Bushido is best enjoyed by playing a Scenario. Whilst beating your opponent into the ground until the last man is standing is fun, especially when learning the rules, there will come a time when you want to explore the full strategically challenging potential that Bushido has to offer.
Type
All Scenarios have a Type: Scenario Objectives or Zone Control.
Types are linked to the scoring of Victory Points (VP’s) in Scenarios. How this is achieved is dependent on the Scenario and explained under its Victory Conditions.
Scenario Objectives
These are terrain elements on the battlefield that players must attempt to interact with.
Scenario Objectives are one of three Alignments (Friendly, Neutral or Enemy). This can be shown on the board by turning the Scenario Objective to face the player’s Deployment Zone to whom it is Friendly, or to face neither if it is Neutral.
If a Scenario Objective is Friendly to a player, then his Opponent considers it Enemy.
In Scenarios, players can use their models to interact with Scenario Objectives through Scenario actions. The effect is detailed under Scenario Objective Interactions. All Scenario Objectives are considered Blocking and Impassable Terrain elements unless specified in the Scenario.
Scenario Objective Interactions
Players can interact with Scenario Objectives by taking Simple or Complex Scenario actions (See Actions). The action needed, Simple or Complex, will be in brackets after the Scenario Objective Interaction e.g. Influence (Simple).
The effect of an action depends on the Scenario Objective Interaction of the Scenario.
If there is more than one Interaction available to the model, then the controlling player decides which to use. Only those Interactions outlined in a Scenario can be used. The Interactions will appear as Keywords and are as follows:
Influence (Simple/Complex)
The player changes the Alignment of a Scenario Objective one Degree (Enemy - Neutral - Friendly).
Prayer (X) (Simple/Complex)
Each player starts the game with X Prayer Tokens. These are placed in a Prayer Pool for each player. The player removes one Prayer Token from their Prayer Pool and scores Scenario Points (SP’s). The number of SP’s scored depends on the Alignment of the Scenario Objective the model is in BtB with.
- Friendly = 1 Scenario Point
- Neutral = 2 Scenario Points
- Enemy = 3 Scenario Points
A model may only declare a Scenario action once per Objective in any Turn.
Worship (Simple/Complex)
The Controller of the model that performs this Scenario Objective Interaction places a Worship marker next to the Scenario Objective in BtB with the model. If the Scenario Objective’s Alignment would be reset instead remove a Worship marker.
Some Scenarios will have additional rules denoted by the following Keywords and their rules are detailed as follows:
Decreasing (Popular):
During the End Phase of a Turn after scoring VP’s remove a Scenario Objective on which most Simple Scenario actions were taken. In the event of a tied number of Simple Scenario actions on Scenario Objectives, the scoring player’s Opponent decides which to remove.
Decreasing (Scorer):
During the End Phase of a Turn after scoring VP’s remove a Scenario Objective which is Friendly to the player who scored the VP. The scoring player’s Opponent decides which to remove if there is more than one available.
Reset (X/X):
During the Starting Phase of Turns X and X reset each player’s Scenario Points total to 0.
Reset Influence (X/X):
During the Starting Phase of Turns X and X reset the Alignment of all Scenario Objectives to Neutral.
Zone Control
In these scenarios, there are areas on the board that the players must battle to Control.
A player Controls a Zone if they have a higher Rice Cost of models entirely within the Zone’s area and have more models completely within the Zone’s area than their Opponent.
A player gains a number of Scenario Points equal to the Alignment of the Zone during the End Phase:
- Friendly = 1 SP
- Neutral = 2 SP
- Enemy = 3 SP
Deployment
This section outlines the deployment of the players’ models and if necessary any Scenario Objectives. For models, Deployment can be either Baseline or Corner Square Deployment. This is the area that the players will deploy their models.
Baseline Deployment:
Models are set up with the base of the model touching the edge of the board.
Corner Square Deployment:
Players set up their models completely within a 6” square in opposite corners of the board.
If the Scenario uses Scenario Objectives, then players should place them on the board as instructed under this section of the Scenario explanation in conjunction with the Scenario’s diagram. Objectives with the same colour as your deployment zone are Friendly. Uncoloured Objectives are Neutral.
The Scenario Objectives’ base size will appear in brackets. There are three different base sizes: Small, Medium, and Large.
If you can’t deploy all of your models due to insufficient space, you are permitted to remove any impassable terrain that restricts your deployment space.
If you find you still cannot fit all models that need to be deployed in the deployment zone, models not deployed are removed from play.
Game Length
The length of a game of Bushido can be Fixed or Variable and lasts a number of Turns detailed below. The game ends in the End Phase of the last turn or in the End Phase after one player has no models left in play. If either player has no models left in play, calculate Scenario Points and Victory Points, and then determine the final score. Once this is done, the game ends.
Variable (X):
During the Starting Phase of Turn (X) one of the players rolls a single D6. If the result is 4 or more, the game will finish at the end of the Turn, If not then the game continues to the next Turn when this roll will be made again. The game will always finish after the End Phase of the seventh Turn.
Fixed (X):
The game finishes after the End Phase of the designated Turn (X).
Victory Conditions
Each Scenario has three Victory Points (VP’s) available to the players.
At the end of the game, the player who has scored the highest number of VP’s is the winner.
If both players have scored an equal number of VP’s, then the game is a draw.
Only 3 VPs can be scored in any scenario, so both players VP scores combined will always be three or less.