Bl hrad: Duel

Set in sixteenth-century Japan, White Castle: Duel takes place during the Nanban period, when the unexpected arrival of the Portuguese on Tanegashima began a century of intense cultural and commercial contact with the West. Ships brought muskets, silk and sugar to Japan, while silver from the Iwami Ginzan mines was exported abroad. This exchange strengthened the ambitions of individual daimyo, who competed for influence and prestige around Himeji Castle, the White Heron, a strategic fortress improved through new technologies and foreign wealth. This strategic game for two players is played over two rounds, in which players place or remove lantern rollers to activate areas of their domain and gain rewards. Each turn may include rearranging activation tokens, choosing an action, receiving a lantern reward and carrying out two adjacent actions, such as buying influence cards, trading, training, moving a courtier up the social ladder or placing seals in gardens. Players collect clan points during the game and during final scoring, which takes account of collected symbols, social positions, goods and upgraded cards. The winner is the player who makes the best use of resources, tactics and timing to gain the greatest influence at the White Heron Court. The game takes about 30 minutes, and the Czech rules are included.