"Test of Honour questions" Topic

After watching the new Shogun series I just have to start playing some Samurai skirmish game and I have just ordered the TOH Gaming set. Waiting for it to arrive I have some questions to those of you that are already playing the game:

1. I have a lot of samurai miniatures already so I do not plan to buy any specific TOH miniatures. Do I need the TOH Faction Cards Bundle in addition to the Gaming Set?

2. Are there any western factions in the game? I am mainly thinking of the Portuguese?

3. What gaming footprint works best? 3x3 feet or more?

Grateful for any advice!

Hmm, the Shōgun effect in action!

1) The basic set, and free downloads on the Grey For Now website provide a lot of cards that will cover all the basics and some flash. You don't need the faction bundles, but they do add a lot more.

2) No Western specific factions. But stats is stats — just use the troop types that fit the force. A player around here has built a very nice Portuguese force that runs heavy on the arquebusiers. Just paste in your own artwork if you want fancy matching cards.

3) Yes, 3x3 works best for 2–4 players. We find that 24 points is perfect points for a side. For a 4-player game (or larger), 12 points per player plays well and doesn't drag the game on. Even larger games do well at 12 points per player and 1 foot extra width to the board.

MiniMo,

many thanks for your comments!

1. Great, that saves some money :)

2. If the stats works well for the Portuguese force, would you mind sharing them?

3. That was good news! Do you use any gaming mat that you can recommend?

Cheers

For Portuguese, just use whichever cards you have that fit the troops — ashigaru, ronin, renegades, or sohei with muskets; armoured or unarmoured. There are sergeants, standard bearers, and musicians. Any samurai or hero card you like to fit the officers.

Tiny Wargames has the only gaming mat on the market that I'm aware of that has specific Japanese visual elements. The 4x4 version is nice with a 6" border area all around for laying out cards.

I recommend it, but don't use it myself…
Someone else in our area already has one or two of these, and more of the same layout would be quite repetitive.
tinywargames.co.uk/samurai

I use and love Cigar Box Battle Mats, the fleece doesn't wrinkle or crease. For ToH, and other games, I've cut the 6x4+ ones down to size, the material doesn't fray.

For buildings, Things From The Basement here in the US has a nice range of mdf kits and bases. I'm pretty sure there are some more kits in the works that I'm hoping will be out in time for Huzzah in May.
link

I'm using a lot of miniatures from Bad Squiddo and Perry, so I picked up bases too. Even Grey For Now miniatures sets don't always come with enough multi-bases packed in. For the multi-bases, I requested the 2.5mm ones with a chipboard bottom for a slimmer profile.
link

—Cat

Awesome! Many thanks for your advice. Much appreciated! Cheers

Could try your local pet store. I have gotten a few Japanese models. Bring a figure with you for size.

Oh, and you'll want to download all the free card pdfs at Grey For Now, you'll likely find ones in there that will work for Portuguese or a variety of other models. There's no need at all to stick to 'faction specific' identity unless you're using the campaign game upgrade cards.

Thanks all! Petstore and download next :)

One last question! How many multibases (for 3 miniatures) will I need (per side) for a typical 24 point game? I need to order some asap for my existing miniatures

There has been a younger gentleman who puts on very nice looking Test of Honour games at the various HMGS-East conventions. I think he was loosely affiliated with Your Hobby Place in West Virginia (although he lived in NY).

He often has games involving European forces like Portuguese and even has games for the Satsuma Rebellion. These gamemaster had very professional looking stat sheets and cards for the various non-traditional factions. Perhaps you can contact him and get his stats for the Portuguese.

Prince Alberts Revenge,

thanks for your comment. That sounds really interesting. Would you have any links to webpages or ways to contact him?

His name is David Hill. Great guy and an amazing GM! I've played in many of his ToH events over the years. If you do FB, he goes by David Frank on there. Things From the Basement sponsor his events so they might also be a way to get in touch.

Edit: Forgot to add that, in addition to Portuguese, he has stats and cards for the Dutch as well!

enfant perdus, excellent! many thanks!

There's a great group on Facebook, with a lot of material in the Files section too:
link

MiniMo, I am all over it :)