Kamakura is a game of feudal Japanese warfare in which you attempt to defeat an opponent by taking their territories before they take yours; this is done by carefully choosing combinations of weapons, soldiers, and arrow barrages to attack with, while defending your own territories with a myriad of defensive techniques. Strategy, deception, and bravery will be your most valuable assets in the complex and varied game of Kamakura.

The game features original artwork and game play. The premise of the game is to capture all of your opponents territories OR gain a score of 17 or more. You combine various soldiers each with unique abilities with crafty weapons in order to take territories as your own. The mechanics behind the game are card management and general strategy.

As of 2014 edition:

Gameplay;
We’ve decided to introduce “Clan Power” cards. Each deck comes with 1 Clan Power card for each Clan, totaling 4 Clan Power cards per deck. Each Clan Power is unique, adding new strategic elements and depth.
To compensate for adding the new Clan Power cards we took away 1 Naginata and 1 Yumi (the two most powerful weapons). The deck now totals 54 cards.
Color coded backs have been added for easy sorting with their corresponding Clans.

Updated Territories;
Barrages and Walls now have point values. 1 barrage (Attack Power of 2) can take either the Farm or Village, but 2 barrages (total Attack Power of 4) are needed to take a Fortress or Palace. Walls now have a Defense Power of 2.
Walls also have the ability to scout territories. For example, 1 Barrage can be played on a palace, if your opponent doesn’t have a wall, they must still reveal the Territory, but it cannot be captured.
Even though the Barrage now has an Attack Power, it still may NOT be used with a soldier.

Refined Card UI;
Along with enhanced card and box quality we wanted to address the card design and how they explained themselves. We rethought how to phrase the descriptions and abilities of every single card. This led us to add slight iconography to the cards to further help explain the context that each card may be used in. At the top right of the Abilities box is either a sword, shield, flag or a combination of sword and shield.

For more info on the 2014 edition refer to the updates section of the Kickstarter for the 2011 edition.