SBVT04 Mōri Battles

103 Koriyama Castle (1540) - River Enokawu

BrentS (Yellow) - Banners 5, Figures 13
G1ul10 (Red) - Banners 3, Figures 15

I didn't know what to make of this scenario but it turned out to be an interesting one. Giulio did a great job of defending the crossing, but I was able to force the passage with a Samurai Naginata unit on the right. It was eventually eliminated after doing some damage. The swing came when I was able to Turncoat Giulio's mounted samurai archers on his right flank, making his previously solid defense there untenable and also giving me an additional river crossing banner. A successful Shogun roll (always edgy about those with 4 dice) allowed me to charge into his depleted units and finish it. A good match.

Brent.

106 Koriyama Castle (1541) - January

BrentS (Yellow) Banners 6 - Figures 15
G1ul10 (Red) Banners 1 - Figures 29

Well, I was wrong about this scenario. Yellow can win it but only through a hefty slice of luck. Good cards (Serpent Command and the cards to get them all linked first, Hold and Shoot, Order Red) and good dice. Giulio was able to Personal Challenge and kill my ninja leader at 10-5 odds, and then sprung a challenge again on the other flank at 10-4 odds which should have had me down to 3-6 command disadvantage and a slide into slow and painful defeat......but my janky leader won the 4-10 odds challenge, taking out the enemy leader and ninja. Crazy stuff. Giulio did get a cavalry unit adjacent to the command tent and did a bit of damage to the peasant camped there, but my cavalry responded in force and finished it with a leader kill.

I still think yellow will rarely win this one but it is possible with some hefty luck. Not much Giulio could do about this one.

Brent.

104 Koriyama Castle (1541) - September

Cavie (Red) Banners 3 - Figures 17
G1ul10 (Yellow) Banners 4 - Figures 8

Dan started by retreating the two Ashigaru on his left flank toward the river. I had no cards to contest his move and he managed, in a few turns, to exit them both. This put me at two medals disadvantage. After an exchange of arrows, in which my archers seemed to fire better, Dan finally decided to attack. He did not obtain much and with the help of an Ambush I weakened his forces and, the round after, inflicted some losses. After the usual exchange of leaders, one killed on both sides, the scenario ended with the elimination of the last Red Ashigaru. Honestly, the game could have finished with equal probability 4-3 for the Red player.

105 Koriyama Castle (1541) - October

G1ul10 (Red) Banners 5 - Figures 8
Cavie (Yellow) Banners 1 - Figures 24

The Red army attacked swiftly with cavalry and infantry. The Yellow army tried to keep its position and resist the assault but the early seppuku of a Yellow leader left Dan with just three Command Cards. Moreover, he incurred in a streak of bad dice rolls that made his counter-attack unproductive. A relative fast scenario in which a good initial hand of Cards can be decisive.

103 Koriyama Castle (1540) - River Enokawu
Red: Plainscape 2 banners, 22 losses
Yellow: Cavie 5 banners, 15 losses

Game started with some lucky shots by the only Shinguto Ashigaru Archer who scored about 4 hits on two different heavy units. The Shishido army lost patience from this fire and came across the river to knock it off. The Shinguto somehow survived about 10d in rolls from the enemy leader supported samurai bowmen on their right side that came across. This and some 'Timid Success' helped keep the Shinguto from losing ground.

Todd did a great job keeping me from getting across the river for the easier banners but my dice made quite a few of the banners I won quite easy (both my luckier rolls and Todd's not so lucky rolls).

I've played this scenario a few times now and each time I play the Shishido side I find it difficult to sit back and defend the Shinguto from coming across while taking fire. A good scenario for replay and trying different strategies.

duplicated

104 Koriyama Castle (1540) - September

Red: G1ul10 4 banners, 7 losses
Yellow: Plainscape 1 banner, 13 losses

This one has been fast. I had a good starting hand of command cards and decide to assault with samurai, both cavalry and foot, the Yellow weak units. I lost one unit to the enemy arrow fires but all in all the strategy worked. Not much Todd could have done about it.

103 Koriyama Castle (1540) - River Enokawu

BrentS (Red) Banners 5 Figures 11
plainscape (Yellow) Banners 2 Figures 18

Having played this from both sides now, I can appreciate this as a very interesting and challenging scenario, one of the better ones from this expansion. A leader death on each side balanced out. The result was pretty much about ranged fire across the river, with a Hold and Shoot helping my cause. Todd charged the centre with a Cavalry Archer where we exchanged a unit kill each. He also made a late push with an Infantry Onslaught against the rightmost ford, where I'd left only one Samurai Naginata in defense, but it was too late as my archers successfuly picked off a couple of 1 figure units to finish the game before he could cross the river.

One interesting thing that doesn't often happen is that we maxed out on 30 H&F between us and weren't able to draw any when we rolled them. At one stage I had 9 Dragon Cards in hand. In playtesting scenarios where there's a buildup before close combat, I found that H&F and Dragon Cards do tend to accumulate to ridiculous levels. in design for the Genpei War scenarios I started to adopt an approach of minimising starting H&F and Dragon Cards for river crossings, sieges and amphibious assaults.

Brent.

105 Koriyama Castle (1540) - October

BrentS (Red) Banners 5 Figures lost 9
plainscape (Yellow) Banners 1 Figures lost 24

Well....scenarios like this make me feel better about the attempts at balance in my own design efforts. A win for yellow must surely be extremely rare here. Todd did a great job in a very difficult situation. There was very little close combat in this one and predominantly ranged attack kills. 3 Hold and Shoots in total (two for me including a Counterattack) were devastating. So strong in this expansion with the 3 die ranged attacks (much more potent than Darken in Ancients) and when those attacks aren't hitting they're invariably generating H&F.....and when you have a surplus of H&F it means lots of Dragon Cards......at one point I had 20 H&F and 9 Dragon Cards. Todd's job wasn't made any easier when my Cav Archers eventually did move in for melee, with a Personal Challenge at 10-4 reducing him to 3 Command. The game ended with a leader kill on a first strike. Not looking forward to playing yellow in this one

Brent.

106 Koriyama Castle (1541) - January
Cavie(Red/Ouchi) - 6 Banners won, 7 figures lost
Plainscape(Yellow/Amako) - 0 banners won, 22 figures lost

Not much of a fair battle when the dice hit as well as they do on only one side. Everything was in favor for the Ouchi army even Dragon Cards. A 'Personal Challenge' eliminated one leader and the other was 'Insulted' when trying to step in.

The Ouchi used 2 Cavalry Charges to finish of the game. Todd did everything he could but the dice and cards would not give him a chance to survive.