What's New in 2nd Ed? (Part 2)
Terrain
We now have comprehensive terrain rules, while still keeping things simple and intuitive. Defended positions, climbing and leaping are included, and cavalry can now dismount in order to enter buildings!
Scenarios
There are 18 scenarios in the rulebook. The introductory battles from v1 (I love the story it tells!), 6 standard battles ideal for one-off play, and 6 further battles that introduce more complex and story-driven elements - such as a last stand or an attack while your hero is at prayer.
Many of these battles can be changed further by making them night-fights or launching a surprise attack - this means the attacker has less troops but the defender starts unaware of the enemy!
Quests
In v1 Quests were rather underused - they only applied in campaign games and even then they were an option that not many people bothered with.
Quests are now fully usable in one-off games. You choose one at the start of each battle and it forms a sort of secret mission than you can, if you want, try to complete during the game.
This could be killing a specific character, gaining a certain number of Honour cards, holding objectives, etc. As soon as you complete the requirements you reveal your Quest and take an extra Skill card as your reward!
Character Progression
Continuing the story of your hero and his companions from game to game was always a fun element in Test of Honour, and it has now been expanded considerably!
As well as retaining Skill cards as before, after each battle you roll on the Aftermath table for each of your characters. This is modified if you won or lost, if they were injured or cut down, or if you completed a Quest. The result could be anything from a permanent wound, a rowdy celebration, getting captured by the enemy, or even improving your stat line!
Card Icons and Paths
As v1 was developed, people started asking which Skill cards they should include in their Fate decks. Our ruling was to limit you to the cards that came in the same sets as the characters in your force. In v2 we've put an identifier icon on each Recruitment and Skill card, which has allowed me to develop this a bit further:
The various icons represent a similar outlook, approach, fighting style, etc, known as a Path. So for example, Sohei Monks, Masked Men and the Priest from the new Unlikely Allies box all follow the same path and have the same icon, as do all the Skills and Quests associated with them. This means that if you take a character from this path, then you have a much wider pool of Skills to draw from, all with a mystical, religious theme. It also means that over time we can improve and add to these paths with new sets, rather than keeping each new release in complete isolation.
The different paths are:
Glorious Charge - Daimyo's Retinue, Mounted Samurai
Protect and Sacrifice - Onna Bugeisha, Seven Ronin, Hostess
Rebellion - Pauper Soldiers, Chobei's Renegades, Wise Old Man
Ambush - Ronin, Bandits & Brigands, Ninjas, Ronin Marksman
Mysticism - Sohei Monks, Masked Men, Priest
Military - Veteran Ashigaru, Clan Envoy
