Random Rebels

In an effort to bulk up the opposition for the Lord of Tea, I've scrounged an assortment of figures from the stash, including the Warlord plastics.

After my first attempt with the plastics, I had to rip arms off and retry things. I also had to sacrifice a couple of sets of musket holding arms, until I cut the right angles to be holding the second ammunition pack. So the rebels have two ammunition carriers as support options and a teppo ko gashira to command the firing line. The remaining two were built as archers. 

Scratch built ammunition carrier far left.
Redone teppo ko gashira in center. Made the pointing finger from green stuff.

I didn't really like assembling or painting the Warlord plastics. The details are very soft, and there are some historical issues. I don't think ashigaru should have two swords, for example. But they were free. Although I wouldn't buy anymore.

The Ikko-ikki also included rebellious vassal samurai, so I pulled a couple of Samurai with katanas from the lead pile and a bare headed ashigaru, plus an archer. According to Tenka Fubu blog, warrior monks with cowls and naginata were an Edo period romanticism. 

For the sashimono I Google Searched "ikko-ikki banners" and got some hits.

The most famous Ikko-ikki banner. “Advance and be reborn in Paradise. Retreat and fall immediately into Hell.” 

The Battle of Azukizaka. Note big banner in upper right

 

Six character name sashimono from the Hoganji Temple.

I think I achieved a reasonable facsimile. 

Also in the stash was this, I think, Pulp Figures Yangtze River pirate. I gave him a yari from my Japanese weapon horde.

Battle at the Tea House of Autumn Leaves

Yokshie Tokubetsu watched a bright orange leaf fall to the ground, swaying gently on a light breeze. There was a haiku in there. Something about grace and beauty even in age and death. But he was thirsty. Fortunately, the teahouse in the next village was quite good with very pretty serving girls.

Then one of his outriders approached with a pretty young villager. She pointed to the distance. "Bandits my Lord!"

I decided to spend the holiday Monday by pushing some Samurai around and giving Seven Spears/Dux Britannarium another try. Yes, I bought the Special and printed it off before lunch.

So I put out a basic Ikko-ikki force, and rolled a force morale of 7. I decided that the not quite finished samurai would make acceptable sub-commanders, and my red helmeted ronin were the designated champions.

The Rebel Lord deployed with teppo in front, elite warriors behind, followed by the warriors. Lords, marked by the Sharp Practice chips, and the two champions were evenly spread.

I then set up a basic Late Sengoku force and had to use a partially painted mounted ronin as a proxy to give me a fourth mounted samurai figure. The red and yellow hatamoto are the group of elite foot. The Lord of Tea rolled up a Force Morale of 9.

A conventional deployment. Teppo and skirmishing archers up front. Ashigaru warriors behind with the champion and then the foot elites in the rear. The Lord with his cavalry are off to the flank to make a flanking attack around the village.

Warriors surge forward

Champions clash! And I wasn't really sure what to do, since this wasn't a pre-battle duel. But champions and Big Men engaging in single combat should be a thing. I rolled some dice, they didn't hit each other.

The Lord plays Carpe Diem to throw down a couple of other cards to give his charge some extra kick.

The elite rebel foot take 3 dead and retreat with 3 shock.

The rebel warriors in the upper right by the pond are going to try and be a speed bump for the cavalry. Kinda, almost works. Slows the cavalry down for one turn.

The second rebel champion engages the ashigaru and takes a wound and three shock. He is joined by the group of elite foot for a general confused melee in front of the teahouse. I just added the dice for the champions to each side and rolled it as one big fight.

The ashigaru retire, but the elite rebels then take more hits and shock from the archers and the teppos and also fall back

The Lord has routed the rebel warriors that engaged him, he now smashes into the rebel elites, who take three more shock, which routes them too

"I just want some tea! Get out of the way!"

The Rebel teppos spent all game getting up to the farm yard where they fired one volley, killing an ashigaru teppoman

The Lord of Tea then plays Step Forth to activate Noble 2, who shoots the archers and then charges with the ashigaru into the remaining group of rebel elites. They take more shock and also rout!

The Rebel Force Morale has crashed to 0!

Yokshie Tokubetsu sat on the porch of the teahouse while his ashigaru presented him with the heads of the enemy. It had been a good fight. His losses had been minimal, while he had shattered the rebels. His troops had fought well and his own yari had been bloodied in three thunderous charges. 

As he sipped his tea, he contemplated commissioning a suitably heroic painted screen for his castle.

So, that was interesting. The Fate Card Deck is a nice mechanic. I'm still wrapping my head around a few things though. The Activation Deck has cards for Units, not just the Lords. I wasn't sure what those did. I let them activate a group without a Lord. And Champions fighting and dueling. I need to get that figured out. The mechanic with secretly allocating dice to attack or defense just doesn't work for solo play.

I may still mash this up ideas from Sharp Practice though.

But it's a promising start.

The Lord of Tea

My Samurai finally have their Daimyo and his hatamoto/Close Protection Detail, in their distinctive red armour.

These started out in 2015 as a second 100 buntai for Ronin; 1x samurai on foot, 2x yaris, 1x bow, 1x teppo. I think repainting the sashimono, to tie them into the rest of the force, and then expanding them into a guard detachment, was the way to go.

But their colours are still heavily influenced by the Yorkshire Tea bonus pack.

Here is Yokshie Tokubetsu and his two banners.

Better view of the Ikko-Ikki sashimono, which he is riding triumphantly over. This was something I started with my Napoleonic commanders and quite enjoy. The plastic sashimono came from the Warlord sprue.

Gareth Beamish, who writes and wargames in feudal Japan a lot,  (read his Tenka Fubu blog here, he has a lot of good insights about how to portray samurai warfare in miniature) helped me with the inscription on the long banner. 

It is a variation on a historic banner which featured a slogan about baths, and should hopefully say something like: "there is no cold water in a hot bowl of tea." If it doesn't, then I blame my calligraphy. 

It's rather Zen, and speaks to me on several levels.

To protect all this, we've got a couple of Samurai with naginata. While painting their equipment, I noticed that this one's scabbard was broken off. So I repaired it with a piece of plastic fruit basket and a blob of cement.

Can't really notice the repair, can you?

They are backed up by a total of 4x ashigaru with yaris (2 new and 2 old), plus the samurai with katana I painted originally. He is now the ko-gashira.

Supporting them, I've expanded the missile capabilities. The group now has 4x teppo and 2x yumis (bows).

Now, I need to crack on with some more random figures that I'm adding to the ronin/ikko-ikki and see what I've got before I buy anything new.