I have had an inspirational few weeks playing the Club President's new version of Kingmaker on a nice snazzy board.
Back in the 1990s I did Kingmaker hand drawn in A1 size with card buildings for the towns, cities and castles as well as 10mm Pendraken counters. This was a fusion with DBA.
On many levels this was a success, on quite a few more not so successful, that DBA bit for one!
Which brings me to my venerable 1980's copy of Samurai by Avalon Hill. As a Kingmaker clone it always seemed a little "clunky" to me, but having seem the new Kingmaker I am of the opinion that it can be updated to suit my needs.I never liked the "chit cup" where players drew counters and transposed them to a clan mat, allocating them to different units. My aged eyesight likes it less!
I also didn't care for the muddled history, although it's something I could live, with it needs a damned good tidy up.
My wishlist to update the game as a project is as follows:
It must play solo, against a system, as well as more traditionally against opponent(s). I'll introduce a card deck for this.
The map is great. It has a traditional 1980s feel. But.. I will need a bigger map because I want to use 10mm figures as (or based on) the counters. A1 seems right!
Japan is at an odd angle for a rectangular map, but redrawing at a different angle would allow me to make it bigger for my counters. I would do away with the tables using card draws instead.
I might want to "fight" some of the encounters as wargames, and I think that a version of Arrowstorm can work. Simple and quick. The Battlefield would be gridded and terrain pieces could be placed in the grids.
Mountainous areas can be built up as 3D using foamcore shapes. This maybe a bit much for me time wise though.
Buildings are more of a problem. For my Kingmaker game I glued them down and stored the map by hanging it on the back of my war office door. Not feasible these days. They would need enough weight not to move so I may just go with the towns and cities as map printed.
The ships are easy enough and could even have a recess to transport a few 10mm figures.
Which brings me to Wargames Atlantic. Having purchased a sprue of the new 10mm Samurai I realised that I can get 4 factions worth of counters out of one sprue!That doesnt excuse the two further boxes, one Samurai one Ashigaru that I intend to buy!
Making the game 3D I have converted a couple of 20mm plastic Boxer Rebellion civilians as the Emperor and the Heir. The regalia will be a treasure chest and Kyoto a small Milliput model. I intend to make the Buddhist temple pavilions as models too.
The game has four "Court factions." If more players wish to take part these can be split in two as "clans." Japan had a lot more than eight clans but let's go with that. I will split the factions and limit them to five commanders each. My recent Kingmaker experience tells me this is a reasonable number.
Those horrid little chit counters have to go too. Fortunately many people have had this idea and cards are available to replace them. I'll also do my own event deck whilst I'm at it.
Some event cards I'm looking at range from some of the current events, storms, plagues and the like to specific events. Revolts within a faction, the Sengou Jidai, the rise of particular historic figures and their clans. The Oda, the Takeda, the Chosokabe on Shikoku and the Shimazu on Kyushu all appear with a single leader in a designated province and draw a hand of cards for him, becoming in effect non-player characters.
Each Court faction will start with a single home province as per the game rules. If they draw a second and later play it, then it represents allies. I will name the clan for each province on the province card, but the eight Court clans start with randomly assigned home bases. I may change this.
Using cities as troop strength points for a clan seems an odd idea to me. A city or town in the game can owe allegiance to a Diamyo in a far distant province. Cities in your own province can add troop strength to a rival. It's a game mechanism but I will replace this with Minor Clans under named leaders with the relevant spread of points values.
The Honda under Honda Tadakatsu add 50 troop points to the clan that holds his card and so on.
"Stratagem" cards will be added to the deck to allow things like palisades, ambushes, betrayals and battlefield formations. These will be " retain in your hand until used" cards.
The various earthquakes tsunamis and plagues in the original event rolls seem way over the top to me. One comment in our Kingmaker game was that it was all a little "plaguey" in 15th Century Kingmaker land. I'll stick with it for now though as part of an event deck.
I'll replace Mongol invasion with Ikko Ikki rising and prevent the Korean invasion until a shogun is appointed.
Very much a work in progress.
Event cards
Earthquake
All locations in the affected province(s) have their garrison strengths cut in half (½) for the rest of the turn. All lords of the phasing player have their normal land movement reduced to two (2) areas and cannot use road movement. Sea movement is unaffected. Roll 2-12 dice to determine which provinces are affected by the Earthquake: dice roll Earthquake affected province(s)
2 or 3 Yamato
4 Settsu and Harima
5 Shinano
6, 7, 8 or 9 Mutsu, Dewa, and Echigo
10 Kawachi and Iga
11 or 12 Suruga and Hida
Famine
Each lord in the affected province(s) must return at least 30 troop points to the fate cup. Roll 2-12 dice to determine which provinces are affected by Famine: dice roll Famine affected province(s)
2 or 3 Hitachi and Nagato
4 Iyo, Satsuma, and Osumi
5 Owari and Mino
6, 7 or 8 Yamashiro and***
9 Hyuga and Tamba
10 Awaji and Tsushima
11 or 12 Aki and Dewa
***and the province with the greatest number of leaders over three (3) in it. If two or more provinces tie for greatest present, all those provinces suffer famine.
Pirate Intervention
All ships in the affected sea area must go to the nearest friendly port or unoccupied minor port (whichever is closer). Roll a 1-6 die to determine which sea area is affected by the Pirates: die roll sea area affected
1 Osumi and Bungo Straits
2 Amakusa Sea
3 Korean Straits
4 Wakasa Bay
5 Sea of Ise
6 Sea of Japan and Sendai Bay
Pirate Raid
Lord who is Admiral of the Imperial Navy (AoIN) is instantly moved to the affected area, as well as lords with the ships Yagato, Kaii, and Musu. If AoIN has no ship, he is placed in the area of his choice on the coast of the area. Roll a 1-6 die to determine which sea area is affected: die roll sea area affected
1 Amakusa Sea
2 Osumi and Bungo Straits
3 or 4 Inland Sea
5 Toyama Bay
6 Sea of Japan
Defection
The phasing player must remove from the game the lord with lowest total troop points. All holdings, even non-transferable ones, are given to the nearest lord of another clan.
Rebellion (not Ronin Rebellion)
All "untrustworthy" troop strength points to the discard pile immediately.
Mongol Invasion removed
Invasion of Korea
Lord who is General of Invasion (Gol) is removed from play. His General of Invasion (Gol) office is permanently removed from the game, and all the lord's remaining holdings are returned to the fate cup. Ignore if this result occurred before, and/or if no lord is currently General of Invasion (Gol).
Kyoto Cherry Blossom Festival
Each clan must instantly transfer two lords to Yamashiro province. No battles within this province are allowed for the rest of the turn (including no sieges of Kyoto). Lords not on Honshu must have a ship. Lords besieged in a location may not be transferred. A clan may transfer more than two lords if desired. A clan may ignore, or occasionally must ignore, the summons to the festival, but may have to commit Hari-Kari (see hari-kari rules).
Ocean Storms
All lords currently at sea must be immediately transferred to the nearest friendly controlled port or unoccupied minor port (whichever is closer). No lords may move into a sea area for the rest of this turn.
Plague
Each player with lords in the affected province must lose one lord of his choice. When the lord is removed, all his holdings are returned to the fate cup. Roll 2-12 dice to determine which provinces suffer the plague: dice roll province(s) affected
2 Sado and Suo
3 Izumi and Hizen
4 Izumi and Tosa
5 Iki and Suo
6 Bitchu and Ise
7 Sagami and Nagato
8 Tango and Noto
9 Bingo
10 Kaga and Tosa
11 Kaga and Hizen
12 Bingo
Tsunami
All lords at sea in the affected sea area(s) and/or province(s) are lost and all their holdings returned to the fate cup. Roll a 1-6 die to determine which sea area(s) are affected: die roll sea area affected
1 Amakusa Sea and Osumi Province
2 Cape Muroto
3 Sea of Ise
4 Toyama Bay, Sea of Japan, and Sado
5 Cape Nojima and Cape Shioya
6 Sendai Bay
Uprising
All lords holding a province with an uprising must return that holding to the fate cup. If this is the lord's home province, he is removed from the game and all his other holdings are also returned to the fate cup. To determine which province(s) have uprisings, check the table below three times. Each time, roll a die twice and cross reference the rolls: first die roll second die roll
1 1 or 2 3 or 4 5 or 6
2 Hida Hizen. Sado
3 Etchu Osumi. Oki
4 Settsu Awa Dewa
5 Kazusa Shimot'e Iyo
6 Kaga Awaji. Higo
Fire
All lords in the location suffering fire are killed, removed from the game, and their holdings returned to the fate cup. Roll a 1-6 die to determine where the fire occurred: die roll fire occurs in:
1 Port city of Oka
2 Port city of Osaka
3 City of Yami
4 City of Kagoshima
5 City of Kofu
6 Mito Castle
Imperial Summons
The phasing player may cause any one lord of any clan to be instantly transferred to Yamashiro province. If another clan's lord is summoned, any additional lords of that clan may also be transferred to Yamashiro if that clan desires. A clan may ignore a summons, but may have to commit hari-kari with the lord summoned (see rules).
Forced March Card
The phasing player receives one forced march ability marker, which he can use, save for a later turn, or trade to another clan. When used, a forced march marker allows a player to double the normal move of any one lord, on land or sea. Multiple markers cannot be used on the same phase to further increase the speed of the same lord, but different markers can be used for different lords on the same phase. A double move is equivalent to two full movement phases, including one type of move in the first phase, and another type of move in the second phase, if desired.
Storms
The phasing player cannot move any lord more than two areas, except by road. No lords may move into a sea area for the rest of this turn, but lords at sea may debark in the sea area they occupy, or remain at sea in that area, as desired.
Takeda Shingen in Kai
The rise of the Takeda. Shingen is deployed in Kai and draws a full hand of cards. He will be the single representative of his clan as a non player character. He will seek to conquer all surrounding provinces towns and castles, and will attack any force he outnumbers within three moves of his home province. After an attack he returns to his home territory.
See also
Uesugi Kenshin in Mutsu
Motochika Chōsokabe in Iyo
Shimazu Yoshihiro in Satsuma
The Ikko Ikko Revolt
Osaka and the Buddhist Monasteries surrounding Yamashiro rise up and March on Kyoto.
Muskets appear on Kyushu.
Any Diamyo in Kyushu may swap an ashigaru card for teppo.
Muskets appear on Honshu (and Kyushu and Shikoku)
Any Diamyo may swap an ashigaru card for teppo.
