durecell | 19 Sep 2016 4:02 p.m. PST |
I'm having trouble finding a suitable samurai ruleset. What I'm looking for in the game is the ability to handle large numbers (~100-200 models) of individually based 28mm models (Mostly on 2p coins), has fun game mechanics and makes a good attempt to capture Japanese warfare. I have some rulesets already. Ronin couldn't handle the amount of figures we have. Taiko! just wasn't very fun. Although I've not tried Killer Katana and Battles in Age of War I'm not sure how well these 15mm rules will work with 28mm models on 2p coins. Any suggestions? We're prepared to use 2p movement trays but not rebase. |
Bashytubits | 19 Sep 2016 4:40 p.m. PST |
Killer Katanas would work with movement trays. |
mad monkey 1 | 19 Sep 2016 4:47 p.m. PST |
I've heard of folks using the Lord of the Ring rules. They could handle your numbers. It's like a large skirmish. King of War historical by Mantic is on pre-order. On the cover are samurai bashing it out, so it seems you could use it for big battle. Pikeman's lament is coming out , it covers the pike a nd shot period of the sengoku era, might work. Based on the Lion Rampant engine. Chrysantheum Throne by Chipco might work for you too. |
John Leahy | 19 Sep 2016 5:28 p.m. PST |
There is a Black Powder variant for download available. |
D6 Junkie | 19 Sep 2016 5:34 p.m. PST |
I'd suggest Lion Rampant, there is a variant on Board Game Geek. Can easily handle the numbers. |
Lion in the Stars | 19 Sep 2016 11:12 p.m. PST |
I've heard of folks using the Lord of the Ring rules. They could handle your numbers. It's like a large skirmish. Not Lord of the Rings, the War of the Ring game, which is individual models on sabot bases, but fighting as a company, not individual models. |
durecell | 20 Sep 2016 4:01 a.m. PST |
Thanks for the suggestions. I actually have a copy of War of the Ring bought years ago. Is there a Japanese army list or conversion rules somewhere I could have a look at? Personally I'm not too keen on Lion Rampant because of it's activation mechanics. Having spent some games doing very little because of failed activations soured me on it. |
Samurai Elb | 20 Sep 2016 7:42 a.m. PST |
I can propose my variant of Volley & Bayonet for Samurai Armies 1550 to 1615 but it is not individually based. But if you use movement trays it might be working. You must have the Volley & Bayonet 1st Edition to play. Here is the link . Werner |
Toronto48 | 20 Sep 2016 7:46 a.m. PST |
I think that the SAGA system may give you a good game SAGA stresses troop differences and the importance of the leader which could reflect classical Samurai warfare. The Daimyo would be the Warlord, Expert or long term Samuari heroes the hearthgardes, Samurai or excellent ashigaru would be warriors and the peasants would be levy. There are individual battleboards already available that allow you to field individual clans each having their own characteristics and abilities An"average" 6 point game would give you about 50 figures a side if you use all troop types but you would have the choice to increase the size of units or even the number of units to give you more figures. The SAGA system is well known and the Tapestry website gives you all you need to get started including a number of battleboards link |
Codsticker | 20 Sep 2016 8:15 a.m. PST |
<quote>Personally I'm not too keen on Lion Rampant because of it's activation mechanics. Having spent some games doing very little because of failed activations soured me on it.</quote> I found that frustrating as well. The easiest solution to that is give both commanders the Commanding trait (re-roll a failed activation for any unit within 12"). Not sure the rules would have "the feel" of a Samurai skirmish though. |
martin goddard | 20 Sep 2016 12:53 p.m. PST |
There are many ways to game what you want. With regards to "Battles in theAge of War" by Peter Pig. The 15mm version uses a 5x3 foot table so a 7x4 (or similar)will do for 25mm. I would suggest you double all distances. Figures would be grouped into units as there are no single man activations. The rules include samurai deployments, messengers, challenges and a samurai pre-game. The rules are ver specific but might suit if you want to to be fighting specifically in the sengoku era. Hope you get some good games martin
PS I do suggest some sort of movement rays??? |
GGouveia | 29 Sep 2016 10:59 a.m. PST |
BAW by Peter Pig or KK. I prefer BAW. |
durecell | 02 Oct 2016 6:13 p.m. PST |
I've now had time to read my copies of BAW and KK2 a bit more carefully. I couldn't understand KK2's card system and having 50% of the cards as cavalry isn't great when only one of us owns any. So I was mostly looking at BAW. For movement trays I was thinking of using 2x2 2p coin sabot trays with a size of 60mm square. I was personally thinking of using it to represent 2 elements one in front of the other although some people in my club would prefer the whole tray to be a element. In my case I'm not looking to have a big battle in terms of needing lots of models but rather have the ruleset work with the amount of models we currently have. I noticed there are no rules for samurai archers which could be a problem as one of our players has a large army of pure samurai including a huge amount of archers. I am also unclear as to whether samurai spear have the spear effect. Page 14 says they do but page 84 says they do not. |
martin goddard | 13 Oct 2016 2:47 p.m. PST |
re BAW You can obviously change any rule you want. Armies of the period were never made up samuari only. there were not enough samurai to form an army, In this period samurai were usually combat troops only. You can have samurai as spear troops if you wish. Don't forget that samurai cavalry would be slower and less powerful than their European counterparts. the Japanese warfare is very idiosyncratic because Japan was very cut off from the rest of the warring world i strongly recommend RAN (or Kagemusha)as an evenings viewing. Good luck martin
|
John Leahy | 13 Oct 2016 5:25 p.m. PST |
Heaven and Earth is MUST see for BIG Samurai battle movies. |