“””brave Peasants united in justice, in spirit a match for a million-- ready like the myriad cherry blossoms to scatter”.” -mikami takashi During the 15th and 16th centuries, feudal Japan was in turmoil as warring factions competed for power. You will play as a Daimyo, in control of your dominion, but your grasp must be tight to survive. Only your well-balanced skill as a civil and military leader will assure your victory as you fight for control of Japan!

Sakura, meaning “Cherry Blossom”, is one of the central symbolic themes in Japanese culture. Poets have sometimes compared cherry blossoms to soldiers within vast armies. These ethereal blossoms can also represent the souls of the fallen.

Sakura is a fast-paced resource management and military conquest board game for 2-4 players.

Box Contents: Lake Mountain

4 Cities

Grassland

4 2nd-Level Cities

4 3rd Level Cities

8 Peasants

4 Foot Soldiers

4 Samurai

Forrest

4 Map Sections

8 Rice Paddies 1 Center Map Piece 8 Chikaruta Cards

1 Defense Die

1 Attack Die

16 Coins

1 Kill Shot Die

Overview: Players connect their map sections together. They build their city and rice paddies, then gather resources to build an army. Coins are earned by trade or conquest and are used to purchase “chikaruta” (power) cards. As you encounter opponents, dice-rolling battles ensue. No matter how many are playing, the first player to defeat an enemy city is the winner. Sakura is balanced for quick skirmishes, often 15-30 minute games.

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Set Up: 1) Shuffle the chikaruta cards. Lay down double the number of cards as there are players, face up. Make a central pot of coins: 8 coins for a 2-player game, 12 coins for a 3-player game, 16 coins for a 4-player game. 2) Player’s resources are set at zero for rice, wood, iron, and health. City health (on the resource tracker) is set to 5. 3) Each player is given a random map section. A player is chosen to go first (clockwise turn-order from there). 4) The first player places their map on the table and indicates to the next player which side to build off. 5) Players may rotate their map to their advantage before connecting it to the others. The maps must be placed flush together in the following patterns, depending on the number of players:

2 Player Game

3 Player Game

(4 cards and 8 coins)

(6 cards and 12 coins)

4 Player Game (8 cards and 16 coins)

*Map orientation is the player’s choice, but map borders must fit together as shown. *In a 4-player game, you must use the center map piece for balance.

6) With the map complete, the first player now places their city piece along with 1 rice paddy and 1 peasant. 7) The other players, in order, do the same.

Notes on city and rice paddy placement: - City pieces are placed directly over three map spaces. At least part of your city must be on your own map. - Rice paddies must be placed touching your city. - Neither cities nor rice paddies may be placed over mountains or lakes. You may build over a forest, but doing so destroys that particular forest. - Peasants are placed into one of the three city spaces. - Players’ cities must be separated from each other by at least 1 space, but rice paddies can touch other player’s cities or rice paddies.

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Playing the Game: Each player’s turn consists of a production phase, where resources are gathered, and an action phase, where everything else happens.

Production Phase

Mountains produce iron

Forests produce wood

Rice paddies produce rice

Grasslands and lakes have no production

Collect the following resources every production phase:

Rice:

2 rice per rice paddy

Iron & wood:

Your city or rice paddies must touch a mountain to produce iron or a forest to produce wood.

The amount of iron and/or wood you collect depends on how upgraded your city is, not how many mountains or forests you are touching. Here are the city upgrades and their collections:

Collect per turn:

1st Level City:

2nd Level City:

1 iron or wood

2 iron or wood

*Your city can collect iron or wood if any edge of the city or rice paddy is touching that resource. In the example below, this player can only collect iron because they are only touching the mountain resource:

3rd Level City:

2 iron or wood + 1 coin

*If the rice paddy were built as shown below, this player would have access to both iron and wood:

Mountains

Mountains

Forest

Forest

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Action Phase Recruiting a peasant: Promoting a soldier: Moving a soldier: Building a rice paddy: Repairing your city: Upgrading your city: Chikaruta cards: Battle: Plundering a rice paddy: The kill shot die:

TRADE

During your turn, you may perform any of the following actions, as long as you have sufficient resources. In-depth explanations for each action are found later in the rulebook. You have 2 peasants available to recruit. Newly recruited peasants must be placed into an empty city space. Peasants are trained into foot soldiers; foot soldiers are trained into samurai. Promotion can happen anywhere on the board. The old soldier is removed and replaced by the new soldier. Rice fuels your army’s movement. Generally, peasants can move one space per turn, foot soldiers can move up to two spaces per turn and samurai can move up to 3. Moving over mountains costs an extra rice. No one moves over lakes. A peasant must first be moved to the space where you want your rice paddy to be. After payment, the rice paddy is placed on that space and the peasant is removed from the board (he becomes the “farmer” of that paddie). If your city takes damage and is not destroyed, it can be repaired on your turn at the cost of 1 coin per 1 city health. You may not repair your city beyond its maximum health (5 for 1st level, 6 for 2nd level, 7 for 3rd level). Upgrading your city will give you 1 city health and concurrently increase your city’s maximum health by 1. You are also able to collect more resources each turn. You may only purchase cards during your turn, but you may use them at any time. Chikaruta cards may be used for your benefit, or they may be played on any other player. A battle automatically starts the moment you move your soldier onto the same space as an enemy soldier or city. A battle must go to completion once it is started; there is no retreat. If you want to plunder an opponent’s rice paddy, move a soldier onto their paddy and leave him there. If your soldier survives to the beginning of your next turn, the rice paddy is plundered. Remove the paddy from the board and collect 2 rice. Samurai have the ability of a ranged attack at the cost of one wood per roll of the kill shot die. If successful, the targeted soldier is defeated and removed from play.

If you are short on resources or coin, you may trade for what you need through the central pot of coins. You may only trade during your action phase. Resources for Coin: 3 rice traded for 1 coin 2 iron traded for 1 coin 2 wood traded for 1 coin

Coin for Resources: 1 coin traded for 2 rice 1 coin traded for 1 iron 1 coin traded for 1 wood

Soldiers: Peasant: At the cost of 1 iron and 1 rice, peasants are available to be recruited (total of two). Place the new peasant onto an empty city space. Peasants are the only units that can build rice paddies. They are limited to moving one space per turn. They can attack and defend, and may be promoted to foot soldier. Battle information: Peasants have 3 health. All soldiers roll a six-sided die for attack and defense. Peasants have no bonus added to their roll.

Foot soldier: At the cost of 2 iron, a peasant can be promoted to foot soldier (the peasant is removed from the board and replaced by the foot soldier). Promotion can happen anywhere on the map. Foot soldiers can move up to 2 spaces per turn. Only foot soldiers may be promoted to samurai. Battle information: Foot soldiers have 4 health and have a +1 bonus added to all dice rolls, both attack and defense.

Samurai: At the cost of 2 wood and 1 coin, a foot soldier can be promoted to samurai (the foot soldier is removed from the board and replaced by the samurai). Promotion can happen anywhere on the map. Samurai can move up to 3 spaces per turn. They have the added benefit of a ranged attack: the kill shot. Battle information: Samurai have 5 health and have a +2 bonus added to all dice rolls, both attack and defense. 4

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Chikaruta Cards: Chikaruta (power) cards are placed face up on the table at the beginning of the game (double the number of cards as there are players in the game). All cards cost a certain number of coins. Players may purchase one or more cards during the action phase of their turn. They may be played at any time, even during a battle or during another player’s turn. You may use the card for yourself or you may play it on an opponent. You can hold on to your purchased chikaruta cards until the time of your choosing. When you lay your card face up in front of you, it goes into effect. Once used, cards are not put back into play and cannot be re-purchased. The only available cards are those that are laid out at the start of the game.

Boat: 1 coin Move any of your soldiers over lakes at the same cost as if it Master Archer: 2 coin were grassland. This ability lasts the rest of the game. The kill shot die may now be rolled twice per each wood spent, but only at a single target. For example, if you defeatBo-hiya Fire Arrows: 1 coin ed a soldier with your first shot, you don’t get to use the secYou may now target enemy soldiers inside their own city, ond shot against another soldier. This effect lasts the rest of or even the city itself, with the kill shot die. You still must be the game. May be used in conjunction with other archery exactly one space away to use the kill shot die. If you target cards. a city, 1 city health is removed for each kill shot ‘hit’. You may even be able to destroy a city with the fire arrows. This Moat: 3 coin ability lasts the rest of the game. May be used in conjunc- Any enemy entering your city must spend an additional 2 tion with other archery cards. rice, on top of the normal movement cost. For example, an enemy foot soldier traveling over a mountain into your city Call to Arms: 2 coin must pay a total of 4 rice. These effects last the rest of the This card gives you the ability to convert any one rice pad- game. dy, at any point in the game, back into a peasant. This could be used to surprise an opponent who is closing in for Sturdy Geta: 4 coin an attack on your city. You could even use this card on an- Each soldier can move 1 more space per movement. Peasother player to diminish their ability to gather rice. This ants can move up to 2 spaces, foot soldiers can move up to card may be used twice, effectively converting two paddies 3, and samurai can move up to 4 spaces. Cost of moveback into peasants. You do not have to use both converment remains the same. This effect lasts the rest of the sions at once. You may not use this card in a way that game. would put two soldiers from the same army on one space. Swift Strike and Fury: 2 and 3 coin Playing ‘swift strike’ will add 2 to the die roll of your choosing. Playing ‘fury’ will add 3. These cards may be combined, and can be used to benefit soldier and city alike. Single use. 5

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City and upgrades: 1st level city: Every player starts the game with a 1st level city. You can collect resources (iron and wood) if your city or rice paddies are touching their source (mountains or forests). Each production phase, you are allowed to collect only 1 wood or 1 iron with a 1st level city. Battle information: Cities are defensive-only structures. A 1st level city has a max of 5 city health. All cities defend with a +2 bonus added to their dice rolls.

2nd level city: Cost to upgrade is 2 wood and 1 coin. When you upgrade your city, add 1 to your city health (max city health is concurrently increased by 1). Each production phase, 2nd level cities can collect 2 resources, iron and/or wood. You can collect 2 of the same resource or one of each. Battle information: a 2nd level city has a max of 6 city health. All cities defend with a +2 bonus added to their dice rolls.

3rd level city: Cost to upgrade is 2 iron and 1 coin. When you upgrade your city, you add 1 city health (max city health is concurrently increased by 1). Each production phase, 3rd level cities can collect 2 resources and 1 coin. Battle information: a 3rd level city has a max of 7 city health. All cities defend with a +2 bonus added to their dice rolls.

Remember that the amount of iron and wood you collect depends on how upgraded your city is, not how many mountains or forests you are touching.

repair city damage If your city takes damage you may make repairs on your turn. Repairs cost 1 coin per 1 health restored. You may not repair beyond the max health of your city, be it 5, 6 or 7 for a 1st, 2nd or 3rd level city, respectively. Upgrading your city gives you an additional 1 health. For example, if you had a 1st level city with 5 health and then upgraded, you would have a 2nd level city with 6 health. In another example, if you had a 2nd level city with 3 health, upgrading would give you a 3rd level city with 4 health. The remainder of the damage could be repaired on your turn, paying 1 coin per health up to the max of 7 health.

Rice paddy: Each player may build a total of 2 rice paddies. Rice paddies must touch your city, and can’t be built over mountains or lakes. You collect 2 rice per rice paddy during your production phase. To build a paddy, move a peasant to the desired spot. Pay 1 wood, remove the peasant from the board, and replace it with a new rice paddy.

Plundering a rice paddy You may plunder an opponent’s rice paddy. To do so, move a soldier onto their rice paddy during your turn and leave him there. If he survives to the beginning of your next turn, remove the opponent’s rice paddy off the board and collect 2 rice. If you lose a rice paddy, you may build it again.

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Movement: Each soldier can only move once per turn. How many spaces that soldier moves depends on the unit. Peasants can move 1 space, foot soldiers can move up to 2, and samurai can move up to 3. It costs rice to move. Pay 1 rice to move a soldier over forests and grasslands (same price for a peasant traveling 1 space, a foot soldier traveling 2 or a samurai traveling 3). If 1 or more mountains are involved in the movement, 2 rice must be paid instead of 1. Lakes are impassable. Movement within your own city or rice paddies does not cost rice, nor does it count toward your total allowed spaces. You may pass over your own soldiers, but you cannot end a movement sharing the space with another friendly soldier. Move one soldier at a time. If you attack a soldier before you use up your possible moves, you cannot continue to move after the attack is over.

Peasants move 1 space per turn. Movement cost = 1 rice.

In the example above, a samurai moves over his own peasant to attack the enemy peasant. Even though the samurai can move up to 3 spaces, he cannot skip over an enemy soldier to attack another. Movement cost = 1 rice.

Foot soldiers can move up to 2 spaces. Movement cost = 2 rice (the mountain adds 1 rice).

In this example, a samurai moves over 2 mountains to attack the enemy peasant. Movement cost = 2 rice.

Samurai can move up to 3 spaces per turn. Movement cost = 1 rice.

Black’s foot soldier is attacking green’s city. If black defeats the samurai, he would immediately start a battle with green’s city. If no soldier were guarding that city space, black’s soldier could have attacked the city directly.

Because movement over your own city and rice paddies does not cost rice nor count toward your movement for the turn, this green peasant can move onto the enemy peasant’s space in a single turn. Movement cost = 2 rice (the mountains add 1 rice to the total).

You only pay extra rice if movement involves going onto a mountain, not off. This peasant’s movement cost = 1 rice.

Any time two opposing players are on the same space, a battle automatically starts (see battle section).

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Battles:

Initiating a Battle:

When a soldier is moved onto an enemy soldier or city space, a battle automatically starts. If you are attacking a soldier who is on a city, the soldier is attacked first, then the city. Set the appropriate health on your resource tracker (soldier health: 3 for peasants, 4 for foot soldiers, 5 for samurai; city health: 5 for 1st level cities, 6 for 2nd level cities, 7 for 3rd levels).

During Battle: The attacker and the defender each roll 1 die. Samurai and cities have the advantage of a +2 bonus added to every toss of the die. Foot soldiers have a +1 bonus, while peasants have no bonus. High roll wins (roll + bonus). The loser subtracts the difference of the two rolls from their health. Rolls continue until one or both player’s health reaches zero. If the dice roll is a tie, both soldiers will subtract 1 health. Cities are the exception to this rule: they do not lose 1 health in the event of a tie.

End of Battle: The defeated soldier is taken off the board. If it is a city that has lost, the game is over. The surviving soldier’s health is tracked for that turn, but resets to full health at the end of each and every turn. For example, say you have a samurai with 5 health who is attacked by an enemy peasant. The peasant is defeated but you’ve been taken down to 3 health. During that same opponent’s turn, he attacks you with a different soldier. You would start that battle with only 3 health. All soldiers who survive that opponent’s turn, however wounded, are restored to full health at the end of the turn. A successful attack is rewarded with a 1 coin bonus (see Coins section for more details).

Battle example #1:

Battle example #2:

Red Samurai v. Green Peasant

Red Foot Soldier v. Green 2nd Level City Notes:

Health: 1st toss:

Health: 2nd toss: Health:

5

4

Health:

Health:

On the 2nd toss, the dice totals were a tie, so both soldiers subtract 1 health

2 +2

3

Green wins:

6 +1

3

2nd toss: On the 3rd toss, red beats green by 5; green’s peasant is defeated

0

4

1st toss:

3

+2

3

Red’s samurai starts with 5 health; green’s peasant starts with 3 On the 1st toss, red rolled a total of 4. Green rolled a 5, beating red by 1. Red subtracts 1 from his health.

+2

3rd toss: Red wins:

3

Notes:

On the 1st toss, red ties green. Red loses 1 health (cities do not lose health in the event of a tie)

+2

On the 2nd toss, green wins by 3, which defeats red’s foot soldier.

6 +1

0

+2

6

Green gets no coin bonus, as this was a defensive action.

Red is awarded 1 coin from the pot

Remember: *All surviving soldiers regain all health at the end of every turn. *City health does not replenish automatically. Once a city has taken damage, it will not be regained unless a player makes repairs, or upgrades the city. *It is possible for both soldiers to die in a battle if they are both down to 1 heath and the roll is a tie. *If a soldier dies in battle, it is available to be recruited again. 8

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Coins: Each game has a set amount of coins: 8, 12, and 16 coins for a 2-, 3-, and 4-player game, respectively. These coins are placed in a central pot and are available to be traded or awarded for conquest. If the coins run out, trade stops and there are no I.O.U.s.

Coin bonus If you defeat another peasant, foot soldier or samurai in battle, you are awarded 1 coin from the pot. You do not get the coin bonus for a successful defense. If you defeat a soldier by kill shot, you do not get the coin bonus. In the rare event when both soldiers die in battle, no one is awarded the coin bonus.

Samurai kill shot: Samurai have the ability to attack with the kill shot die during their turn. The kill shot is a ranged archery attack, meaning you can target an enemy soldier who is exactly 1 space away from your samurai. Each roll of the kill shot die will cost you 1 wood, and you may fire (roll) as many times as you have a wood to spare. If the roll shows a 2-7, it is a miss and nothing happens. If the die shows a 1 or an 8, the targeted player is defeated and is taken off the board. No coin bonus is given for a successful kill shot attack. You may not attempt a kill shot on an opponent inside their own city. But, your samurai may fire from inside your own city at an enemy immediately outside the city. If you attempt a kill shot after moving 1 or 2 spaces, you may not finish the remainder of your full movement after firing. If, on the other hand, you fire a kill shot before moving on that turn, you may still take your full movement afterwards. If you target an enemy Samurai, they may fire a kill shot back at you after each time that you miss (provided they can spend 1 wood per shot). If you roll a ‘hit’, they cannot retaliate and are removed from the board.

Game end: The first player to defeat any opponent’s city wins the game.

Alternative win condition Total domination. While we recommend the fast-paced balance of the first-city-out-ends-the-game rule, another option is to play until no one else is standing. In this mode, once a city is defeated it is removed along with all its soldiers and rice paddies. The following bonus is given to each player who conquers a city: 3 coins from the central pot along with all the defeated player’s coins and unused chikaruta cards.

Battle Percentages: The following represents the average battle outcomes for the various units in Sakura. For the cities, these percentages represent the probabilities of complete defeat from one single battle.

Peasant

Foot soldier

Samurai

Peasant wins: Foot soldier wins: Samurai wins: 9

9

1st level city

2nd level city

3rd level city

Frequently asked questions: Q: Can I move my foot soldier or samurai less than its maximum movement of 2 and Q: If I play a chikaruta card on an opponent, can they refuse? 3 spaces? A: No. As you play a card on another player, it immediately goes into effect in the A: Yes, but it still counts as that soldier’s total movement for that turn and costs the full manner of your choosing. amount of rice. Q: What if you run out of coins in the central pot? Q: I have an upgraded city and can produce 2 resources. Can I collect one of each or A: The supply is gone. There are no I.O.U.s. do I have to collect all one type of resource? A: The resources you collect can either be of one single type, or they can be a combiQ: Can I recruit a peasant if there are no empty spaces in my city? nation. A: Not yet. You must first move the existing soldiers to make room in the city for the new peasant. Q: Can I make deals/treaties/pacts with other players? A: Yes. Q: What happens when I lose a rice paddy that was my only connection to a mountain or a forest? Q: If my city is touching a mountain from another map (not my own), am I able to A: You may not product that resource, be it iron or wood, until you have built another collect iron from it? rice paddy to connect to it. A: Yes, as long as your city and/or rice paddies are touching any mountain or forest, you may collect that resource. Q: Can I move my foot soldier, then promote him to samurai and be able to move him the extra spaces allotted to a samurai? Q: In a 4-player game, can I build onto the center map piece? A: That’s clever, but no. A: Yes. Treat the center map piece as 4 grassland spaces that can be traveled over or built upon. Q: Any suggested house rules? A: You could play with more map sections than you have players. Q: Can I store more than 7 resources? A: You can have teams of 2v2 A: Not even temporarily. If you produce more than you can store, you lose the excess, A: You can play a 2v1 where the 1 player is given an extra benefit, like starting out with be it rice, wood or iron. a 2nd level city. A: Deal out some or all chikaruta cards, face down, to all players at the start of the Q: What happens if I attack a city on one of its empty spaces, but it has a soldier in game. another city space? A: You may play without chikaruta cards A: Battle automatically happens with the city itself, not with the other soldier. Q: Playing in total domination mode, if I defeat a player do I get their cards that they Q: What happens if I attack a city on a space that is guarded by a soldier? have already played? A: You battle the soldier first, and if you win, a battle automatically starts with the city A: No, you only collect their un-played chikaruta cards, along with their coins, plus 3 with whatever health you have left. coins from the central pot (if there are 3 coins to spare). Q: Can my city be placed on a different map section than my own? A: Yes, as long as at least one section of your city is within your own map section.

Acknowledgments: Game design: Production manager: Contributing artist: Lead play-tester: Historian/calligrapher: Kickstarter videographer: Statistician: Graphic design:

Ben Cope Brad Bacigalupi Rachael Moody Dave Witt Jack Stoneman PhD Mike Wingett Nathan Buckner Tyler Whitworth

Play-testers: Summer Witt Lisa Hammon Maggie Cope Nick Carter Sina Baghdadi Justin Cardenas Zach Stoddard Chris Robbins Austin McMullin Danny Witt Jacob Olsen Derrick Duncan

Nathan and Kelli Buckner Ryan and Kristi Jones Austin and Lacy Cope Noelle and Pat Fehlberg Jeff Carter Michael Pierce Phil Hunter Kendon Bagley Jason and Karen Marrott Sandy and Jake Smith Alyssa and Dean Witt 10

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Board Game Designer’s Guild of Utah: We would like to give a special thanks to the BGDG for working with our team over so many months. Their insight, criticism and analysis have been invaluable in Sakura’s development. We are very proud to have earned the BGDG’s prestigious stamp of approval!

©2014 Carrot Cake Games, LLC sakuragame.com