Description

Genpei Kassen (????) is part of the 'historical' division of Bandai's 'if' series of games. It is translated as 'Genpei War'. The 'Gen' is the Chinese pronunciation of the character for Minamoto, one of the two main combatants. 'Pei' (or 'Hei) similarly refers to the Taira, so it's the 'Minamoto-Taira War'. A strategic simulation of the 1180-1185 conflict in Japan involving the Minamoto and Taira warrior houses, it reflects the fact that fighting was not done strictly along 'clan' lines by including as other factions the Kiso (a branch of the Minamoto), the Fujiwara, and the Imperial Family. The war is still a popular subject in Japan today, being immortalized by period literature such as the Heike Monogatari ('Tale of the Heike') and live performances by blind biwa (lute) players.

The game is designed for 2-4 players taking the part of one of the four main combatants-the Taira (SW Japan), Kiso (a Minamoto branch, central Japan), Minamoto (SE Japan), and Fujiwara (N Japan). There are rules for a 5th player to operate abstractly as the Insei (retired Emperor) Go-Shirakawa, meddling with the plans of the four warrior houses. There are several different scenarios involving different numbers of players and levels of conquest. Gameplay features area movement of generic land and naval forces. Armies are generic and all have the same value, and are boosted by the values of leaders accompanying them. None of the leaders are named but each has a different skill level (if you're familiar with the history, it's easy to figure out the names that go with each leader counter). Naval warfare and sea movement of troops is somewhat abstract and confined to the southern areas of the map. Cardplay has a big effect on gameplay as cards can lead to possession of the Emperor, abundant crops, famine (denying victory points), access to independent naval forces, and other events. Victory is determined by both provinces held each turn (each province is worth a varying number of points) and enemy units destroyed.

Starting positions for the game are somewhat historically inaccurate; this was done for play balance as the Kiso are facing a two front war with the other combatants initially only having one. Factions are differentiated by their leader and naval pools. The Fujiwara have no navy, three overpoweringly wealthy provinces, and have the strongest leader in the game (and an extremely strong sub-leader). The Kiso have a middling leader, no navy, 23 relatively poor provinces, and a small pool of back up leaders. The Minamoto have a solid and large leadership pool but no navy and start with 14 provinces worth a moderate amount. The Taira have the misfortune of having an excellent leader being a subordinate of the worst leader in the game, but start off with naval forces and 20 moderately valuable provinces. There are also 3 neutral provinces that can be invaded during the game. Overall, the game has a good feel for the war it seeks to recreate and the difficulties faced by each faction.