guess what song you're gonna have stuck in your head for the rest of the day...... bwahahaha
There are loads of reasons to
love the game Bushido by GCT Studios, regular readers of my blog will have seen
me practically salivating over the gorgeous miniatures, enthusing over the
“fluff” surrounding the setting of the game – the fictional Jwar Isles and the
unique blend of oriental fantasy that permeates into all levels of
Bushido.
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| gorgeous miniatures |
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| no I mean seriously look at these models |
Aye I know, I've literally just
said that the game rewards good tactics rather than uber warrior lists but bear
with me as I reason this one out for you. In most games the tactic is purely in
the manoeuvring of the opposing armies and making sure your shock troops wash
away his weaker missile armed troops or getting your God-like hero to wade into
the ranks of poorly equipped Goblins and rag on them for a bit until they are
destroyed or run away. But once you're in melee then it's just chuck a few
dice, consult a table, remove some models.
The odds are already worked out, there generally is very little
interaction or room to change those odds, to alter the outcome or bluff your
opponent. This is fine for mass battles and hundreds of figures but for smaller
games this isn't enough for me and this is where Bushido comes into its own,
this is where the game has grabbed my attention and ensured that I come back
for more time and again.
“So what's so special about the
combat system?” I hear you say.
Well built into the mechanic in several ways is
the tactical side of the game again - bluff and uncertainty, the game
encourages you to think whether you want to gamble or fight conservatively. What
do you need your fighter to do? Is (s)he gonna beat the tar out of your
opponent or do they just need to hold them up for an activation or two, while
other more important things are going on? Are they wearing them down slowly or
going for a smackdown? Do they need to push your opponent out of a certain area
of control or knock them to the floor? Yes certain models are better at some of
these things or one of these things, some can even do all of these things but
it is this level of interaction that brings me back to the Bushido game. These
nuances that give the player more control, gives detail but still flows easily
and doesn't distract the player from imagining the swirl of battle and the
spectacle of eastern martial arts.
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| no i really mean it, they are sooooo good!! |
Ok without printing the entire
game verbatim (you can download them free if you want to) the sequence for a
Bushido melee is roughly this…..
- · Attacker declares a melee action and moves into base to base (btb) contact with the defender.
- · Players must declare any Ki feats (that are allowed in melee) or Ki boosts (using Ki to increase the amount of dice rolled in melee) with the defender declaring first. This gives the attacker a slim advantage in counteracting any boosts.
- · Players calculate their available dice pool. Each character has a MS which indicates how many dice they can roll in melee from 0-4 usually. This is adjusted by things such as exhaustion, outnumbering, surprise and being prone. With ki boosts and special attacks (SA) and special defences (SD) this can be reduced to 0 (any value below 0 adds dice to the opponents pool) or could add as much as 8.
- · Players choose any special attacks or defences. This is done in secret and you can buy the cards with the SA/D printed or make your own, or simply write down which attack/defence you use. It must be one or the other you cannot have a SA and a SD. Some SA/D reduce available dice, this depends on the individual characters and is shown on their character cards as Throw Attack (1) which would reduce available dice by 1 or Push Defence (0) which would not effect the number of dice available. There is also a Bluff card just to add to the tension.
- · Players divide their available dice into attack or defence dice. Again this is done in secret using different coloured dice. There are official faction dice but these are nice to haves and in effect you can use any d6s you chose as long as they are distinguishable as all dice are thrown at the same time.
- · Both players roll all the dice at the same time. The time for bluffing has ended, it's time to let the chips fall as they will.
- · Resolve the attackers dice first including any SA/D. Then the defenders. This could end up with the melee ending due to the defender either being killed or made prone, immobilised or the combatants separated before the defender gets to hit back.
- · Both combatants have their condition worsened by one step. Rested --> tired --> exhausted
This may seem like a lot of steps
and in fact I’ve simplified them a little, there are success levels and wounds
to score, traits like dodge, feint, parry, toughness and armour all affect
these to a certain degree or other, BUT the whole thing flows really well after
a few goes, in fact after a few goes it takes no time at all and the hardest
part is remembering to use your traits correctly. Remember also that you only have half a dozen
figures per side so it's not overly draining in anyway.
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| just in case you were in any doubt, just look at how lush these are.... |
Here are some examples of how it
works…..
Kenko – a monk from the Temple of
Ro Kan enters into melee with Jin from the Prefecture of Ryu. The Temple player just wants to put some hurt
on the Prefecture (not very monk like, tsk tsk) so he is going for maximum
damage, the Prefecture player wants to protect Jin from the pummelling to come. Neither side really knows the intention of
the other…..
Example 1a
Jin, thanks to the long reach of
her Yari (spear) has First Strike trait and automatically becomes the attacker
with Kenko, despite initiating melee becoming the defender. He therefore has to
declare Ki feats or boosts first. Determined to beat on Jin he boosts his
already good Dice pool of 4 to 5 using his Ki.
Jin who has no Ki available has to rely on her modest Dice pool of 3.
Kenko next chooses (in secret) any
special attacks or defences and chooses Combo Attack, which will allow him to
strike Jin multiple times if he has a high enough success level. However for
Kenko Combo Attack costs him a dice reducing his available pool back to 4 (from
5 because of his Ki boost). Jin chooses (in secret) Push Attack which will
allow her to keep Kenko at arms length using her Yari to its best advantage.
Push Attack for Jin is rated (0) and doesn't reduce her available dice, which
stays at 3.
Now comes the tricky part for the
players! Does Jin go all out attack (roll all three of her available dice in
attack) and hope she scores high enough to drive Kenko away before he can do
damage or does she hedge her bets and put a couple of dice into attack and a
single dice in defence just in case he foils her Push Attack. Kenko needs to
decide how many of his 4 dice he gives over to attack and get that Combo Attack
and how many in defence to foil any attacks Jin can muster – arrgh choices,
choices!!
Kenko decides to put 3 dice into
his attack and a single dice in defence. Jin decides to put all 3 dice into
attack and trust to her armour if Kenko gets through.
Rolling dice together –
Kenko gets a 5,3, 2 in attack which
gives him a total of 7 (the highest dice score plus 1 for every dice roll that
wasn't a 1 (which is a failure)) and a 5 in defence
Jin gets a 4,2,1 in attack for a
total of 5 and a 0 in defence (she didn't allocate defence dice so gets a zero
score).
Jin is the attacker due to her
First Strike so her dice are resolved first. Her attack score was 5 vs Kenko’s
defence of 5 therefore she is successful in her attack (albeit with a success
level of 0, which counts as successful only negative numbers aren't a success).
She reveals that she used Push Attack and Kenko is pushed back 1” from melee
and therefore is unable to resolve his own attack, which would have been at
success level 7 which would have been very bad for Jin indeed.
Example 1b
Same situation, same goals.
Kenko goes 3 dice in attack and 1
in defence, Jin this time allocates 2 in attack and 1 in defence.
As before Kenko rolls 5,3,2 in
attack for total 7 and a 5 in defence
However Jin rolls a 4,1 (not getting the 2 like the
previous example as she only rolled two dice) for a total attack of 4 (1 always
being a failure), she also rolls a 2 in defence.
Jin is the attacker thanks to
First Strike, her 4 cannot beat Kenko’s
5 in defence (4-5=-1) so she is unsuccessful in her attack and her Push Attack
doesn't come into effect. It’s now time
to resolve Kenko’s attack, he scored a total of 7 and Jin rolled a miserable 2 in
defence leaving a success level of 5 (7-2=5) and Jin is facing a total
battering as Kenko reveals his Combo Attack with a nasty grin……
Same situation, same desired
goals by each player, but by changing the dice from attack to defence the melee
goes a completely different way.
Example 2
Aiko's Guardian comes steaming in from across the meadow in a full charge.
Hagane's in big, BIG trouble, she has a MS 4 reduced to 3 because of outnumbering, then reduced by another die again because she is surprised (attack from outside of her Line of Sight) leaving her with 2. As the defender she needs to declare Ki boosts or feats. She has 4 Ki remaining so uses all of it to boost her available dice by two back up to 4. The gorilla is unable to boost its MS so will have 3.
The next big decision for the Temple player is does he go for massive damage (charging adds +2 to damage plus the +2 that the Gorilla already causes) or does he use his charging bonus - Slam Attack to prone Hagane opening her up for even more pain in the next activation. He chooses to attempt to Slam Hagane, this will give him an advantage later on. He decides to go all out attack in order to make sure he gets the result he needs. Hagane for her part needs to stop the Slam from succeeding and decides to go all out defence and use Side Step Defence (1) to get away from what is now a very disadvantaged fight and losing a die in the process.
Rolling together they get the following :-
Guardian - 6,6,3 for a total attack of 10! (sixes rolled after the first add +2 rather than just +1, Brutal adds +1 to your highest dice roll and the other dice adds a further plus 1, 6+2+1+1=10)
Hagane - 4,2,1 for a total defence of 5 (4+2=5, the 1 being an auto failure does not add to the total)
The Guardian pulls of a Success Level 5 attack (10-5=5) bet the Temple wishes he had just gone for a straight up attack as it probably would have killed her. As it is he scores half damage and slams Hagane d3 inches away and causes her to become prone. Unfortunately the Temple player didn't angle his attack properly and the Slam impacts into the Rice Farmer cowering behind and he goes down in a heap as well.....oops!
Hotaru of Ro Kan is set upon by Hiro
Takashi while she is already in melee with Tenchi both of the Prefecture of
Ryu. Hotaru has already fought in one
melee with the highly skilled warrior priest Tenchi and now in combat with a
hugely competent samurai as well things look bleak for the Ro Kan player.
Hiro is the attacker with Hotaru
being the defender. Hotaru has a MS 3 and as the defender has to declare any Ki
feats or boosts first. She decides to plough her remaining Ki into a boost to raise
it to 4, however she is outnumbered because of Tenchi and has to remove a dice
because of that, back down to 3 then. Hiro is confident in his ability to destroy the
young monk and boosts his MS to 5 with his Ki. Neither side declares a Ki feat.
In secret they split their dice
up with Hiro allocating 3 to attack and 1 to defence, just in case the fiery
monk sticks a boot in…. Hotaru allocates all of her dice into defence knowing
if she is successful she can move 1” away from Hiro and out of the potentially
nasty combat.
Rolling the dice together they
get……. Ah well you get the idea…..hahaha
The point I'm trying to make (and
probably just causing confusion) is that these examples are not
foregone conclusions and the choices you make whether it be allocation of dice
to attack or defence, which SA or SD you want to use, if any. If for example you pitted a Goblin Warlord armed to the teeth and armoured to the best the greenskin smiths can manufacture put him into combat with the most lowly of Dragons then the outcome is a foregone conclusion - mathematically but the other day I put a Racoon shaped Yokai up against a Dragon and they fought for the length of the game!
