Ninja All-Stars Review part 1

Just last week, I received a parcel from Soda Pop Miniatures containing the Ninja All-Stars game and lots of add-on miniatures. These were all part of the Kickstarter project that I backed last year. There is so much to show that I'm splitting this review into two parts. Part one concentrates on all that you get with the basic boxed set, whilst part two will cover all the add-on extras and stretch goal sets.

First up is the box that the game comes in and what is immediately noticeable is just how deep it is. My one and only criticism of the box is that it does not contain any plastic inserts for storing the cards, dice and figures. It's just a big box. Obviously, there are ways around this but it needs pointing out. The rulebook runs to 80 pages and is in glorious full-colour throughout. The rules themselves are easy to learn and they don't take up too many pages. Most of the book covers stats and info on the characters as well as background detail. Once you learn how to use the dice, which uses 6 elemental symbols instead of numbers you're good to go. More on these later. The game is designed to be played by 2 to 4 players, with 2 being the default option. I'll be playing it solo without bias towards any team I choose. There are eight scenarios, or challenges as they are called, to choose from. Of course, there is nothing stopping you from designing your own challenges.

As well as the rulebook, you get a team roster sheet pad to record your team's stats and progress if you play league games. The game works fine playing one-off challenges but really excels if you choose league play. In this respect it is reminiscent of Bloodbowl and indeed, shares a lot in common with it. You get six large-sized cards of stats for Clan teams and six for Shrine teams. Also included are a deck of 52 Moon Cards which can be played throughout the game to help your team or hinder your opponent, 12 cards of Clan Heroes, 26 cards of assorted Ronin and a deck of cards showing stats of various Ninja All-Stars figures for those who want to use the minis in Super Dungeon Explore, which is something a lot of fans (myself included) wanted to see and clamoured for.

You get two sheets packed with counters to use in the game, all very colourful and characterful. Most feature status effects - Activated, Curse, Delay, Haste, Lucky, Moon Power, Poison, Protect, Slow, Stealth and Stun.

The 16 dice (8 black and 8 white) feature symbols of the six elements - Air, Earth, Fire, Spirit, Void and Water, as shown respectively on the first six white dice reading from left to right. The most common use of the dice is for an Affinity Test. Each model has an affinity with one or more elements. To make an Affinity Test, the player rolls three dice, looking for at least one match with his or her affinity. Models with more than one affinity must choose which element to use before the dice are rolled. In combat, the attacker rolls a number of dice equal to their Attack stat whilst the defender rolls dice equal to their Defence stat. These stats can be modified by certain circumstances. The results of the two rolls are compared and dice are eliminated based on the following pairs - Air and Earth cancel each other out, Fire and Water cancel each other out and Spirit and Void cancel each other out. After all eliminations have been made, the player with the most remaining dice chooses a single die from those remaining for the result of the attack. If the results are tied, the attacker chooses the result. The results vary from element to element. Not all results are good! Three favour the attacker (Air, Earth and Void), one favours the defender (Spirit), one is subjective (Water, which could be good or bad) and one is harmful to attacker and defender (Fire).

The game boards are just superb! To the left and right are the two dojo boards, which show a team's Healing House and Training Ground at both ends. Injured team members are placed in the Healing House until they recover and are then moved to the Training Ground. Models held in reserve are also placed in the Training Ground.
The main board, shown above, is double-sided, and shows a manor house or temple on this side. Figures move from dot to dot, some of which have restrictions depending on their surrounding terrain. For example, it costs 2 movement points instead of 1 to move through Rough terrain, Obscured terrain blocks Line of Sight and Elevated terrain cost 3 movement points to climb up on but only 1 to drop down from.

In the centre of the dojo board to the left is a tracker for marking how many Victory Points a team amasses, whilst in the centre of the dojo board to the right are spaces for placing the Moon Cards deck, discarded Moon Cards and a tracker to determine the six phases of the moon, plus a tracker to note how many rounds have been played.
The game board shown above depicts a small village. Soda Pop Miniatures have announced that new game boards will be produced in the future. Yay!

Finally, I come to the figures you get with the game. All figures are 28mm scale Chibi-style miniatures, very similar to the figures used in Super Dungeon Explore and fully compatible with them. These six shown above are the Samurai Sentries, whose purpose is to protect various objectives depending upon the challenge chosen. They are not affiliated to any Clan or Shrine team and operate independently and against them. I love these figures and I do regret not buying more of them as add-ons, as they'd make a fine force to use in other games or as a tougher challenge for this game.

Now we come to the six Shrine teams, each of which are affiliated with one of the six elements. The nine figures for each team are made up of identical sculpts of five different types. The game supplies you with four Shrine teams - Fire, Spirit, Void and Water. Air and Earth Shrine teams are not included but I'm showing them here just for completeness.
Each Shrine team has an equivalent Clan team. The Air Shrine team's Clan equivalent is Clan Tanchyo. To ease identification, both teams are moulded in green plastic.

At first glance, it may appear that all six teams are identical but that is not the case. For example, compare the stats for the Air Shrine Chunin (leader above) with those of the Earth Shrine Chunin (shown to the right). The Air Shrine Chunin has stats of Move 5, Attack 4 and Defence 3, whilst the Earth Shrine Chunin has stats of Move 5, Attack 3 and Defence 4. Also, the Abilities of certain types, shown below their three stats, differ from team to team.
The Earth Shrine team's Clan equivalent is Clan Yamazaru. Both teams are moulded in brown plastic.

The five character types depicted on each Shrine team reference sheet are Chunin (clan leader), Kaiken (foot soldier), Yajiri (ranged weapon specialist, usually bow armed), Kunoichi (female scout) and Madoushi (mystic). If you play with Clan teams you have limits as to how many of each different type you can take. However, to get you started, Ninja All-Stars includes four of these six pre-generated Shrine teams so you can get straight down to the business of playing the game.
Note that  all of the figures in the game have a small mark on their bases to indicate their front facing. This is a great idea, I think.
The Fire Shrine team's Clan equivalent is Clan Tora. Both teams are moulded in red plastic.

The Shrine team characters come with just three stats - Movement (MV), Attack (AT) and Defence (DF). However, Clan teams have an extra stat, which is Koban (the monetary unit used in the game) and this tells you how much it will cost you to buy that particular character for your team. The more powerful the character the more expensive he or she will be. Koban costs are not given for the Shrine teams but if you wanted to add any Shrine figures to your Clan teams you can find the equivalent costs provided with the Clan team sheets.
The Spirit Shrine team's Clan equivalent is Clan Kitsune. Both teams are moulded in orange plastic.

At the start of each round of the game the players determine the order their team activates. The rules recommend playing rock, paper and scissors but I prefer to make a dice roll with the highest result going first. I use a d20 for this. Then each player chooses one figure to move then act. This continues until all the figures have moved and acted. Movement always comes first, although players can choose to not move a figure if it would benefit them. Actions can be any one of a melee attack, a ranged attack, a second move, searching or going into Stealth mode.
The Void Shrine team's Clan equivalent is Clan Ijin. Both teams are moulded in purple plastic.

The figures for the Shrine teams are very nicely sculpted but they aren't particularly outstanding. However, the figures for the Clan teams and the Ronin (mercenaries who can be hired by any team) are absolutely superb. You'll see what I mean when I review them next time. This begs the question - do you really need the Shrine teams? The honest answer is no, you don't. They are just a tool to help you get started and are probably of most use for teaching newcomers how to play the game. I got my Shrine teams simply because I'm a completist.
The Water Shrine team's Clan equivalent is Clan Ika. Both teams are moulded in blue plastic.

Although I only received this game very recently, I have played it once just to try out the rules. I rolled to see which two teams to use and ended up with the Air Shrine and Void Shrine teams. I played the introductory Brawl Challenge and the first team to accumulate 9 Victory Points was the winner. It took about 90 minutes to play and ended in a 9-5 victory to the Void Shrine team. I must say, the game played very well. It was a lot of fun and is a game that should not be taken too seriously at all. 

The game is more akin to a non-lethal sports match than to a fight to the death. In Ninja All-Stars no one dies. Characters are either injured or stunned. A character who receives three stuns in a round is automatically wounded. Your role is as a coach, picking the best team for the challenge in hand and coming up with a winning game plan. Like many good games, Ninja All-Stars is easy to play but difficult to master.

I have read some misguided negative reviews of the combat system, with a few people moaning about the colours of the dice (WTF!), the cancelling elements and how characters with low attack stats have no chance of defeating enemies with a high defence stat. I totally dismiss all these criticisms. If you are stupid enough to send a low attack character head to head with a high defence foe then you deserve to lose! The game is all about tactics. Let us assume you are sending a character with AT1 against an enemy with DF3. First, you should have your attacker go into Stealth mode and move behind the enemy. Attacking the enemy in the rear from Stealth adds +2 to your AT (+1AT for a rear attack and +1AT for attacking from Stealth). Now its 3AT versus 3DF. The odds are tied. For each friendly model next to and facing the enemy you get +1AT for each assist. With just one colleague assisting your attacker the odds are now in the attacker's favour - AT4 vs DF3. Ninjas are meant to be stealthy and to attack from a position of strength. Really, combat is all about good tactics, which is why I said the game is easy to play but difficult to master. 

I absolutely love the game and can highly recommend it. From what I gather, it ought to go on general release in mid to late February.