Wednesday 8 June 2016

Objectives

hi all

The game of Bushido, like most wargames, is best played with specific scenarios in mind, that said you can always make these scenarios up yourself for that individual special game you've always wanted to play. Fancy a midnight raid on your enemies castle - no problem you can do that, assassinate the faction leader - yep got that covered, escort the prisoners to the nearest gaol - job done.

What do all the scenarios need though to make them fun? Objectives!

In the scenarios (download them from the website, they are free! Just like the rules - yippee!) for Bushido, all of them have specific objectives that award scenario points (SP) and ultimately victory points (VP), score 3 VPs and you win the game. There are a few different objectives and I think I've got them all covered now, but let's start with the ones I've already blogged about.

Firstly you need 6 x small objectives, now the rules don't state how small they've got to be, so I just assumed they would be in a normal 25mm round base and so I bought my 6 little pre-painted Buddha statues which cost me £5 from Amazon, I was planning on painting them but when I saw them in the flesh as it were I was happy enough just to mount them on a base.



Next we have 2 x large objectives, again the rules don't state how big these are, whether they block line of sight or what, so I used 40mm bases and just made it up! The first objective was my roadside Shinto Temple, made out of coffee stirrers and a scrap of foamboard, this objective cost me £0, yep nothing at all, I had everything already. The other objective was my koi pond,  you can find the how I built this here and here Again the build was using materials I already had so £0 was spent!


the resin has now dried perfectly clear and looks amazing imho


After that I needed to make some "zones", these are areas that factions need to control in order to score SPs, quite simply the player controls a zone if he outnumbers his opponent in the zone AND has a combined higher rice (points) total than his opponent. The first set of zones you need are 3 x 4" diameter zones. No problem, firstly I locate my favourite terrain making material - funky foam sheets from the Range, I have loads of it.  Then using a template, mark a 4" circle into it and glue them onto a cardboard base, I then scored a few different tile patterns onto them and painted them up to resemble the tiles from my temple board and this is what they turned out like.


Now onto the bigger  and a bit more complex 8" diameters, now i could have copped out and copied the above just in a larger way, but i'm a glutton for punishment and did something different.  the first one started out like the above smaller zones but in the middle I decided to do a centre piece and scribed a design into it.  This is what I come up with.


not too bad in the design phase so I went ahead and painted it and it came out like...



The next and last of the bigger zones needed to be a little bit more special i thought, so I went back to the drawing board and looked at what materials I had lying about.  So I started with a cardboard base as per the above but this time I used a polystyrene ceiling tile from my Temple board and cut it to fit, a semi circle of tile was then used to raise up a platformed area.


i then used the awesome coffee stirrers to define a pathway leading to the platform. After that it was about time I broke out the "funky foam" sheeting and created some tiling for the platform also a tiled edging for the whole piece.


I then coated the polystyrene in PVA glue and gave it a spray of black undercoat, obviously I missed loads of spots as it melted the tile in places, but that didn't matter really as these areas would be covered over soon.


for the top of the platform, i wanted to do a "Torii Gate" which feature heavily in Japanese architecture due to it's symbolism in Shinto. So I found a couple of dowels and used some hexagonal bases I had ordered from Minibits to make columns ages ago. Using coffee stirrers and a bit of foamboard for the crossbeams.  this is a very simple Torii gate and doesn't feature some of the additional supports and uprights but I didn't want to over-clutter the platform as this is meant to be fought across by factions wishing to dominate the area. And finally yes for the astute of you the bottom crosspiece is a little slanted but I find it endearing (plus I couldn't for the life of me get it straight!! grrr!).


and here we have the finished piece, with the addition of some grass matting i have left over from a previous table and some plants I have left over from my Buddha Shrine, I think it comes out really nicely.  Total cost £0





hope you have found this interesting, for all of the above terrain/objectives the total new cost to me (ie what I didn't already have left over from other projects) = £5! bargain......

hope you enjoy
dGG

26 comments:

  1. Beautiful scenery! I love your ideas for objective markers and areas. Well executed and it all fits together really well. It looks like a great setup!

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    1. thanks N667, they're nice simple ideas and can be placed in almost any setup!

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  2. I hadn't really considered Bushido before reading your fabulous posts, but I am starting to feel that there is a whole in my life that needs to be filled - inspirational work again!

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    1. thanks Michael, sorry for the self-realisation ;-) you need to be looking at these figures, with your lovely brushwork they would really shine!

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  3. I love those zones, especially the one with the dragon in the centre! All these objectives are good, but I think the zones really stand out.

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    1. i agree Hugh, i was particularly happy with the way the dragon came out! he's sitting under some heavy books as the cardboard is misbehaving in the humid weather so he may get upgraded to an mdf base at some point..

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  4. Once again, Andy, you show just what can be done on the cheap. All of your objective markers are wonderful and very evocative of the genre.

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    1. Thanks Bryan, frugal gaming at its best!

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  5. so tell me what is the secret to.. NEVER SLEEPING?

    You churn this stuff out like its easy or something. And yet, every last bit of it is just superb. Not often in the gaming world (maybe a few times a year maximum) is it that something deeply impresses me. It might be a new set of rules, perhaps an especially good rpg session, a nice diorama, or an especially nicely painted batch of figures. But you have managed it every time you post - what amounts to a host of articles, and all about Bushido.

    Absolutely incredible stuff.

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    1. The secret is having uni deadlines for essays and wanting to do literally ANYTHING else lol...

      Seriously I work long shifts (12 hours) and only do 3 or 4 a week so get lots of days off and as I say I've been hobbling rather than essaying.....

      I'm glad you're enjoying the posts, I hope I continue to impress x

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    2. *looks at T as we both sit sharing a can of Guinness, and we both nod simultaneously*

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  6. Frugal but fantastically constructed. Tip top stuff from the Grand Baron of "Bushido" :-)

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  7. It never ceases to amaze me what a bit of imagination and scrap can be turned into. Your zones are excellent - I immediately thought they'd been made from pizza base packing (after all it's free). Bushido seems to demand of lot of pre-game prep though you seemd to have cracked it. Love the Buddist monk markers - great find, but your slanting Torii gate cross-bar would drive me nuts!

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    1. To be fair Joe, it's driving me nuts too but I'm going to live with it.... Haha

      Yes I do like some frugal gaming, using scrap and making usable items, a bit wombat like. I think the game can be played using most terrain that a lot of seasoned gamers would have in their collection, zones can be made out of bushes and shrubs or trees or model walls, roads, rivers that sort of thing, objectives can be statues or houses or anything really, but I wanted to have a unique feel to my games and it let me indulge my love (newly found) for terrain building.

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  8. What can I say that hasn't already been said? Lovely work as always, Andy. As my terrain is sorely lacking at present (my "board" is currently constructed afresh each game - the joy of having rather a lot of HeroScape tiles) I cannot currently match your output. But...I will be using your blog as inspiration for future terrain builds. Of course, you do need a branch of Cupid Burgers...maybe a Burger cart, to fit in with the milieu? Might have to build you one myself. Ooh, and if you've got a burger stand, you'll need a samurai/ninja version of Batman too! He loves them burgers... lol

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    1. I think every genre/game needs a Cupid Burgers franchise to feature somewhere Jez! Lol

      As if Batman isn't awesome enough, ninja batman - brilliant! Samurai batman - off the charts! :-)

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    2. Oh and if it wasn't clear you should definitely build me a cart.... ;-) ;-) ;-)

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    3. Challenge accepted! Now to find something suitable and in scale to make a shichirin...
      And you'll have to provide your own cook - I suggest this one:

      http://blackcatbases.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=437_599&products_id=1551

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    4. sweeeeeeeet!!

      i'm gonna start looking!

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  9. you sure do pose a strong argument for pro DIY. Hmmm, you cad , sir... you`ve gone and got me all inspired to want to start some thing new, and not all commercial and out of a shiny box either. Hmmm, mind`s clicking away here.

    Excellent post Andy, as usual.

    Steve :))

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    1. In the past I bought some really nice buildings from Sarissa and 4Ground and I was pleased with them and they look nice on the tabletop, you can see a lot of them in my ww2 and ATZ games. But then I built my hospital, which you see on my blog - how I did it and whatnot (check it out, I promise you you'll like it if you like these builds) and I really enjoy it, now I build what I can and if I can't THEN I look for the manufactured version.... ;-)

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  10. Excellent terrain additions they are fantastic!

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