Test of Honour Version 2
By Tom Gall
Grey for Now Games has released version 2 of their Samurai skirmish game . The game was previously published by Warlord games but has now gone indie and as part of that moved ushered in version 2.
In this article, we’ll explore what Graham Davey, the author, has modified. We’ll look at why upgrade to version 2, and if you’re new to the game we’ll look at what it takes to get started.
The game takes place in the second half of the 15th century in Japan up until Tokugawa’s victory some hundred years later in 1603. During the time it was an age of strife with many a minor warlord battling each other over now forgotten squabbles. For a skirmish game such as Test of Honour, this provides a perfect setting.
If you’re new to the game
It is as I mentioned a 28mm skirmish game with average army side in the 5 – 20 models range with point costed forces. You’ll have one character leader, a samurai, and then some number of underlings called followers.
Grey for Now has numerous types of forces available, everything from common infantry, brigands, cavalry, bows, muskets, and warrior monks. There are .
Depending on the model, you’ll have a certain number of actions you are able to take per turn. To represent these actions, you put in the total number of character action chits and follower action chits into a bag, your opponent does the same. Additionally, three fate tokens are added to the bag.
The system is a You-go-I-go, that uses a chit draw system to determine the type of figure you can activate. When the third fate token is drawn, all the action tokens go back into the bag and you go on to the next turn. This does mean it’s possible that during the average turn some of your force might not active.
Actions are what you’d expect, move, charge, attack and so on. The mechanics of the game are built on the concept of a test. A test of skill, a test of whits, and so on. You’ll typically be rolling 3-5 of the special Test of Honor dice (they are d6) to determine if you pass, fail or flub. On the face of the die are one sword, or two swords (for successes), X or blanks for failure. If you get more Xs then swords you flub, where you might injure yourself, or some other complication.
Altogether it’s fun, dramatic and cinematic game. Will your Samurai be victorious or might he be cut down and your force flees in terror and dishonor?
What’s new?
Movement rates were tweaked a bit, so during an activation, if you’re on foot, you have 6″ of movement, and on horse 9″.
Combat has seen some changes, with groups being easier to hit with missile fire, cavalry more effective against certain types of infantry but infantry with long pointy sticks being a bit more effective against them. Muskets have four dice for damage. This helps rebalance and establishes what was the rock/paper/scissors of the time period between the horse, bow/musket and footman.
Warriors of all types can obtain trait cards giving them new abilities for a point cost. This gives the game quite a bit more flavor and when you’re running a series of connected games or a full-on campaign really adds to the fun allowing your army to progress.
Honor and Dishonor cards now come in more varieties and have been reworked. The core idea of the game, allowing you the choice to act with honor or taking a turn for the dark side by taking a dishonor card for the benefit of something extra to help you defeat an opponent is still there. The dishonor card and its effects are the price you pay. All warriors in the game are able to make use of them while in the past only the characters were able to.
The rules are now 72 pages in length, much better organized before, and contain a few new sections. With version 1 one might flip back and forth between two booklets and struggle trying to find a rule. Not with this upgrade, there is even an index and a dictionary of Japanese terms!
A core piece of the game is the stat cards. The artwork on these cards seems to be in the style of sumi-e and is gorgeous. The cards have been reworked and now contain better markings to tell them apart for their clan. The stat lines now vary a bit more across the common troops. For all the past sets, there are now two sets of cards that cover them all, a clan forces set and a enemy forces set. This is of course great news for those who have version 1 of the game, your old figures and such all continue to work.
Some of the bigger changes in the game, help flesh out and give more flavor to the game-experience. There are now new terrain rules. It’s more clear how buildings work. It’s still simple and intuitive with the addition of rules for getting off your horse and attempting to force your way into a building.
The book has expanded to 18 scenarios. The linked story in the version 1 book was mighty fun and version 2 builds on that idea. I do hope that we see more scenarios for the game from Grey for Now. I’d sure happily hand over money for a pdf with more stories or scenarios.
With linked battles, character progression is important. Version 2 builds on that characteristic. Through skill cards, you build a fate deck that you get to pull from. In the past, it was very hard to understand what skill cards went with what forces. This has been fixed with an icon on the stat cards as well as the skill card.
Terrain
I must also spend some time recommending the terrain by Sarissa. The whole line is outstanding and still available through Grey for Now Games. Click on and have a look.
Sarissa’s terrain is MDF. It assembles easily. It paints up well. I left my roofs such that they can easily be removed so if action flows into a building, so be it.
A typical table is approx 3×3 which means you don’t need a lot of terrain to have a great experience.
Worth it?
All in all, the game remains an easy one to get into. A modest number of figures, the rules, and some terrain and you’ll have the makings for many a great gaming session with lots of replay-ability. I continue to recommend the game as I believe it remains the best choice in rules for gaming this time period and location. It pairs very well with many a Kurosawa film, which one of the Ronin boxes might look very very very familiar. Can you defend that village? You can save the princess in the hidden fortress?
If you have the game already I strongly suggest picking up version 2. Between the adjustments to the rules, the new and better-organized ability cards, the new honor/dishonor system I find it well worth it. You’re able to continue to use your existing figures so all in all, I think you’ll be pleased.