"Are You a Martial Arts Gamer?" Topic

How interested are you in depicting the martial arts on the miniature wargaming tabletop? On a scale of zero (no interest) to 10 (it's my obsession)…

7. I was trying to create a game for samurai skirmish that caught some of the essence of real Japanese bujutsu. It's a real challenge and I never got it to the point that I envisioned.

I find that "realistic" martial arts on the table are best reserved for one on one (or close to it) games. I know there have been a few gladiator type games that worked well enough. Unfortunately, those don't lend themselves well to miniatures (once the two figures are in base contact…there isn't much more moving they will do).

In larger games…even with a half dozen or so figures per side, things start to get bogged down in attacks/counter/counter the counter/counter the counter to the counter… Forget the name, but there was one which was more or less based around cinematic kung fu a few years back (and at my age…a few years might have been as few as three and as many as 30). It was a good game with good mechanics that represented the genre well. However playing a relatively small game ended up taking several hours.

8.

Would love to, but hard to find rules that permit all the varied attacks, defenses, feints, etc.

Would be happy if someone could point me to a set. Would love to be able to run games with not only swords, spears, naginatas, but also weaponless martial arts, e.g. karate, judo, etc.

8, but as it has been said, i found very dificult to make a "realistic" system

I too will say 8…BUUUUT….I've never seen a good one. Not even a good attempt at them except perhaps a modified skirmish based on RPGs and most of those can get slow. Dubius at best.

A good Hong Kong action skirmish game would be fun. Lots of flashy moves by the main characters, highly mobile, and lots of mooks.

8

But it seems hard to pull off.

Board game yes, miniature game no.

I think it would make for a boring mini game.

I like the idea of Gladiator games but they too are boring on the table top.

0

0

0

0

I play Street Fighter Heroclix. Does that count?

My answer depends on what qualifies as a "martial arts" game. I don't have much interest in deeply-improbable Oriental death-hand techniques, Shaolin monks or "The Way of the Wasp", but I would like a set of rules that enables the hero, plus one or two sidekicks, to attempt to escape from the fell clutches of Emperor Mong or The Grand Imperial Lizard of Bozotica after the latter has shouted "Guards! Seize Them!"

If the heroes win, they escape to their next improbable adventure, but if they lose, they are merely imprisoned, and will inevitably escape for a re-run of the game without ever actually being cast into the radium furnaces of the flying city.

All the best,

John.

0

0. The Army taught me the best martial art:
Fox 09, this is Julie 77, adjust fire, over.

0. I do some but have never thought of gaming it.

Do you mean realistic(3) or cinematic(8)? Or even anime(8)? I had a friend who published a game based loosely on Dragon Ball Z martial arts. It used a hex map and point based character generation, like a RPG. The concept I liked the most was that the games were timed. You play a set number of rounds and whoever took the most damage lost. Reminds me of those fights where they eventually throw mountains at each other until someone falls over. ('Course with Dragon Ball Z this could take a week of episodes.)

10. I think it would be a hoot to game cinematic kung fu or Bruce Lee fighting Chuck Norris or Green Hornet vs Batman and Robin

10 big interest here, any martial arts of any kind would be cool, Rest in peace little Dragon.

Somewhere between 0 and -4…

1 on the tabletop
8 rpg – I like Feng Shui.

Nope.

Sorry i have seen real killer martial arts ,its ballet ,hokey religions and all
gimme a blaster anytime kid!

10 – Creating Japanese Budo on the tabletop is an ongoing passion – did Bushi no Yume for skirmish based on my Flying Lead set and working on a modified 2HW variation of the gladiator rules for duels, one versus a few type affairs :)

Rich

If you're looking for anime-style, you should check out Anima Tactics. Great little skirmish game that really captures the anime genre.

9 – I haven't seen too many war games with a martial arts focus, though. Lots of rpgs, though.

I seem to recall an article (in white Dwarf maybe?) back in the 80s where they used the Runequest combat system (slightly modified) quite effectively.

How would you portray martial arts on the tabletop?… You would be moving figures, making "attacks", and rolling dice -- how would this differ from guns/blasters/grenades/spears/swords/etc?

I spent 10 years in civilian martial arts. It is combat techniques, with/without weapons. Combat is combat, when it comes to gaming on a tabletop.

In an RPG, it might make more sense, but when I tried to render Ju-Jitsu into a Super-Heroes RPG, it fell flat, as I knew what the techniques could do in the real-world, under ideal conditions, but translating it into a game proved frustrating, and unsatisfying.

Bottom line, my interest is: 0 (zero). Combat is combat (rolling dice, and consulting a table/chart for results).