Ronin from osprey games

[HeavyGear822]

I just recently purchased this game. What do you guys think of the way combat works in the game?
Is it a good system?

[mellis1644]

We have played it quite a bit and had fun with it. The rules are very thematic and although there are a few   questions about the edge cases of the skills/rules they work well in general play.

The combat pool and decisions on attack defense area nice feature of the rules. I think you'll find some good discussion and comments in older threads.

[EnclavedMicrostate]

I've played a fair bit of Ronin, though personally I think the systems in En Garde are more developed and I've been working on porting the Ronin army lists over. Either way, the combat resolution is a great little system in my opinion, and I'm not surprised that that's the thing that changed the least from one set to the next. Do you have anything more specific you'd like to ask about? Be warned that I'm the sort that has a lot of opinions and tends to ramble...

[Mr. White]

I’m also a big fan of the Ronin rules and will be working on my proper Ronin table and minis as one of my 2023 projects.

I’ve also got En Garde as I’ve read it updates some of the Ronin rules, as EnclavedMicrostate…states.

I’d _love_ it if Osprey did a new edition hardback that combined Ronin and Engarde (with the official PDFs) but in the meantime, I’ll probably just get a second Ronin Bluebook.

[Mudyinsquall]

Great set of rules, only issues is the jutsu's which are severely under-costed for how strong they are. As someone else mentioned I believe En-Garde remedy's this. Some of the weapons are a bit better than others also.

I've found restricting each Jutsu to "one" of each type unless your playing Koryu, seems to have a nice effect, as it makes each higher rank more unique in the attributes they take.

[Mr. White]

I do wish there was a shorthand term to refer to the system these games share. In my group chats, we all know what the *Rampant games mean (the family of games based on Lion Rampant), but when I talk about these similar rules I always type Ronin/En Garde.

[EnclavedMicrostate]

My understanding is that 'Kamae-te!' is the equivalent of 'En garde!' in kendo, but I can't imagine that'll be easily remembered. 'Woodfield Skirmish Games'?

[Khusru2]

Although it doesn't shoot very often, I'm mot a fan of the teppo. I think it can be too powerful. I don't use it in my games.

[Maniac]

I've played Ronin many times with my kids and with my club.  Overall it is a good, thematic, and enjoyable set of rules.  It can get a bit heavy on the +/- aspect, and a Level 4/5 can tend to dominate, but overall we've always liked it.

I would disagree on Teppos.  You cannot take very many in a force (it actually recommends against a shooting Koryu, which would be the only place you could get more than ~2 in a buntai), they reload slow, and are inaccurate.

In general, unless you are close range it's going to be 'meh' for shooting.  It's main purpose is area denial by making folks leery to move into it's range.  In that, it is more of a fear factor than a game turner.

I think if you are looking for small scale Feudal Japan warfare it is a good resource.

The other one to consider is Fistful of Lead.  You can simulate almost all aspects of Ronin with it, save for the combat pool.  It is cleaner on the modifiers, but heavier on the traits.