And freakin loved it! I was worried about the theme lacking but when my "shugenja force" defeated a 5 force army from taking control of my capital... this may be the game I've been looking for, for a long time.
3 player game: my sons represented the Crab Clan and Dragon Clan, leaving me with the Unicorn.
My secret objective was "Rice Bowl of the Empire" so I quickly took over all Crane provinces in my initial setup. During resolution of the first round I gained the "Diplomatic Mission" territory card which I used to place a peace token in an opponent's province giving the Crane capital an additional 2 face up control markers in the second round (+2 defense and honor). I then used my diplomacy combat token in round 3 to declare peace in the Crane capital, securing my secret objective for the game.
My youngest son (Crab Clan) took over both Shadowlands territories in the initial setup. It certainly gave him great power... but at terrible costs. The Unicorn had to ride in to the Crab capital through a "Cultural Exchange" and defend the Crab people from the corrupted forces of the Crab armies for the rest of the game. At one point the Crab were attacking their former capital from three different borders. It was all a smoke screen however. A Dragon Clan shugenja force stopped the now corrupt Crab Clan from launching a Raid that would have left their own former capital a blasted Scorched wasteland.
In the end, the Unicorn, Lion, and Crane lands were secured by the Unicorn clan. The Phoenix and Scorpion lands were under Dragon control, while their own lands were contested by Dragon and Crab forces. The Shadowlands remained in control from the fallen Crab the entirety of the game, but sadly, there in no honor to be found by falling to their corruption.
I could feel the theme and my sons took great delight in both our victories and defeats. It was a great time. Fast and brutal.
A couple "screw-ups": I forgot all about my eldest son and my special abilities. The Crab ability is always active (built in to their control token). I remembered at the start of the 3rd round. My sons hadn't read the rule book and aside from reading what the tokens do didn't pay attention to their daimyo screens either. I declared our abilities void for the first game and wrote it off as learning experience. My second "screw-up": I never once used my bluff token. I guess I played like a Lion. Maybe I was too impatient and didn't want to save any of my tokens? Don't know. My eldest used his to great effect. He saved his initial Raid token he got in the first round until the 5th round to scorch a Phoenix province, allowing him to take control of the territory for an extra 5 honor at the close of the final resolution.
Edited by HirumaShigureproof read