From the Depths: Shogun-Samurai Swords-Ikusa

Milton Bradley's Gamemaster series of Axis and Allies, Broadsides and...

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Fortress America also used d8s and d10s in addition to d6s.

As a kid I used to see both this and 'Axis and Allies' on store shelves and I COVETED THEM SO HARD! Alas they were a bridge too far even at Christmas time. Fuck it, I'm going to eBay right now.

Many, MANY hours of shogun under my belt as a kid, though it was the least played of the big three (A&A, FA, and shogun, never did play conquest or even see broadsides as a kid).

And those minis got repurposed A LOT. I even used them for a diorama of some battle with El Cid in a spanish class, which would either be heralded as diverse representation today or shamed as cultural appropriation, depending on the conjunction of the planets

I kinda miss those style of games. Big and sprawling but not super rules heavy. The only game in recent memory that evokes it is Conquest of Nerath.

And if you do go one ebay looking for this game, make sure it has the turn order katana things. Those fell off the game component list at some point (with Ikusa?).

This was actually my FIRST "real" board game. I was very young, and really into ninjas.

I don't know that we ever truly finished a game, quitting once when we got to the 6 hour mark. I sold it many years ago for a nice sum.

Greg Aleknevicus wrote: Fortress America also used d8s and d10s in addition to d6s.

Oops. Dammit. I thought I remembered all of them pretty clearly, but obviously not. Gettin' old (and way too many games...) Oh, well. At least the dice in Shogun were exclusively d12s.

jason10mm wrote: And if you do go one ebay looking for this game, make sure it has the turn order katana things. Those fell off the game component list at some point (with Ikusa?).

Yes, with Ikusa. They were still present in Samurai Swords; hence, the name.

Dropping the turn order swords was a big mistake IMO.

Its been ages since I played it. One advantage FORTRESS AMERICA has is that the game has a sort of built in turn limit - the combo of laser towers as well as the limited invader force pool means that games will come to a decision point around turn 7 or so . SHOGUN can tend to drag if players are dug in .

Absolutely true. It still had some of that lingering Risk element to it, where turtling positions could be maintained for longer than the game really deserved. I think the outlet was the ninja, since you could eliminate your opponent's best general and then make moves where they'd be less able to respond. Of course, they could try to do the same to you (on the same turn if you missed the roll), so it wasn't a guarantee by any means.

Also, I wonder if the spell check kicked in on the article - wasn't the currency called "koku" and not "roku"?

Ha! It totally was. That wasn't even an autocorrect thing. I just used the TV system term and not the original game term, despite having the rulebook sitting next to me while I was writing. I've edited.

I've grown to actually hate playing the games in this series, but they have that nostalgia place in my heart like many others here. Shogun is *not* one of these that I have played, though.

Great review.

Msample wrote: Also, I wonder if the spell check kicked in on the article - wasn't the currency called "koku" and not "roku"?

I was listening to a dnd podcast when i read this and my first thought was "wait what!?! There is magic in some edition of this game???"

Now i want a more fantastical themed version of Shogun!

Really the best of the series, I love this game.

Jackwraith wrote:

Greg Aleknevicus wrote: Fortress America also used d8s and d10s in addition to d6s.

Oops. Dammit. I thought I remembered all of them pretty clearly, but obviously not. Gettin' old (and way too many games...) Oh, well. At least the dice in Shogun were exclusively d12s.

Yes but Fortress America used the dice in a combat system that was prettyy advanced for the 80s in a boardgame - different dice for the different units, hit values changed for certain terrain unless you made a combined arms attack, attacking units could be disengaged or defending units retreated, unit stacking limits but bombers could break it, different unit ranges that made air units valuable but not by themselves, choppers taking land behind your enemy, supply line checks to cut off and remove enemy units.
And the Partisan cards - awesome clutching at straws for the USA player as he tries to hang on and gets units appearing behind invader lines or around his last few lasers. Then there was the invaders bringing all their units in over five turns, the USA gradually building up their lasers and getting free hits from them, city capture as the timer, plus the invaders were only semi co-op so you couldn't let your fellow invaders get too far ahead of you - yes, it was a 1 vs many semi co-op game, sure it must have been a first.


Shogun was a very good game but I always found the new ideas and variations in Fortress America to be much more fun to play - I own original copies of both them but FA is the only one that gets played once every two to three years.

Whoops - sorry for tangenting/hi-jacking your excellent article