SPALDING WARGAMING CLUB
Even a straight punch-up requires tough choices on how to draw your enemy out or bog them down It was on a lazy browsing session I first stumbled upon Test of Honour: The Samurai Miniatures Game. The game itself is set in an unquantified "Feudal Japan". Single shot muskets, lightning fast katanas and deadly naginatas all feature. Common troops can perform one action per turn but more powerful characters (Loyal Samurai, Ronin, Ninjas, to name a few) have more actions.
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The "you go, I go" turn system seems simple but determining order by drawing a token from a bag means you don’t know which of your units you can activate. The extra "fate" tokens and their subsequent upgrades keep every round fresh and can seriously change a scenario in an instant. When the third fate token is drawn, this immediately ends a turn. This forces you to decide between caution (possibly missing your chance to activate a character/unit) and all-out attack (possibly exposing or over committing a valuable piece).
Almost everything in the game is accomplished by rolling the game’s bespoke dice and hoping to get three swords or more (roll five and fun bonuses occur). Seems simple.....but the addition of bonuses for 5 swords or more, and the hilarious consequences if more X's than swords are rolled, keep the action fresh.
Almost everything in the game is accomplished by rolling the game’s bespoke dice and hoping to get three swords or more (roll five and fun bonuses occur). Seems simple.....but the addition of bonuses for 5 swords or more, and the hilarious consequences if more X's than swords are rolled, keep the action fresh.
As with all good games it’s difficult to master but so easy to pick up. Very few mechanics to learn but enough to offer depth of choice. Even a straight punch-up requires tough choices on how to draw your enemy out or bog them down. It obviously helps that the models are stunning, multi-part and completely dynamic through construction.