Test of Honour (The Core Mechanic)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article on our new favorite skirmish game, Test of Honour.  Last week we put together an article about the Recruitment cards and how to read the Recruitment cards..  Today we’re going to talk about the Core Mechanic (and the dice rolled for the game).  This article might be a little shorter than the last one, but it’s covering a couple of important concepts.  The next one of these we’ll cover the mechanics of combat and how to cut the other guys down. 

The Dice

The Dice for Test of Honour are non-standard faced 6 sided dice.  There are four specific results you can come across on the dice.  First, the single sword blade result represents a success.  The double Sword blade result represents a pair of successes.  The Blank face represents nothing.  The X result represents the potential for a critical failure.  There are 10 white dice in the starter set, and you can pick up an additional pack of 10 red dice in an expansion set (this also adds some more cards to flesh out the decks in the starter set).  I would personally love to have a black set of these dice, and sets of different colored dice may be something that our friends at Warlord may pursue at some point in the future.  (I’d also love a Test of Honour dice cup/pouch, but that’s for a Wish List that i’m working on at a later date).   

Rolling Dice (Casting into the Winds of Fate)

If you’ve perused our last article, (and if you haven’t, you can check it out here) then you know how that the attribute value on the unit’s recruitment card determines how many dice you roll when you’re trying to perform an action.  Most units will be rolling three dice, but powerful units (and units with additional modifiers) can roll as many as 5 dice when performing actions.  So How do you know if you’ve succeeded?  

The Most Important Roll?

In order for an ability test to be successful, you need to show at least 3 blades on the dice you rolled.  That’s it.  It’s one of the simplest, easiest mechanics I’ve ever seen in a war game, and it’s dynamic and doesn’t require more than a glance at the dice to determine success or failure.  

From a player perspective, that’s an amazing thing.  I don’t have to compare numbers to a fixed value, like counting up 5s and 6s, i don’t have to add anything up like a D20 with it’s modifiers, i just have to identify sword blades and count to 3.  It’s fast, it’s fun and it keeps the game moving.  

Caveats

Now there are a few special circumstances that can happen with these dice.  Let’s take a look at each of those and walk you through what happens when that occurs.  Most of these are combat relevant, but there are special scenario rules where unusual things can happen.  

Weapon Bonuses

If you roll 5 or more blades on an attack action, this triggers an additional effect based on the weapon being used.  Check out the chart on page 16 (and the results on page 15) to figure out what exactly happens.  

Fumbles

Ordinarily rolling less than 3 blades just causes the test to fail.  However, if you roll more X results than Blades, something terrible has happened.  Depending on what type of Ability Test is being rolled, this can trigger anything from a counterattack to being knocked prone.  

Note: Triggering a Fumble requires you to roll more Xs than blades, and if you roll blanks and Xs, you don’t trigger a Fumble.  The ability test just fails and the game continues on.

These are the most common results, and can occur to just about anybody in the game as it plays out.  There are the possibility of scenario specific rules that may also have results that trigger on rolling a specific number of blades, or fumbles occurring, and those will be spelled out in the scenario rules.  

Conclusions

I love the simplicity of the dice mechanics for Test of Honour.  The mechanics support the flavor of the game and every action has the potential to change the game state dramatically.  A Weapon Bonus can trigger the unexpected death of an enemy model.  A Fumble can turn a guaranteed kill into a much riskier thing.  The Dice for this game aren’t just arbiters of success and failure, they help shape the story of what’s occurring in the game, and it’s not something that you see in every war game.  

Next time we’ll cover the mechanics of combat (start to finish) and maybe we’ll have some time to dig into the rest of the cards in the starter box.  Game on, Game Fans.