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Transcript of Zen Garden English

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    Summer and winter in the stone garden

    IntroductionAll game materials are hand crafted. This is a collectors item: only 30 numbered copiesof this game were produced. Play hints and examples are in italics. You can contact usthrough www.ganeshagames.net if you have any questions about the game.

    The Game boardZen Gardens board represents a Japanese garden. Figures represents two squads ofarmored samurai belonging to two clans: Black (Winter) and Red (Summer). The clanwho kills all the members of the other clan is the winner.

    materialsYou need this booklet, the game board, black and red samurais, the rake (used as ameasuring stick), the range measurer for shooting, counters and dice.

    turnsThe game is played in turns. When play begins, roll a die to determine who begins.Players alternate in following turns. The acting player attempts to move his figures andgain the upper hand in combat.

    The length of a turn and the number of actions that may be attempted by a figure isvariable, and depends on the result of a die roll called an ACTIVATION roll. The activationroll represents a warriors speed and resolve.

    ACTIVATIONEach samurai may be activated only once per turn and during each activation he mayperform one or more actions. The controlling player rolls 1, 2 , or 3 dice for that figure,as he sees fit. Each action requires one or more activations. Activations are gained byrolling the white and red dice with a Japanese symbol. You dont have to declare WHATyou are attempting to do with a samurai., just point your finger at the figure you wantto activate and roll 1,2 or 3 dice for him.

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    MovementMovement of figures is measured with the rake. Amovement unit is the distance that a samurai maymove using ONE activation. Place the base of the

    rake adjacent to the characters base. The samuraimay move in a straight line until his base touchesthe other end of the rakes base, as shown in theillustration. The model may not move around corners nor bend his movement in any

    way. To move around an obstacle, forexample to go past a boulder , he will haveto use two movement actions.

    It is NOT mandatory to move the full stick.You may move a fraction of a move as yousee fit, but in any case ANY movement will

    require the expenditure of ONE action. Inother words, a samurai may spend one actionto move from the spot where he is now toany other spot along the measuring stick.Spending 2 or 3 activations, he may perform2 or 3 separate moves.

    The area occupied by a figure is represented by the round base of the figure. A figuresbase may not move through obstacles such as boulders or other characters.A figure may NOT exit the board. If surrounded by enemies, a character must remain

    where he is. He will be allowed to move, using activations as normal to do so, when thesituation changes.

    Activation diceActivation dice have a stop Japanese symbol showing the FAILURE of the activationroll. There are 3 activation dice , 2 white and 1 red. White dice have 2 sides showing thefailure symbol. The red die has 3 sides with the failure symbol. An unhurt figure rolls thered die as his third activation die. A wounded character rolls the red die as his first die.

    Example: an unhurt character wanting to roll 3 dice will have to roll 2 whitedice and the red die. An unhurt character wanting to roll 2 dice will roll 2 whitedice. A wounded character wanting to roll 2 dice will have to roll the red dieand a white die.

    Turn-overWhen, on an activation roll, you roll 2 or 3 failures, you score a turnover. That characterperforms his activation, if any (for example if he rolled 3 dice and scored 1 success and2 failures he could still perform one action) and then play passes to the opponent.

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    It is not always advisable to roll 3 dice. The more dice you roll, the more actions you mayperform but the risk of a turn-over increases.

    Reaction

    If you get one or more failures in an activation roll, the opponent may perform onereaction. Before you perform the actions you rolled, your opponent will roll a single dieto react with a character of his choice. If the chosen character is wounded, he will roll ared die. If he is unhurt, he will roll a white die. If he gets an activation, that character mayperform one ranged attack (shooting with a loaded arquebus or bow) OR a singlemovement. After the reaction is performed, play goes back to the original player (theone who caused the reaction) so that the figure may complete its actions. N.B. if two ormore failures were rolled, this is a turn-over and play will pass to the opponent.

    A reaction represents a momentary loss of initiative.

    RELOADING RANGED WEAPONArquebuses and bows start loaded, but after they are used, a character must spend 2actions to reload before he can use them again. You cant reload if any foe is closer than1 move to the samurai wishing to reload. The arquebus may NOT be fired in the sameturn it is reloaded. A bow may shoot the same turn it is reloaded (assuming that thesamurai has enough actions). Put a counter on the samurais card to remember that hisweapon is unloaded.

    Ranged and melee combat

    To perform a melee or ranged attack, youmust spend one activation. You may alsospend 2 actions to attack with a +1 on thedie roll. You may either attack in melee orshoot a ranged weapon in a turn, but notboth.

    shootingShooting represents attacks with bows or

    arquebuses. The ranges of arquebuses andbows are measured with the colored stick.A samurai in melee may not perform aranged attack, nor may he be targeted bya ranged attack. In other words, if asamurai is in base to base contact with anopponent, he may not shoot nor be shotat. You may fire at any enemy on theboard, as long as you can draw a clear,unobstructed line of sight between theshooter and the target. Draw an imaginary

    line between the center of the base of the

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    shooter and the center of the base of the target, and you may perform the attack if thisline does NOT go through bases of other characters, pagodas, or boulders.A samurai standing on a boulder has a clear line of sight to figures standing on otherboulders.To measure shooting range, use the range stick (the painted toothpick). Place the

    pointed end on the shooters base and the other end towards the target. Anything thatis even partially within the first partof the stick may not be targeted.Anything within the second part ofthe stick may be targeted normally.Anything that lies within the thirdpart of the stick is targeted with -1on the combat roll. Anything thatlies within the fourth part of thestick is targeted at -2. Anything thatlies within the fifth part of the stick

    is targeted at -3. Always apply theworst modifier if the target is across two different parts of the stick.

    meleeA samurai in base to base contact with a foe may fight in melee. Attacking in meleerequires the expenditure of one action. To move away from a melee, the character needsto spend one action to break away and one action to perform a move. A characterattacking in melee rolls a numbered die and adds the value of the weapon he is usingas printed on the character card. Add any modifiers that apply. The defending characterrolls a die and adds his armor value, plus any modifiers that apply.

    Support in meleeEvery friend helping an attacker in a melee gives a +1 supportbonus to the combat die roll. Unless armed with a naginata, thefigure must also be in base to base contact with the enemy. Thedefender may also benefit from the presence of an adjacentfriend. A maximum of 3 figures may give this +1 modifier (in thecase of a character surroundedby 4 enemies).

    Example: in the illustration, 2 redsamurai attack a black samurai.When the red samurai attacks, hedoes so at +1. When the other red

    samurai attacks, he also does so at +1 on the die.

    naginataA naginata is a polearm allowing the samurai to attack a

    distant target. To use it, the samurai must be within 1move from the target. A naginata-armed samurai maygive melee support when he is in range.

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    BouldersClimbing up or down a boulder requires an additional activation. Fighting from anelevated position gives a +1 die roll bonus to the samurai on higher ground. Only onecharacter at a time may stand on a boulder.

    Combat resultsIf the attacker doubles the defenders score (e.g.: 8 vs 4) the target is wounded. Thecharacter card is turned over (on the blood splattered side). If the card was alreadyturned over, the samurai dies and is removed from play.If the attacker beats the targets score without doubling it (e.g.: 5 vs 4), the attack causesa Distraction (place a counter on the samurais card to remember that he is distracted).To wound a Distracted samurai you just have to beat his score (no need to double it).A samurai may recover from distraction by spending 3 activations (remove the counter

    if he does so). The distraction remains if the character is subsequently wounded.

    A distraction represents a flesh wound, fatigue, loss of balance, etc.

    combat effectsIf the attacker wins a combat roll with an odd number on the die (1, 3 or 5), the defendermust retreat by 1 move. If this is not possible, the defender remains where he is.If the attacker loses a combat roll, is NOT using a naginata, and his die scored a 1, he

    suffers a Distraction. If the attacker is wounded, he also suffers a distraction also if thedie rolled a 1, 2 or 3, not only on a 1.

    RetreatingThe frame around the game board is impassable. If a figure must retreat to it, he stops

    in contact with the frame (the walls of the garden).

    Initial deploymentBoth players line up their samurai on the corners of their short sideof the garden, placing the samurai with the lowest numbers on thecorners. Players roll dice to determine who gets to act first. Rerollties. The acting player may activate his samurai in any order hewants. Remember: you may NOT roll dice to activate each figuremore than once per turn.

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    ScenariosThese are variants to try when you are familiar with the basic game.

    Scenario: lone wolf

    In this variant, a player uses only his number 4 samurai, armed with a katana.The other player uses all his warriors. The lone wolf must always roll at least 2activation dice. He acts until he rolls a turnover. He ignores distractions. Whenhe is wounded, one of his activation dice must be the red one. The opponentsuse the normal rules.

    Scenario: blades versus shooters

    In this variant, a player uses all samurai with ranged weapons, the other allthose with no ranged weapons. Samurai armed only with a katana mustalways roll 2 activation dice. When one is wounded, one of his activation dicemust be red.

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    Expanding the gameZen Garden will give you many hours of fun but you might want to expand it. A firststep could be building a larger battleground using paper buildings or a cloth torepresent a grassy hill, and add more figures by purchasing more 10mm samurai. This

    will turn your board game into full-fledged miniature wargaming. You may also expandthe rules by adding special abilities to represent ninja, peasants, warrior monks,mounted samurai, and so on, and new scenarios with different objectives and victoryconditions.And why limit yourself to feudal Japan only? Visit www.ganeshagames.net to get intouch with a wonderful community of gamers playing many different historical periodsand genres.

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    Rules by Massimo Moscarelli

    Based on the Song of Blades engine by Andrea Sfiligoi

    Handmade materials by Angelo Moscarelli

    Rules editing and layout by Andrea Sfiligoi

    Cards and cover by Fabrizio Passatempi

    English text edited by David Gretton

    www.ganeshagames.net