Samurai #3... Ronin

 

So the final game of our Samurai trilogy unfolded last week (current score son 2, me 0).  Having played a couple of games of Test of Honour we decided to dig out the Osprey rules, Ronin...

I haven't played these for ages but had good memories of them so we decided it would be interesting to compare and contrast with ToH.  In many ways these are a more straightforward set of rules with alternate figure activation and nice straightforward dice (plus modifiers)... no fancy dice required!

The USP for these rules is that each figure has a number of counters in their Combat Pool each turn. At the start of each round you secretly select some for attack and defence, so you could, for example, fight an entire round on the defensive... hoping to hold off your opponent until reinforcements arrive.  Alternatively you could throw everything into multiple attacks and hope to finish your opponent off, but risk being injured in the process.  Counters can also be used to enhance attack or defence rolls or to boost your chance of gaining the initiative in the round.  I believe a similar system is used in Osprey's En Garde rules which I own but which are still in the great 'unplayed rules' pile.

I used some beads for attack and defence counters: I picked these up at a local Hobbycraft and they have a suitable 'Go' style about them...

Some figures also have additional bonuses and skills in certain weapons to add to the list of things to forget each round.  Our game pitted a band on Bushi (or regular warriors) against some Sohei monks who were defending their temple.

The quiet temple...

The monks rush out to defend the temple...

The Bushi arrive, determined to loot the temple

Ashigaru armed with Teppo (or arquebus) take some
long range shots across the river...

The melee concentrates around a rice store.

Neither of us made any attempts at subtlety.  I had split my troops and one of my Samurai and an Ashigaru armed with a spear made a brave rush towards the river but were quickly driven back by Bow and Teppo-fire, leaving the Samurai badly wounded and out of the fight.

Everyone else was drawn into an increasingly brutal melee which I really ought to have won.  At one stage I had a 2:1 advantage in numbers but my son fought a defensive couple of rounds, holding me off long enough for some extra monks to arrive to balance the odds.

more Teppo-fire rings out but with little effect...

The markers in the picture above indicate light or grievous wounds so you can see how bloody the fight was!  Despite my early advantage, the battle slipped away from me and my troops were cut down, leaving the monks victorious and me conceding a 3-0 defeat in our latest round of games.

On reflection we decided that we preferred these to Test of Honour... nothing wrong with ToH but these felt less chance driven and had more elements of tactics and skill in choosing where and how to balance attack and defence. That's enough Samurai for now though... time for them to retire to the loft to lick their wounds and find something else for our next game.

Test of Honour - the rematch

 

So, having managed a win against my son in last week's game of Test of Honour he was very keen for a re-match and a chance to have a game where practically every roll wasn't a fumble.  We'd both felt that luck (or lack of it) had played a heavy role in the game.  We decided to stick to the 'encounter' scenario we'd played before with a bit of reorganising the table and a chance to re-think our troop choices.  

This time the clash took place at a farm somewhere in the Japanese countryside, although clearly the cherry blossom was still in bloom!  Last time Callum had opted for a lot of single-based figures and hadn't taken up the option of having them organised in groups of 3: this time he added in a couple of groups and some single missile troops.  I'd opted for 2 Nobles and a couple of groups of Ashigaru with only 1 individual commoner.  Both of us had also taken a Banner wielding figure: these give a bonus in defending to units with 6".  My choices meant I had fewer chances to activate but when I did I could use my more powerful groups.

This game was a much more cautious affair than last time. 

The enemy move up through the trees...

...and once again Callum's missile troops immediately climb onto the nearest roof.
This was actually a pretty sound tactic and they stayed there for most of the game

My troops advance, trampling some innocent peasant's precious crops.

Snipers on the rooftops...

The first half of the game was surprisingly bloodless.  We both advanced very cautiously with missile troops taking pot shots without much effect.  Eventually I crossed the stream and  we ended up with a clash between the 2 spear armed Ashigaru groups and our Samurai Heroes.

My Samurai leader was cut down and my spear group wiped out and at this point I thought it was pretty much all over, but my other Samurai, obviously enraged at the loss of his master, charged in and killed the enemy leader and most of the opposing spearmen.

The Samurai clash...

Unfortunately my force was now quite depleted and I fought a gradual retreat.  Apart from my Samurai I only had missile troops left and so we gradually withdrew, pursued by the enemy Ashigaru.  The musketeers and archers managed to inflict wounds on each other but eventually my single archer and then the Samurai were overtaken and cut down, leaving the Musket armed troops to surrender.

This game felt very different to the last one... I suspect both of us were thinking more about the strengths and weaknesses of the different troops after our first game and took a more thoughtful approach.  Very enjoyable and great to get another game on.  I'm stll keen to give the Ronin ruleset another try so there may be a 3rd Samurai game before long.

Test of Honour - duel at the bridge

 

Although lockdown has generally meant an end to gaming with my usual group of friends, it has prompted my son and I to dig out some figures and set a smallish game.  The dining table isn't really big enough for a larger game but can easily accommodate a skirmish level game.  As there has been a bit of a Japanese theme in our house lately (the boardgame Tokaido, my son's latest PlayStation game, Ghosts of Tsushima, and some odd oriental teas) we decided to keep this going and have a game of Test of Honour.

Digging back through the blog I discovered that I last played this over 2 years ago!  I had bought the starter set (then published by Warlord Games and now in a 2nd edition by Grey for Now Games) at a show (Salute?), mainly for the good deal on the figures that came with it, but the game itself is pretty good although we found it can be a bit dependent on chance.

We chose the opening scenario in the game: there are a series of typical scenarios (an encounter, a raid, an escort mission etc) but these can be linked into a campaign.  The 1st game pits 2 forces against each in an encounter.  Although this has pre-set forces in the scenario booklet, we decided to build our own forces.  You have to include a Samurai Hero (of course) and a third of your force has to be made up of commoners.  There is the option to deploy spear and missile Ashigaru as single figures or groups of 3 and we ended up with 2 very different forces.  I opted for my Noble, along with a 2nd Samurai and 2 groups of 3 figures.  These all activate on a single order but have to stay together as a group, meaning I wouldn't have many activations each turn.  My son opted for a single Samurai and lots of individual figures... individually weaker but with more flexibility.

Figures are activated by drawing a counter from a cup and Samurai get multiple activations per turn while the common rabble only go once.  Combat tends to be quite bloody... figures either take light wounds which impair them or are cut down.  Samurai are able to cope with multiple wounds and also have the chance to avoid a wound but take an injury card instead which may persist through a campaign.  Samurai can also behave dishonourably and gain an extra dice to attack but this comes at a morale penalty as your commoners don't approve of that sort of thing.  I'm pleased to say neither of us stooped to using this shabby tactic and risking dishonouring our houses.

So, on with the scenario...

Our 2 nobles have arrived at opposite sides of a village where a bridge is the only way across the river without getting your feet wet. Both have demanded the right to cross first and, of course, neither wants to give way to the other.  There's only one way to resolve this....

The village with some peasants happily going about their business

My forces arrive at one end of the village.  The cards in the background are for dishonour, wounds, skills etc.  One issue with the game is there is quite a bit of 'clutter' which needs to be available on the table... tokens, cards etc.  I know some people don't really like this sort of thing.

And Callum's troops arrive at the other end of the road...

Callum's Samurai Noble makes his way to the river to do a spot of taunting

And, of course I fall for this and charge my Samurai retainer across the river and into hand to hand combat.  This didn't go well... his Lord wounded my Samurai and then a cowardly archer struck him down while he was recoiling from the combat

My spear and bow Ashigaru move up to the bridge.  Missile troops are very useful as, even if they don't cause a wound they can force units to use up their activation for a turn as they defend against the bow or musket fire, effectively pinning down their opponents.

My spearmen crossed the river and there was a bloody battle at the end of the bridge which eventually went my way.  The 2 Samurai Heroes now clashed in a flurry of katanas.  

My son was managing to defy the odds and consistently roll fumbles which meant I was causing wounds on his troops even when they were attacking me (to be fair some of my spearmen managed to trip themselves up and fall in a heap at the foot of the bridge!) and his Noble was picking up growing numbers of light wounds and being driven back.  Eventually these wounds grew too much and my noble cut him down and then turned on the remaining enemy Ashigaru.  The single enemy musketman had positioned himself on a rooftop and took a few unsuccessful pot shots before he realised that his lord and most of his comrades were dead and he abandoned the battle, leaving the field to my noble

The game was enjoyable but we did find a lot the dice can have a big effect on the combats, from criticals to fumbles, which can really affect the result of the game.  Good fun but we may give Ronin by Osprey Games a go for a comparison.  It's even longer since I've played those and it would be good to see how they compare.

Xmas boardgames

 Xmas holidays are always a good excuse to dig out some boardgames and catch up on painting.

I was given a sprue of Warlord Games Ashigaru figures which came with a recent issue of Wargames Illustrated and have finally got round to painting them up (I've finished the bases since taking these snaps).  They might even get an outing on the table over the next few days.

The Japanese theme has continued with the 1st game we've played... Tokaido.  

This is a lovely game with fantastic artwork.  It's also one of those games which is deceptively simple.  Players take the role of travellers going from Kyoto to Edo, stopping off at a series of inns on the way.  As you travel you can stop off at various places to a bit of shopping and eating (collecting and building sets of cards on the way).  You can also visit temples, farms and view panoramas all of which help build victory points.  It's very much about the journey rather than the destination.  Although the rules are very simple it does create interesting tactical choices about where to stop... do you block your opponent or get to your choice of stop before someone blocks you.  There are advantages to racing ahead to be first at each inn but then you'll miss out on the chance to collect points in other areas.  The game only takes about an hour so great for people who take a bit of convincing (like my wife).  

Some food...

Some of the panoramas starting to build up.

We also played a couple of regular games which everyone will be familiar with... Settlers of Catan and Carcassone.  Having come 2nd in Tokaido I was hoping for better things and somehow managed a win in Catan...unusual as my son usually thrashed me at this.  I was soundly beaten by my wife at Carcassone though via her ruthless management of monasteries.

 

Some rapid urban sprawl taking place!

We were discussing getting some expansions for both of these but I'm not sure which to go for, so if anyone has any recommendations let me know.

We are planning a couple of other games before the holidays are over and it's back to work :(

The first is Guards, Guards which my son got for Xmas.  The Discworld games aren't always easy to track down as they are all out of print.  We've played Ankh-Morpork a lot so we're looking forward to giving this a try.

I've also dug out a copy of the GMT game Blackbeard.  

I picked up a cheap copy ages ago but it hasn't made it out of the box yet so we might give this a go, either as a 2 or 3 player game...more on this if we get round to it.

 

 

Latest magazine freebies

 

Last month I was tempted out of my Covid secure bunker into the post-apocalyptic wasteland of Sutton High Street (if you've ever been to this bit of South London you'll know it wasn't much better pre-pandemic!) to buy a copy of the latest Wargames Illustrated and the free copy of Never Mind the Billhooks.  These excellent rules seem to have really taken off and it sounds like greater things are being planned for them in the future.

Of course WI have a canny marketing department and I was immediately drawn into buying the next issue thanks to the promise of more freebies.  This month they are giving away a sprue of Warlord Games Samurai figures which reminded me my Japanese figures haven't seen the light of day for a while.  

Inevitably I picked up a couple of issues so I now have 10 figures to build... I hadn't realised at the time that there are 3 different sprues on the covers... spear armed Ashigaru, missile troops or Samurai.  I might have paid more attention if I had worked this out but in the end I have 2 worked of Ashigaru which is ideal.

The magazine also features an excellent Billhooks scenario for Stoke Field so well worth getting for that as well.

I also picked up a copy of Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy which has a focus on the AWI this month so lots on interesting reading.

Now, off to the loft to find my Japanese collection!

Abandoning the Japanese...

 Wargamers are notoriously fickle creatures... we read a book or watch a film and think "ooh... I've always wanted to game the War of the Lower Anhalt-Silesian Succession (or something)"

Then we start the new project and then find the figures languishing, unloved, in a box months, or years, after we first pick up glue and brush.  And that's what I'm guilty of (yet again).  Last summer, back in those heady virus-free days when wargames shows were a thing, I went along to Valhalla, a local show near Farnborough (the original post can be found HERE) and bought a couple of boxes of figures.  One of these was the start of my AWI armies which were quickly painted and then added to and have had several  actual games on the table.  The other box was a set of Warlord games WW2 Japanese: my thinking was to build these up for Chain of Command, along with some Australians or Chindits to oppose them.  I've always fancied doing this as a project.

Since I 'finished' my Wars of the Roses army (for now anyway) and have tinkered with some Gaslands cars I keep thinking I ought to go back to them and finish them off...the're all assembled but only 12 have been painted.  But somehow I just can't work up any enthusiasm at all for finishing them.  This morning I realised that I'm probably never going to complete this.  I think there are 2 main reasons.  One is that they would need a lot of terrain that I don't have... jungle pieces, buildings etc.  I do have a few bits of jungle terrain for Vietnam games but this is in 15mm rather than 28mm and to be honest is very badly in need of repair or replacement as it's very old and tatty.  

The other realisation is that it's going to be a pretty expensive project to complete.  Although Chain of Command works at platoon level I'd still need a couple of boxes to get the core platoon built.  The bigger issue is adding all the interesting stuff that you need as support elements... by the time you've added enough options you need a fair amount of troops and vehicles to add on.  And that's before I get started on the Aussies!

So in a mad rush of blood to the head the decision is made...  off to eBay with them!  I've been mulling over whether to paint up the rest of the unit first and then sell them but I think they may go as they are.

Strangely I feel  quite relieved having made the decision which makes me think it's the right thing to do. Of course it does mean I never got to scratch that Far East WW2 itch (which sounds like some unpleasant medical condition contracted out in the Tropics!) but I may come back to it in 15mm, which is the scale all my other WW2 stuff is in.

The good news is that with the prospect of selling them off, the cash will kickstart a new project (will I never learn!!!).  More on this later...

More Lockdown painting

I hope everyone is keeping safe and well despite everything that is going on.

As I've been working a lot on my Wars of the Roses figures I decided to have a bit of variety and started on my Warlord Games WW2 Japanese.  The box comes with 30 figures and i'd hoped this would be enough to put together most of a platoon for Chain of Command but of course it isn't.  I'll need to invest in another box to make sure I have enough, especially for the hordes of knee mortar wielding soldiers.  And then of course I'll need some Command figures... and then some support weapons... and then some tanks...  It's a very slippery slope!!

The figures themselves are very nice although quite a few seem to suffer from being quite hunched over in  rather odd poses

There are 4 LMGs in the box which look rather nice

Every Japanese army needs at least one soldier charging with a sword!

I've completed a dozen so far but I do really need to get back to WotR Men at Arms or I'll be falling behind in the arms race with Eric the Shed and the other Shed Denizens!

Apart from painting I have been spending at least an hour or 2 each day in the park exercising with the dogs and trying to avoid all the other dog walkers, cyclists, runners and families who are also going stir crazy.

To get my gaming fix I've been experimenting with online games.  I picked up a copy of Lock'n'Load Tactical Digital from Steam as it was available very cheap.  This is a straight port of the boardgame onto the PC with a cheap starter set available for £4 

This only has 4 scenarios but is a good taster and more modules are gradually being released.  The game itself is very like Advanced Squad Leader in feel (although to be fair I have never played much ASL) but without the doorstop sized rulebook.  The only downside is that it is still in Early Release so there are still glitches being uncovered. 

A sample screenshot

The main one at the moment is that there isn't an obvious way to play against an online opponent...it should allow this but unless I've missed something, there isn't a way to connect so we are going to try playing this on Vassal instead..another system I'm trying to get to grips with.  I also picked up a copy of Tabletop Simulator as it was half-price (normally £14)...this is like a fancy version of Vassal as far as I can see but has the potential to allow you to play miniature games online such as Black Powder or Chain of Command.   It does seem quite fiddly and I have a lot of learning to do!!  It's a whole new world....