic Knizia. It's takes about the same amount of time to play with four players as it does with two. Excellent game which I highly recommend! |
Bryan Jensen
| The medieval Japan theme is a little strange -- samurai, raiding boats, and symbols of Buddhas, Shinto priest hats, and rice packages are used to vie for winning influence in major cities around the Japanese islands. Again, being a Reiner Knizia game, you have to consider balance. You want to dominate score in one or more of the three areas of influence, but, like Ingenious and other Knizia games, you will win by having the highest score in your weakest area. However you don't even get the chance of competing in your weakest area if you don't dominate in another area.
It's shrewd, beautiful and completely pasted on, yet strangely seems to suit the aesthetics of what Westerners associate with medieval Japan. If you like Knizia games then get this, even if Samurai is a little expensive for what you get. |
adam brupbacher
| This is an excellent and thoughtful game by the ever-popular Dr. Knizia. The design is elegant. I find it simple to explain and easy to grasp, but with all the depth you could want.
It can be played slow and thoughtfully, or quickly with a mind towards tactics!
On top of its elegant mechanics, the component are beautiful. All these things make Samurai a game I plan on playing as often as I can. |
Dog
| Samurai is one of my favorite Knitzia games, in that it's an interestingly-themed and well-designed abstract strategy, area control game which can be scaled from two to four players. While the mechanic used is tile placement, this game has equal proportion bidding. The game can be played with a greater amount of randomness in its setup to no randomness whatsoever, and is easy to play in 30 to 45 minutes. Very fun and worthwhile. |
Danny -
NYC Meetup
| Love this game. It's a territorial game where you influence different icons on the board. The person with the "majority" of icons will win the game. It starts off and looks friendly but soon becomes a tense, strategic game of who can outwit who. Thumbs up by Me. |
| Samurai is an abstract Reiner Knizia game with a modular board designed to be variable depending on the number of players. This is a great idea that I think more games should make use of, since it ensures a great experience regardless of the number of players. This is one of the few abstracts I've succesfully introduced to my relatives who usually only go for more thematic games. |
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