I'm still quite new to Bushido and recently bought the Prefecture starter set after receiving the 15% off voucher for contributing to the Ito campaign.
But no one else in my area plays yet so I thought the best thing to do would be to buy a second starter as waiting for the Ito will be impractical except for giving me time to get my Prefecture ready and painted.
I know that if I have two warbands/gangs/teams/crews/posses/Japanese term for small group of warriors available then someone in the games club will agree to a game. I was considering either the Savage Wave (as they're an obvious bad guy) or the Temple of Rock-On, sorry, Ro-Kan, as they were my second choice anyway after Prefecture of Ryu.
The thing is though, that I'm still totally inexperienced (have read the starter ruebook to the staples in the middle of it though) in the game and I would like to choose a second set that won't be too tricky for myself or someone who knows even less about the game to use! Maybe it's because I don't know a lot yet but the Temple seems to rely on buffing Kenko and Yumi while the Savage Wave seems to have a lot of keeping track of rage and multiplying Bakemono. I don't want to fluster anyone or discourage them by unintentionally giving them a band that isn't straightforward to use.
Any advice for a complete newbie attmepting to teach others about something he's not totally familliar with?
Personally I've been using a couple of models on each side to demonstrate ranged, melee and actions as well as turn order.
Three Ashigaru or Yumi + Kenko seem to work quite well. I haven't tried demoing the other factions yet but I would suspect that four Bakemono (including one or more with ranged weapons) would work quite well. I'm not sure what to include for Cult of Yurei although I would be tempted to go outside the starter for this.
Once you and your pupil have a grasp on this then bring in traits (although you should be able to ignore quite a few of them) and try a quick game using these miniatures.
I've found that trying to teach using the entire starter set is a bit confusing. It seems to work for the GCT Studio guys but then again they've been teaching this game to people for longer than I have.
I've got the Prefecture and Temple starters plus some extras for each. In my Ito package, when it arrives, it'll have them and the Savage Wave. Many of the guys at the shop have shown interest in Savage Wave, so I sorta wish I'd had those on-hand, but alas, I couldn't quite afford shipping them out now as opposed to waiting for the free shipping later-on.
I liked the two factions, in general, but they also have very specific feels to the factions (Prefecture works as a team. Temple has hard-points with the monks, then support pieces in the coolies) that seem to work well in demos. I'd be afraid of using Savage Wave just a tad because they've got a lot of rules that mess with the "general game" mechanics, what with the Horde activation of Bakemono and the "reverse Ki" of Oni. Not saying that they're particularly a "harder" faction to learn, but they do make things a touch more complicated if people have never seen the system before.
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I initially bought the Prefecture and Cult of Yurei starters, the cult are fun but trickier to use, but for a straight up out of starter game, the important thing to remember is to keep Kato within 8" of the Kairai and to keep up the fear rules, I found them easy to forget at times - like when to make the fear test but once thats settled, its quite fun.
"Have you forgotten? Aku Soku Zan... To Slay evil immediately was the justice shared by the Shinsengumi and the Manslayer. I cannot stand seeing you like this anymore… "
Thanks for the advice guys. I did suspect the Savage Wave would've been a bad choice and I'd be tempted to go all Oni anyway! So I'll get the Temple of Ro-Kan, sorry, Rock-On instead (wait a minute....).
Besides, gives me an excuse to buy the Kitsune later on!
Masked Minstel, I like your avatar! Rurouni Kenshin is a great Manga series.
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Well, tomorrow at DieCon here in St. Louis (well, specifically Collinsville, but still) I'll be running Bushido demos. Obviously not in any specific official capacity, but instead just finding an out-of-the-way spot and running some. A couple friends want to try it from my local group and if anyone else seems interested, I'll give them one, too.
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Sorry, I won't be able to go as I don't even live in America! I did order a Ro-Kan starter today and I finished assembling my Prefecture yesterday.
So hopefully I'll have a game in a week or so!
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butbutbut... aww. I'm sad now.
I did have a good demo of the game yesterday.
One secret trick of demos is, as much as possible, let the other guy win it. Obviously don't play your best and use all the super-tricks you can. That wasn't a necessity yesterday. The dice were doing that for me just fine. I never had higher than SL 3 on an attack, and I never rolled higher than 2 on the wound roll. Against Ashigaru in their armor, many of my hits didn't even hurt them. My opponent's rolls were more even: not great or terrible, but just average.
He'll hopefully be getting another demo tomorrow.
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Sorry to make you sad!
Interesting bit of advice, I remember winning my first game of Malifaux and feeling pretty good about that. Although I haven't won it since then!
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I lost my first Malifaux game and then every game afterwards! I found with that you had to have a Rain Man like ability to master the abilities! That said I loose most Bushido games, but at least my head doesn't hurt afterwards and I'm not stood there thinking "what the fu...?"!
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So I ran about 6-10 demos over the weekend at DieCon here in St. Louis. The reception for the game was rather positive. There were a few things that people were concerned about, but a lot of it just sort of has to due with, well, we use dice in a game and therefore there's going to be times when stuff gets crazy because of them. During a demo, sometimes it just seems magnified. I'm not sure why, but it does.
One fun thing I saw, was Kenko charged Yoshio. I warned the guy about Charge Reception and all that, but he wanted to do it anyway, pumping Kenko up with +4 for Fist of Iron along the way. I'd seen it happen waaaaay too many times when someone does that, then Kenko dies before he connects, or he just whiffs his swing. Anyway, we roll and when the dust settles, I hit with Yoshio on a SL 2 and do 2 damage. Kenko hits on a tie. So even at +5 (4 for IF, 1 for the charge), I'm thinking it'll do a couple of points, especially with Armor and whatnot. Well, the wound roll and it's a 6. So total of 11 on the 0 chart. You know, that still one-shots Yoshio. I'd never seen someone do anything like that on a 0 SL before. It was crazy and hilariously funny.
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Ouch! That poor Ashigaru!
Funny, I bought the Temple of Ro-Kan for mysecond faction, I'd better keep Kenko and Yoshio apart.
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It's ok. Another demo, Yumi was having a hell of a time trying to deal with Minuro. You'd think she'd be able to handle that one fine, being a melee monk vs a shooting Ashigaru, but no. She just couldn't manage it. So what eventually happens? Ichiro makes his way over and goes, "Nonono. Like this! *slits Minuro's throat*" with a single hit.
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Outdone by a Peasant? Damn, Yumi needs to train harder!
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So I continue to give demos wherever I can (apparently I got a mention on the Muse On Minis podcast for the demos I gave at Diecon), and I did another one yesterday at my LGS.
I just wish someone else would actually pick up the game, as I getting tired of just using the starter boxes! Aaaah!
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Too bad there seems to be a sizeable body of water between us, I'd gladly give you a game! In the meantime I'm putting together my Ro-Kan starter and Kitsune!
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I think your hard work and commitment will play off sooner rather than later.
"To a real warrior, power perceived may be power achieved."
I know. I know.
I keep telling the LGS I go to that it'd be nice if they'd get some in. I think if they actually had the models on the shelf that people would buy them.
It'll also help when my Cult and Ito come in, as that'll be 2 more factions people will get a chance to see, and many people have shown interest in the Cult. Those models simply cannot get here fast enough (and yes, I know you guys are doing your damndest to get them here asap. I'm not trying to rag on you). More variety will be good, if nothing else for me, as it's just Temple and Prefecture time and again.
I wanna use my dragon, damnit! *shakes fist at nothing in-particular*
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In fact, most do.
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A friend of mine read the faction descriptions in a rule book and said he liked the Cult while another says he's saving up for a Prefecture starter. But he's moved out of town so we only speak now and then through Facebook!
Well, back to putting my Temple starter together. I'm hoping the Ito will entice a freind of mine who loves reptiles
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Yeah. A couple players have been interested in Savage Wave, which is the other starter I'm getting with the Ito. So hopefully that'll draw him in.
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In fact, most do.
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Another day, another demo.
Though good news, everyone! One of the guys I've given a couple demos to is going to be starting up the Ito when they come out! Woot!
There are some people that call me... Polar_Bear
In fact, most do.
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*handraise* Yeah, that would be me!
However, I did just order the Temple starter plus Hotaru and Riku.
Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard, be evil!
Ha. And just this morning I ordered Hotaru as well. :p
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Good work Jason, and welcome CrazyFish! I have a Temple starter (and Miss Kitsune too) as my second faction.
Once I have my other model commitments out of the way I'll resume putting them together and take them down the games club along with my Ryu force!
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Man... only my parents call me Jason. :p
And yes, I'm exceedingly happy I've got Fish playing now, too. I'll see about holding the first Bushido tourney soon. But seeing as I don't, personally, ever play in tourneys, that means that it'll just be Fish...
... So... Congratulations, Fish! You just won the first ever Bushido tourney I've ever run! Woo! *waves a little flag* :P
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In fact, most do.
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Sorry Jason, whoops! Sorry dude!
Good luck with your first tournament Jason! Gah! Did it again!
But seriously, hope it goes well.
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