Hello once again. Let me give you a little talk about special attacks and defences. Most of the experienced players will find them quite familiar and intuitive to use. But some new players could ask themselves “why on earth should I drop a dice from my pool?” or we could also find a few trigger-happy players who can’t avoid overusing them.
My first point goes to the importance of those special abilities. Special attacks and defences totally win games. They’re the ultimate crowd control tool when ki feats are not in hand. Being able to push enemy models away, throw them flying against their allies, hold them defenseless, deal tons of damage or just sneak out of their grasp are just examples of the amazing potential they bear.
Trouble arises when facing dice sacrifice. If it wasn’t hard enough to split dice into attack and defence, droping your melee skill to activate a special ability doesn’t look very appealing. There are a few general rules you should follow when doing so, and everything will go fine until you get more experience.
A) Always consider all your possibilities before taking any action. Think how each model’s special abilities can help you in the upcoming activations/turns.
B) More than 3 dice into attack/defense is a waste. Only 2 additional dice can be used to get a +1 on the final result. If at any moment you find yourself rolling 4+ dice into attack, a dice should always be sacrified to benefit from a special ability.
C) Always check your opponents dice pool. When facing a melee skill reduced to 1 or 2 dice, the way they are assigned into attack and defense can be predictable. Use it into you advantage to know when it’s safe to drop a dice.
D) Is the special attack going to prone your enemy or move him away from Btb? Sometimes can be interesting to focus only into attack. If you are successful, the exchange will end and you won’t get hit back. Also rememeber that if you are attacked and intend to side step, push defense or similar there’s no sense rolling into attack. If successful, you’ll get away and won’t have a chance to hit back.
E) Act according to your needs. Desperate situations require desperate actions. Sometimes you’ll find yourself risking a model’s roll (reducing it below 3 dice) because the activated special ability will make you get a Victory Point if successful. That’s fine. Moving enemies away from objectives or control zones should be priority, particularly when close to the end of a scoring turn.
The Temple of Bushido 