hope you enjoyed the prologue for this upcoming tale from the Jwar Isles. For those of you who didn't read the previous tales of Master Akari and the tricksy Kitsune (shame on you!) you can find them on the newly made Bushido page of my blog, where I gathered all of my previous stories from the world of my favourite skirmish game - here
Go on, I'll wait....
All caught up? cool. Let's proceed then.
The Kitsune, had ridden along with Master Akari on his Ki journey in an attempt to thwart an alliance between The Prefecture of Ryu and Clan Ito that would disturb the Balance. The Balance is an ethereal line between the dark and the light, night and day, death and life. The Temple of Ro-Kan and it's allies seek to preserve it at all costs knowing that if the scales were to tip too far toward one or the other, then the Jwar Isles would fall.
Akari, embarked on a Ki journey to determine the best course of action that would disrupt the two clans from joining forces. Each time the monks clashed with the Prefecture, the death toll of the monks was too high. Too many young lives and innocent souls lost for no benefit.
In desperation, Akari delved deeper, looking for other methods. Finally he turned to the Kitsune, believing that espionage might be more effective than outright war. With her tricks and supreme stealth, she could succeed where the supreme fighting skills of the monks had failed.
The Kitsune, had a plan that would sow dissention among the two factions and turn them from their path but she knew that she couldn't do it alone. Risking discovery by her secretive shadow clan, she sought her brother - Kyuubi. As a male, he was unable to fully transform into fox form. None the less, his stealth was unrivalled and his hatred of any threats to the Balance would be invaluable in her quest. It would cost her though...
I really enjoyed playing the 3 Bushido games that led to the "Tales" and was intrigued by the story line that developed from them, particularly the subplot that "spun off". I wanted to play this as more of an RPG type game and so decided to use the rules from "The Rise of the Kage" - the boardgame by GCT Studios (the makers of Bushido). This stand alone game (with a single supplement) is set in the Jwar Isles and pits the shadowy Kaze Kage ninjas against the ruling family - The Prefecture of Ryu.
This was perfect! RotK is played with the Prefecture guarding a Manor House (or dockyards or artisan district depending on which board you use) and the ninjas trying to infiltrate and complete a mission before escaping into the night, before the general alarm is raised. The ninjas use a combination of stealth and force to achieve their objectives and rely on the shadows to keep them from the blades of the guards.
I simply replaced the ninjas with the Kitsune and Kyuubi and away I went....
Of course it wasn't that easy! I needed to make some simple adaptations. The game requires 3 ninjas and I had two Yokai, however one of those Yokai could assume two forms - whoop! whoop!
So I assigned each form to one of the ninja profiles in the game. Although the Kitsune could only be in one form at any given time, she could freely choose between the forms by sacrificing a movement point. The fox form would be the most stealthiest, taking on the Shizuki role and in the humanoid form much more fighty! so she would become Katsumi. Kyuubi would be somewhere in the middle - a balance of force and stealth and take on the Yuto role.
Now I needed to find a mission that suited the scenario that I wanted to play. Our foxy friends would be sowing dissention and planting false flags. As there was no such mission, I had to come up with my own. So my vulpine virtuosos would need to collect objectives (the numbered triangular markers in the photo below) and have a set of 4 of one colour out of the 4 available colours. In order to collect an objective, the kanny (yes I know) kitsunes would need to roll either force or stealth dice, matching the number shown on the top to reveal either a coloured marker or a trap, traps will not count as a set/colour but do count toward the number of objectives gained. Additionally they must collect the chest marker (Kyuubi's price) Once the required number and type of objectives have been gained they will need to roll against the mission number, which for this game will be (10). This means that the nefarious ninjas need to roll a d6 and add the result to the number of objectives they have, if this total matches 10 then the Ro-Kan rogues will have completed the mission and must escape via the randomly drawn escape point.
In the photo below I've added (badly) some coloured circles around objects of interest. Most importantly is the blue circle - the chest, forming part of the mission it is crucial to the ninja side winning! However it is in a room with multiple closed doors, one of which has a bell on it - green circle. The yellow circle is a lamp and this increases the "area of influence" for the guards, allowing them to spot ninjas (kitsunes) from further distances. The red circles are the barracks, these are where extra guards including more powerful guards will deploy from.
The ordinary guards have been deployed, there are ten of them and they are all "unalerted" at present.
The pic below shows the stat line for the Kitsune in fox form. Black stat line and black dice are her stealth dice and white her force, this shows her penchant for sneakiness.
Kyuubi's card shows his balance between stealth and force, I drew two random equipment cards and got shuriken, giving him a ranged attack and sacred sword, allowing him to ignore the special armour card should the guards draw it.
Kitsune in humanoid form is a lot more fighty and gets more force dice. I also drew a Kusarigama card for her which will allow her to fight multiple opponents.
For this game I decided I wanted to use Lady Oka as the guard boss, as I had her painted up for my Prefecture Bushido faction and I love the miniature. For the guards I chose Tesaki for yellow alert, Yoriki for amber alert and Lady Oka can only have Machi-bugyo for red alert.
She does get to activate Shinobu the Akita dog during amber alert.
With all the board laid out and the guards chosen I set up my two Kitsunes. with Kyuubi (K)deploying in the cherry trees at the front of the Manor House and Kitsune in Fox Form (FF) deploying in the zen garden at the side.
and that's where I'll leave it until next time. The AAR will be written in my narrative style but with some rules being placed in the captions of photos, so as not to interrupt the flow of the story.
hope you enjoy
dGG
Go on, I'll wait....
All caught up? cool. Let's proceed then.
The Kitsune, had ridden along with Master Akari on his Ki journey in an attempt to thwart an alliance between The Prefecture of Ryu and Clan Ito that would disturb the Balance. The Balance is an ethereal line between the dark and the light, night and day, death and life. The Temple of Ro-Kan and it's allies seek to preserve it at all costs knowing that if the scales were to tip too far toward one or the other, then the Jwar Isles would fall.
Akari, embarked on a Ki journey to determine the best course of action that would disrupt the two clans from joining forces. Each time the monks clashed with the Prefecture, the death toll of the monks was too high. Too many young lives and innocent souls lost for no benefit.
In desperation, Akari delved deeper, looking for other methods. Finally he turned to the Kitsune, believing that espionage might be more effective than outright war. With her tricks and supreme stealth, she could succeed where the supreme fighting skills of the monks had failed.
The Kitsune, had a plan that would sow dissention among the two factions and turn them from their path but she knew that she couldn't do it alone. Risking discovery by her secretive shadow clan, she sought her brother - Kyuubi. As a male, he was unable to fully transform into fox form. None the less, his stealth was unrivalled and his hatred of any threats to the Balance would be invaluable in her quest. It would cost her though...
I really enjoyed playing the 3 Bushido games that led to the "Tales" and was intrigued by the story line that developed from them, particularly the subplot that "spun off". I wanted to play this as more of an RPG type game and so decided to use the rules from "The Rise of the Kage" - the boardgame by GCT Studios (the makers of Bushido). This stand alone game (with a single supplement) is set in the Jwar Isles and pits the shadowy Kaze Kage ninjas against the ruling family - The Prefecture of Ryu.
This was perfect! RotK is played with the Prefecture guarding a Manor House (or dockyards or artisan district depending on which board you use) and the ninjas trying to infiltrate and complete a mission before escaping into the night, before the general alarm is raised. The ninjas use a combination of stealth and force to achieve their objectives and rely on the shadows to keep them from the blades of the guards.
I simply replaced the ninjas with the Kitsune and Kyuubi and away I went....
Of course it wasn't that easy! I needed to make some simple adaptations. The game requires 3 ninjas and I had two Yokai, however one of those Yokai could assume two forms - whoop! whoop!
So I assigned each form to one of the ninja profiles in the game. Although the Kitsune could only be in one form at any given time, she could freely choose between the forms by sacrificing a movement point. The fox form would be the most stealthiest, taking on the Shizuki role and in the humanoid form much more fighty! so she would become Katsumi. Kyuubi would be somewhere in the middle - a balance of force and stealth and take on the Yuto role.
Now I needed to find a mission that suited the scenario that I wanted to play. Our foxy friends would be sowing dissention and planting false flags. As there was no such mission, I had to come up with my own. So my vulpine virtuosos would need to collect objectives (the numbered triangular markers in the photo below) and have a set of 4 of one colour out of the 4 available colours. In order to collect an objective, the kanny (yes I know) kitsunes would need to roll either force or stealth dice, matching the number shown on the top to reveal either a coloured marker or a trap, traps will not count as a set/colour but do count toward the number of objectives gained. Additionally they must collect the chest marker (Kyuubi's price) Once the required number and type of objectives have been gained they will need to roll against the mission number, which for this game will be (10). This means that the nefarious ninjas need to roll a d6 and add the result to the number of objectives they have, if this total matches 10 then the Ro-Kan rogues will have completed the mission and must escape via the randomly drawn escape point.
In the photo below I've added (badly) some coloured circles around objects of interest. Most importantly is the blue circle - the chest, forming part of the mission it is crucial to the ninja side winning! However it is in a room with multiple closed doors, one of which has a bell on it - green circle. The yellow circle is a lamp and this increases the "area of influence" for the guards, allowing them to spot ninjas (kitsunes) from further distances. The red circles are the barracks, these are where extra guards including more powerful guards will deploy from.
 |
| The guards, all fat and lazy are unalerted |
 |
| And unpainted - eugh! |
 |
Kitsune in humanoid form is a lot more fighty and gets more force dice. I also drew a Kusarigama card for her which will allow her to fight multiple opponents.
For this game I decided I wanted to use Lady Oka as the guard boss, as I had her painted up for my Prefecture Bushido faction and I love the miniature. For the guards I chose Tesaki for yellow alert, Yoriki for amber alert and Lady Oka can only have Machi-bugyo for red alert.
She does get to activate Shinobu the Akita dog during amber alert.
With all the board laid out and the guards chosen I set up my two Kitsunes. with Kyuubi (K)deploying in the cherry trees at the front of the Manor House and Kitsune in Fox Form (FF) deploying in the zen garden at the side.
and that's where I'll leave it until next time. The AAR will be written in my narrative style but with some rules being placed in the captions of photos, so as not to interrupt the flow of the story.
hope you enjoy
dGG
This looks to be a great game with plenty of tension, look forward to reading the story
ReplyDeleteah man it really was, hopefully the story will show just how good the game was
DeleteAn excellent post, Andy, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing how this adventure plays out. I know you lead a busy life but try not to keep us waiting too long.
ReplyDeleteno worries buddy, the game has been played and all the photos taken. 2 episodes written up (the game was long!) with two more to finish. i'm aiming to release one per week!
DeleteWell this looks like it is going to be up to your usual extremely high standard (I can almost forgive you the un-painted figures....almost).
ReplyDeleteCheers Roger.
There is no forgiveness, only wa..... hang on, wrong game
DeleteAndy, I've not played or read the rules for Bushido so I'm at a bit of a disadvantage here, but the scenario shows a lot of promise so I will try and consentrate on the game rather than the very nicely painted figures.
ReplyDeleteCheers
You’re in luck John, most of the figures aren’t painted o you can get into the story 😂
DeleteWHat a great cross-over, from tabletop to board game and it does look like it'll play out well. The balamce must have been a bit tricky to get right, but as they say the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really cool board game, I can’t wait to play it again
DeleteSweet look forward to it. Reminds me very much of Tenchu the Play station game.
ReplyDeleteSpot on mate, actually plays a bit like it too, especially when you take out a guard and the body just disappears 😂
DeleteWho didn't like Tenchu, impressive sir!
DeleteHey Fran, nice to hear from you buddy. Tenchu was a cracking game. Having played this 2 player now it feels EVEN more like Tenchu
DeleteApologies Andy, RL getting in the way has orevented me from commenting on your last couple of posts.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff as usual, and I'm curious to ser how the game played out. Nice use of existing 'stuff' to continue the ongoing tales.
I know all about RL getting in the way of blogging mate, so don't worry. The game was really tense despite playing it solo and it being designed for multiplayer. Hopefully my write up brings across the tension
Delete