# Shogun

Shogun is a board game for 3–5 players. It plays in 90–120 minutes and is meant for ages 12 and up. Ludoya players call it best with 5. It is rated 7.8 out of 10 by 35 Ludoya reviewers.

- **Players:** 3–5 (best with 5)
- **Playing time:** 90–120 minutes
- **Minimum age:** 12+
- **Complexity:** 3.4 out of 5
- **Year published:** 2006
- **Categories:** Medieval, Economic, Territory Building
- **Mechanics:** Auction / Bidding, Variable Phase Order, Area Movement, Action Queue, Area Majority / Influence, Cube Tower, Simultaneous Action Selection
- **Ludoya rating:** 7.8 out of 10, from 35 reviews
- **Owned by:** 48 Ludoya players
- **Plays logged on Ludoya:** 113
- **Unique players:** 181

**Designers:** Dirk Henn

**Artists:** Michael Menzel

**Publishers:** Queen Games

## Expansions

- [Shogun: Tenno's Court](https://www.ludoya.com/games/shogun-tennos-court)

## Similar games

- [Shogun Big Box](https://www.ludoya.com/games/shogun-big-box)
- [Wallenstein (Second Edition)](https://www.ludoya.com/games/wallenstein-second-edition)
- [Wallenstein](https://www.ludoya.com/games/wallenstein)
- [Dead Reckoning](https://www.ludoya.com/games/dead-reckoning-2)
- [El Grande: Decennial Edition](https://www.ludoya.com/games/el-grande-decennial-edition)
- [Edo](https://www.ludoya.com/games/edo)
- [Yedo: Deluxe Master Set](https://www.ludoya.com/games/yedo-deluxe-master-set)
- [Nippon](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nippon)
- [El Grande Big Box](https://www.ludoya.com/games/el-grande-big-box)
- [Feudum](https://www.ludoya.com/games/feudum)
- [Ikusa](https://www.ludoya.com/games/ikusa)
- [Small Samurai Empires](https://www.ludoya.com/games/small-samurai-empires)

## Rules questions

### How do the 10 action cards work — what do up/down cards mean and in what order do actions resolve?

Each round the 10 action cards are arranged beneath fields 1–10 with the top 5 revealed (face up) and the bottom 5 face down; actions are executed in numeric order (1 then 2 ... then 10), revealing face‑down cards as you go. (p.6, p.9)

### How is turn order decided — how do the special‑card auction and bids work?

Players secretly bid with chest cards or province cards, reveal and pay their bids, then in bid order choose a special card and place their Daimyo in that special’s slot to set turn order; province bids pay nothing but consume that province for the round. (p.6–9)

### What do ‘Deploy 5 / Deploy 3 / Deploy 1’ cost and can I move armies when deploying?

Deploy 5 costs 3 chests and places 5 armies; Deploy 3 costs 2 chests and places 3; Deploy/Move 1 costs 1 chest and places 1 army and additionally allows moving armies from that province into one adjacent own province (no battling). Any number of armies may move to an adjacent province provided at least one army remains behind, and sea routes count as adjacency. (p.8)

### How does the battle tower determine the winner and what happens to armies after a battle?

All participating armies plus any cubes in the tower tray are tossed into the tower; the armies that fall out into the tray are counted and the side with more cubes in the tray wins. The defeated side’s fighting armies are removed to supply, the victor also loses as many armies as the defeated side, and remaining victorious armies occupy the province (ties/undecided have special consequences described in the rules). (p.11–12)

### What happens in winter if I don’t have enough rice — how are revolts chosen and resolved?

In winter each player must have one rice per province; unsupplied provinces determine how many revolts occur and how many additional farmer armies join (per the provisions table), then the besieged player’s left neighbor draws province cards to pick which provinces revolt — revolts are then resolved as battles with the extra farmers. (p.10–12)

### If an event and a special card both modify an action, which one applies first?

Apply the event first and then apply the special card’s effect. (p.7)

## Links

- [This page](https://www.ludoya.com/games/shogun-2)
- [Shogun in the Ludoya app](https://app.ludoya.com/g/shogun-2)
- [BoardGameGeek entry](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/20551)

_Data from Ludoya, updated 2026-09-19. Ratings, ownership and play counts are Ludoya's own._