"When the Last Sword is Drawn": Bringing a game idea to life

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"Something terrible has happened at the small mountain monastery of Ikoto. The monastery is under the protection of the House of Akiyama, and is located halfway up the steep slopes of Mount Norikata.

A few hours ago, a badly wounded messenger from Ikoto has informed Lord Akiyama that the monastery has been attacked and that several monks have been slain.

Worst of all, the sacred relics of Ikoto appear to be at risk of being stolen or destroyed.

The perpetrators of this dishonourable act are the fallen house of Ichimonji, a ruined noble family long jealous of the Akiyama.

Can the Akiyama avenge the murdered monks and protect the sacred relics of Ikoto? Or will the Ichimonji further despoil the monastery and violate the religious treasures of Mount Noritaka?"

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This was the introduction to one of my games of “When the Last Sword is Drawn”, which I have being running at games days up and down the UK for the last couple of years. This year, I decided to change the setting of the action from a summer to a winter setting - and so far, in 2024, I’ve run a dozen participation games at games days, and a couple of play-test games with groups of friends. This is the fourth game setting of “When the Last Sword is Drawn” - the other three being in summer (or, at at least, not winter) settings.

All the games have been a blast to run, with players cheerfully slaughtering each other in the monastery of Ikoto.  Many characters have fallen under the impassive stare of the huge bronze Diabutsu of the monastery, with some of them suffering truly dramatic (and cinematic) ends.  And a couple of unfortunate characters have even tumbled to a terrible fate from the steep slopes of the bell tower at the top of the mountain.

I thought that the time might be right for a look on the Blog behind the scenes in running our games of “When the Last Sword is Drawn”.  Much of what follows applies to our games of “With Flashing Blades” that I’ve been running occasionally at the same time.

Terrain

As “When the Last Sword is Drawn” is played on a small board or table, the name of the game is trying to maximise the action without the terrain getting in the way. 

This means trying to make the terrain representational without needing to be a totally accurate recreation of a mountain monastery. I used some skills from the 1990s in making terrain for Warhammer to create the functional, but hopefully attractive, mountain-sides of Mount Norikata. The intervals in the blue styrofoam mountain were helpful for gauging the distances to be climbed, and the ledges created by the styrofoam were perfect for inspiring cinematic duels on rocky ledges.

And just as important, these types of terrain pieces can be transported very easily.

Focal scenery

I like my games to have a visual anchor point. It’s a bit of a trick, but having something on the board which looks authentically Japanese helps. If you can catch the eye of the players and passers-by with something which looks right, you can use that to draw the viewer into the smaller details.

This also helps in setting the scene quickly - in a wargame you don’t always have as long as you would like to do that.

In this regard, 3D printing has been wonderful in enabling me to find things in the real world and converting those to the tabletop (with the help of some wonderful friends and their 3D printers!). Here’s a spectacular Buddha from the National Museum of Scotland, transitioned (complete with mandorla) to the table top.

What’s the Game About?

This is the hardest part of running a game you’ve designed yourself. “What’s going on?” “I’ve played other Japanese games before - how is this different?” “Is this like Test of Honour/Bushido/Ronin….?”

All valid questions, and one of the hardest things about any game is working out what it’s about. Or, as one gamer said to me, “I quite like [insert popular set of rules], I think that gives me everything that I’m looking for”.

Comments like that might seem a little bit existential, but I liked it. It made me think not so much about how the game worked, but why it needed to work a particular way compared to other games which have already been produced. 

The (excellent) roleplaying game “Monsterhearts” sets out what its about in a very up front and direct way, that the MC can read to the players. So I’ve tried experimenting with something similar to read at the start of "When the Last Sword is Drawn" - ideally as soon as the players have sat at the table:

"Welcome to When the Last Sword is Drawn. This game is about three things. The pursuit of Honour. The skill of Swordplay. And the theme of blood.

All three are common elements in Japanese art, films, history and legends focused on medieval and early modern Japan. My promise to all of you is that you'll see each of these in the game across this table in the next couple of hours.

One may ask, of you all, why are you gathered here at this location?

You are here to enhance your honour, because for the samurai, honour is the essence of your life. Honour is what provides your position in society, what gains the respect of your family, your house and your enemies. Honour is the heart of your world.

And we are assembled here to show our swordsmanship. Because the sword is at the spiritual heart of the samurai. The sword is a way of expressing your valour, a visceral and kinetic messenger of your fame.

And we are gathered here to witness the flow of blood. Because the path of the samurai is inextricably marked with blood and the risk of death."

Table Candy

Taking the best bits from other games I love is part of the fun in designing a game. Standing on the shoulders of giants, in other words.  I've always admired the cards which are included in  Fantasy Flight boardgames and in games produced by Games Workshop.  Of course, those giants of the hobby have teams of incredibly talented graphic artists.  And I have, well....good intentions and Microsoft PowerPoint...

I’ve created individual cards for each of the characters in the games we’ve played. This allows weapons, skills, status, wounds and some general flavour-text to be shown for each character (and there are usually 5 to 8 characters a side in the game).  Each card also has an image of the character, which helps players keep track of which character is doing what and where they are on the table.

Trying to make the cards, and other board-adjacent items, attractive was something I wanted to try to achieve. I wanted to make what goes around the board as much part of the game as what is happening on the main stage, so to speak.

Scatter

The "scatter" scenery was important on the board.  Temple lanterns. A frozen pond with fish still visible under the ice. A small shrine. These items of scenery look good, and they connect visually with the Japanese theme.

But they also form small barriers to break up or channel the flow of the fighting. I’ve found over the games of “When the Last Sword is Drawn”, and “With Flashing Blades”, that the games play best when there is not just one fight in the middle of the table. Scatter helps enormously in orientating the different routes the action might take.

Making combat fast, deadly but also interesting

“When the Last Sword is Drawn” , and “With Flashing Blades” are games about combat. They focus on swordplay (and other hand-to-hand fighting methods). They are not long games, and the combat is quick and is intended to be brutal. 

But I also wanted to find ways to make the combat interesting. One refinement over the course of this year has been the addition of “Duelling Cards”.  One of these Duelling Cards is chosen by each character at the start of their duel to set a theme for that combat. 

An iaijustsu sword stroke. Or a dirty trick. Or moving for an advantage. Or, maybe, declaring your name and gaining honour. Players seem to have enjoyed the little bit of drama these cards inject into the duels on the tabletop.

Keeping things cinematic

One thing I always wanted was to ensure that the games being played were fun.  Sometimes that means springing some surprises.  That'll be the subject of the next blog post - which is all about designing scenarios.

Hope you can join me for that.

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"Nobody Likes the Chaya": A villainous faction for 'When the Last Sword is Drawn'

"Nobody likes the House of Chaya. Their nobility is bought through wealth and their signature is greed.

They are wealthy, proud and ambitious. Their sharp-elbowed advance along the coast of northern Honshu, gathering lands and castles, has created many enemies. One clan, the Akiyama, has become the most recent victim of Lord Chaya Ichiro’s schemes of aggrandisement. But now, Lord Akiyama is dead.

Two days ago, Lord Akiyama was dishonourably killed by Chaya no Irosuke, a notorious samurai of the House of Chaya. Worst of all, Lord Akiyama’s legendary sword was taken from his dead hands and was brought to the Chaya’s ancestral temple to be re-consecrated as a trophy of the Chaya’s conquests."

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Everyone loves a villain. And, as one famous actor has said, “Every villain is a hero in their own mind.”

In creating tabletop miniatures games at games days and wargame shows, I always find it helps to try and set the theme. Part of that is describing what the players are fighting for. What are the stakes? Which side are you on? It’s easy with history. Everyone, and I mean everyone, knows it’s OK to punch a Nazi.

But with games which involve a more alt-history, or a down-right fantasy feel, it’s harder. Of course, sometimes it's made easy by the bad guys wearing black, or carrying a red light-sabre. Other times, it helps for me to tell the players, in as few words as possible, which side they’re fighting on.

And so to The House of Chaya.

Put simply, they’re villains. Nobles, for sure. Wealthy, of course. Darkly handsome in a Kylo Ren kind of way? - well, maybe you can make your mind up on that one. But they’re the bad guys? Yes, they are. Because every story needs a villain.

More seriously, I’ve found that wargames with a smaller footprint (in terms of game size and playing time) need a helping hand. You can have an attractive table, and thematic rules. But the importance of the background story, or the “skinny” as American TV writers might call it, increases as the table shrinks. The figures and the terrain can’t do it all on their own.

And in that environment, it helps for there to be a villain. Someone you can point to as the bad guys. Maybe they “killed our ‘Pa”. Maybe they burned your farm. Maybe they took your sacred sword.

Or maybe they did all three.

It short circuits the long gaming background of where you are and why you’re fighting. Because as Indiana Jones says, it's always OK to punch a Nazi.

Or clash swords with the Chaya.

I've been carrying the representatives of the House of Chaya up and down the United Kingdom for the past year and a half to serve as the bad guys in our games of "When the Last Sword is Drawn". These are the latest additions to the usual suspects. Including the heart-throb of the House of Chaya - Chaya no Irosuke.

These are some more of the figures from the glorious samurai- and Japan-fixated 1980s. The two fallen fighters are from Dixon Miniatures’ early samurai range. The mounted samurai is from the same range. He’s advertised as a famous samurai commander from the 13th Century.

But he’s such a lovely figure that it’s a shame to limit him to that period. I strung his bow string with fine wire, and pinned the bow to his hand at the start of painting. I also glued him to his horse. It would, however, have been easier to paint horse, rider and bow separately, and assemble afterwards. It was a hard choice, and I might do it differently next time.

The remaining figure is a Games Workshop samurai retainer from the 1984 “Oriental Heroes” range. He’s a lovely, flexible, figure who could serve as a retainer, or a samurai without armour. I love the confident pose, the larger than normal (almost comic-book) katana, and the wicker rain cape. He’s got a swagger about him, which the mounted samurai shares. And, after all, who doesn't love a villain with a little bit of sass?

I also felt the Chaya needed a uniting theme. I chose a colour for their House. Green, the colour of confidence, green tea, lush (almost-certainly stolen) farmland, and jealousy. I tried to make it a signature of the House of Chaya. Almost so that you know when to boo when they enter the stage.

And because all the factions in "When the Last Sword is Drawn" have some traits and attributes (not all of which are helpful), here's the ones we've been using for the Chaya on the tabletop, updated for some of the new members of the household. And, of course, a ludicrously indulgent character-card for Chaya no Irosuke himself:

More from the wintry coast of northern Honshu next time, dear readers.

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Akiyama Tomoyuki Faces His Demons

 

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There were three of them.  No.  There were more - four bakemono, and then two larger forms, lumbering through the heavy snowstorm.  Huge demonic ogres - Oni - one with a huge sword and the other with a pair of war mallets.

“There…. There they are. There’s six more!”  Tomoyuki’s shout in the gale of the snowstorm was urgent and loud.  “Give me more arrows”.  Even so, the fierce wind stripped away his voice into the void.  Tomoyuki’s retainer, Juzo, passed his master another sheaf of needle-pointed arrows: “That’s all we have left, Master”.

Tomoyuki looked at the eight arrows in the sheaf.  Make every one count, Tomoyuki told himself, notching the first of the black arrows, pulling the bowstring back and focusing on one of the large demonic Oni thrashing forward in the snow.  

Behind him was the howl of the kitsune which had followed him and Juzo to the temple earlier in the day.  If only he had offered another prayer earlier, he might have been able to persuade the kitsune to help him in the moment of battle.  But it was probably too late now.

The arrow was loosed into the storm, but the wind took it wide of the leading Oni.  Tomoyuki took another arrow from the sheaf, and finally whispered another sutra. Perhaps the kitsune would hear his prayers this time…?

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Over the course of the winter, I've been adding a few more figures inspired by Japanese history and folklore to my collection for "When the Last Sword is Drawn" (or "Bonsai Bonkers" if you prefer).  This is the game we've been working on for a year and a half, focused on skirmishes in medieval and Edo-period Japan.  

These figures are a little way off the historical track.  There’s a selection of Dixon Miniatures bakemono and oni…. Japanese goblins and demons from the "Legends of Nippon" range.  They’re lovely figures, sculpted by Mark Copplestone in the 1980s.  Gosh, yes, they are that old, but I feel they still stand the passing of years very well as sculpts.  

The samurai is from the same vintage era of Japanese wargaming, being originally a Games Workshop archer sculpted by Aly Morrison in 1984.  I do love those older GW sculpts from the 'Oriental Heroes' range, turning back the years with their style and posing taken from Japanese Ukiyo-e era wood-block prints.  

The retainer is from the Perry Miniatures’ range of Sengoku era figures, in the Civilian’s box.  The kitsune is a Warbases fox. I removed her tail with a scalpel, and added two new (slightly bushier) ones from green-stuff.  Kitsune’s can have up to nine-tails - the more tails indicate the greater powers that the fox-spirit has.  Just two here, but enough to weave a little magical stardust into the skirmish.

The main thing I was trying out with these figures was Citadel contrast paints and shade paints on the bakemono and oni. My great friend, Curt Campbell, persuaded me to give these paints a try last year, but I didn’t get around to it until last month.  The contrast paints were used on a white base, and supplemented by GW inks (shades).  They certainly look vibrant on the (demonic) flesh, but I wasn’t quite sure I was getting the effect just right with the flow of paints into the creases of flesh. I’d love to experiment a bit more with these paints during the course of this year.  Above all, I just thought they were fun, and something which looked very different from green or brown goblins or ogres which I’ve done before. 

The samurai and his retainer and the kitsune were painted a little more conventionally.  Over the years, I’ve had this silly obsession with bowstrings.  I’ve no idea how I picked that up, but when I see a bow on a figure, I feel I have to string it, as in this case with thin wire.  I use my figures at the local wargames club and for participation games at wargames days and shows, so I wanted something more robust than just fishing thread.  Its fiddly to string the bow in this way, but hopefully worthwhile.

Finally, there are some scenic items to be scattered over the snowy temple of the game.  The terrain items are mainly 3D prints of trees, a smaller shrine, a miniature Buddha and a temple lantern.  These are really here to help set the theme, and to give the combatants something to fight around and fall over or bump into at the least convenient times.   I made the tiny dōsojin stone shrines with green stuff, carving the tiny stone kami (spirits) on the shrine stones with a nautical theme - hopefully the whale and octopus are just about visible.  They were fun to do, and hopefully add that little bit of Japanese ‘feel’ to the tabletop.

I’ve also added a few of my ludicrously indulgent character cards for “When the Last Sword is Drawn”, featuring these figures.  Here's the one for Akiyama Tomoyuki:

More from the snowy mountain fastnesses of fantasy Honshu soon, dear friends.  

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