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12 of 14 found the following review helpful:
 A Great Strategy GameDec 09, 2008
By Luis Ernesto Cabrera Girón
"lestat2099"
This game is an awesome reimplementation of the game system of Wallenstein.
I think of it as a more strategic and less luck involved RISK.
In Shogun you're trying to conquer regions of Japan (in the imperial times). The game is played in a "2 year period", this is just another way of saying that it is played in 2 rounds wich are divided in 3 regular phases (Spring, Summer, Fall) and 1 scoring phase (Winter).
In the first 3 phases, you try to conquer different regions, as well as trying to improve the ones you already have. In this phases you can build castles, temples or theaters in your existing regions, you can collect taxes or rice from the wealthiest regions you have (and then wait for the peasants to rise against you!), or you can fight against your enemies (at least adjacent ones) to conquer new lands!.
Fights are settled with the cube tower (in my opinion, the coolest thing about the game!), in each of your regions you have cubes representing your armies (much like miniatures in risk), you can choose to combat with any number of armies you have, against a number chosen by your opponent, then you take both the armies you have and your opponents, and you throw them in the cube tower. The cube tower has several levels inside that keep the cubes inside of it, so a lot of your armies and you opponets wont make it outside of the tower, so the one with the most armies at the bottom of the cube tower, wins.
On the Winter phase, you get points for each region, the mayority of the castles, temples and theaters in each region. Also you have to feed the people on each of your regions. Remember that rice? so, in this phase the rice becomse really important, because of there's not enough rice for every region you have, then revolts rise, that act like "internal wars" that you have to settle before coming into the new year!, if you loose against the revolters, you loose that region...
After the second winter, the game ends and the person with the most points wins and becomes the Shogun!
So, I highly reccomend this if you like "Euro styled" games (Puerto Rico, Settlers of Catan, Power Grid), but you want a little bit more of conflict or long-term strategy in your games.
For more, go to Boardgamegeek: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/20551
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Very Good Strategy GameDec 21, 2010
By Zift
Shogun is a high quality game, with beautifully designed components. This may be the best feudal Japan light strategy game, particularly since the old Milton Bradley Samurai Swords game appears to be out of print for good. Strengths are that is more than just conquest by battle--building, the arts and taxation are also important; the "battle tower" combat resolution system is a good innovation--the game uses no dice at all; also covers only two years of time, so you don't have endless turns trying to finish off every last fiefdom on the map (ala Risk). Some non-wargamers will actually participate in this one. The drawbacks include that despite the title, no player will come close to being Shogun. It could better be called "Daimyo," since the most you can do here is fortify a small area of the map and run it better than your competitors. Indeed, going on the offensive is generally a bad idea in this game, and the victory point system is somewhat questionable. Additionally, the game takes much longer than the two hours suggested on the box -- this is easily an all day project.
3 of 4 found the following review helpful:
SHOGUN, BRILLIANT STRATEGY WAR ADVANCE PLANNING BOARD GAMENov 10, 2010
By John D. Min
"criticfilm"
SHOGUN by Queen Games (not to be confused with other Shogun, Samurai, Samurai Swords games)
Designer: Dirk Henn, based on Wallenstein
SETUP: 10-15 minutes
PLAY TIME: 2-3 HOURS
PLAYERS: 3-5, dynamics works well with all numbers
TYPE: Strategy planning, war game
SHOGUN has replaced Risk, Axis and Allies, and all other board war games of medium to light complexity for me. I will not even touch those other games when Shogun is around. I would love to see expansions or other versions of the game, using the same game mechanics which are brilliant. A World War II version, North America, Europe, Fantasy, Space, etc. would be fantastic.
The board is Japan divided into smaller territories in the 16th Century during the Sengoku Jidai period, an era of warring samurais, ninjas, daimyos, Shogun, and the Emperor. Each player chooses one of the main clans that are battling to rule Japan. Players setup relatively quickly receiving territory and placing troops down on the board. Small colored cubes (not fancy pieces) are used as army groups and placed according to the chart on owned territories. They are used in battle with an ultra cool tower mechanism which surpasses the use of dice or other random battle deciders.
BATTLE TOWER: the tower is loaded with armies and farmers which can help or hinder your battle progress. There are unique slats that capture the cube, allowing some to fall through while trapping others. By dropping your cubes and the opponent's cubes, they cause a chain reaction which releases cubes into the bottom tray like a slot machine. Based on the colors, the dominant one wins. What makes it great is that if you lose, it is because your cubes are still in the tower which will give you an advantage in the next battle, eventually evening out the odds, but still providing enough of a random battle factor. No one wins based purely on luck or rolling all 6s or 1s!
Every season, players must preplan all their actions, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and just like ancient battles, Winter is a non battle/build phase, and dedicated purely to feeding people and preparing for the new season. During the main three seasons, you must battle, build, recruit, and collect gold/food. Another unique aspect, you can only choose one territory for one action which makes planning and predicting your opponents' actions crucial. Do you use a key territory to build, produce, launch a battle, or recruit new troops, you must choose only one per territory, you can not do it all and so your multiple actions are spread out among your territories. I love this aspect as it avoids the big slow dice-rolling slugfest battles, and avoids hoarding in one spot like the mega armies of Risk or Moscow's last stand in A&A.
Each territory has unique features shown on its deed card, how much gold it can produce, how much rice it can produce, how many buildings it can sustain. By building castles, temples, and theaters, you gain valuable victory points, beware if you lose your territory, all your buildings are destroyed. Another aspect which is great, only the first five actions are revealed, the next five actions are hidden. You must plan all your actions and in which territory before you can even act. Therefore the game is not based on act, react, act like Risk, if you misplan your actions, you will be crushed. All ten actions are planned before anyone goes, 3 building actions, 3 army recruit actions, 1 produce gold, 1 produce rice (feed your troops or face revolts), 2 battle/war actions. You can opt to skip actions as well. Once you plan all ten (or less) actions, the actions are resolved in turn order, you also bid to see who goes first and receive special bonus modifiers. ie first action may be 1)all receive rice 2)all build castles 3)all build temples 4) recruit or move soldiers 5) go to war 6-10) ??? you flip to reveal those actions one at a time. Of course there is much more to the game, and only by playing will you get a true feel for the game.
The game is beautiful, elegantly simple but strategic, relatively easy to learn, and great replay value. The cost is high, retails $64.95, so look for a used copy or try it out at a convention or a gaming club. If you do purchase, then you should love Risk and desire much more planning and challenge, if you love games like Samurai Swords, Fortress America, Axis and Allies, Battle Cry, Conquest of the Empire, you should be fine. A personal favorite and highly recommended.
Awesome board game, my new favorite over RiskAug 23, 2011
By Jus
I already knew what I was getting with this board game. One of my best friends has it and we'd played his copy of the game a couple times, and I knew I wanted my own. I've always loved Risk, and I always will, but Shogun is WAY better. It's also a bit different, but it is easily comparable to Risk. With Shogun, it's MUCH more methodical with your strategy, because domination is not the only way to win, and with Shogun's setup, you only have so much time to do everything you can to get points to win at the end. Also, there's no dice at ALL in this game. They use this awesome 'tower' idea, and you use the applicable amount of little wooden cubes as dictated by the rules and the pieces on the board and the circumstances involved in each conflict and you dump them in, and based on what falls out (the tower is designed so that some pieces get 'stuck' in there, but not all of 'em), you are able to figure out what happened. It's an easy system once you play the game once, and it's MUCH faster, and also more fun, than using dice to decide things.
It's a high quality game, with great packaging and pieces, the rules are written in 5-6 languages as well, so that's cool too.
If you like Risk and are looking for something a little different, I HIGHLY recommend this game. Get a few friends together, a few hours and have a blast.
3 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Highly unbalancedDec 14, 2010
By M. Fonseca
"carmarthen"
Behind such a great concept and indredibly tasteful artwork and game components, this is terribly flawed.
First, this is a game where you simply cannot expand your territories. In a five-player game, you'll begin with seven provinces. The maximum you can muster at the end will be 13 (almost impossible, considering other people can attack you and not all your attacks on other provinces will succeed. Also, the farmers revolts are dangerous only in the first couple of attacks: then it's almost impossible to lose a battle to them. The game also does not allow much palyer interaction. You will simply get stuck in the initial setp up regions on the mapboard, with the same neighbours around.
One of the most glamorous flaws, however, is that, once you get behind in the first winter scoring, your chances of recovering the loss at the second winter are close to zero.
All in all, SHOGUN is most cosmetics and not a great gaming experience. The battle tower is, indeed, very funny and highly original. However, I prefer STONE AGE, PUERTO RICO and the brilliant DOMINANT SPECIES.
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