GMTs Commands & Colors Samurai Battles is a great re-implementation of this classic title from Zvezda company. The game allow players to portray important engagements of Japanese history – mainly 15th century AD. The battles, included in the scenario booklet (40...
GMTs Commands & Colors Samurai Battles is a great re-implementation of this classic title from Zvezda company. The game allow players to portray important engagements of Japanese history – mainly 15th century AD. The battles, included in the scenario booklet (40 of them!), focus on the historical deployment of forces and important terrain features in scale with the game system. The scale of the game is flexible and varies from battle to battle. For some scenarios, an infantry unit may represent an entire clan of soldiers, while in other scenarios a unit may represent just a few brave warriors.
What I really like is grouping some of the scenarios into the linked, chronological and logically connected sets. This usually means some particular battle being separated into couple of phases. That process can be done based on timeline with battle interlude, main action and final phase. But we shall also see the split based on troops location – like overview scenario, left flank, right flank, etc. I find both approaches enjoyable and allowing for much closer familiarization with the particular historical event.
We just received the reprint from GMT Games so I though it would be great occasion to gather in one place and share my training materials which I created over couple of years since the game was initially published. Let us have what I prepared:
In this material I am focusing on basic rules for Commands Colors Samurai Battles. A little introduction to the system and then more about some basic rules, specific to this installment. Here we are doing a deep dive into most interesting and advanced rules of the system; Command tent, Generals, Bodyguards, etc. and all other mechanics which make this game so unique.Last but not least, we shall test GMT’s Card Driven Games solo system. We are bringing here to the table one of the most epic battles of the epoch – Sekigahara 1600 AD.
I hope you will have as much fun with that game as I did. However, if you prefer written articles to video format, do not hesitate to have a look at those session reports. Enojoy!