Congratulations to Brent and his well deserved wins and achievement as tournament champ for these scenarios!

I had a ton of fun playing these scenarios with everyone and was lucky enough to get some extra games in after the initial round.  Especially appreciated these last two games with Brent.  Even though the odds are tough for the Date, the first game was played very well by Brent and he deserved each of those 9 banners earned.

2nd game had some wild rolls you may want to see in the log file.  The craziest was when I attacked Brent's Arquebus with a Cavalry Charge rolling 6d.  The Arquebus survived and played Revenge rolling a return 6d......dice came up with 6 swords!!!  

Once again, lots of fun playing with everyone and thanks to Mark for organizing.  Looking forward to the next tourney.

SBVT06 FINAL - G34 TAKAKURA CASTLE 1585 AD

Took some time to get around to it, sorry, but all done and dusted. This is a pretty lopsided scenario, with Red likely to suffer. In addition to the usual highish luck factor in Samurai Battles, the castle SSR goes a long way to deciding the outcome......lose it early and  Red lose a command and are behind 2 banners, all in one fell swoop.....hold it and they might have a chance of making a show of it. That's how it panned out here.

Match 1
goshublue - Blue (Allies) 9
Cavie - Red (Date) 1

This one decided the tie. The first blue banner was a leader kill on Takakura Oumi in the castle and that meant it fell soon after. The advancing red units were slaughtered, Arai Village taken and the allied cavalry rode down the fleeing Date arquebusiers. 

Match 2
Cavie - Blue (Allies) 9
goshublue - Red (Date) 6

With luck the Date held the castle and their full command for the entire game and that made all the difference. In fact, they made two Cavalry Charges into the Allied centre and at one point were up 5 to 2 banners with depleted greens and blues stuck on the Allied baseline and lit looked they might win it. Dan did a great job, though, with a 7-1 banner turnaround. for a comeback victory with a couple of 1 block cavalry I just couldn't get at. This game was notable for us almost emptying the H&F pool after me making a ridiculous Tea Ceremony roll for 6 H&F and Dan doing likewise with a Head Collector.

A couple of great and enjoyable matches. Well played, Dan. Nothing you could do about that first match.

Thanks to everyone for participating in a fun tournament and to Mark for organising it. This is a hefty scenario pack to get through and this is a great way of experiencing these scenarios with a variety of great players.

Brent.

Game 2

Cavie (Ashina) - 7 Banners won, 24 blocks lost (+2 for seppuku?)
Eric Y (Date) - 6 Banners won, 27 blocks lost (+2 for seppuku?)

This was an excellent game which had swings in momentum for both sides as you can see by the final banner & block count.  So much happened in the 2 hour game that I with this summary you will lose hearing much of the fun this game had - the log file could be worth watching.

Game started with the Ashina benefitting from excellent cards - 2 Flying Geese, Tea Party, a successful Personal Challenge, and Hold & Shoot accompanied by Fire by Rank gave an advantage changing the Date strategies right away.

Mid game the Date was able to respond with some very successful attacks while the Ashina tried to reorganize.  Sepukku helped each side gain needed Honor & Fortune while each side tried to sum up how to approach with units out of range.  

End game included some crazy odd beating rolls both in 5d complete misses and 4d complete hits.  Some exciting Dragon card plays in the end game kept things interesting, like the Hold and Shoot against Shot Proof Armor.

This is a good scenario and I had a fun in both games.  Thanks for the game Eric and I hope we can play again sometime!
 

Game 1

Cavie (Date) - 7 Banners won, 17 blocks lost
Eric Y (Ashina - 3 Banners won, 34 blocks lost

Battle began with some push forward from the Ashina while the Date fell back and re-organized.  A few well timed ranged shots brought a few units to low strength but not eliminated.  

Date Shigezne went down early but did not make too much of a difference with the Date's right flank.  It moved forward to press while the left also engaged creating a bit of right to left flank alternating battle turns.  A few Flying Geese moves as well as Ambush & First Strike ended up bringing the game to its conclusion.  Good battle for the Semi Final rounds.   Hopefully the module can be updated with the correct terrain and units.

Good game with Eric.  I'm looking forward to our 2nd game soon.

 
 

SEMI-FINALS - G35 SURIEGEHARA 

Match 1

goshublue (Ashina /Blue) 7 banners
Jim Dauphinais (Date /Red ) 4 banners 

A bloody battle of attrition with 2 leader kills on each side. Dangerous business as always being a Samurai Battles leader. The Ashina went up the centre immediately and killed an Ashigaru spearman and samurai infantry, after which Morikuni committed seppuku, dropping the Date to 4 command. The overextended Ashina samurai tried to withdraw in the face of the Date cavalry advance but not far enough to escape the ensuing Cavalry Charge. This resulted in an even trade of samurai unit kills on both sides which didn’t give the Date the advantage they deserved. The Ashina took out the battle with a Shogun play to kill a Date Samurai spear on their left. 

Match 2

goshublue (Date/Red) 7 banners
Jim Dauphinais (Ashina /Blue) 3 banners 

This one was quick because early mobility for the Ashina forced contact in the centre. First an Order Red and Move as the Wind, then an Infantry Onslaught. That put them up 3 banners to 1, but left them overextended and the return momentum swing was quick and brutal. Kawauchi’s unit was killed on a lucky 3 hit First Strike and he committed seppuku, dropping the Ashina to 4 Command. Then a Date Cavalry Charge killed 2 units and a leader and forced an Ashina loss of honour roll. A return Cavalry Charge by the Ashina didn’t stop the enemy momentum, as the Date advanced on their right, pinning and eliminating arquebus units and forcing Yoshiro to seppuku on his baseline, dropping Ashina command to 3. The last roll of the dice for the Ashina was a 3 dice Shogun play that only ordered blue and the final banner fell as their ashigaru spearmen died on battle back. 

Well played, Jim, and thanks for some very enjoyable games. This was a good, straight up scenario with a nice mix of units and terrain. It’s impossible to quantify but the hand disparity from early seppuku in both games may have been the difference. Just note that there are 3 missing hills and a Red Ashigaru spear unit that Jim spotted in the scenario booklet and set up before we played……there are a few of these errors in the scenarios and I guess it’s important to cross check the originals first. I don’t have the patience to sift through them all to check but we should keep a list as they crop up. We also found that notification of card draw was not appearing in the text window. I haven’t encountered that before and am not sure why it would have happened.

Brent.

Round 3 - G36 Sekigahara 1600 AD (Opening Attack)

PCScipio42 (Red) 1 Banner, 26 Blocks lost

JimDauphinais (Blue) 5 Banners, 10 Blocks lost

I feel this is a very difficult scenario for the Army of the West (Red) player as the Army of the East (Blue) player goes first and starts with 2 Samurai Spearmen Cavalry and a Cavalry Leader in his front center line only two hexes from a relatively weak line of Red infantry.

As the Blue player, my initial hand did not disappoint.  I had Order 2 Center, Leadership and First Strike.  In addition, for Dragon cards I had Shot Proof Armor and Brave Leader.  I was in a very good position to just plow into the Red line.

I opened with the Leadership card and hit the left side of his center line.  However, my initial combat rolls were not that effective despite inspiring both attacks.  Nevertheless, I reduced one of his Ashigaru Bowman by half.

He countered with Tiger Tail left to bring up his Samurai Spearman Cavalry and Samurai Spearmen Infantry units along with a leader from his back center and to have his left Ashigaru Arquebusier take a shot at my Samurai Spearman Cavalry unit that had the Leader with it.  He got one hit, but I played Shot Proof Armor to stop it.

I followed up with my Order 2 Center card.  I slipped with my two cavalry units one hex to my right so that I could hit his Arquebusier hanging at the end of his front line while still finishing off his reduced bowman.  Amazingly, his bowman lived and my attacking cavalry unit took two hits on his battle back.  However, with my other cavalry unit with the leader I got 2 hits and 3 flags on the Arquebusier on the left end of his line sending it running to his back field.  Then, in Bonus Close Combat, I was able to get two hits and 2 flags on one of his Ashigaru Spearmen units and sent it to the backfield as well.   Between my aggressive inspire plays and his retreats, we were now each down to 1 HF each.

He came back with an Order 3 Center.  He pulled his Bowman, which was now down to a single block, to the side and hit my weakened cavalry unit with his own cavalry with inspiration from the attached leader.   I immediately played First Strike. His attack was devastated.  His cavalry unit took two hits, I gained a H&F and, worst of all for him, his leader became a casualty.  In return, he only got one hit (though my weakened cavalry unit was now down to 1 block) and a H&F.

At this point, I played my next lucky Command card draw, Order Heavy Units.  I used it to continue my attacks and to start bringing up my third Samurai Spearmen Cavalry, who also had a leader with it.  Also, given my position and his low HF count, I continued to aggressively inspire and attack with my two cavalry units that were in the thick of it.  It paid off.  Both his weakened cavalry unit and his weakened bowmen unit went down though I finally lost my weakened Spearmen Cavalry unit.

At this point it was all downhill for Red as my Samurai Spearmen Cavalry unit with the leader that was in the thick of it was still undamaged and now deep behind the Red front line near three of the weakened Red units.  The game was over shortly thereafter.

Forrest played a good game.  The starting situation, cards and dice just weren't on his side for this game.











  

Round 5 - G38 SEKIGAHARA 1600 AD (Assault against Ishida Mitsunari)

mk20336 (Red) 5 banners   16 blocks lost
JimDauphinais (Blue) 4 banners  23 blocks lost

This scenario - as per description - should be piece of cake for Army of the West / Red ones. I played it couple of times and t never was! The overwhelming firepower of Jim's green units obliterated by entrenched units. Only the sally on my right - supported by Cavalry - allowed for a breakthrough. On top of this, the mortality rate among leaders was really high.

Thanks to Jim for flexibility in scheduling the game!

 
 

My game with PScipio is confirmed for Sunday the 10th at 12:30 PM US EDT.

It will be the last match that needs to be completed provided Michal and I successfully hookup on Saturday from where he is on the road to complete the 2nd to last match.

Jim Dauphinais 

I have my game with Michal scheduled for Saturday.

I have reached out to PScipio to try to get that game in as well.

Jim

Mark McG post=808

This is crazy scenario so it was a crazy game. It took us 35 minutes (!) to finish. Oda has to cross the river otherwise he will not be able to draw the cards and will give VPs to opponent. On the other side of the river a large horde of cavalry awaits so you essentially march into slaughter. Our game was not different, Mark was sending waves behind the river and I was attacking them. I was lucky with some roles and managed - using almost entirely only cavalry - to achieve victory.

Strange game.

The weird part for me is I really had very little need to attack the Red. Most attacks would have been not advantageous, and possibly detrimental to my continued occupation of the far bank. I think the scenario victory conditions need a re-think.

I'm not so sure. You're right it's mostly detrimental for Blue to attack Red here.......but I think that's the point of the scenario. It's not about attrition, it's about positioning. It's not something I would want to play repeatedly but I found it an interesting puzzle.

Brent.

This is crazy scenario so it was a crazy game. It took us 35 minutes (!) to finish. Oda has to cross the river otherwise he will not be able to draw the cards and will give VPs to opponent. On the other side of the river a large horde of cavalry awaits so you essentially march into slaughter. Our game was not different, Mark was sending waves behind the river and I was attacking them. I was lucky with some roles and managed - using almost entirely only cavalry - to achieve victory.

Strange game.
 

The weird part for me is I really had very little need to attack the Red. Most attacks would have been not advantageous, and possibly detrimental to my continued occupation of the far bank. I think the scenario victory conditions need a re-think.

wrote:

Deadline is this Sunday, with 2 matches to be played. Please get them done and reported!
 

We intend to play with Jim on Saturday, although I will be travelling and it might be difficult.

Round 1 -  G32 TEDORIGAWA 1577 AD

mk20336 (Red) 5 banners   1 blocks lost
MarkMcG (Blue) 2 banners  18 blocks lost

This is crazy scenario so it was a crazy game. It took us 35 minutes (!) to finish. Oda has to cross the river otherwise he will not be able to draw the cards and will give VPs to opponent. On the other side of the river a large horde of cavalry awaits so you essentially march into slaughter. Our game was not different, Mark was sending waves behind the river and I was attacking them. I was lucky with some roles and managed - using almost entirely only cavalry - to achieve victory.

Strange game.

 

Deadline is this Sunday, with 2 matches to be played. Please get them done and reported!

G36 SEKIGAHARA 1600 AD (Opening Attack)
Round 3
Cavie (Army of the West) 5 banners won, 8 blocks lost
gotteriscc (Army of the East) 0 banners won, 24 blocks lost

Justin played as would be expected for an opening attack by moving up the AoE cavalry and attacking the center of the AoW.  AoE responded with some maneuvering and then as the AoE tried to continue the attack they were crippled by bad card draws (several Left order cards in a row with only 2 units on that side at one point).

AoW was able to advance it's cavalry with a Cavalry Charge and do enough damage to further weaken the AoE and eventually follow up with a First Strike and then one final attack to end the battle.

Justin did the best he could with the cards he was dealt.  Not much fun when the cards hold you back as they did for his army.  
 

good info

Round 2 - G33 OKITANAWATE 1584 AD

mk20336 (Red) 5 banners   17 blocks lost
gotigerssc (Blue) 3 banners  27 blocks lost

Incredibly tense and close game with so many poor rolls from both sides. Two seppukus, one on each side and Red army winning thanks to great cavalry and despite only 3 cards in hand!

Round 5
Scenario 38

Red- PCScipio    5 banners   17 blocks lost
Blue- gotigerssc 2 banners  21 blocks lost

Game started with long range sniping with arquebusiers, Justin advanced his left was hit by a cavalry charge that allowed Red to get a 4-0 lead. Savvy and well timed dragon cards (which were becoming annoying to me) prolonged the battle and closed the score to 4-2 before red could secure the last banner. Thanks to Justin for pointing out an error or two of mine and for being patient.

Round 4 - Sekigahara

DanieleC (red)    - 2 banners, 30 blocks lost
gotigerssc (blue) - 5 banners, 9 blocks lost

We started out with skirmishing in the woods on my left where I found some success but the dice would not cooperate for Daniele. Then fighting moved heavily to the center where both of our cavalry got involved, but too much damage had been done to the Army of the West at this point to fully recover. Kudos to Daniele for possibly setting himself up to get a third banner, but a timely Timid Success halted his plans for a Legendary Combat dragon card. The real story here is that the dice bounced my way more often than not and despite that Daniele rallied really well. 

 

Round 5 - G38 SEKIGAHARA 1600 AD (Assault against Ishida Mitsunari)

DanieleC (Red: Army of the West) Banners 5, Blocks Lost 21

beckerdo (Blue: Army of the East) Banners 1, Block Lost 28

The battle starts with both armies being cautious, avoiding advancing and shooting with arquebus. No unit lost at this time; the western army sees its leftmost arquebusiers weakened and in need of retreats being replaced in the front line by the bowmen, while the eastern army suffers not many losses except for the samurai lead by Tanaka Yoshimune, that reduced to 1 need to retreat back to save themselves. The battle stands still until the Army of the East advance in the center lead by Hosokawa Tadaoki, using a leadership command followed by an infantry onslaught. The first assault is almost repulsed by the Army of the West which suffers not much losses. Then the second wave from the Army of the East starts, and here maybe the turning point of the battle as the attack of the Samurai cavalry, led by Hosokawa Tadaoki is pushed back by an insult dragon card timely played. This allows the red army to retread behind the palisades, in a safer zone of the battlefield. Exposed to the western fire the eastern samurai are forced to retread to save the last block and this gives more time to the blue army to reorganize. At this point the focus switch to the western right flank where the ashigaru and samurai supported by the arquebusiers attacks the opposing blue ashigaru. The fight is cruel and despite being left without their leader, killed in a personal challenge, the red samurai honors the death of their leader by killing three blue units and their leader being as well able to survive an attack from the opposing cavalry thanks to a Timio Success that stops the advance, although this will only postpone their defeat . Here we see another change of action that moves to the red left flank where the two samurai cavalry fiercely combat each other. This time the personal challenge is won by the western army and the blue cavalry, alone and without leader cannot stop the slaughter despite a first strike attempt. Longest game played so far, lasted almost two hours, very near to a cautions chess game and well played by Dan. The fact that Blue plays with four commands cards opposed to the six of the red did not helped Dan and on top the dice’s gods were not on his side this day.

Thanks for the game Dan and for your sportsmanship. 

 

Round 2 - G33 Okitanawate 1584 AD

DanieleC (Red: Ryuzoji) Banners 4, Blocks Lost 29

JimDauphinais (Blue: Shimazu) Banners 5, Block Lost 24

This was a fairly even affair.  It also took some time to play out as we each had our hand size drop.

As the Shimazu (Blue), I opened by moving out of the Palisades and attacking as I had a Serpent Command Card in my opening hand that I could enhance with an Ashigaru Attacks Dragon Card, but nothing very helpful for using my ranged fire units on my wings.  This attack was fairly successful and drove Daniele's front line back.

Daniele came back with a counterattack using an Order Heavy Units Command Card.  It didn't go particularly well as one of his units was eliminating forcing a retreat of a leader when he had only one HF left.  As a result, the leader was sacrificed and Daniele was down to 3 Command Cards.  However, for another of his attacks, I responded with a Personnel Challenge Dragon Card that gave me 7 dice to his 3.  However, Daniele prevailed as I rolled no swords and Daniele rolled 1.  I dropped to 4 Command Cards.

From this point there was quite a bit of back and forth that lasted quite a while as we both had challenges with getting good cards with our reduced hand sizes.  Eventually, Daniele largely destroyed my left wing, but I gained the upper hand in the center with a mounted Samurai Spearman with a leader.  We were at 4 four banners each.  In the end, a Hold and Shoot Card won it for the Shimazu (Blue) as Daniele had a unit down to a single block that he could not protect from both my Samurai Spearman and an Ashigaru Bowman I had gotten into range. 




 

Round 3 - G36 SEKIGAHARA 1600 AD (Opening Attack)

Daniele (Red: Army of the West) Banners 1 Blocks lost 24
Mark McG (Blue: Army of the East) Banners 5 Blocks lost 7

This scenarios seems a pro-Blue scenario at best, and when Blue start with a Cavalry charge, it just gets worse.

Daniele took the hammering in good humour, including losing a Personal Challenge of his 8d vs my 5d. I can hardly recall winning one of these ever! Not Yoshitsugu's day.
A Cowards card rolled 2 flags, give Blue 6 HF loss which they didn't recover from until the Sepuku of Ii Naomasa.
Both of those leaders is in the block loss count..

About 30 mins of play, 7 Command cards played.
 

Round 1: Tedorigawa

JimD (Oda) Banners Won 2, Blocks Lost 22
Cavie (Uesugi) Banners Won 5, Blocks Lost 8

Uesugi was able to use an excellent command draw to help initiate some opening assaults to initially keep the Oda at bay and weaken early surges.  Hold & Shoot got the Samurai Cavalry Bowmen some early shooting off and then Cavalry Charge to follow up later were definite bonuses for the Uesugi side.

The Oda made a good drive to move their forces from the river and get into the Uesugi side and gain one banner, but the Uesugi kept pushing them back and finally used 'Panic' to end the game.

This scenario looks to have a lot of replay to it where different strategies and dragon card plays would make it worth playing a few more times to see what happens.
 

Round 1:  G32 TEDORIGAWA 1577 AD 
goshublue (Blue: Oda) Banners 5 Blocks lost 18
DanieleC (Red: Uesugi) Banners 1 Blocks lost 13

An unusual scenario that is all about positioning. The Oda had the cards to get their left and right flanks across the river and keep them there for the rest of the battle despite serious block attrition after Uesugi plays of White Dragon, Cavalry Charge, two Order Reds and a Shogun (this last somewhat nerfed by a White Fox Spirit). 4 banners for the Oda just from the scenario SSR for 3 units across the river each turn, the final banner when Nobunaga's cavalry advanced across the river to eliminate a depleted Uesugi bow cavalry, inspiring with his last H&F. As the block count shows, the Oda were on the point of crumbling on their flanks with several 1 block units holding out and saved by the bell. 

Thanks for an entertaining game Daniele and for your good sportsmanship.

Brent.

Round 2:  G33 OKITANAWATE 1584 AD 
goshublue (Blue: Shimazu) Banners 5 Blocks lost 15
PScipio42 (Red: Ryuzoji) Banners 4 Blocks lost 32

I know it's been identified but watch the H&F counters here because they're in error and need to be corrected before starting (I wouldn't have noticed...thanks for picking it up, Forrest).

One of the most entertaining games of Samurai Battles I've played in a long time.....and as wild and swingy as Samurai Battles can be.

Key events. A Ryuzoji samurai  infantry with attached leader copped a four flag roll against it and had to take two of them, forcing a loss of honour roll with nasty results. Seriously low on honour and at risk of another loss of honour roll, Takanobu seppukued on a retreat, putting the Ryuzoji down to 3 command but that was balanced out by killing two Shimazu leaders on close combat checks in quick succession. Leaders dying everywhere.....because it's Samurai Battles. These leader kills took the banner count to 4 to 2 in favour of the Ryuzoji and with a 1 block Ashigaru bow stranded on my right flank I assumed it was all over, even with my command advantage. Somehow that 1 block unit escaped to the castle, survived an arquebus fusillade and then snuck behind the palisades to safety.

It still looked bad as the Ryuzoji infantry lined up to storm the palisades, needing just one banner to win. The Shimazu rearranged their line along the palisades and milled for Dragon cards......and that proved decisive in a dramatic come from behind win. Wise Advisor pulled a Hold and Shoot and combined with Panic, the Shimazu archers and arquebusiers blew away two full strength samurai infantry and a leader (of course) in one turn to pull 3 banners to take the battle.

Well played Forrest and then you for a very exciting and enjoyable game.

Brent.

Edit: Realise reviewing the log we forgot a deck reshuffle from a Shogun play by the Ryuzoji. That would have limited the Wise Advisor drawing options so may have turned out differently.