SEVEN SAMURAI SKIRMISH

INTRODUCTION
Simple tactical skirmish rules.
Based on the classic movie Seven Samurai.

COUNTERS
Use cardboard counters to represent:
Men, Horses, Guns, Armor, Wounds.

VICTORY
The Bandits win if all the Samurai are killed.
The Samurai win if the Leader, lieutenants, and 15 bandits are killed.
The remaining bandits will flee.

THE MAP
Use a hex map.
The map is of the village and its immediate surroundings.
The village is a maze of 20 houses and a few other structures (Well, fences).
A stream borders one side of the village.
The terrain outside the village is a mix of clear and forest plus a few outlying houses.

STACKING
Units may not stack.

TERRAIN TYPES
*Clear
*Forest: Units in forest cannot be shot at except by adjacent units. 
Units cannot shoot through forest hexes.
It costs horses two moves to enter a Forest space.
*Houses: HTH attack rolls into or out of houses get Force –2. 
Units have no penalty when shooting out of houses.
Only units adjacent to houses may shoot into them. (Roll at Force –1)
It costs an extra move to enter or leave a house.
Horses may not enter houses.
The average house will occupy 4-6+ spaces.
*Stream: It costs units two moves to enter a Stream space.
Attack rolls at units in streams get Force +1
*Fences: It costs units one move to climb a fence.
Horses are blocked by fences.

SAMURAI SETUP
The Samurai player sets up first.
The 7 Samurai and 40 villagers are in the village.
The Samurai have swords. 
The villagers have spears.
One Samurai has a gun.
Three Samurai have armor.

BANDIT SETUP
The bandits are placed anywhere on the edges of the map.
There are 37 Bandits with assorted hand weapons.
20 of the Bandits have Horses.
10 of the Bandits have guns.
There are two Lieutenants with swords, armor and horse.
There is one Leader with swords, armor and horse.
The bandits get the first turn.

UNIT STATS
Type:			Force	Move	Notes
Villagers		1	2	
Samurai			4	3	Can make 2 attacks per turn
Bandits			2	2	
Lieutenants		3	3	
Leader			4	3	Can make 2 attacks per turn

TURN SEQUENCE
Players take turns.
On a players turn each of his men can move once and attack once.

MOVING
It costs a unit one move to enter a clear space.
Units cannot move through other units.
It costs a unit one move to get on or off a horse (you cannot ride it until next turn).

HORSES
A horse can move 9 spaces per turn.
Villagers and wounded men cannot ride horses.
If thrown from a horse you cannot get up and back on until next turn.
A horse without a rider will not move.

HAND TO HAND ATTACKS
These are made against adjacent opponents.
The attacker rolls a number of 6 sided dice equal to his force score.
The attacker gets +1 to the roll for every friendly unit adjacent to the defender.
The defender rolls a number of 6 sided dice equal to his force score.
If the attackers total is greater, the defender loses 1D6 Force points.
A unit with 0 or fewer force points is killed.
Stack Wound counters under the wounded man to indicate his Force reduction.
If the defender is on a horse, he he takes no damage on a roll of 1-3 on 1D6, but 
is instead thrown from his horse. (lands in same space)
Further attacks against thrown riders are at +1 Force until the end of the turn. 
If the defender is wearing armor, he takes no damage on a roll of 1-3 on 1D6.

GUN ATTACKS
Guns have a range of 10 spaces.
Attacks past 6 spaces are at –1 Force.
The shooter rolls 1D6.
If the roll is equal to or less than the attackers Force the target is hit.
The defender loses 1D6 Force points if hit.
Terrain features and other units will block line of sight.
Guns require one turn to reload.
Once fired flip the gun counter over.
The gunner may reload (flip the counter up) if he does not move or attack.
A unit may pick up the gun of a dead man in the same space.

MORALE
If a villager is in the open and adjacent to any bandit the villager will 
Panic on a roll of 1-3 on 1D6: 
A Panicked villager will not attack and will run away if possible. 
Add 1 to the roll if the villager is next to a samurai.
A villager will cease to panic if an adjacent Samurai uses up a move to 
Yell exhortations at him.





LINKS
Seven Samurai
Film Journal
SHICHININ NO SAMURAI