The game is set in the 'Kamakura' period in Japan and the year at the start of play is 1201. You are the ruler of a small coastal village which supports itself by slave labour and upon the fruits of raids against other villages. You in turn are always liable to attack from other villages or by pirates and weak rule or too many military defeats will lead to your overthrow or murder. Your force comprises troops of your own village. Samurai who are retained by yourself and mercenaries whom you are able to hire. Your objective is to survive and rule as long as possible. The criteria for success are given in section C (below).

The game is played in years and divides into two distinct parts; the opening phase during which you make the decisions for the rule of your village furing the year, and the battle phase during which you may be attacked and the results of any of your own raiders become known.

The central reference point is the Option Menu which allows access to your statement of resources at the start of each year. These figures will always vary slightly each game and you are also given your tally of victories and defeats.

To start the game you must select your level of play (1-3). The game plays similarly at each level but the two higher levels allow for some of your opponents to start with large forces and to have improved fighting efficiencies, whereas some of your opening resources may be reduced. At the start of each year, your Treasury receives an income of 400 Mon p.a. but this will reduce to 200 Mon after year 1219.

At the beginning of each year you will be asked to make any or all of the following decisions. Once made, a decision cannot usually be altered and the sequence in which decisions are made may affect your course of action with other options. "Option no longer available" indicates that this option will not become available again during the current year, and sometimes it may be unavailable for the rest of the game.

All members of your population not undergoing army training or service or building ships are available to grow food on three qualities of land.

Note: If workers exceed land available then some workers cannot be used.

A second safety check allows you to alter the allocation of workers before progressing to the Battle phase.

You will generally find it very difficult to *grow* sufficient food to feed your population. Insufficient food will lead to starvation which will reduce both your population and army and will normally lead to a challenge to your leadership.

During the course of each year, it is likely that you will be attacked by armies of varying size. It is your decision in each case whether to fight or not and, if so, on the size of army you are prepared to commit to the battle.

The consequences of choosing not to fight will soon become apparent and this will be reflected in the number of defeats in the display at the beginning of each year.

If you fight and lose, the consequences will be more severe. e.g. casualties, tribute, etc.

When you win, you will suffer casualties but more mercenaries will join you and you will gain tribute.

To assist your decisions, there is a current tally of your Troops (T), Samurai (SAM), Food (F) and Money (MON) displayed on the screen.

You will also find that you may have the option of attacking one of your opponents, in this case the enemy cannot refuse to fight.

Each of the enemy armies have differing fighting efficiencies which vary each game and also vary with the level of play. After the battle the enemy also suffers casualties and when his forces falls below 100 he will surrender rewarding you with additional food and population.

(In all Combat and Battle graphic displays your force is always on the left of the screen.)

Three of the opposing Warlords have Samurai forces who may challenge you to combat. Acceptance or refusal is similar to the Battle Phase above with tribute and casualties. However, you have no option to attack these forces, and refusal does not increase your tally of defeats.

Under certain circumstances such as outlined in para B3 (above), your poor leadership may result in a challenge from one of your own Samurai. You cannot refuse this personal combay and on each occasion within the game your chances of victory are reduced.

If you are victorious, the dead challenger will be deducted from your total of Samurai.

Note: In Combat Challenge you must always use your total Samurai force. In Battle with opposing armies it should be noted that if you fight with a force that is *smaller* than your opponent's, then:

1. if you fight with less than 1/6th of your total of Troops and Mercenaries, then the enemy will attack your entire army.
2. if you fight with between 1/6th and 1/4 of your total of Troops & Mercenaries then this will be treated as a refusal to fight and Tribute must be paid. This latter can be used as an escape from Battle where you have the Option of attacking an opponent.

Game end is signalled by:

1. Success.
   You have defeated all the opposing Samurai forces and all your opponent's armies have surrendered.
2. After 30 years without a clear-cut result you will die of old age.
3. Peace.
   If all your opponent's armies have surrendered but you have insufficient Samurai to conquer the opposing Samurai then a truce will be declared.
4. Killed in combat in a Leadership Challenge, or in Combat Challenge.

CLOAD "WL" (ENTER)

The game will load and run automatically.