Crom play test - Samurai style

 I play tested a game of "Crom" using some unpainted minis (so what :-P ), a few pieces of scenery and an imaginary river (I need to make some scenery!)

I used a 60 cm X 60 cm playing area on a purpose built table for one of my scenery tiles and this area played o.k. for a seven minis per side game. I think I could easily push it to ten or maybe twelve figures per game in this playing area, but I feel it might get crowded after that.

The game plays very quickly - and while it might seem simplistic at first I found I needed to put a bit more thought in to what I do as going all out in attack leaves that attacker defenceless to other attacks that most likely will follow.

The initiative system works well, but then as it is card based activation (unless dice are used to help win the initiative) I am probably biased in this regard. I enjoy card based activation systems the most of all.

The rules state that characters figures can move through friendly figures. Some how I had it in my head that this applied to all friendly figures, but if only characters can do this then it is much better.

 As you will see from the photos allowing minions to move through friendly figures reduces the tactical advantage of controlling a bottle neck.

 Combat is quick and nasty - a minion can die with one hit, and the survivor more likely than not will be left open for a defenceless attack as mentioned above.

The game certainly needs a good scenario with objectives. A straight out battle is one thing, but being able to or being forced to use characters to meet objectives will turn it in to a whole different game.

Overall I enjoyed this game and the rules very much. Simple with enough thought needed to tactics.

I think this set of rules would lend itself to projects that have been in the back of my mind that I want to play very much: Viking, Greek Mythology, Pirates and a Pulp game to name a few.

I wonder if they would work for zombie games....

The set up: each side has 1 character, a 2IC and 5 minions.

The first combat on the bridge

The enemy minion suffered badly at the hands of the tougher good guy...

... but was left defenceless against the enemy character who cleaved him in half.

Clash of characters - the blue ronin winning out.

The monks start to mop up the last resistance 

Victory went to the monks and the blue ronin.

My Nihon project

Rather than post what I would like to do, I thought it might be a nice change to post what I am actually doing :-P

I started this a few years ago but depression and a painting block sort of saw it being stored in a draw for future times.

 The project was rekindled after reading Matakishi's set of rules called "Crom". The rules are designed for Conan wargames, but lacking a set of figures for this setting (hmm - a lurking project maybe?) I decided to try the rules out using my small collection of Samurai, Ninja and Sohei. I also have some Ikko-Ikki (which I intend to use as bandits) and civilian types.

The main figures I have come from Kingsford Miniatures and Perry Miniatures. Museum Miniatures do figures, but I can't load their web site at the moment to provide a link, or check to see what figures they have. I seem to remember they have some useful figures for what I want to do with my project.

(Edit: I can now access the Museum Miniatures site - maybe they were down for maintenance)

 If more companies made Mythological Japanese creatures I would include these into the game as well.

 Dixon Miniatures has a reasonable range, but many don't have photos on their website, and I like to see what I am ordering.

 I did order an Oni from a relatively new company called Riceball Miniatures, so I will use this figure when it arrives.

Scenery wise I have a Torii gate, a bridge and some nice trees that were custom made just for this project.  These are made by Fenryll but I actually ordered the Torii and Bridge through Spirit Games in the UK and saved a lot on the price.

I would really love to get some of the Oshiro range of resin buildings, but the bigger buildings are a bit pricey thanks to the exchange rate at the moment.

I will be playing a test game of Matakishi's rules this afternoon and maybe post some thoughts on the rules and how the game played.