Bushido: Review

Bushido: Review

Information:

Mechanics: Head to Head, Dice Roller, Drafting

Player Age: 8+ 

Player Count: 2 Players

Time to Play: 20 - 30 Minutes 
Game Designer: Pedro Mendoza
Game Artist: Vicente Sivera Catala, Tyler Myatt, Malcolm Wope

Publisher: Grey Fox Games

Year Published: 2018

BGG Weight: 1.80
Expandable: 1 Expansion Avaliable
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.

Objective:

Your objective is easy, you want to eliminate your opponent by either reducing their health from 12 down to 0, or by raising their hit track so high that they can't reduce the damage before instant death occurs on their turn. To do this you must carefully choose your technique cards, equip your best weapon and successfully roll the right dice.

Game Anatomy:

This game consists of three token types (armour, torii, rage), player boards, three dice types (evade, attack, defence), and two card types (weapon, technique).

Token Anatomy:

All tokens will be gained to the holding area first and then at the end of the turn will be moved to the token area (on the outer edge if the right hand side). The tokens can only be used from the token area and not from the holding area.

Armour Token:
Armour tokens can be gained from cards or by rolling an armour symbol on the dice (see image below). The token can be used as defence to reduce the hits a player is taking by one for each armour token used at the damage stage.

Torii Token:
This token will be gained numerous times from cards and by rolling the focus symbol on the attack die. This token allows the player to re-roll as many of their chosen dice but only once altogether.

Rage Token:
The rage token will be gained straight into the holding area whenever a player changes their guard. When used it allows the player to add a attack die to their attack for every token spent that turn.

Player Boards:

The player board has a hit track which will identify how much damage the player will receive at the end of their turn. The skulls seen on the board will result in instant death and you will lose the game if you fail to reduce your hit track.

There are also three designated areas for tokens: the holding area, the rage token spot (can hold any amount of rage tokens) and the right side of the board that will hold armour and torii tokens up to the limit your chosen weapon card permits.

In the centre there are allocated spaces for your chosen weapon and the played techniques. Between these is a guard track that specifies how many dice you will add to each attack. The dice is based on the guard your guard token is on.

Dice Anatomy:

Evade Dice:
This is the die that will be used to remove hits and to keep yourself alive. There is are two armour symbols, three evade symbols (these symbols are used to reduce your hit track by one on the current turn) and one blank symbol.

Attack Dice:
The attack dice are your aggressive dice. There are three hits (each will increase your opponents hit track by one), two blanks, and one strike/focus symbol. You can use the last symbol for two options; focus allows you to gain a torri token in your holding area, or you can use this symbol to strike. When you strike you are able to re-roll this dice, along with an additional attack dice, to try and succeed in a stronger attack.

Defence Dice:
This is the mid strength die. There are four armour symbols, one attack and one evade. If you are trying to build armour for future turns this is the die to roll.

Card Anatomy:

Weapon Cards:
Each weapon has a token limit which shows the player how many tokens can be held at any one time throughout the game. There is also a bonus for each guard that can either give you extra dice, allow you to modify dice, modify tokens or gain other bonuses.

Technique Cards:
Each technique card contains an element on the left hand side that is used for boosting attacks, the dice that will be added to your roll on the right hand side, and an ability for each card.

Setup:

- Set the dice and tokens within reach of all players.
- Give each player a player board, all the weapon cards, a hit token, life dice (this will be used to keep track of your life), and one guard token.
- Set the health to 12 and the hit token to 0.

How to Play:

There are three phases in Bushido: train, arm and duel. If this is anybody’s first time playing bushido then I heavily recommend skipping the train and arm phase. Also, use the starting setup recommended in the rule book and just play the duel phase for your first game.

Train:

Beginning with one player then alternating turn order, there is going to be five rounds of drafting. In these rounds four technique cards will be laid out, the first player will select their technique card and the other player will select their card. Discard the last two. This will continue for five rounds with the starting drafter alternating between rounds until each player has five cards. Choose carefully as these will be the cards that cannot be changed and you will use these techniques to duel your opponent.

Arm:

After drafting your technique cards, secretly select a weapon card and place that card face down. Discard the other weapon cards, they will not be used anymore during this game. Starting with the player who will attack first, each player will choose their starting guard.
Now each player reveals their weapon and will gain armour tokens equal to their token limit.

The Duel:

This phase will now continue for the rest of the game, alternating turns until a player has lost all of their health (the first two phases are used in preparation for this phase). There are six phases in the duel phase that will see you inflicting damage, preparing for future turns and trying to prevent damage. These phases are: play technique or change guard, roll dice, resolve dice, resolve damage, collect holding area, and check for end of game.

Play Technique or Change Guard:
In this stage you can either play a technique card or change your guard but you are not able to do both.

Play Technique:
Techniques are played face up in the designated area and will have special effects, as well as informing you on the amount of dice that will be rolled this turn. If you want more dice for your attack you can boost a technique. This is done by playing a matching element under the played technique. For every card played this way, a dice of your choice will be added to your attack. The basic technique cards (shown below) can not be boosted this way.

Changing Guard:
This option is used for restocking your hand and/or changing to a more beneficial guard. Draw all of your played technique cards back into your hand and change your guard to either high (attack heavy), mid or low (used for defensive manuevers). Do not forget that after doing this, place a rage token into your holding area and roll the dice linked (ONLY) to your new guard instead of using dice indicated on a technique card.

Roll Dice:
This is the time to pool your dice together and roll them. If you changed your guard then you will only get the dice that your guard gives you. If you played a technique card then you will add the dice from your guard, as well as those from your technique card. You will also use any guard and technique abilities available and any boosting (cards under the technique). In both of these instances you can add as many attack dice as you would like by spending one rage token for each dice. If you still do not like any of these rolled dice then you can spend a torri token to re-roll any amount of dice all together (you can do this multiple times, spending a torri each time).

Resolve Dice:

At this stage you will resolve all the dice faces revealed, allowing you to modify yours or your opponents hit track, while gaining armour or torii tokens.

Resolve Damage:

After the dice have been resolved you will have to receive damage equal to your hit track (5 and above means instant death). You can spend armour tokens to reduce your hit track by one for every token spent. After you receive the damage, reset your hit track to zero.

Collect Holding Area:

Move all the rage, torri and armour tokens from the holding area over to the rage token spot and the token area. Remember that the weapon you have equipped dictates how many tokens you can have at any one time (excluding rage tokens which have no limit).

Check for End of Game:

If either player has zero health the game ends and the player with health is the winner. In the event that both players have zero health, there is a draw and no ninja is better than the other.

Final Thoughts:

Pros:
- Lots of variability in the numerous weapons and large deck of techniques.
- Lots of thought and planning involved in the first two phases.
-The game is fast paced and can end at any point.

Cons:
-Heavily recommend skipping the first two phases until you understand the game better.

'Bushido' is a strategic back and forth game of dealing combat damage while struggling to keep your own health from depleting. You may only slowly slice away at your opponents health or you may create a devastating blow on one turn that leaves them with no other option but instant death. The multiple technique cards to draft from and the weapons that players have to choose from help elevate the replayability and strategy that bushido offers. This is a very strategic dice game that has you going back and forth trying to keep yourself alive while still aiming to do effective blows to your opponent. I heavily recommend this game and award it a Go to Golden Game Seal.

Click...feed the addiction: 

Grey Fox Games
Bushido on BGG
Expand Your Game Facebook page
Expand Your Game Instagram