Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Adventures in the Far East => Topic started by: Moonglum_ on October 30, 2024, 04:51:05 PM
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I'm looking to dip into some feudal Japan skirmish rules with an emphasis on the characters in the title rather than entirely samurai.
What rules might fit the bill here that I should have a look at?
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Test of Honour covers that quite nicely. Ninjas, monks, bandits, ronin are all included in the troop types and you can build up forces however you like.
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Ronin might fit the bill. I’ve never played it but I’ve heard good things that might suit what you’re after.
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Ronin might fit the bill. I’ve never played it but I’ve heard good things that might suit what you’re after.
Test of Honour covers that quite nicely. Ninjas, monks, bandits, ronin are all included in the troop types and you can build up forces however you like.
Thanks both. I will have a look at each of these.
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Test of Honour will be a slightly pricier pick but it's a nicely 'fluffy' sort of game with lots of options for individualised special rules. Ronin is a very elegantly simple system but in such a way that it doesn't offer lots of room for little tweaks. That being said, I still have ideas for a Shinobi force in my back pocket...
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Looking on the websites for both games, I see some of the same figures being sold in both places?
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Bushido is my favourite. Although a lot of mythical and magical figures are included, it's perfectly possible to play games with 'realistic' characters as well... :)
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Bushido is my favourite. Although a lot of mythical and magical figures are included, it's perfectly possible to play games with 'realistic' characters as well... :)
That piques my interest as well so I'll take a look.
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Looking on the websites for both games, I see some of the same figures being sold in both places?
Yes, North Star produced some minis for Ronin, and these are also being sold through Grey for Now's storefront, along with the range by Footsore (who did a couple of tie-ins when Test of Honour migrated from Warlord) and Grey for Now's in-house range.
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For even more great mini options, check out Perry Miniatures and Bad Squiddo Games.
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For even more great mini options, check out Perry Miniatures and Bad Squiddo Games.
Love the Perry line of course (currently buying up as many of their middle-earth figures as I can as GW seems like they may start phasing them out any day now).
This is particularly cool: https://www.perry-miniatures.com/product/sam33-defeated-daimyo-committing-hara-kiri-with-loyal-retainers-discarded-armour/
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If you want historical skirmish, I'd say Ronin.
If you want some Asian mythology thrown in and a "beat the Boss" type game, Hametsu from Black Site Studio.
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My search for the same purpose ended up with Test of Honour, which I think are great set of rules. I really like the scenarios and campaigns included. For faster games I use One Hour Skirmish Wargames (Medieval).
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If you want historical skirmish, I'd say Ronin.
If you want some Asian mythology thrown in and a "beat the Boss" type game, Hametsu from Black Site Studio.
My search for the same purpose ended up with Test of Honour, which I think are great set of rules. I really like the scenarios and campaigns included. For faster games I use One Hour Skirmish Wargames (Medieval).
I'm interested in both but historical moreso. I'm going to pick up both Ronin and Test of Honour.
How do the North Star, Grey for Now and Perry figures hold up next to eachother?
It looks like Wargames Atlantic is another good option?
Lastly, are there any go-to sources of Japanese terrain?
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How do the North Star, Grey for Now and Perry figures hold up next to eachother?
I mix them all, plus Wargames Atlantic, Bad Squiddo and Bac Ninh, and they all work just fine. I even use old Ral Partha 25mm figures, they're just shorter people in the crowd
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Argad (Sengoku extension) mentions the different character types. Basic characteristics are not much developped, for simplicity, but more details have been suggested (not always online) and played.
Recent AARs online show rather large samurai skirmishes but that's a personal choice of a very active game master who added his own optional morale rules; more typical games (of any period) with the generic Argad rules can be 10-20 characters per player.
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I have (somewhere) a very cinematic set which used different faced dice for different skill levels, so you're hero would be D20 vs a load of D6's... it's been an age since I looked at it and don't even remember it's name... not very helpful I'm afraid.
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"Boshi no Yume" is the Japanese-specific variation of Song of Blades and Heroes by Ganesha Games, written by Rich Jones. He's made the rules freely available here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/a6ovs90zflb70nbgqxikp/Bushi-no-Yume-web.pdf?rlkey=itw9ipmo9no4gcsfr7l0ctw1m&e=1&dl=0
Neil Shuck reviewed them here: https://meeples.wordpress.com/2017/03/22/review-bushi-no-yume/
If you like SoBH then this will probably work for you, my only challenge with it is all the traits use Japanese names, which is great for flavour, not great for understanding what they refer to in the middle of a game. In practice I'd swap in the SoBH names.
Chris
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Bushi No Yume might be worth a look at as its Blades and Heros set in Fudal Japan
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Lastly, are there any go-to sources of Japanese terrain?
Plenty of options here :)
https://www.oshiromodels.co.uk/japanese (https://www.oshiromodels.co.uk/japanese)
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https://sarissa-precision.com/collections/japan-28mm
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https://sarissa-precision.com/collections/japan-28mm
Plenty of options here :)
https://www.oshiromodels.co.uk/japanese (https://www.oshiromodels.co.uk/japanese)
Beautiful, looks like I have all I need to get started then.
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I mix them all, plus Wargames Atlantic, Bad Squiddo and Bac Ninh, and they all work just fine. I even use old Ral Partha 25mm figures, they're just shorter people in the crowd
The Wargames Atlantic Samurai and Ashigaru are even shorter than their Ral Partha counterparts, at a mere 10 mm. You may have been thinking of the Fireforge Games range, the only plastic 28 mm Samurai figures that I’m aware of.
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Another vote for Ronin here. Fantastic skirmish game. I can also vouch for Oshiro products.
In November, I’ll be adding more Oshiro buildings to my Ronin village.
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A generic heroic game like Pulp Alley could also work.
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I went with Dixon Miniatures for Ronin. There are so many figures options.
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I went with Dixon Miniatures for Ronin. There are so many figures options.
Another great source, thank you.
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DAISHO
https://theministryofgentlemanlywarfare.wordpress.com/daisho/
A great set of rules for skirmish.
As wrote on the book cover: Daishō, skirmish wargaming in mythical Nippon.
It's all about characters, you can build your own or use some of the various factions, historical, mythical, full fantasy... it's all there.
D10 dice. A lot of scenarios, linkable for campaigns, and random generated if you like to add some complications.
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We are currently playing using tweaked Ravenfeast rules - works like a charm. You can find the base rules for free on their page http://www.ravenfeast.com/free-downloads.html and I can send you all our stats and house rules if you'd like. It's got Ninjas, bandits, samurai, monks and everything inbetween!
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I use Dixon figures for Ronin with various other manufacturers for civilians.
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I’ll add my $.02
I’ve run a few Samurai skirmish games at conventions, using Rich Jones’ wonderful “Bushi no Yule” rules. They use the Ganesha Games system and are deep, but very easy to learn. After turn 1 the players all know the game well enough to concentrate on the scenario. A great convention game.
I’ve also played Test of Honour twice at different conventions, and enjoyed that also.
But for playing at home, with players familiar with the rules, I really prefer Ronin (and En Garde, a game with similar mechanisms, and both written by Craig Woodfield). It has a bit more depth and an interesting combat mechanism that keeps the players engaged. The only downside I see is that the game is a bit difficult to adapt to solo wargaming.
Those are simply my preferences, but to be honest, the only games I have tried. I don’t think you can go too wrong with any of the suggestions give here. Best wishes on your entry into Samurai era skirmishing.
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I'm looking to dip into some feudal Japan skirmish rules with an emphasis on the characters in the title rather than entirely samurai.
What rules might fit the bill here that I should have a look at?
Look no further than Dixon Miniatures!
Ronin rules complement them
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If you want solo rules, what about mapping and reskinning Five Leagues From The Borderlands.
Enemies Within and Enemies Without will provide you with mundane opposition.
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Regarding the rules referenced above as “Bushi no Yule”, some may be confused, as I initially was, by the typo. The correct title is Bushi no Yume. They are available to download from scribd.com. The download itself is free but there is a monthly fee of £10.99 to use the site after the first month’s free trial.
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You can also download them here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lfzqxe5qykfq3vw/Bushi%20no%20Yume%20web.pdf?dl=0
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…which is cheaper.
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Regarding the rules referenced above as “Bushi no Yule”, some may be confused, as I initially was, by the typo. The correct title is Bushi no Yume. They are available to download from scribd.com. The download itself is free but there is a monthly fee of £10.99 to use the site after the first month’s free trial.
I thought for a moment someone had a ruleset with a subscription business model, it is tge website that requires subscription.
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Yes, the subscription is for Scribd rather than the rules, though now you mention it I believe Wizards of the Coast have plans to make players of "One D&D' - or whatever they're calling it now - pay a subscription as part of their continuing efforts to monetize the game. Fortunately I'm not aware of any similar plans from other publishers.
Oddly, though, I encountered a similar message from Dropbox just as I was about to download the rules from them, even though I've had an account for years. I've only used it to store existing files, however, none of which were downloaded via Dropbox so I'm really not sure what is going on here.