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Another Japanese themed game... Blades versus Bamboo (BVB)

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Marengo1800
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Joined: 11/13/2011

Just a couple of thoughts on an idea I have had.

I'm thinking of a card game, possibly 2 to 4 players, the idea is roughy based on the 7 Samurai theme but each player can take the part of either the Samurai or the bandits depending on the cards he has in his hand. This can change with each turn if you want.

Cards are divided into several types:
SAMURAI EVENTS (RED BORDER)
Samurai (10 cards with with a value of 7 for day and night)
Farmers with bamboo spears (15 with a value of 1 for day and night)
Farmer rabble with clubs, spades and so on (2 as above no night time value)
Barricades (7 with same value for day and night)
Flooded fields (6 with same value for day and night)
Watch fires (6 with only a night value, can be put out by rain)
Low bandit morale (1 with same value for day and night)
I have put 10 samuari in the game because at the beginning of the game some cards are discarded (without being looked at).

BANDIT EVENTS (BLACK BORDER)
Bandit leaders (2 cards with 2 different higher values for day and night compared to other bandits)
Bandits (30 with lower values than the leaders)
Bandits (5 as above favouring night time combat).
Muskets (4 special can kill a Samurai providing it is not raining. if it is night time, not raining and the samurai player plays a watch fire card)

EVENTS THAT CAN BE USED IN BOTH SAMURAI AND BANDIT HANDS (WHITE BORDER)
Deserter - 4 No combat value but can be used to take a varying number of other players cards and return them to the events pile according to the number on the card, can be varied if the other player also has another Deserter card.
Traitor - 4 No combat value but can be used to take another card or cards from another player and swap for one or more of yours varied by the number on the card, can be varied by the other player defending with another Traitor card

DAY & NIGHT CARDS (Could use dice as it is a 50:50 chance of day and night)
Daylight (6 cards, on the player turn 2 cards drawn from the day and night pile, if both different take your pick of which one will be best for your attack values)
Night (6 Cards as above)

DRY & RAIN CARDS (Could use 2 dice as it is one in 3 Rain and 2 in 3 for dry weather)
Dry (8 cards, pick one from this pile for it to apply)
Rain (4 Cards - no impact on combat but do cancel any musket which can only be used by bandits and can put out watch fires depending on the strength of the fire and the rain, if rain higher the fire is put out)

I have yet to finalise the playing sequence and so on, but playing the game in my mind, it does seem to have some possibilities, for example the covert card can be used to steal a card from another player which could be one of the muskets, just like in the film. Muskets can be used to kill Samurai and I have decided to use 4 which is the same number of Samurai killed in the film.

The objective is to have a higher total of Samurai group cards if in conflict with the bandits and vice versa. There may be times when a player with a value of say samurai group cards attacks another player who only also has samurai cards, this would mean that the value of the attacking player stands because it has not been reduced by the defender. the same applies with a bandit attack against a player who also only holds bandits.

Rough turn sequence:
1 Discard the same number of cards as there are players + 1 from the EVENTS deck. These can be checked at the end of the game just to see what was missing from play.
2. Deal 7 cards to each player from the events deck
3. 1st player draws 2 cards from the day/night deck choose one if different or obey choice if both the same (or use dice)
4. 1st player draws 1 card from dry/rain deck (or use dice)
5. 1st player may put 0 or 1 or 2 of his cards back at the bottom of the events deck and draw the same number from the top of the events deck.
6. 1st player may use Traitor and/or Deserter cards if he has any
7. Decide depending on what you have in your hand whether you want to be Samurai or Bandit and declare that to your opposing player, which can be any other player (and prepare to play none or all of your cards)
8. Person you are attacking may use Traitor and or Deserter cards (if held) to counter your Traitors/Deserter cards.
9. Person you are attacking may then choose how many cards from his hand of the opposite group to yours he wants to play if any. Both players then reveal their cards.
10. The person with the highest score deducts the lower score of his opponant (draws equal no result), this remainder can be divided as follows: The bandit player needs 5 points to defeat a samurai, the samurai player needs one point to defeat any bandit.
11. Note if a Samurai attack cannot be countered by a bandit defence, then the whole samurai score applies in the defeating of bandits, the opposite applies if a bandit attack cannot be countered by a samurai defence.
12. The winning players may mark off any samurai or bandit deaths if any on their charts.
13. Both players then put the cards they have played back into the events pack. It is then reshuffled and cards are redrawn so that they have 7 in hand. Replace day, night, dry and rain cards in respective decks and shuffle (if used).
14. The turn then moves on to the next player, start from step 3 in a clockwise direction if 3 or more players.
15. Although the player turn goes in a clockwise direction (if 3 or more playing), the person whos turn it is can attack any other player he wants to.

I though of keeping the score of samurai and bandit dead could be done like in the film with 33 circles which could be crossed out for the bandit dead (like in the film) and 6 circles and 1 pyramid symbol (like the samurai banner in the film) which could be crossed through for samurai dead (not like the film). This could be done on a small laminated sheet for each player so that a dry marker pen could be used for casualties, or a counter if preferred.

The first person to defeat 7 samuari or 33 bandits wins. all players may attempt to defeat samuari and bandits to reach their target score.

I don't have any fancy software to design cards so I'm going to use "word" and copyright free images.

The cards will have a day-night time value in the top left and right corners. The middle of the card can have an appropriate image, under that what type of card it is, with a name for the samuari and bandit leaders (made up Japanese sounding names, Yoki, Ochi and so on). Samurai hand cards will have a red border, Bandit hand cards will have a black border and cards that can be played in any hand will have a white border.

Perhaps this idea could be used in other periods or fantasy/science fiction realms?

Sorry for rambling on and this has probably all been tried before but I hope this is of interest. Draft title Blades versus Bamboo (BVB).

almond
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Joined: 01/15/2012
"7" would be a cool name as

"7" would be a cool name as well though. But can't really comment on the gameplay much without a mockup to try it out.

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