Players: 2-4
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: 3 (of 10)

Reiner Knizia's Samurai seems to be the real name of this game, not just Samurai, and so I've used it as the title of the review, to help differentiate it from all the other Samurai games out there.

The Components

Samurai comes with:

• 1 map of Japan
• 39 figures
• 80 tiles
• 4 Japanese screens
• 1 rulebook

Map of Japan: The map is printed on four irregular pieces of very heavy cardboard which jigsaw together. Like everything in the game they're very thematically appropriate, and have the look of drawings on parchment.

The map is also a very clever design. There's the central island of Honshu, then three outlying islands. For a two-player game, you just use the two map pieces that form Honshu. For the three-player game, you add on a map segment with two southern islands (Kyushu and Shikoku) and for the four-player game, you add on the last map segment, which features the northern island of Hokkaido.

Unfortunately, the maps come rubberbanded when they arrive, which has left indelible marks across a couple of my board segments.

Figures: The figures are entirely beautiful resin casts. They're molded in black, and thus a bit low contrast, but they have a great weight to them, and hold detail well. There are 13 each of 3 types of figures: high helmets, buddhas, and rice fields (representing the three castes of Samurai Japan).

Tiles: 20 hexagonal tiles in each of the four player colors (blue, yellow, red, and green). Most of them feature very simple and obvious iconography, starting with the three standard figure types. There are also boats, samurai, a ronin, and a couple of more complex tile types. The icons all very easy to intuit within your first game. Each tile also has a number, marking its power, from 0 to 4. Finally, 5 of the tokens are marked with a special "fast play" icon (a Japanese character).

Screens: These screens are marked with the color of the player on the front, in full color, and some rules on the back, in grayscale. There's a listing of all the tiles facing each player, but it's only somewhat useful, because most of the tiles are hidden in stacks. There are a few rules listed as well, including those for the more complex tiles, but they're similarly of limited utility; they appear in three different languages, and most people seem to gloss right over the fact that one of the languages is English.

The screen is cut with the intent that you accordian fold it (I think), but that doesn't work very well. Nonetheless, the screens are pretty and thematic, adding to the atmosphere of the game.

Rulebook: The rules are eight pages long, 4 each in English and German. They're full color, through printed on non-glossy paper. They're full of examples, and are pretty easy to follow.

Samurai is one of those games for which the components really work. They're attractive, they're easy to use, and they fit together into a cohesive and beautiful whole. The resin figures and the thick, modular board are particular standouts in a great product, and the nuisances that I've mentioned are pretty minor in the scope of things. It gets a full "5" out of "5" for Style.

The Game Play

The object of Samurai is to exert enough control over the cities and villages of Japan, and the capital city, Edo, to gain favor from the three castes and thus rulership of the island.

Setup: The game is setup with each player choosing a color, then selecting a starting array of tiles from that color (5 from the total of 20). Finally the board is laid out and the figures are placed on the board. Afterward, play begins.

The Tiles. Most of the hexagonal tiles are used to exert control over one or more of the three castes of Japan (warrior, religious, and worker). The standard tiles are thus:

• 2, 3, and 4 of warriors; which each exert that much influence
• 2, 3, and 4 of religious
• 2, 3, and 4 of workers
• 1, 1, 2, 2, and 3 of samurai; which are wild cards that influence all three castes
• a special "move" tile which allows you to relocate a tile already placed

In addition there are 5 "fast play" tiles which may be played on a turn in addition to one of the normal tiles (thus allowing a quick change of influence for a city).

• 1 of ronin; which is a wild card like the samurai
• 1, 1, and 2 of boats; which can be placed in the ocean next to a city, and are wild cards
• a special "figure exchange" tile, which allows you to swap two different figures on the board (more on that in a second).

To start out a player chooses 5 of his 20 tiles for his initial hand, then shuffles up the rest.

The Map. The map of Japan depicts the capital city of Edo, a few large cities, and a number of villages.

The Figures. There are three types of figures: warrior high helmets, religious buddhas, and worker rice paddies. One of each of these figures is placed in Edo. Then, the players fill out the cities, placing two different figures in each. Then, they fill out the villages by placing one figure in each.

This is all done in turn. One player puts one figure on a city, then the next player puts another figure in the same city, or another that isn't filled, etc., until the cities are full, then they place the figures on the villages, one at a time. Theoretically this is done to further the strategy that a player considered when he drew his tiles--usually by placing some figures in such a way that they can influenced by a single tile that the player already has in hand.

Order of Play: The players go in turn, each taking the following actions:

• Place 1 normal tile
• Place 0 or more fast play tiles
• Capture Figures
• Draw Tiles

Place Normal Tiles: Each round a player gets to place one normal tile. This is a warrior tile, a religious tile, a worker tile, a samurai tile, or the move tile tile. Tiles are placed in empty land hexes on the map of Japan, each of which is adjacent to one or more cities or villages, which in turn hold figures.

Players are trying to influence those cities and villages in order to win the figures, and this is done by placing either the matching tiles adjacent to the figure, or else the wild card samurais. Each city or village has between 2 and 6 empty land spaces next it; these are the spaces that must be filled in order to capture the figures.

The move tile tile is a special case. It's placed in a space that already holds a tile, and the original tile is moved (usually allowing you to reuse one of your "4" tiles or else your "3" samurai).

Place Fast Play Tiles: In addition, a player may play any number of fast play tiles before or after the play of his normal tile. This allows a player to better capture cities or villages without other players' interference or otherwise throw things up in the air.

The ronin tile is just the same as a 1 samurai, except it's fast play.

The 3 ships go out in the oceans which lie adjacent to many cities and villages. They're the only tiles that can be played out there. They're also wild cards, like the samurai and ronin.

Finally, there's a special figure exchange which just lets you swap two uncaptured figures on the board (except that you don't allow a city to end up with more than one of the same type of figure). It's used when a player has put a specific tile near a figure (e.g., a "religious 4" next to a buddha) and you want to try and snatch the figure away from him.

Capture Figures: Cities and villages are closed when all of the land spaces adjacent to them are filled. At this point you look at the figures in the city or village and count up the influence for each, based on the specific tiles for that figure type and/or the the various wild cards.

For example, if one player had a "religious 4" near a city, and another player had a "1 samurai", a "religious 2" and a "2 ship", and the city indeed held a buddha, the first player would have an influence of 4 and the second an influence of 5; if, instead, that second player had a "warrior 2" instead of that "religious 2", the warrior tile would be useless to influence the buddha figure, and thus the first player would win 4 to 3.

The player with the higher influence takes the figure and places it behind his screen for later scoring. In cities and in Edo, different players might get each figure, or they could all go to the same player.

In cases when influence is tied for a figure, the figure is set aside.

Draw Tiles: To end his turn, a player draws one or more tiles, depending on how many he spent, to get back up to a hand of 5. If he runs out of tiles at the end of the game, he just keeps playing with what he has.

Winning the Game: The game ends when either (1) the last figure of one of the three types is captured; or (2) when the fourth figure is placed beside the board due to the tie. At this point, all captured figures are revealed and scoring is conducted.

Hang on, things get a little confusing here.

If one player has captured a majority of figures in 2 or 3 types, he wins. (Technically, according to the computer game, which I've also played, and is fairly official, a player also wins if he captures the majority in 1 type, and no one else captures a majority.)

Otherwise, all players who have captured at least one majority count their figures outside of that majority, and the player with the most is the winner.

If there's still a tie, the player among those tied who has the most total figures wins.

If there's still a tie, there's a tie.

In other words, winning is based on the favor of the majority of the castes, but if consensus fails, the player with the broadest support wins.

How the Game Plays

A player starts out by selecting a nice group of tiles. Personally, I usually pick a wild tile or three (say, a low-powered boat and a few low or mid power samurai) and then a specific caste to concentrate upon (say, the 4 and 3 for the worker caste). Afterward, a player lays down the tiles in a way that will benefit his initial tile pull. (In this case I'd put a few rice paddies close together so that I could get maximum use of my two high-power worker tiles.)

Play is a constant game of brinkmanship. Players start out by arranging tiles around cities, but are reluctant to fill in the last two spaces, because as soon as the penultimate space goes, the other players have absolute control over how the city is closed, sometimes to the prior player's deficit. Ronins are often used to close out a city in one turn during this phase, while boats start bolstering up cities to make them too strong to steal when the last tile is played.

Eventually, players are forced to start filling in the cities the rest of the way. Players start capturing figures. A player will most typically try to concentrate on one or two types of figures, because if he can get majority in two, he flat out wins, while majority in even one can have a strong beneficial effect. If capturing two castes fails, a player will usually see if he can get some breadth at the end for tie-breaker scoring.

Toward the end of the game, players are sometimes forced to fill in spaces that they don't want to, sometimes giving figures to their opponents, or else setting up their opponents to steal figures.

Eventually the last figure of one of the types is taken. The players either do or don't notice, and if they do they move on to scoring, and who actually won is determined.

Relationships to Other Games

Samurai is one of Knizia's "tile laying trilogy". These games were all developed between 1997 and 1998 and each feature tile-laying as a prime component, along with some innovative methods for scoring. Through the Desert (1998) and Tigris & Euphrates (1997) are the other two members of the trilogy. Rheinlander (1998) and Stephenson's Rocket (1998) are two other games that could easily fit into the same trilogy, but aren't generally classified as such for whatever reason.

More technically, Samurai is an area control and capture game. Rather than the troops that you see in most war game, you have power tiles which are laid down to gain control of specific areas--and generally left there thereafter.

The Game Design

Samurai is overall a very well-designed abstract tactical game. Here's some of the best points:

Great Tactical Play: Each turn's move is meaningful and tactically complex. You have to look at which individual moves are most likely to benefit you and least likely to set your opponent up for a coup. Like many tactical games each move is a mini-puzzle; unlike most tactical games, the options are simple enough that moves don't descend into analysis paralysis.

Some Strategy: There is some real strategy on top of the tactics. You often have to consider the repercussions of your turn for at least a couple of moves ahead.

Nice Variability: The fact that the figures are laid out differently every turn--and that the board itself changes from two to four players adds a lot to the replayability of the game.

Here's some of the design I liked less:

Scoring Obtuse: The scoring is entirely obtuse. It's hard to explain, let alone figure out during play, and, especially for first time player's, it's very hard to see who's winning. A simpler scoring system, like that in Tigris & Euphrates, would have been much better.

Best at Two Players: Personally, I think the game plays very well at two players, well above average at three, and OK at four. Here's why: First of all, the scoring actually works at two players, where someone is likely to end up holding two majorities. Second, the game gets less strategic and more chaotic the more people you add, because the board changes so much from turn to turn. If you're looking for a non-random game, you have to play with two, but for players who don't mind a little chaos, they'll like it at three too.

Overall, Samurai plays very well and is almost always a thought-provoking and enjoyable experience. I give it a "4" out of "5" for Substance.

Conclusion

Samurai is a somewhat abstract, very tactical game that will ideally suit players looking for a thinking person's game without a lot of chrome. It plays best at 2 players, but will still be appreciated at 3 or 4 players if you don't mind chaos in your game.