I always found that an odd number of players yielded best result with Shogun. With 4 players, it always became a 2 on 2 situation. With 3 or 5, there was far

I always found that an odd number of players yielded best result with Shogun. With 4 players, it always became a 2 on 2 situation. With 3 or 5, there was far more interesting conflict and changing of fortune. I loved that every game was so different, but yes, the initial random deal of starting provinces could make or break the entire game. Also found that it made a huge difference if you went first in the first round, then last on every round afterwards. But even with all that, Shogun is still one of my favourite board war games ever. Still have my original set from >30 years ago, back when I think it was still a Milton Bradley game(?)