Started a game with the family last night and we love it! It captures the feel of the PC game perfectly. We do have one confusion, which is the combat.

Specifically, is the combat bonus added to the strength of all units? This was how I read it - so a player with 2 barracks is +4 strength against a player with none - I don't see how that player would ever lose a battle (a front perhaps). Am I reading this wrong?

Thanks!

Bonuses from barracks, great people and cities (when a city is attacked) is only used at the end to calculate the winner of the battle.

So when in a battle, you only use the numbers on the cards. Make sure to use the correct side of the card if you have upgraded units. At the end of the battle, you add up the numbers of all surviving units, ignoring wounds. This is the number you add the bonus from barracks (and elsewhere) to. The winner is the player whose number is higher.

As you can see, the winner of the battle really has nothing to do with the number of units killed. A player can have three academies and a general great person for a 16 point bonus. He can have absolutely no unit cards and still win a battle against a player who can play three cards. Because his final score of 16 will be greater than, say, the 9 points that his opponent had in unit strength.

The Himeji Samurai Castle wonder does add +1 to the attack power and hit points of each unit for the player that owns the wonder.