I'm sure that many have already seen this, but some might find it interesting. It's a serious of short animated movies discussing the history of Japan during the era of Warring States, which L5R is (loosely) based upon. Enjoy!

Extra Credits Extra History is an awesome Youtube channel.

Also, it may not be quite as sound, but if you play Shogun 2: Total War, you can learn quite a bit from reading flavor text.

I'll have to check out this series when I get home, though!

I personally get all of my history from anime and video games. This is why I know that all of the important people in the Warring States era were all women. Except for one guy.

I love the Extra Credits/History crew, but this series is not their best work. It's riddled with mistakes, and I don't mean just the kind of oversimplifications they usually use to keep things short. An example from the first minute of the video: the Onin War wasn't a dynastic dispute between the Hosokawa and the Yamana; it was a dispute over who the shogun's heir should be, his son or his brother. And it's a little impressive given how important the clan is to the episode and how often the name comes up that they consistently call (and write) the Imagawa clan the "Imigawa".

(It also falls into the common trap of pretending that even though the Sengoku period began in 1467 that nothing really important started happening until the 1550s. It's a bit like having a series on WWII and starting in 1942.)

5 minutes ago, Yoritomo Reiu said:

I love the Extra Credits/History crew, but this series is not their best work. It's riddled with mistakes, and I don't mean just the kind of oversimplifications they usually use to keep things short. An example from the first minute of the video: the Onin War wasn't a dynastic dispute between the Hosokawa and the Yamana; it was a dispute over who the shogun's heir should be, his son or his brother. And it's a little impressive given how important the clan is to the episode and how often the name comes up that they consistently call (and write) the Imagawa clan the Imigawa.

(It also falls into the common trap of pretending that even though the Sengoku period began in 1467 that nothing really important started happening until the 1550s. It's a bit like having a series on WWII and starting in 1942.)

Well, you had the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, but what else could anyone possibly talk about? I mean, it's not like events were going on in the rest of the world before America got involved, right?

Thanks for sharing. ?

Hmm.. I am bored and tired I want to give this a try. As I did not pay much of the CCG lots of this is speculation.

Crab - Blue, Green, and Black. They have lots of counter play, they play big brutes, and now they have a sacrifice mechanic.

Crane - Blue and White. Counter spells, and defense. They may have other colors but I think this defines them.

Dragon - Green and Red. Bug guys, weird attachments. So many fire breath tokens. Also dragon always mixed too much in of other colors they often lacked the focus for a good deck. These days probably Green and White.

Lion - White and Green. Some protective cards and tough guys that get tougher. These days they seem more Red and White.

Mantis - Red burning deck, or Green token creature deck.

Scorpion - Red and Black. Burning, sacking, poison Tokens.

Spider - Black. Mostly fear undeath, sacrifice, and big guys.

Unicorn - Blue and White. In the old days they only needed to be strong enough to destroy two provinces early on and then choke you on your lack of characters.

There you go. Also I can only assume that Nezumi play like goblins and Naga like Slivers as I know nothing about them.

14 minutes ago, Devin-the-Poet said:

Hmm.. I am bored and tired I want to give this a try. As I did not pay much of the CCG lots of this is speculation.

Crab - Blue, Green, and Black. They have lots of counter play, they play big brutes, and now they have a sacrifice mechanic.

Crane - Blue and White. Counter spells, and defense. They may have other colors but I think this defines them.

Dragon - Green and Red. Bug guys, weird attachments. So many fire breath tokens. Also dragon always mixed too much in of other colors they often lacked the focus for a good deck. These days probably Green and White.

Lion - White and Green. Some protective cards and tough guys that get tougher. These days they seem more Red and White.

Mantis - Red burning deck, or Green token creature deck.

Scorpion - Red and Black. Burning, sacking, poison Tokens.

Spider - Black. Mostly fear undeath, sacrifice, and big guys.

Unicorn - Blue and White. In the old days they only needed to be strong enough to destroy two provinces early on and then choke you on your lack of characters.

There you go. Also I can only assume that Nezumi play like goblins and Naga like Slivers as I know nothing about them.

Wrong thread?

2 hours ago, Mirith said:

Wrong thread?

Yes. It appears so. I don't even remember seeing this thread this morning. ?

Oda Nobunaga - Red

Tokugawa Ieyasu - Blue, with a bit of black (his ninjas)

Toyotomi Hideyoshi - White

...what? Is this not a thing we're doing?

3 hours ago, Devin-the-Poet said:

Hmm.. I am bored and tired I want to give this a try. As I did not pay much of the CCG lots of this is speculation.

Crab - Blue, Green, and Black. They have lots of counter play, they play big brutes, and now they have a sacrifice mechanic.

Crane - Blue and White. Counter spells, and defense. They may have other colors but I think this defines them.

Dragon - Green and Red. Bug guys, weird attachments. So many fire breath tokens. Also dragon always mixed too much in of other colors they often lacked the focus for a good deck. These days probably Green and White.

Lion - White and Green. Some protective cards and tough guys that get tougher. These days they seem more Red and White.

Mantis - Red burning deck, or Green token creature deck.

Scorpion - Red and Black. Burning, sacking, poison Tokens.

Spider - Black. Mostly fear undeath, sacrifice, and big guys.

Unicorn - Blue and White. In the old days they only needed to be strong enough to destroy two provinces early on and then choke you on your lack of characters.

There you go. Also I can only assume that Nezumi play like goblins and Naga like Slivers as I know nothing about them.

I hope Dragons expand on this "bug guys" theme. That sounds fantastic I imagine the Dragon sending down the garthim from the Dark Crystal to sort things out.

31 minutes ago, phillos said:

I hope Dragons expand on this "bug guys" theme. That sounds fantastic I imagine the Dragon sending down the garthim from the Dark Crystal to sort things out.

Now I've got that annoying Skexis chamberlain stuck in my head. Gee thanks ??☠️

12 minutes ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

Now I've got that annoying Skexis chamberlain stuck in my head. Gee thanks ??☠️

I mean, the Crane pretty much are Gelflings...

2 hours ago, Isawa Kioshi said:

I mean, the Crane pretty much are Gelflings...

It's true. You can tell because the boys don't have wings.

On 5/5/2017 at 11:29 AM, JJ48 said:

Also, it may not be quite as sound, but if you play Shogun 2: Total War, you can learn quite a bit from reading flavor text.

Clearly someone in FFG's design team is a fan of the game, too!