These are options we use when we play "Samurai Swords", a boardgame where players try to conquer Japan in the Ashikara Era. This was two centuries of collapse between stable central governments, a period when warlords called "daimyo" raised armies of samurai and peasants to terrorize the country. These options are intended as a supplement to "loosen up" the original rules. Of course, you can pick and choose which ones you want to use. We don't use all of them every time.

1) Daimyo armies can always move three spaces. They are "on horses". Any troops not in a daimyo army can only move one space. Use the move counter above each daimyo army as a "chi meter". The chi meter starts at the "1" on the far left. For every territory your daimyo defeats in battle, the chi meter moves one peghole to the right. The number on the chi meter is added to the Hit Roll needed to score a hit in battle for every troop in the daimyo's army. This makes your armies much more powerful if they are successful in battle early in the game. It helps to build up your chi by crushing provincial armies before attacking other daimyos. If your daimyo is killed by a ninja attack, his chi is reduced back to the "1" on the far left when he is replaced.

2) There are no limits on the number of daimyos or provincial armies that can attack an enemy territory simultaneously. You can send in two or even three daimyos against enemy units to provide overwhelming force in battle. We call this the "Double Daimyo" or "Triple Daimyo". The daimyos must be able to move out of the territory after the attack so that there is not more than one on any territory at the end of the player's turn. This prevents players from keeping all their daimyos together all the time, which makes them practically invincible.

3) Territories do not have to be occupied to claim them or earn koku (money) as long as you still have the territory card. When setting up the game, you do not have to put a spearman on every one of your territories. The extra spearman can be put where you want them and the less desirable territories can be left unoccupied. Unoccupied enemy territories are easily captured by simply moving through them.

4) There are no limits on the numbers of non-daimyo troops, including ronin, allowed to be purchased or placed on a territory. We simply use Axis & Allies chips to represent extra provincial troops. We do not permit the placing of more than fifteen troops in a daimyo army on the army cards.