Bushido Tactica – Disengage

 

I’m trying to get my groove back for Bushido now that “the year that shall not be named” is over. So I thought I’d start with something I’ve been thinking about investigating more closely for some time and that I feel is under used, not in the least by myself.

What is Disengage?

Per the Rulebook Disengage works as follows (summary copied from the Bushido WIKI, see link in references):

1. Choose one enemy model in BtB with the activating model.

This is already interesting, you can choose the model that you will use to Disengage from. So if you are in BtB with both a Fire Kami (2 Melee dice) and Minimoto Yuji (4 Melee dice), you might want to Disengage with the Fire Kami rather than Yuji.

2. The activating model resolves a Melee Exchange against that model.

A Melee Exchange means that both models involved in the exchange will lose an Activation Token when it is resolved.
It also means that all the normal rules regarding a Melee Exchange apply regarding Initiative, Active Player, Active Ki Feats, …
But, and this is something to keep in mind, it’s a Melee Exchange and not a Melee Attack Action. This means that it doesn’t come with a Walk before the exchange, you skip that part and go straight to the fighting part. So you can’t circle your opponent’s base when you are in BtB like you could during a regular Melee Attack Action.

3. It must allocate at least as many dice to Defense as to Attack, and if unable to do this (E.g. the model is Aggressive) then it may not attempt a Disengage Action.

It’s a defensive maneuver so this makes sense. Keep in a mind that an Aggressive model with 4 dice can still disengage because they can roll 2 Dice in Attack and 2 Dice in Defense.

4. If the Activating model successfully defends or ends the exchange not in BtB with the chosen model, after the Melee is resolved it may make a Walk up to its Move Statistic in inches, ignoring all models in BtB.

So the Disengage is successful if you defend or somehow end the exchange no longer in BtB. If successful you get to Walk up to your Move Statistic ignoring no matter how many other models are in BtB with you.
There are plenty of ways to no longer be in BtB at the end of the Exchange mostly through Special Attacks and Defenses such as Sidestep Defense, Throw Defense, Push Attack, Slam Attack, …

There are actually quite a lot of tactical options in there and few people make use of it, apart from the obvious: Get out of a bad situation.
Frankly most of the time that I want to use Disengage to get out of a bad situation, it fails for one simple reason:

My roll is predictable.

Not only do I need to roll at least as many Defense dice as Attack dice, my opponent also knows that I don’t want to be in this fight. So I’m very likely to roll more defense dice than the minimum required and he can probably safely counter with a lot of attack dice and minimal defense.
Depending on your experience with Bushido you might be doing the same as what I did for a very long time, the Disengaging model rolls full Defense while the opposing model rolls full Attack.

Predictable isn’t always bad

If your model has good Special Defenses, full defense might still be a really good idea. You just need to keep in mind that your opponent will be expecting it, e.g. if you have Sidestep Defense, your opponent will likely expect you to roll full defense to make use of it.

All Special Defenses are good when doing a Disengage but two deserve a special mention because they create almost “No brainer” situations.

Sidestep Defense

Sidestep Defense is very common and very strong during a Disengage. A successful Disengage allows you to make a Walk, but usually you need to start that Walk where you started the turn, meaning that the opposing model is probably in your way.
Sidestep Defense allows you to leave the ZoC at a point of your choosing, giving you a lot more leeway to choose the path of your Walk.
9 out of 10 you should probably just use Sidestep Defense when you Disengage, and your opponent will expect you too.
Which is fine, because that’s when you will do something different.

Throw Defense

A true “No brainer”. If your model has Throw Defense(0) and the opposing model doesn’t have Immovable, Immune(Prone) or Jump Up, why would you do anything else? You negate all damage and you knock the opposing model Prone D2” inside your model’s Line of Sight, there’s a good chance you can throw it into another enemy model and/or out of a Zone.
Luckily Throw Defense(0) isn’t that common and Throw Defense(1) requires a bit more thought.

So how can we be less predictable?

When your opponent thinks he knows what you will do next, is when you do something different.

The key of Disengage is that you don’t need to roll all dice in Defense. By putting a die in Attack you can put extra pressure on your opponent. Now he needs to keep in mind that if he goes full Attack, that your one Attack die might roll a six. When a model is dead you are no longer in BtB with it and your Disengage is successful. So now he’s minus one model and you are free to make a Walk to some place he doesn’t want you to go.

Or maybe your model has an interesting Special Attack such as Push Attack or even more fun Slam or Throw Attack, bonus points if you manage to Slam or Throw the model into another enemy model or out of a Zone.
If you have a model with both a good Special Attack and a Special Defense, things become even more interesting.

This is also how I feel Tengu probably should be playing, using Disengage and their Special Attacks and Defenses to displace their opponent before flying off.

A few examples:

1.    In a Temple vs Prefecture game I had Kira (Throw Attack(1) & Push Defense(0))fighting Takashi Eiji at the edge of a Zone with Takashi Hagane holding it in the middle. Suchiro was coming in to support her but I needed to get her into the Zone to be able to challenge it.
So I declared Disengage. Now I had a choice Push Defense(0) would be easiest, but I had limited space to move Eiji. Knowing my opponent, he was likely to just roll full attack to block my Disengage. So I told him I was using 2 Ki to buy an extra die, giving Kira 4 dice and rolled 1 die in Attack and 2 Defense while declaring Throw Attack. My opponent rolled full attack.
Result: Eiji got thrown into Hagane knocking both Prone, Kira was able to step into the Zone and Suchiro joined to attack Hagane.

2.    In a KKZ vs Jung (Blood Brothers) game I underestimated the speed of the Blood Brothers and Bikou (Push Attack(0) and Sidestep Defense(0)) got attacked by Shenzhiqi (I think). I really didn’t want Bikou in Melee with any of the Brothers, I needed her to be throwing her Kusari and Shuriken at them. So I declared a Disengage. I had 3 Melee dice vs his 4 Dice. My opponent knew I didn’t want to be in the fight at all so he also expected me to want to get out and with good reason expected me to use Sidestep Defense. But I didn’t, I took a risk and declared Push Attack instead. My opponent did roll 1 Defense die, but I got lucky. I could have rolled 3 dice in Defense instead but then I would have done the predictable thing and he would probably have stopped me.
Result: Bikou pushed Shenzhiqi 1” away and retreats 4” into Cover ready to throw pointing things at him.

3.    In a Minimoto vs Jung game Minimoto Yuji got stuck fighting Fujiwaro Ran. With 4 Melee dice and Parry(1) Ran is a pain in the backside for Yuji to deal with. It’s extremely hard for him to hit her and she can just bind him up for most of the game. So I decided to Disengage, but getting away was secondary for me.
By putting 2 dice in Attack and 2 dice in Defense I gave my opponent a choice. He could either try to stop me from Disengaging and risk getting hit, or he could block Yuji’s attack and risk having him getting away to smash a more vulnerable target.
Result: Ran got hit with a Tetsubo and Yuji finally freed himself from her to harass the rest of the Jung.