Summer and winter in the stone garden

Introduction
All game materials are hand crafted. This is a collectors item: only 30 numbered copies of this game were produced. Play hints and examples are in italics. You can contact us through www.ganeshagames.net if you have any questions about the game.

The Game board

Zen Gardens board represents a Japanese garden. Figures represents two squads of armored samurai belonging to two clans: Black (Winter) and Red (Summer). The clan who kills all the members of the other clan is the winner.

materials
You need this booklet, the game board, black and red samurais, the rake (used as a measuring stick), the range measurer for shooting, counters and dice.

turns
The game is played in turns. When play begins, roll a die to determine who begins. Players alternate in following turns. The acting player attempts to move his figures and gain the upper hand in combat. The length of a turn and the number of actions that may be attempted by a figure is variable, and depends on the result of a die roll called an ACTIVATION roll. The activation roll represents a warriors speed and resolve.

ACTIVATION
Each samurai may be activated only once per turn and during each activation he may perform one or more actions. The controlling player rolls 1, 2 , or 3 dice for that figure, as he sees fit. Each action requires one or more activations. Activations are gained by rolling the white and red dice with a Japanese symbol. You dont have to declare WHAT you are attempting to do with a samurai., just point your finger at the figure you want to activate and roll 1,2 or 3 dice for him.

Movement
Movement of figures is measured with the rake. A movement unit is the distance that a samurai may move using ONE activation. Place the base of the rake adjacent to the characters base. The samurai may move in a straight line until his base touches the other end of the rakes base, as shown in the illustration. The model may not move around corners nor bend his movement in any way. To move around an obstacle, for example to go past a boulder , he will have to use two movement actions. It is NOT mandatory to move the full stick. You may move a fraction of a move as you see fit, but in any case ANY movement will require the expenditure of ONE action. In other words, a samurai may spend one action to move from the spot where he is now to any other spot along the measuring stick. Spending 2 or 3 activations, he may perform 2 or 3 separate moves. The area occupied by a figure is represented by the round base of the figure. A figures base may not move through obstacles such as boulders or other characters. A figure may NOT exit the board. If surrounded by enemies, a character must remain where he is. He will be allowed to move, using activations as normal to do so, when the situation changes.

Activation dice
Activation dice have a stop Japanese symbol showing the FAILURE of the activation roll. There are 3 activation dice , 2 white and 1 red. White dice have 2 sides showing the failure symbol. The red die has 3 sides with the failure symbol. An unhurt figure rolls the red die as his third activation die. A wounded character rolls the red die as his first die. Example: an unhurt character wanting to roll 3 dice will have to roll 2 white dice and the red die. An unhurt character wanting to roll 2 dice will roll 2 white dice. A wounded character wanting to roll 2 dice will have to roll the red die and a white die.

Turn-over
When, on an activation roll, you roll 2 or 3 failures, you score a turnover. That character performs his activation, if any (for example if he rolled 3 dice and scored 1 success and 2 failures he could still perform one action) and then play passes to the opponent.

It is not always advisable to roll 3 dice. The more dice you roll, the more actions you may perform but the risk of a turn-over increases.

Reaction
If you get one or more failures in an activation roll, the opponent may perform one reaction. Before you perform the actions you rolled, your opponent will roll a single die to react with a character of his choice. If the chosen character is wounded, he will roll a red die. If he is unhurt, he will roll a white die. If he gets an activation, that character may perform one ranged attack (shooting with a loaded arquebus or bow) OR a single movement. After the reaction is performed, play goes back to the original player (the one who caused the reaction) so that the figure may complete its actions. N.B. if two or more failures were rolled, this is a turn-over and play will pass to the opponent. A reaction represents a momentary loss of initiative.

RELOADING RANGED WEAPON

Arquebuses and bows start loaded, but after they are used, a character must spend 2 actions to reload before he can use them again. You cant reload if any foe is closer than 1 move to the samurai wishing to reload. The arquebus may NOT be fired in the same turn it is reloaded. A bow may shoot the same turn it is reloaded (assuming that the samurai has enough actions). Put a counter on the samurais card to remember that his weapon is unloaded.

Ranged and melee combat

To perform a melee or ranged attack, you must spend one activation. You may also spend 2 actions to attack with a +1 on the die roll. You may either attack in melee or shoot a ranged weapon in a turn, but not both.

shooting
Shooting represents attacks with bows or arquebuses. The ranges of arquebuses and bows are measured with the colored stick. A samurai in melee may not perform a ranged attack, nor may he be targeted by a ranged attack. In other words, if a samurai is in base to base contact with an opponent, he may not shoot nor be shot at. You may fire at any enemy on the board, as long as you can draw a clear, unobstructed line of sight between the shooter and the target. Draw an imaginary line between the center of the base of the 3

shooter and the center of the base of the target, and you may perform the attack if this line does NOT go through bases of other characters, pagodas, or boulders. A samurai standing on a boulder has a clear line of sight to figures standing on other boulders. To measure shooting range, use the range stick (the painted toothpick). Place the pointed end on the shooters base and the other end towards the target. Anything that is even partially within the first part of the stick may not be targeted. Anything within the second part of the stick may be targeted normally. Anything that lies within the third part of the stick is targeted with -1 on the combat roll. Anything that lies within the fourth part of the stick is targeted at -2. Anything that lies within the fifth part of the stick is targeted at -3. Always apply the worst modifier if the target is across two different parts of the stick.

melee
A samurai in base to base contact with a foe may fight in melee. Attacking in melee requires the expenditure of one action. To move away from a melee, the character needs to spend one action to break away and one action to perform a move. A character attacking in melee rolls a numbered die and adds the value of the weapon he is using as printed on the character card. Add any modifiers that apply. The defending character rolls a die and adds his armor value, plus any modifiers that apply.

Support in melee
Every friend helping an attacker in a melee gives a +1 support bonus to the combat die roll. Unless armed with a naginata, the figure must also be in base to base contact with the enemy. The defender may also benefit from the presence of an adjacent friend. A maximum of 3 figures may give this +1 modifier (in the case of a character surrounded by 4 enemies). Example: in the illustration, 2 red samurai attack a black samurai. When the red samurai attacks, he does so at +1. When the other red samurai attacks, he also does so at +1 on the die.

naginata
A naginata is a polearm allowing the samurai to attack a distant target. To use it, the samurai must be within 1 move from the target. A naginata-armed samurai may give melee support when he is in range. 4

Boulders
Climbing up or down a boulder requires an additional activation. Fighting from an elevated position gives a +1 die roll bonus to the samurai on higher ground. Only one character at a time may stand on a boulder.

Combat results
If the attacker doubles the defenders score (e.g.: 8 vs 4) the target is wounded. The character card is turned over (on the blood splattered side). If the card was already turned over, the samurai dies and is removed from play. If the attacker beats the targets score without doubling it (e.g.: 5 vs 4), the attack causes a Distraction (place a counter on the samurais card to remember that he is distracted). To wound a Distracted samurai you just have to beat his score (no need to double it). A samurai may recover from distraction by spending 3 activations (remove the counter if he does so). The distraction remains if the character is subsequently wounded. A distraction represents a flesh wound, fatigue, loss of balance, etc.

combat effects
If the attacker wins a combat roll with an odd number on the die (1, 3 or 5), the defender must retreat by 1 move. If this is not possible, the defender remains where he is. If the attacker loses a combat roll, is NOT using a naginata, and his die scored a 1, he suffers a Distraction. If the attacker is wounded, he also suffers a distraction also if the die rolled a 1, 2 or 3, not only on a 1.

Retreating
The frame around the game board is impassable. If a figure must retreat to it, he stops in contact with the frame (the walls of the garden).

Initial deployment
Both players line up their samurai on the corners of their short side of the garden, placing the samurai with the lowest numbers on the corners. Players roll dice to determine who gets to act first. Reroll ties. The acting player may activate his samurai in any order he wants. Remember: you may NOT roll dice to activate each figure more than once per turn.

Scenarios
These are variants to try when you are familiar with the basic game.

Scenario: lone wolf

In this variant, a player uses only his number 4 samurai, armed with a katana. The other player uses all his warriors. The lone wolf must always roll at least 2 activation dice. He acts until he rolls a turnover. He ignores distractions. When he is wounded, one of his activation dice must be the red one. The opponents use the normal rules.

Scenario: blades versus shooters

In this variant, a player uses all samurai with ranged weapons, the other all those with no ranged weapons. Samurai armed only with a katana must always roll 2 activation dice. When one is wounded, one of his activation dice must be red.

Expanding the game

Zen Garden will give you many hours of fun but you might want to expand it. A first step could be building a larger battleground using paper buildings or a cloth to represent a grassy hill, and add more figures by purchasing more 10mm samurai. This will turn your board game into full-fledged miniature wargaming. You may also expand the rules by adding special abilities to represent ninja, peasants, warrior monks, mounted samurai, and so on, and new scenarios with different objectives and victory conditions. And why limit yourself to feudal Japan only? Visit www.ganeshagames.net to get in touch with a wonderful community of gamers playing many different historical periods and genres.

Rules by Massimo Moscarelli Based on the Song of Blades engine by Andrea Sfiligoi Handmade materials by Angelo Moscarelli Rules editing and layout by Andrea Sfiligoi Cards and cover by Fabrizio Passatempi English text edited by David Gretton

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