Small Samurai Empires

Small Samurai Empires packs a full war for feudal Japan into a compact box. You lead a clan of samurai and try to rule the most provinces when the dust settles. Archona Games publishes it, and Milan Tasevski did the design and art.

The twist is hidden orders. Each round, every player secretly lays order tokens across the map: recruit, march, harvest, attack or fortify. The orders then resolve one by one, in sequence across Japan, so a plan that looked perfect can fall apart when a rival's order fires first. Rules are light, but reading your opponents and timing your moves matters a lot.

The game runs over three eras of two rounds each. Regions score at the end of every era, and Destiny cards change which regions are worth the most, so the fight keeps moving around the map.

At a glance

• Publisher: Archona Games
• Designer & artist: Milan Tasevski
• Players: 2–4
• Play time: about 30–60 minutes
• Ages: 13+

In the box

• Map board of Japan, score board and influence board
• 64 custom samurai meeples and 12 castle meeples (4 player colors)
• 44 order tokens and 4 hiding screens
• 20 Destiny cards, 60 resource tokens (food and bushido) and 12 seeding tokens
• Variant components: neutral action tokens, region agenda tiles, mountain tiles and shrine meeples