Tanin
- The Stranger
You know already the background of Bushido - the way of the warrior, but give way, here comes the first expansion: Tanin - the stranger.
A short overview about the contents of this epic struggle, which continues:
Your own provinces are starving, consisting mainly of harsh mountainsides which lack the capability to build proper ricefields. In the new building phase you can easily draw resources from your income to change them in many ways to fertile soil. Every province of yours can be expanded or completely rebuilded with new functions to serve you in many ways. There are existing two modi operandi for this: a permanent rebuild, which will be present all the time and a temporarily bonus, which have to be forfeited as soon as a battle takes place in the same province.
But there is more.... three new rolecards are testing your wits. You can easily adopt all of them at once for every number of players if you prefer. From now on all eight rolecards are yours to chose!
Proud leaders of your warhost can use missileweapons and can also select a new tacticdisc. The so named steelfan can be even dangerous to the traitor itself.
New political markers for the daimyo are expanding the scope of the political affairs in the country of japan.
An additional clothbag gives the players much more freedom of choice at their hands for what to aim for, when they are drawing ressources. Katana and weapons are in the weaponsbag and the political markers will be putted in the other one. So you decide, how and how many you will draw from each ressourcetype. This can give you a far advanced ressource management and a better reaction possibility against an aggressive neighbor for example, who is exspected to come over in the next rounds, but will think about it, when you are drawing right in front of him most of your income from the weapons clothbag.
Two new screens are designed to show a market and a temple, which offers plenty of occasions to worship your ancestors and on the market to gain a much needed refill on supplies after a battle.....if you are victorious of course.
The limit of the twelve rounds can be prolonged with the council of the daimyos. The components for a sixth player are also included as well.
Besides exist 10 new different building tiles with many options and 4 provinceboni, which are ranging from purely strategic defensive matters to infrastructure deeds.
The clan is the body of the family. The daimyo is the heart. It is the task of the eldest son, to fulfill the work of his father: Unite the country under the strong leadership of your clan! For the honor!
The setup of our game bushido is by random, that means no gaming starting situation will be exactly the same ever. This dynamic generic process throws the players into immediate action right from the very beginning and spares all the longlasting buildups until you reach gamelevel to actually be able to do something in your game. So no daimyo will have the same worth in provinces, same number of troops, ressources or power at the beginning. But, the leaders at the start of the game, might be not at all the winners in the end. Remember, you win bushido by the claim of honor, not through wealth alone. You might be poor at the start, but with your heart on the right place you will gain prestige and honor soon. This will help you to climb up the ladder of success. You will soon recognize,that with Tanin, our first expansion to Bushido, you will experience a gameplay with lots of choices on your fingertips to shape the future of your provinces and your clan to your advantage.
Not enough rice, your people are starving? Just build a watering system in your province to improve the harvest and gain more koku. Tori are leading to small shrines build down the road, bamboo palisades for defensive measures could easily hinder other players to swarm you with numbers in battle. Harsh landscapes are often incapable to field large garrisons on troops, but could have an arsenal or two to arm the peasants in the time of war.
Are
you, oh Tanin, skilled enough, to change the order of precedence?
The costs for construction sites are always seen on top of the new tiles. To pay for, you have to use the katanamarkers with the value two. Now you have to decide, if you use your ressources for war or better build up your infrastructure.
Many different options to build are available. Some of them favour the outcome of a battle, some give you even political benefits. It depends on the players, which way they prefer to build their empires.
A military camp for example expands the mobility of your troops. They can be regrouped after a battle and therefore must not necessarily stay in the province your troops have just conquered in this turn. In the school of martial arts, the dojo, you can summon a powerful weapon master, who can support your cause in battle. A tavern serves not only sake but gives you a good spot to recruit spies (shinobi). Who ever tolerates a hideout for rascals in his country, can even take influence on the whereabouts of ronin. Whoever takes more empathy on the weapons of the mind, will quickly realize, that an own teahouse has many advantages. And how much influence can you gain, when you are trying to form an alliance, when you could lead one of your newly found companions to a geisha
house of the red lantern....
Probably not seldom will you met the Bozu, a beggar monk. You should offer him alms from your wealth (ressources), if you can afford. They will go directly to the player, who has chosen for this turn the rolecard bozu. It usually pays to be generous (gain more honor), but your reputation can sink, if you are cheap.
Musashi is a much feared swordmaster of this era and will never redraw from an oppurtunity to show his mastery in a duel. A victory in a duel raises immediately the players warriorhonor.
Often you are able to catch a small glimpse at the Tanin (the stranger), who is pulling the strings in the background. But nobody seems to know, who he is and what he aims for. The Tanin can be a friend of yours or your grim enemy. Independantly from the number of players, with Tanin you can always chose from 8 rolecards!
For example the use of the bow allows a military leader to weaken the enemy before it is time to draw swords in the melee. Skillfully placed bowmen can decide an outcome of a battle even in the beginning. In some cases a well pointed arrow will even pierce through the heart of a traitor and therefore stop the planned ambush right in his track.
The ninjas will use their shurikens to great extent and will leave only dead enemies behind.
Apart from new weapons exist a new tactic disc, the steel fan of the commander! This tactic disc allows to channel the power of your troops to the maximum effect. It grants the player using it always to double the outcome against the tactic disc of his opponent and even hinders the traitor to win automatically.
As mentioned on the start, you are now able to arm peasants in your province. There are many options and interesting features to provide the players with a battle mode, which will never be boring or self fulfilling.
Some of the new ressources are having a yellow border and are solely for the use of the daimyo. He can put them into play in his turn and even take influence in the political phase.
Auspicious Fighters could be equipped with famous weapons (sword and armor) of their former ancestors. It will grant them boni in a battle.
A mere sinister plot or subtle eloquent feature is the new fielded aspect of hostages in gameplay. If you are hosting Madames and Messieurs of another clan at your house, it will certainly take influence on the strategy of this clan. Through hostages were many feuds ended, before they began!
Roaming ronins are a logical consequence from the ongoing feuds between the clans. Used as agitators in the provinces of other daimyio, are they not welcomed in your own countryside. With the new ressource drastic measures are you able to remove ronins from your chosen province. Many new markers have some impact on the proportion of the amounts of the other markers as well. Therefore we restocked the markers from the basic edition to the same proportion as well, so every player can be assured to have the same mix in his bag than before.
With Tanin you are also owning now a second bag. You can part the political markers from the weapon markers and have now more direct influence on the kind of your ressources when drawing. You can act more flexible on different aspects of the game. It depends a lot on the daimyo as always, but it can be easily adopted to the actual situation you are facing.
Two
additional screens, the temple and the market, open new ways to acquire
certain benefits and advantages. The market supports the victor of a
battle. He can get some much needed supplies in exchange of some of his
ressources. If you see much wanted offers (ressources) laid open in the
market, you even might have a incresed interest in winning a battle!
The temple
of the ancestors has his own way to support your cause! For every
sacrifice of ressources you might gain valuable pieces of advice from
the kami!
For example you are allowed as the player with the most sacrifices at
the moment to redraw tactic discs right after a battle! So
don´t underestimate the power of the kami!
between the 4th and 5th turn and the 8th and 9th turn, where every daimyio receives additional income. Oh Boy! Great fighting and many, many possibilities are around!
On the final 12th round you can assemble the council of the daimyios, if no player reaches the 50 points of honor in time.
In Tanin are included so many peasant markers, that we have decided on short notice to give them their own faction, lead by a Hatamoto. A special scenario for this delicate mission will soon appear as download on our website (and I will try to have it translated quick and dirty asap, otherwise... you know my english! Poor fellows, but I will try to improve over the years to come....).
Tanin includes all of the material needed for a sixth player. Tanin offers a lot to customize your play and modular features for the fan of Bushido, but be not afraid, all of the content can be introduced slowly in your game. Every aspect of the new material can be singled out and is supposed to be brought into play step by step. But for the most challenging and to be pleased gameplay we suggest of course a Bushido with all new options from Tanin included!
Have Fun with our game and design and see you soon in the world of Bushido - The Way of the Warrior!
Oh wait, I forgot to tell you, there were upcoming things on the horizon. These barbarians at the court are right now to be playtested. I think portuguese people and of european origin. They brought black powder weapons with them and a new religion together with their padres (ascetic jesuit´s)! But this will be another story to tell.... in 2011! Sharpen your swords and be ready for the impact!
