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Warlord's Test of Honour seems to be blowing up in my part of NY, with two game stores having solid communities. For a smaller game this is impressive as I have seen amazing, mid-sized games come and go with nary a player. As such I have ordered/bought a bunch to start with, but I am wondering what people around here think? I feel like it slipped through the cracks as it isn't a historical game, but isn't an obvious genre either.

Also, just to ask. If anyone happens to have the Geisha preorder model, i'd love to pick it up. My wife loves the model and really wanted to play with her in her Warband.

I bought everything upon release and my buddy judgedoug got me the ninja set for Christmas! Unfortunately, I moved house and still have not sorted out all my hobby collection so TOH remains unplayed. But the rules really give a very positive impression of the gameplay. I am really tempted, once I find my stuff, to forgo historicity altogether and paint up my figs in L5R colors.

 Manchu wrote:
Ipaint up my figs in L5R colors.

Do it!

I was thinking Crane versus Scorpion (to play up the honor/dishonor dichotomy).

Been thinking of using the figs, either with the ToH rules or with Song of Blades and Heroes to tempt my buddy who is a L5R fan, although all the Ashigaru with rifles wouldn't mesh well with L5R fluff.

We've been playing once every couple weeks since the beginning of the year. The local store is going to be running a tournament at the end of the month.

Its really interesting to see people enthused. I'm the guy always trying to get folks interested in niche games, with minimal success, so I always take extra note when one takes off.

So what models, etc are people enjoying. At first glance i'm surprised by how samey so many of the game's units seem to be

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:

So what models, etc are people enjoying. At first glance i'm surprised by how samey so many of the game's units seem to be

I sold my plastics in the starter and replaced them all with metals from the Perry bros. I've also picked up the Bandit box and a Ninja group.

You're definitely right in that most of the units are alike, with a few +1/-1 stat swaps. A lot of the flavor comes from the cards, but you can only use those on your samurai.

I wonder how the game would play if both sides only used samurai units at 24 points? It'd certainly be quick, since each unit would get up to three actions per turn.

 infinite_array wrote:

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:

So what models, etc are people enjoying. At first glance i'm surprised by how samey so many of the game's units seem to be

I sold my plastics in the starter and replaced them all with metals from the Perry bros. I've also picked up the Bandit box and a Ninja group.

You're definitely right in that most of the units are alike, with a few +1/-1 stat swaps. A lot of the flavor comes from the cards, but you can only use those on your samurai.

I wonder how the game would play if both sides only used samurai units at 24 points? It'd certainly be quick, since each unit would get up to three actions per turn.

I think i'd like the Samurai update element more if I had some control over it too. Its fun having emergent moments from random draws, but often it happens so late in a game it doesn't matter.

The FLGS near me was starting to get people talking about it before it closed and reopened under new ownership. I’ve bought everything except the 3pack of ninja and missed the original unarmored samurai and geisha. I was painting mine in Lion clan colors and mixing in figs from Clan Wars and the old L5R board game called “Ninja”. Also painted up the shadow emissary from Malifaux as a water dragon.


Edit: also waiting for Rise of the Moloch to hit retail, I skipped the Kickstarter but the Dragon expansion has a few models I think will fit nicely if you want some mythic creatures to add into the game.

I've heard bad comparisons to X-Wing with Test of Honour, where you don't really have the best game experience unless you can get a hold of all the cards that are spread across all of the different warband box sets. Is that true?

Because that sort of thing is always exaggerated in my situation, as (especially) with niche games I end up having to buy enough stuff for both sides to get anyone to game with.

But I have one buddy that while he is not a minis wargamer, he is a big fan of the Samurai era of Japan, as well as Legend of the Five Rings, and I really think I could get him interested in playing a skirmish game with those two elements, but if just a small selection of purchases form Test of Honour (probably the core set + the mounted samurai w/ Daimyo set) would get a bit stale, I would likely end up using other rulesets for the models, like Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes.

 AegisGrimm wrote:
I've heard bad comparisons to X-Wing with Test of Honour, where you don't really have the best game experience unless you can get a hold of all the cards that are spread across all of the different warband box sets. Is that true?

Because that sort of thing is always exaggerated in my situation, as (especially) with niche games I end up having to buy enough stuff for both sides to get anyone to game with.

But I have one buddy that while he is not a minis wargamer, he is a big fan of the Samurai era of Japan, as well as Legend of the Five Rings, and I really think I could get him interested in playing a skirmish game with those two elements, but if just a small selection of purchases form Test of Honour (probably the core set + the mounted samurai w/ Daimyo set) would get a bit stale, I would likely end up using other rulesets for the models, like Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes.

I would greatly disagree. Personally, i'm irked by how LITTLE units differ from one box to the next. Sure there are very minor variations, but while ToH has been an awesome experience so far, I feel like I could've bought just the core set, and would've had a virtually identical game experience.

Ah, ok. I thought there were other cards beyond the ones for units that were spread across some of the warband boxes.

I really like how I just saw on the Warlord site, under their Pike and Shotte line, that you can buy foot Samurai, Mounted Samurai, and Ashigaru sprues seperately, and at pretty decent prices, at 6.50 for 5 models for the foot ones. A good way to get more samurai.

 AegisGrimm wrote:
Ah, ok. I thought there were other cards beyond the ones for units that were spread across some of the warband boxes.

I really like how I just saw on the Warlord site, under their Pike and Shotte line, that you can buy foot Samurai, Mounted Samurai, and Ashigaru sprues seperately, and at pretty decent prices, at 6.50 for 5 models for the foot ones. A good way to get more samurai.

Their pike and shotte samurai army is a great deal . I think the big difference though is the PS samurai have square bases and none of The multi bases. Also no ToH cards, but if your like me and just want a freaking pile of figs it’s 113 figs for $120. You also get 6 transfer sheets of the Takeda Clan mon if your so inclined to build them a smaller that faction. (23 large and 46 small transfers per sheet with half being white the other half black). I have not bought mine yet, but there’s a few sites online to buy it for $96 .

I’d prefer to find some quality single piece models that fit and are decent though. I really love my CMoN zombicide models, but the figs for Rising Sun just didn’t do it for me. I’m hoping with FFG getting the rights to L5R we might eventually see a board game or tabletop for that.

Has anyone got any bushido miniatures or Kensington miniatures that they could take a picture of next to the warlord samurai figs for comparison?

Yeah, the amount of figs for any of the Pike and Shotte samurai boxes are too many figures to ever see a table around me, but it'd be cool, for instance, to buy the small warband box for Test of Honour, which is something like 20 figs, and then add in one of the foot Samurai sprues because it doesn't look like the warband box comes with very many. I think those two together would be able to be split to make a nice pair of forces for quick skirmish gaming.

Interesting note, I first saw those Pike and Shotte boxes of these Samurai at Miniature Market, where the full army box is actually 96 dollars, which is an insane deal for making something like a Samurai Kings of War army.

konnichi wa!

For some alternate figures:

Ronin skirmish warbands (28mm, usually 8 or 9 figures, but the bandits have more, being mostly peasants)
http://www.northstarfigures.com/list.php?man=152&page=1

Perry Miniatures (28mm, sengoku jidai period which ended with Tokugawa Ieyasu establishing the Tokugawa Shogunate)
https://www.perry-miniatures.com/index.php?cPath=23_38&osCsid=rirq6fu6l5pnc0grem9c5tudk4

Old Glory (25mm -- Unfortunate, as they are in Gempei War armor, which is what the Crab Clan in L5R wore, but Crab bushi are supposed to be bigger than other L5R bushi!)
http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/products.asp?cat=188

Kensei, from Zenit miniatures (32mm, but have a large selection of supernatural or folklore creatures for those of you who want the L5R experience, including Undead for the Legions of Fu Leng. Can also buy single character models.)
http://shop.zenitminiatures.es/category.php?id_category=20

 AegisGrimm wrote:
Yeah, the amount of figs for any of the Pike and Shotte samurai boxes are too many figures to ever see a table around me, but it'd be cool, for instance, to buy the small warband box for Test of Honour, which is something like 20 figs, and then add in one of the foot Samurai sprues because it doesn't look like the warband box comes with very many. I think those two together would be able to be split to make a nice pair of forces for quick skirmish gaming.

Interesting note, I first saw those Pike and Shotte boxes of these Samurai at Miniature Market, where the full army box is actually 96 dollars, which is an insane deal for making something like a Samurai Kings of War army.

Exactly my plan , too bad they moved their retail store from 2 miles from my house to a 15 minute drive . At least my wallet thinks it was a good idea.

I just ordered the starter box after watching a lot of reviews and game play videos, un-boxing and the like on Youtube. Very stoked to run some demos for my friends, they are all intrigued by Test of Honor and want to give it a roll.

I'm going to order the Bandits and Brigands box from my LGS and use that against one of the core set Samurai factions for a quick learning scenario, probably 10 points at the most.

Well all the talk in this thread has rekindled my plans, that and a e-mail from warlord since I haven’t ordered from them in a while(gotten everything close to home for 6months or so). They were worried they upset me so they gave me £10 off my next£50 order, so I just ordered the Samurai army. I was planning on getting it anyway, but with PayPal’s exchange rate and the coupon I just paid $94.41 shipped for the set. since I’m in the same state as miniaturemarket I’d have to pay sales tax (more than 7%) so really saved me some dough.

Edit: woke up to stupid eBay sale 15% off (PSPRINGTIME) any one order they have a seller with faster free delivers at $95.96 before the 15% . Trying to tell myself I don’t need 2, of that I can cancel the warlord games order.

Sōhei Temple Defense available for pre-order at Warlord Games. (Link is for the US webstore.)

I saw that deal, but I think I may just have to begin construction of my own temple table. After seeing their temple they sent out in emails for preorder.
https://store.warlordgames.com/collections/test-of-honour/products/mount-hiei-temple-set.
I just will have to build it from scratch as a project instead of paying for it. My hobby budget is very limited, so I have done all the buildings from off of pictures.

I'm definitely excited about the Hiei Monks and am just waiting for Miniatures Market or someone to put up preorders for just the models. I'm also really hoping they have some fun rules.

So does anyone know how/if tournament play works? I'm seeing people mention a big event at Adepticon, but how do units like Ninjas even work outside their campaign specific night-missions?

Neil Shuck posted an AAR of Warlord's second Warring States event.

His list was:
Ninja Hero
Geisha Spy
Ninja Group x2
Ninja x3

and he went 3-1. Apparently having enough ninjas to throw a hail of shuriken/kunai can do some damage, while also reducing your opponents activations. And the Geisha is basically an untouchable objective controller.

I also took part in an event this past weekend, which I "won" (only because the store owner had to step in since the last person who said he would come didn't show up, and he was the won who actually won).

Thanks for that link . I just finished painting my ninja this morning, still must finish basing them, and they are no match for AAR’s. I don’t have the geisha figure, but somewhere I have my Bayushi Kachiko figure that I could sub in.

Also those coin objective markers are awesome. I will definitely be stealing that idea.

Will you post pictures of your work? Also, are you using any real Japanese temple or shrine as a model?

And now Plasticraft is putting our fishing village components to their Kensei line.
http://www.beastsofwar.com/plast-craft-games/exclusive-colored-kensei-terrain/

However, as much as I am tempted by the temple and sohei, I will not be making a purchase. I have some terrain I bought when Clan War (the LR5 minis game) was still in print, and most of my Clan War figures, and they haven't seen use in years. Similarly, I bought the Ronin rules from Osprey and Daisho for feudal Japanese skirmish games, and played the former twice and the latter not at all.

 Theophony wrote:
I saw that deal, but I think I may just have to begin construction of my own temple table. After seeing their temple they sent out in emails for preorder.
https://store.warlordgames.com/collections/test-of-honour/products/mount-hiei-temple-set.
I just will have to build it from scratch as a project instead of paying for it. My hobby budget is very limited, so I have done all the buildings from off of pictures.

Ironic that at Warlord's own event, people misplayed the Geisha rules. Warlord's own FAQ says a Geisha can't hold objectives while "hidden", and likewise escorting immediately breaks her cover.

 Theophony wrote:


Edit: also waiting for Rise of the Moloch to hit retail, I skipped the Kickstarter but the Dragon expansion has a few models I think will fit nicely if you want some mythic creatures to add into the game.

If you're looking for mythic creatures you should check out CMoN's Rising Sun. Not sure what scale it is (32mm?) but they have a lot of Oni Dragons and legendary creatures in that game. Very beautiful figs in pvc. Plus lots of infantry that might be useful as well!

I may download the rules and try the game using my set of RS minis since it's free!

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
Ironic that at Warlord's own event, people misplayed the Geisha rules. Warlord's own FAQ says a Geisha can't hold objectives while "hidden", and likewise escorting immediately breaks her cover.

Huh. Will you look at that.

To be fair, I made a similar mistake during the event I took part in. I thought that in two scenarios, killing the Samurai Hero caused the warband to flee the table. Not so, but even the event organizer didn't correct me when we ended the game technically early.

 SlaveToDorkness wrote:

 Theophony wrote:


Edit: also waiting for Rise of the Moloch to hit retail, I skipped the Kickstarter but the Dragon expansion has a few models I think will fit nicely if you want some mythic creatures to add into the game.

If you're looking for mythic creatures you should check out CMoN's Rising Sun. Not sure what scale it is (32mm?) but they have a lot of Oni Dragons and legendary creatures in that game. Very beautiful figs in pvc. Plus lots of infantry that might be useful as well!

I may download the rules and try the game using my set of RS minis since it's free!

I was not a fan of the look of the models for the core set, and even though I put $1 placeholder in I didn’t back it. There were a few that I wanted, just not enough to plunk down some cash for them.

In other news....

My order arrived today. Even though it was on our covered porch the box got soaked by the torrential rain we are having. Luckily the water slide decals are in a plastic bag inside the wet box.

These will be assembled for a KOW army, also Pike and Shotte rules are in the box, but I don’t have the main rules...

Also eBay has another 15% sale going on, I went ahead and ordered the Dojo just now. It’ll be my first Sarissa Precission purchase, looking forward to seeing how they look once assembled.

Also also , just had my P&M blog on dakkadakka unlocked (closed it end of last year because I had too much going on), so I’ll be retiring it and starting it going again with test of honour and this army. I’ll provide a link here shortly, I could use some feedback and critic .

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/510/726042.page#9899175