Test of Honour Unboxing (Daimyo's Retinue)

Daimyo’s Retinue

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with an unboxing article on one of the expansion sets for Test of Honour.  We’re going to take a look at the sprues, the cards, and any other odds and ends that come in the box.  Now most of these expansion sets (aside from the Samurai Warband) have additional metal components (typically metal heads) and a metal hero character.  Let’s dig into the components and see what you can put together out of the box.

The Sprues

Now this particular box contains 1 copy of these sprues

Now with these sprues you can build 6 models of a specific type, with extra metal parts for adding additional details.  They can be armed and equipped with the following options, depending on how you want to put them together:

• Mounted Samurai Hero
• Mounted Samurai
• Mounted Bowman
• Mounted Retainer

The Metal Components

The metal components allow you to modify 5 models, which means that you might be able to use the spare components to convert other models in your group.  

In addition, you have the metal hero character Daimyo Osugawa  This model is a rider, so it doesn’t come with a base.  My copy had a wildly bent katana blade that took some finesse to get back into the proper-ish straight blade.   .  

The Cards

There are two primary types of cards that come in each of these expansions.  First, you’ll be getting recruitment cards to match the new units available in the box.  Each Recruitment card included will have a breakdown like the one we did for the Starter Set.  You can find our original article on the Recruitment cards for the starter set (and the Samurai Warband box) here.  The card breakdowns for the current set are listed below.

Recruitment Cards

Daimyo Osugawa

Daimyo Osugawa is an 8 recruitment cost model.  With a 5 in his all of his abilities except Wits (which is rocking a respectable 4), he also comes with the 3 activations that most Samurai Heroes should come with.  He also starts the game with the Glory Seeker Skill Card, letting him move up to 7 inches as part of a charge action, (until he cuts down an enemy model).  

Mounted Samurai Hero

The  Mounted Samurai Hero is an 8 recruitment cost model.  He is an impressive figure, however.  With Fives across the board, and 3 actions, the Mounted Samurai Hero ican move up to 9 inches during a move action, which gets him across the board and into position to run down other models.  Like most Cavalry, he has issues with enemies armed with Yaris and Naginatas..  You can equip him with either the Katana or the Naginata.  You can spend additional recruitment on equipping him with a bow if you like.  

Mounted Samurai (2)

The Mounted Samurai is a 6 recruitment cost model.  With 4s in all of his abilities and 2 activations, the Mounted Samurai is a solid middle ground between the more expensive Hero and the cheaper Mounted Bowman and Retainers.  The upside of this unit is it lets you take a mounted Hero in a smaller game and still have room for infantry models to fill out the list.  

Mounted Bowman (2)

The Mounted Bowman is a 3 recruitment cost model.  With the standard commoner abilities of 3s and 1 activation, the Mounted Bowman also brings a ranged combat element to the mounted force.  Mobility is the halllmark of the mounted units, and this gives you the ability to add ranged units to your other mounted force

Mounted Retainer (6)

The Mounted Retainer is a 2 recruitment cost model. Like the Bowman, he has a standard commoner abilities of 3s and 1 activation.  He can choose either a spear or a katana as his weapon, and he has the standard ability to move 9 inches as part of a move action.  With 6 recruitment cards in the box and a cost of 2, these are the core of a mounted force.  .  

Additional Cards

In addition, the box will come with 5 additional skill cards and 1 quest card.  We will be listing those below and having a brief explanation of what the card does.  

Lord and Master

Friendly Models within 6 inches gain +1 Honour.

Glory Seeker

Once per turn, until the Samurai cuts down an enemy Samurai, he can move up to 7 inches during a Charge action.

Momentum

Once per turn, after cutting down an enemy warrior you may draw the next action token.

Terrifying Visage

Enemies Charged by this Samurai must pass a Test of Honour or lose 1 dice from their Avoid roll.  

Kyudo Master

All mounted troops in the force can move up to 4 inches during a Shoot action.

Self Confidence (Quest)

Recruit 2 less points than normally allowed for the battle and still win.

Conclusions

Coming right out of the box, there are 46 points of recruitable units in the box.  Since most warbands cap out at 3 heroes, you’re only going to probably be able to put 38 points on the table maximum, but that’s still an impressive amount of horsepower.  Mounted Retainers feel like the right core choice with the a little bit of mounted bowman support.  Osugawa has an interesting capacity for a highly mobile charge, but it also feels like he might be able to pull himself into trouble.  

Kyudo Master feels like it’s in the wrong box, since the Mounted Samurai box has recruitment cards for 6 Mounted Bowman.  If you’re looking at putting together a heavy cavalry force, i’d pick up that box as well.  You’ll end up with 12 horsemen, including 2 special characters and the options for a host of choices.  (I ended up picking up two additional sets of sprues of both the Horses and the Riders, and just as soon as my bases materialize, i can put the rest of them together).  

You can find the Daimyo’s Retinue at Warlord Games Webstore here.  It retails for $24 if you can find it at your friendly local game store, which we always suggest you support.  That’s it for our discussion of this box, so Game On, Game Fans.