Battle for Rokugan

Game Overview

Battle for Rokugan puts players in the roles of daimyō of the

Great Clans fighting for territory. Daimyō deploy forces to gain

control of provinces, which earn them honor and spread their

influence across the land. Powerful magics surge across the

land, forces clash, and the fates of all clans hang in the balance!

Object of the Game

Rokugan is a land filled with spirits, beauty, and strife. In Battle

for Rokugan

, each player leads a clan by taking the role of

a daimyō, who must make military decisions that anticipate

their opponents’ moves. Scouts and shugenja—priests and

priestesses who serve the kami of the land—are sent forth to

assist the daimyō by gathering information and destroying

enemy forces. Such resources are limited, however, so the

daimyō must call upon their services wisely.

On the battlefield, the clan’s forces clash with enemy forces to

control territories, as well as defend the lands their daimyō has

already claimed. Each daimyō also seeks to bring honor to their

clan by achieving a secret objective. And through it all, dark

forces dwelling in the Shadowlands whisper of power beyond

imagining...for a price.

Strength, cunning, strategy, and wisdom pave the path to

success in Battle for Rokugan. The land is there for the taking!

The most honorable daimyō will win the day.

The wind whipped across the banners that formed

a row of color stretching the length of the field. The

line represented the full measure of her province’s

strength. Would it be enough to hold the castle?

It would have to be. Her honor depended on it.

The daimyō nudged her steed and trotted up

alongside the line of

ashigaru peasant levies. They

clutched their spears and stared straight ahead,

toward what could be their doom. But if they died

courageously, they would be rewarded in the next

life. Perhaps they would even be reborn as samurai.

Behind them, her loyal samurai rested their hands

on the hilts of their swords. The polished lacquer of

their armor gleamed beneath the sun, their family

crests adorning their helmets in metal wreaths.

Beyond, the cavalry shifted, horses whickering to be

loosed.

The creaking of a thousand branches snapped her

attention across the field. Behind the enemy’s own

infantry line, a thousand longbows pointed upward.

“Prepare to receive fire!” she called.

Her clan’s shugenja began their chant, long hair and

colored sleeves fluttering in the wind like the smoke

of incense drifting to the heavens with their prayers.

A thousand whistles screamed through the air, a

dark swarm of death descending upon her army.

The chant crescendoed to a peak. Without

warning, the wind shifted direction. The arrows

buried themselves harmlessly in the dirt before her

ashigaru.

A battlecry went up from the enemy line, and the

wave of enemy infantry rushed forth to meet them.

She looked to her forces and shouted at the top

of her lungs, her horse rearing beneath her. “Steel

yourselves, soldiers! For the Emperor! For Rokugan!”

Components

1 Game Board

15 Peace

Tokens

15 scorched

earTh Tokens

4 honor Bonus

Tokens

4 defense Bonus

Tokens

1 round Track

Token

1 shrine

Token

1 BaTTlefield

Token

1 harBor

Token

10 iniTiaTive cards

1 firsT Player card

210 conTrol Tokens (30 Per clan)

189 comBaT Tokens (27 Per clan)

12 secreT oBjecTive cards

10 scouT cards

5 shuGenja cards

22 TerriTory cards

(2 Per TerriTory)

7 Daimyō ScreenS

Shugenja

Play at the start of your turn

during the placement phase.

Choose one combat token

on the board belonging to

an opponent. Reveal that

token and discard it.

Scout

Play at the start of your turn

during the placement phase.

Choose one combat token

on the board belonging to

an opponent. Look at that

token without revealing it

to the other players.

The Last Line

of Defense

At the end of the game, if you

control either the Crab base

or two provinces in the Crab

territory, you earn 5 honor.

First Player

Play at the start of your turn

during the placement phase.

Choose one combat token

on the board belonging to

any player. Look at the token

without revealing it to the

other players, then return the

token to its owner’s token pool.

Diplomatic Mission

Place one peace token in any

province. If you place the

peace token in an opponent’s

province, add two of your

control tokens faceup to a

province you control.

Honorable Fight

Choose a province and place

the battlefield token in it. That

province cannot be targeted

by diplomacy or raid tokens.

Scout

Play at the start of your turn

during the placement phase.

Choose one combat token

on the board belonging to

an opponent. Look at that

token without revealing it

to the other players.

Shugenja

Play at the start of your turn

during the placement phase.

Choose one combat token

on the board belonging to

an opponent. Reveal that

token and discard it.

Scout

Play at the start of your turn

during the placement phase.

Choose one combat token

on the board belonging to

an opponent. Look at that

token without revealing it

to the other players.

Web of Influence

At the end of the game, if you

control at least one province

in each of seven different

territories, you earn 10 honor.

Setup

To set up a game of Battle for Rokugan, follow these steps:

1. Place Game Board: Place the game board in the center of the

play area. Place the special tokens in a pile near the board.

2. Randomize Territory Cards: Place one random card from

each territory facedown under the matching territory space

along the edge of the game board. All territory cards not

placed under the game board are returned to the game box.

3. Choose Clans: Each player chooses a clan, takes their clan’s

corresponding daimyō screen and tokens, and then reads

their clan ability aloud to the other players. Then, each

player takes their bluff token and places it behind their

daimyō screen. Finally, players flip their remaining combat

tokens facedown and mix them to create a randomized

combat token pool.

4. Distribute Scout and Shugenja Cards: Deal two scout

cards and one shugenja card to each player.

5. Distribute Secret Objectives: Shuffle the secret objective

cards and deal two to each player. Each player chooses

one of the two cards they receive; that card is that player’s

secret objective. Return the remaining secret objective cards

to the game box. A player’s secret objective card must

remain hidden from other players.

6. Populate Capitals: Each player locates their clan’s capital

(the province on the board with the clan’s symbol) and

places one of their control tokens facedown in that capital’s

province.

7. Set Aside Control Tokens: Each player sets aside the

number of control tokens indicated by the “Control Token

Setup” table to the right. These set-aside tokens will be

placed during step 10.

Daimyō Screen with

Bluff Token

Combat

Token Pool

Control

Tokens

Territory Cards

Control Token Setup

Number of Players Number of Tokens Each

2 11

3 7

4 5

5 4

Scout and Shugenja

Cards

Scorpion and Crane place control tokens in the provinces

containing their respective clan capitals.

Secret Objective Card

Rise of an Empire

The player who has the highest

number of territory cards is the

first player.

Master of Governance

The player who controls the

highest number of provinces is

the first player.

Master of Tactics

The player who has the highest

number of control tokens

(faceup and facedown) on the

board is the first player.

8. Determine First Player: Shuffle the initiative card of each

clan chosen for this game to create the

initiative deck. Then,

reveal the top card from the deck; the clan that corresponds

to the revealed card is the

first player. That player takes

the first player card and places it near their daimyō screen.

Return the revealed initiative card to the game box.

9. Complete Initiative Deck: Shuffle the neutral initiative

cards (the ones that do not have a clan icon). Add these

cards to the remaining cards in the initiative deck, one at a

time, until the initiative deck has a total of four cards. (For

a five-player game, no neutral initiative cards are used.)

Return the remaining neutral initiative cards to the game

box without looking at them. Shuffle the initiative deck and

place it near the game board.

10. Place Starting Control Tokens: Beginning with the first

player and proceeding clockwise, each player places one

of their set-aside control tokens

facedown in the center of

any province that does not already contain a control token.

Provinces containing clan capitals (that do not already

contain control tokens) and the Shadowlands provinces can

be chosen at setup.

Players continue placing control tokens in this way until all

of the control tokens set aside during step 7 have been

placed.

11. Place Round Track Token: Place the round track token

on space “1” of the round track, which is located at the

bottom of the game board.

The Unicorn

initiative card is

returned to the

game box.

Neutral Initiative

Cards

Four-Card

Initiative Deck

A four-player game between Crab, Phoenix, Scorpion,

and Unicorn after setup.

Round

Track Token

Initiative Cards

Unicorn is the

first player for

round one.

The Crane territory comprises the three

indicated provinces.

Crane

Territory

Landlocked

Province

Coastal

Province

Perimeter

Phoenix

Crab

Scorpion

Unicorn

Crane

Dragon

Lion

Te rri tori es

A territory is a grouping of multiple provinces. All of the

provinces that make up a territory are the same color.

Clans

Each player chooses their clan during setup. Battle for Rokugan

has seven clans:

Control and Combat Tokens

Each clan has control and combat tokens that contain its clan

symbol. These tokens are double-sided.

During the game, the players will place control tokens in

provinces. A player

controls all provinces containing their control

tokens. Controlling provinces is the primary way in which a player

earns honor and wins the game, which is explained later.

If a card effect removes a control token from a province, faceup

control tokens are removed before facedown control tokens.

Capitals

Each clan has a capital that is

represented by a castle icon on the

map. At the beginning of the game,

each clan controls the province

where its clan capital is located.

Key Concepts

This section contains many of the key concepts that players will

need to understand to play the game.

The Map

The game board features a map of Rokugan. The map contains

two landmasses and a sea. The landmasses are divided into

provinces, which are grouped into territories.

Provinces

A province is an area of the map surrounded by a yellow

perimeter. A province that is completely surrounded by other

provinces or the map edge is a

landlocked province. A province

that has a perimeter that touches the sea is a

coastal province.

A province’s perimeter comprises multiple

borders. The portion

of a perimeter that is shared by two provinces is a

land border,

and two provinces that share a land border are adjacent. The

portion of a perimeter that is shared by a province and the sea

is a

coastal border.

Land

Border

Land

Border

Coastal

Border

This province contains the

Scorpion clan capital.

Facedown

Control

Token

Faceup

Control

Token

Facedown

Combat

Token

Faceup

Combat

Token

Strength of Purpose

Choose two different

provinces you control and add

one of your control tokens

faceup to each of those

provinces.

Example of a player’s hand of combat tokens after

step 2 of the upkeep phase.

Dragon is now the first player.

Territory Card

Strength

Playing the Game

A game of Battle for Rokugan is played over a series of five

rounds. Each round consists of the following three phases that

players resolve in order: the upkeep phase, the placement

phase, and the resolution phase.

Upkeep Phase

During the upkeep phase, players determine a new first player,

draw combat tokens, and play non-Shadowlands territory cards.

To re sol ve the up kee p p hase , p lay ers pe rfo rm the fo llo win g st eps :

1. Determine First Player (Ignore During First Round): The

first player reveals the top card of the initiative deck. The

clan that corresponds to the revealed card is the new first

player for the current game round. That player takes the

first player card; this card can be used at the start of the

first player’s turn during the placement phase. (Since a first

player was determined during setup, players ignore this

step for the first round of the game.)

◊ If a neutral initiative card indicates more than one player

would be first player, the tied player closest to the right of

the current first player is the new first player.

◊ During a two-player game, the first player card is not used.

2. Draw Combat Tokens: Players place their bluff combat

tokens faceup behind their screens. Then, they draw

combat tokens from their combat token pools and place the

tokens behind their screens until they each have a total of

six tokens behind the screen. Then, players flip their drawn

tokens faceup; these six faceup tokens are the player’s

hand.

3. Play Territory Cards (Ignore During First Round):

Beginning with the first player and proceeding clockwise,

each player must either play one of their territory cards

or pass. If a player passes, they can still

play a territory card during a later turn,

unless all other players also pass. Players

continue taking turns playing territory

cards or passing until all players have

passed consecutively. Then, the upkeep

phase ends and the placement phase

begins. (Players ignore this step during the

first round of the game since they will not

have any territory cards.)

Placement Phase

During the placement phase, players place their combat tokens

on the map to fortify their defenses, to attack neighboring

clans, or to engage in diplomacy.

Beginning with the first player and proceeding clockwise,

each player places one of their combat tokens from their

hand

facedown on the map. Players continue taking turns

placing combat tokens until each player has one combat token

remaining behind their screen. Then, players proceed to the

resolution phase.

Placing Combat Tokens

Each player has a common set of combat tokens

and one clan-specific combat token. The type and

number of each token is listed on each player’s

daimyō screen. This is open information for all

players.

Each army, navy, shinobi, and blessing token has

strength.

Each type of combat token has its own placement

rules, but in general they are placed either on

borders or in the middle of a province. The different combat

tokens and their rules for placement are explained later.

Only one combat token can be placed on each border. Combat

tokens are always placed facedown. (The exception to both of

these rules is the blessing token, which is explained later.)

There is no limit to the number of combat tokens a player can

place in the middle of a province to defend it.

When placing a token on a border, the player should place the

token in the center of the border, orienting the token so its

arrow points toward the province they are attacking.

When placing a token in the middle of a province, the player

should orient the token toward the golden flowers in that

province.

A player may look at their own facedown combat tokens on the

board at any time.

The C omb at To k e ns

This section describes the various combat tokens and their

respective rules for placement in detail. Resolving combat

tokens is explained later.

If a token is placed in a way that violates the rules governing

its placement, it is removed during the resolution phase.

Army

Armies are the most common tokens players use

to defend and attack provinces.

To attack, a player can place an army token on a

land border between a province they control and an adjacent

province they wish to attack. To defend, a player can place an

army token in

any province (landlocked or coastal) they control.

Navy

Navies allow players to attack distant shores

beyond the reach of armies.

To atta ck, a play er c an p lac e a navy token on

any

coastal border. To defend, a player can place a navy token in

a coastal province they control.

Shinobi

The rare and secretive shinobi can launch

surprise attacks in any province—no place is safe

from their silent blades. The shinobi strike over

great distances, and can be called upon to either

defend or attack. A player can place a shinobi token in the

center of

any province. If a player places a shinobi token in a

province they control, that token is used to defend; otherwise,

it is used to attack.

Blessing

Occasionally, a clan daimyō’s strategic plan

requires additional guidance and assistance from

the kami in the form of a blessing.

A player can place a blessing token

faceup and on top of any

of their facedown army, navy, or shinobi tokens.

If a blessing is on top of a combat token, those two tokens

cannot be targeted by card effects or clan abilities. During the

resolution phase, the strength of the blessing is added to the

strength of its clan’s attack or defense.

Diplomacy

When peace is desired, a diplomatic approach is

best. The diplomacy token bestows a permanent

peace on a province. A player can place their

diplomacy token in any province they control to protect it

against current and future attacks.

Raid

As a last resort, a daimyō may decide to destroy

a province rather than allow territory to fall into

enemy hands. The raid token leaves nothing but

scorched earth behind.

A player can place a raid token in a province they do not

control. When revealing the raid token during the resolution

phase, a player can only trigger its effect if the raid token

is either in the same province as their shinobi token or in a

province that is adjacent to a province they control.

Bluff

Sometimes the best strategy is deception. The

bluff token allows a daimyō to feint in the hope of

drawing out the enemy.

To bluff, a player can place this token as if it were any non-

blessing combat token. Placing a bluff token is also how a

player saves a valuable combat token for the next round since

players place all but one of their combat tokens that are behind

their screens. Discarded bluff tokens are always returned to

their owners’ hands.

Scorpion attacks Unicorn by placing an army token

on an adjacent land border.

Unicorn attacks Crab. Crab defends his province

by placing a combat token in its center.

Resolution Phase

During the resolution phase, players perform the following

steps to resolve the combat tokens they placed on the map.

After a token is resolved, it is discarded to a faceup pile near

the player who placed it. This is the player’s

discard pile.

1. Reveal Combat Tokens: Players flip all combat tokens on

the map faceup.

2. Discard Bluff and Illegally Placed Tokens: Players discard

any bluff tokens or illegally placed combat tokens from the

map. Players’ bluff tokens are returned to them and are

placed behind their respective screens.

3. Resolve Raid Tokens: Players resolve each raid token. To

resolve a raid token, players discard all combat tokens that

share a province or border with that raid token; they also

remove all control tokens from the province. Then, the raid

token is replaced with a scorched earth token.

4. Resolve Diplomacy Tokens: Players resolve each

diplomacy token. To resolve a diplomacy token, the players

discard all combat tokens that share a province or border

with that diplomacy token. Then, the diplomacy token is

replaced with a peace token.

5. Resolve Battles: Players resolve all battles one at a time.

Since all battles occur simultaneously, the order in which

battles are resolved does not matter.

6. Claim Territories: Each player claims the territory cards for

the territories they control. A player controls a territory if

they control each province in that territory.

7. Advance Round Track: Advance the round track token

one space.

Resolving Battles

A battle occurs when a clan’s combat token is in a province

or on the border of a province that the clan does not control.

During a battle, any clans that do not control the province are

attackers; there can be multiple attackers attempting to take

control of a single province. If a clan controls the province

being attacked, that clan is the

defender.

To resolve a battle, the players determine their total strength.

Each attacker’s total is the sum of the strengths of their tokens

that are attacking the province. The defender’s total is the

sum of the strengths of their tokens they placed to defend

the province, plus any additional defense bonuses (defense

bonuses are explained later).

The player with the highest total wins the battle. If there is a tie

for the highest total, the defender wins the battle.

If an empty province is attacked, there is no defender; the

attacker compares their total strength against any defense

bonuses present in the province. When an empty province

is attacked, if the attacker does not win the battle, nothing

happens.

After a battle, all of the combat tokens involved in the battle

are discarded.

If an attacker wins the battle, they remove all of the defender’s

control tokens from the province. Then, they place one of their

own control tokens facedown in the province.

If the defender wins the battle, their control tokens remain in

the province. Then, they place another one of their control

tokens in the province faceup, which provides a defense bonus

during their future battles in that province. See “Successful

Defense” on page 10 for more details.

Battle Example

Phoenix has attacked Dragon from two of his provinces

using two army tokens with strengths of 1. Scorpion has

attacked Dragon using an army token with a strength

of 3. Dragon has defended her province using an army

token with a strength of 1.

Each clan calculates and compares its total strength.

Dragon’s strength is 1, Phoenix’s strength is 2, and

Scorpion’s strength is 3.

Scorpion has the highest total strength, so she takes

control of the province.

She removes the combat and control tokens from the

province and its borders. Then, she places one of her

control tokens facedown in the province.

Special Tokens

Special tokens remain on the board for the duration of the

game. These include scorched earth tokens, peace tokens, and

a variety of tokens that are placed by territory card effects. A

province can only contain one special token at any time.

Peace and scorched earth tokens cannot be replaced by other

special tokens, but other special tokens can be replaced by

peace and scorched earth tokens.

Example: Dragon controls a province that contains the harbor

token. During the placement phase, Dragon places her

diplomacy token in that province. During the resolution phase,

the diplomacy token causes a peace token to be placed in the

province, which replaces the harbor token.

Scorched Earth

If a province contains a scorched earth token, that

province cannot be controlled or attacked for

the remainder of the game. Players cannot place

combat tokens in a province that contains a scorched earth

token or on a border of that province.

A player can still control a territory if one or more provinces

in that territory contain a scorched earth token. To control the

territory, the player only needs to control the provinces without

scorched earth tokens.

Peace

If a province contains a peace token, that province

cannot be attacked and the player who controls it

cannot attack adjacent provinces from the peaceful

province. Players cannot place combat tokens in a province or

on a border of a province that contains a peace token.

Shrine

If a province contains a shrine token, that province

cannot be attacked; however, the player who

controls it

can attack provinces that are adjacent to

it. Players who do not control the province containing a shrine

token cannot place combat tokens in it or on its borders.

Battlefield

The battlefield token ensures that honorable battle

will always occur in its province. If a province

contains a battlefield token, players cannot place

diplomacy tokens or raid tokens in that province.

Harbor

The harbor token must be placed in a landlocked

province. While a province contains a harbor token,

it is a coastal province. The player who controls

that province can defend it with navy tokens, and other players

can attack it by placing navy tokens on its borders, even without

controlling adjacent provinces.

Honor Bonus and Defense Bonus

Honor and defense bonus tokens are added to

the board by territory cards. Honor bonus tokens

provide additional honor as indicated by the token.

Defense bonus tokens provide additional defense

strength as indicated by the token. Each defense

bonus token also provides one additional honor.

End of the Game

The game ends after five rounds. Each player reveals their

secret objective card and determines their total

honor.

Each player earns honor as follows:

◊ A number of honor equal to the total

number of flowers in the provinces they

control. Some flowers are printed on the

map, and some flowers are on tokens.

◊ One honor for each of their

faceup control

tokens on the map; no honor is awarded

for faceup control tokens in the Shadowlands

provinces.

◊ A number of honor provided by their secret

objective.

◊ Five honor for each territory they control;

no honor is awarded for controlling the Shadowlands

provinces.

Additional Rules

This section contains additional rules that players need to know

to play the game.

Successful Defense

Each time a province is successfully defended, the defender

places one of their

faceup control tokens in that province,

which provides that province with a defense bonus during their

future battles.

If an attack against a province fails for any reason, that province

is also treated as being successfully defended. Finally, if a player

places an army, navy, or shinobi token to defend a province and

that province is not attacked, the province is treated as being

successfully defended.

Defense Bonuses

There are a variety of defense bonuses that a defender can use

to increase their strength during a battle, as follows:

◊ Some provinces, such as provinces with

a clan capital, have an inherent defense

bonus. These bonuses are represented

on the map by an icon and strength. (A

province containing a clan capital has

a defense bonus even if that clan is not

represented by a player in the game.)

◊ Each faceup control token in a province

provides the defender with a defense strength of 1. Each

time a player successfully defends a province, they place a

faceup control token in the province they defended.

◊ There is no limit to the number of control tokens a player

can have in a province if they continually defend that

province successfully.

◊ Some special tokens added to the board by territory cards

provide defense bonuses. Players place these tokens on the

board by playing territory cards.

Three Honor

Faceup Control

Token

Defense

Bonus Printed

on Province

The Shadowlands contains

two single-province

territories, both

highlighted here in blue.

Playing Territory Cards

Each territory has a space on the game board for a territory

card. At the end of each resolution phase, each player

determines if they control any territories. If a player controls all

of the provinces in one territory, they take the card from that

territory’s space.

At the end of the resolution phase, if a player loses control of a

territory and they have not played its territory card, the card is

returned to its matching space on the board.

Territory cards provide players with single-use abilities. Players

can play territory cards during the upkeep phase. The two

Shadowlands territory cards are the exception to this rule; see

“The Shadowlands” below.

To play a territory card, a player reads and resolves the text on

the card. Then, they return it to the game box; that card

cannot

be played again during the game. After a territory’s card is

played, it is not replaced. Any players who gain control of that

territory later in the game do not gain a card for doing so.

Removing Tokens

When a combat token is removed, it is discarded and placed in

its owner’s discard pile.

When a control token is removed, it is returned to its owner’s

pool of control tokens. If a card effect instructs a player to

remove one of their control tokens, they choose the province

from which they remove the token. If the chosen province

contains more than one control token, faceup control tokens

are removed before facedown control tokens.

When a special token is removed, it is returned to the pile.

The S h ad owl an ds

The southwest provinces of the map are the Shadowlands.

Each of these two provinces is a single-province territory with a

defense bonus.

There are two territory cards

for the Shadowlands, one for

the north province and one

for the south province. (North

and south are indicated by the

arrows next to the Shadowlands

icon.)

If a player controls a province

in the Shadowlands, they take

the appropriate territory card as

normal. Shadowlands territory

cards are not played during

the upkeep phase; they are

played at the start of a player’s

turn during the placement

phase. These cards grant dark,

powerful abilities to the daimyō

who use them, but they require

sacrifice.

The Shadowlands do not

provide players with honor at

the end of the game. A player

does

not gain honor for controlling Shadowlands territories

or for having faceup control tokens in either Shadowlands

province.

Scout and Shugenja Cards

Scout cards are single-use cards that allow daimyō to send their

scouts into the battle to gather information about the opposing

forces. During the placement phase, a player can play one or

both of their scout cards at the start of their turn, before placing

a combat token. Then, they return the card to the game box;

that card

cannot be played again during the game.

Shugenja cards are single-use cards that allow daimyō to

harness their shugenjas’ magic to eliminate the opposing

forces. During the placement phase, a player can play their

shugenja card at the start of their turn, before placing a combat

token. Then, they return the card to the game box; that card

cannot be played again during the game.

Ronin

If a player has no control tokens on the board at the start of

the upkeep phase, they become

ronin. During that round’s

placement phase, the ronin player can place army tokens on

any land border, and they cannot place raid or diplomacy

tokens. If a ronin player cannot place any tokens during their

turn, that turn is skipped and the ronin player cannot take any

more turns during that placement phase.

At the start of the next upkeep phase, if the ronin player has at

least one control token on the board, they are no longer ronin

and all normal rules apply to them.

The S h ad owl an ds

To the south of Rokugan lie the blighted Shadowlands,

a dark realm under the sway of Fu Leng and the

corrupted armies from the realm of Jigoku. The only

safeguard between the Shadowlands and Rokugan is

the mighty Kaiu Wall and its builders and defenders,

the Crab Clan. Should the Wall ever fall, a combined

force of goblins, ogres, undead, and legendary demons

known as oni would spill forth from the Shadowlands

with the sole intention of destroying civilization.

Unicorn is ronin. During this placement phase, Unicorn can

place his tokens ignoring adjacency rules.

Credits

Fa n ta s y F l i g h t G a m e s

Game Design: Tom Jolly with Molly Glover

Technical Writing: Adam Baker

Editing and Proofreading: Justin Hoeger and Heather Silsbee

Board Game Manager: James Kniffen

Legend of the Five Rings Story Review: Erik Dahlman

Graphic Design: Christopher Beck and Christopher Hosch

Graphic Design Manager: Brian Schomburg

Cover Art: Mathias Kollros

Board Art: Francesca Baerald

Interior Art: Nele Diel and Shen Fei

Art Direction: Andy Christensen and Taylor Ingvarsson

Managing Art Director: Melissa Shetler

Fiction: Katrina Ostrander

Quality Assurance Coordinator: Zach Tewalthomas

Senior Project Manager: John Franz-Wichlacz

Senior Manager of Product Development: Chris Gerber

Executive Game Designer: Corey Konieczka

Creative Director: Andrew Navaro

Asmodee North America

Production Management: Jason Beaudoin and Megan Duehn

Publisher: Christian T. Petersen

Original L5R Property and Game Created by Ryan Dancey,

Matt Staroscik, D.J. Trindle, Matt Wilson, Dave Williams,

John Wick, and John Zinser.

Playtesters

Dane Beltrami, Andrew Beyer, Carl Beyer, Chasina Beyer, Ron Beyer,

Tony Beyer, Kathy Bishop, Daniel Lovat Clark, Madeleine Cominetti, Wes

Divin, Richard A. Edwards, Tony Fanchi, Nick Glover, Monica Helland,

Tim Huckelbery, Carl King, Hunter Lewis, Lukas Litzsinger, Andres Marin

Madrigal, Pete Melvin, Tim O’Brien, Tyler Parrott, Jorgen Peddersen,

Colin Phelps, Felipe Sanchez Salamanca, Dan Smith, Andrea Marin

Solorzano, Diego Marin Solorzano, Esteban Marin Solorzano, Andrew

Swan, Dave Tyrell, Ken Uy, Luke Walaszck, Jason Walden, Timothy Wiley,

Jack Wilkinson, Paul Wilkinson, and Zayda Millan Yoldi

Special thanks to all our beta testers!

Fantasy Flight Supply are TMs of Fantasy Flight Games. Fantasy Flight Games and

the FFG logo are ® of Fantasy Flight Games. Fantasy Flight Games is located at

1995 West County Road B2, Roseville, Minnesota, 55113, USA, 651-639-1905.

Actual components may vary from those shown. Made in China. THIS PRODUCT

IS NOT A TOY. NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY PERSONS 13 YEARS OF AGE OR

YOUNGER.

Lion

Crab

Scorpion Unicorn

Crane

Dragon Phoenix

Quick Reference

Upkeep Phase Order

1. Determine First Player

2. Draw Combat Tokens

3. Play Territory Cards

Placement Phase

◊ Players take turns placing combat tokens on

the board to attack or defend

◊ Only one combat token can be placed on a

border (blessings are the exception)

◊ Combat tokens are always placed facedown

(blessings are the exception)

◊ No limit to the number of combat tokens a

player can place to defend

Resolution Phase Order

1. Reveal Combat Tokens

2. Discard Bluff and Illegally Placed Tokens

3. Resolve Raid Tokens

4. Resolve Diplomacy Tokens

5. Resolve Battles

6. Claim Territories

7. Advance Round Track

End of Game Honor

◊ Honor equal to the total number of flowers in

the provinces a player controls

No honor for any faceup control tokens in

the Shadowlands

◊ Honor provided by a player’s secret objective

◊ Five honor for each territory a player controls

No honor for the Shadowlands territories