SBVT08 Lesser played scenarios

Congrats to finalists and the winner for achieving the victory. And great thanks to Mark for organisation!

Congrats to both of you on making the Finals and for the win in the Finals, Justin!

Finals

Game 1
Polonus100 (Red) 5 banners; 15 blocks lost
gotigerssc (Blue) 3 banners; 18 blocks lost

Game 2
gotigerssc (Red) 5 banners; 13 blocks lost
Polonus100 (Blue) 1 banner; 14 blocks lost

Combined
gotigerssc 8 banners; 31 blocks lost
Polonus 6 banners; 29 blocks lost

Game 1
He completely owned my left flank and I couldn't do much about it. I tried taking what ranged shots I could at the beginning and eventually brought my line in to close combat. I just didn't have a lot of center cards. His play of Insult set me back on this advance. At one point I was ahead 3-2 but it was also apparent that I was on the brink of getting beat on my left, which is what happened. Two blue leaders and one red leader fell.

Game 2
This one came down to untimely rolls and just barely hanging on. Despite the score, and you can tell by the block count, this one was very, very close and could have gone either way. It looked like I was about to get routed after his opening attack advanced right into my lines, but fortunately I was able to form a diamond shaped formation and stand my ground. We fought back and forth in the center and I was able to get the cards needed to stay alive. On his last turn the dice just would not fall the right way (neither did my battle backs) and it gave me the window to the win on the next turn. I also lucked into claiming a leader at range after eliminating his unit. Two blue leaders fell in this one.

Very much enjoyed the games with Michal and look forward to facing him again in the future.

Game 1
gotigerssc (Red) 7 banners; 20 blocks lost
Cavie (Blue) 4 banners; 28 blocks lost

Game 2
gotigerssc (Blue) 4 banners; 29 blocks lost
Cavie (Red) 7 banners; 24 blocks lost

Combined
gotigerssc 11 banners; 49 blocks lost
Cavie 11banners; 52 blocks lost

An incredible two matches against Cavie that I had no business winning. In game 1, he had the advantage early as he wrecked my three advance units. However, the best unit I had on the field was a medium unit that held out on the attacks from heavy units long enough to keep them from doing further damage. My cavalry then came in and helped clean things up by chasing down an AA unit that got stuck by itself. One leader was lost for the blue.

Game 2 saw me lose two leaders and that also helped make the difference in the match leaning my way. Late in the game he had me pinned on the baseline (I had three banners at the time) with a cavalry rolling against a two figure AA for the win. However, the Followers of Bishamon dragon card saved him with the no retreat and he only took one hit. On the following turn I was able to surround that cavalry unit and claim the fourth banner. Intense fighting both ways and I was extremely lucky to come out victorious against Dan. Fun time though.

Bad joke. Editing messages not possible.

1-st Game
Polonus100 (Blue) 6 banners
mk2036 (Red) 7 banners

2-nd Game
Mk20236 (Blue) 4 banners
Polonus100 (Red) 7 banners
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1-st Game
Polonus100 (Blue) 6 banners
mk2036 (Red) 7 banners

2-nd Game
Mk20236 (Blue)
Polonus100 (Red)
 

Please report matches below in the form

European Finale

1-st Game
mk2036 (RED) 7 banners won, ## blocks lost

Polonus100 (BLUE) 6 banners won, ## blocks lost

I can't see and send any PM.

I can't see and send any PM?

I apologize for the formatting on my Semi Final report. The new site is not allowing me to edit it - getting an error when I try.

I will try again but my first few attempts keep repeating the error.

American Semi FinalSemi Final Game 1Gonzo (Ito) - 1 banner won, 22 blocks lostCavie (Shimatzu) - 4 banners won, 4 blocks lost
 Semi Final Game 2Cavie (Ito) - 1 banner won, 22 blocks lostGonzo (Shimatzu) - 4 banners won, 6 blocks lost These two battles ran close to even as possible.  Similar strategy was implemented by the Shimatzu each time - bring up the cavalry on the right to attack the weaker Ito left.  In the first game the Ito was set up better and Joe made an excellent counter attack on Yoshihiro’s cavalry, surrounding him and playing Cowards.  Somehow Yoshihiro managed to survive the attack and dwindle down the Ito forces.The 2nd game progressed in a similar style as the first but the Ito’s army did not respond as organized to the Yoshihiro attack.  The difference here was the Ito’s Arquebusier’s had better accuracy and got in some hits that they did not in the first game.  In addition Yoshihiro was taken out by a Ninja assassin giving them the only banner to tie the banner scores.Even though this is a 4 banner scenario it felt a little more complicated to me especially since Joe is such a good player and kept me scrambling for ways adjust my plans every turn.  Joe definitely outplayed me but the banner count did not reflect that.  Dice favored me on the shooting side with the Arquebus and the lucky Ninja assassin roll. I haven’t had a match come down to the difference being 2 blocks for the win.  Thanks for the great match Joe, it was a close one!

Gottoman wrote to me on 14th willing to play but didn't respond later to arrange the meeting. He suffer serious illness and this is probably the problem.

Euro Semi Final 1
Mark McG (Red) 4 banners, 17 blocks lost
Michal (Blue) 3 banners, 12 blocks lost

A surprising Red win on the back of 2 leader kills, a hard day for Shimazo leadership.
Michal had some pretty bad luck with dice and cards on the left & right and nothing for the centre where all the troops and problems lay.

 

American Semis Red
Game 1
Renaud (Red) - 0 banners; 17 blocks lost +1 seppuku
Justin (Blue) - 4 banners; 5 blocks lost
I started the game by moving my units into forest in the center and Renaud advanced his right flank down into combat, and that is where most of the action took place. There were a couple of points that determined the outcome, but my play of the Insult card really messed up one of his attacks and turned the tide. Plus there were so many critical rolls that just didn't go Renaud's way that it was impossible to overcome. Final banner was claimed on a leader.

Game 2
Justin (Red) 1 banner; 15 blocks lost
Renaud (Blue) 4 banners; 5 blocks lost +1 seppuku
I was getting demolished as Renaud was in the process of crushing my left flank with his cav unit when he slipped behind my lines to trap an Ashigaru with no retreat/support. However, his 5d attack scored two hits and on my battle back I weakened that unit to 1 block and that won me the game and match. I attacked the cav from the hill and was ambushed but my unit held out and claimed the banner from the cav even though I lost a leader. We messed up here and forgot to roll the extra die for ambush so we did it post match just in case and it didn't affect the outcome. Renaud then cleaned up the last unit for the win.

Scenarios 
Rnd 1 G39 DOMYOJI 1615 AD (Heights of Komatsuyama)  Red wins 2 Blue wins 8
Rnd 2 G40 DOMYOJI 1615 AD (Battle Among the Tombs)  Red wins 4 Blue wins 5
Rnd3 G34 TAKAKURA CASTLE 1585 AD  Red wins 0 Blue wins 10
Rnd 4 G25 MIKATA-GA-HARA 1572 AD  Red wins 2 Blue wins 8
Rnd 5 G26 THE RAVINE NEAR SAIGADAKE 1572 AD  Red wins 3 Blue wins 7

Two bigger scenarios (R3 and 4) were strongly biased towards Blue. But Michal K could afford to struggle even under such unfavourable circumstances and won decent amount of banners..

European Semi Finals are posted
Red Match mk20336 vs Mark McG
Blue Match Polonus100 vs gottoman

I am surprised to make the Semi-Finals.. but I think the Red were quite disadvantaged. Only 11 Red wins in 49 matches...

Round 3

Mark McG (RED) 1 banner won, 25 blocks lost

Polonus100 (BLUE) 9 banners won, 18 blocks lost
 

Samurai Charge helped  gaining village and routing enemy samurai's attacking to rescue. Infantry onslaught crushed castle garrison. Whole army slowly marched next towards the bridge and gain control over it facing only small counterattack where fell one of my brave generals.  


Round 1

DanieleC (RED) 3 banners won, 23 blocks lost

Polonus100 (BLUE) 5 banners won, 16 blocks lost

 

Tokugawa shoot better than Osaka, so Osaka's samurai unit came from behind the hills and made some trouble among Tokugawa Ashigaru Spearmen. But left wing samurai unit came to rescue and Horse Samurai finished the day. In the last counter attack of Osaka's army two of Osaka's leaders were killed in battle.
Thanks to both of my opponents for interesting and emotional duels.

rjvonline wrote:

Mark, I assume that semifinals are round-trips (2 games, alternating sides)? When are results due? Thanks.

correct, play twice, swapping sides. Highest cumulative score wins

deadline is 31 March, but let's try and be quicker

Mark, I assume that semifinals are round-trips (2 games, alternating sides)? When are results due? Thanks.

posted a score update and the American Semi-Finals
rjvonline vs gotigerssc
Cavie vs gonzo
G27 KIZAKIHARA 1572 AD

American Draw

Round 3: S34 Takakura Castle 1585 AD
 
ezpickens (Red/Date). Banners 3 Blocks lost 29

boredbeyondbelief (Blue/Allies). Banners 9 Blocks lost 7

Wow. There sure is a lot of blue on the field. The Allies have a whole lot of samurai and we both knew from the other results for this battle, that it wouldn't be close.  But it was even more lopsided than the score let on. Allies had superior troops. Allies had a superior hand draw - it seemed I always could move multiple units. And Allies had superior luck in the dice rolls. The first salvo at the troops in the castle saw Oumi fall. Leaderless, the castle would never fall, but the troops inside could have been easily ignored for the remainder of the battle. At one point I eliminated a full-strength Date samurai infantry on a First Strike card. The samurai marched to Arai, were supported by samurai spearman cavalry and overran the city. Date's right wing tried to initiate a counter attack but were routed on multiple rolls that contained multiple banners. It was a mop-up by the Allies who also took the bridge.  When it was 8-1 (Yoshichika fell while trying a frontal assault on the castle), Allies could have taken the game by putting two samurai units both with leaders against a one-block infantry bowmen. But is it really a victory if you don't take the castle? Well, I tried again and that cost me another leader and a samurai spearmen unit. So the castle stayed in the hands of Date and the game had to be won on the field by cowardly taking out the lone bowman. 9-3.

John was a great sport. I also appreciate that he arranged the game even when his eye doctor told him not to be using computer screens this week. That is dedication to the tournament. I hope that I get to play him again, because while the my forces may have carried the day, John's conversation and light-hearted attitude won me over.

European Draw

Round 2: G40 Battle at the Tombs

Javelinthrower (Red/Osaka). Banners 1  Blocks lost 19

goshublue (Blue/Tokugawa). Banners 5  Blocks lost 10

Samurai Battles is a wild game. Ivan had terrible luck here today and the kami were with me. It looked good for the Osaka with a first turn Hold & Shoot but it only scored one hit. The Tokugawa subsequently outranged them, the central arqubusier killing his counterpart on 2 attacks (4 dice, 4 hits) and the left flank arqubusier forcing his opposite number to retreat and killing Kitagawa on a double sword leader check. The Osaka pulled a White Dragon and Serpent Commanded to within striking range of the Tokugawa line but the Tokugawa Cavalry Charged and took out an arqubusier on the Osaka left and killed Kaimio on a 1 die leader check. An Osaka Desperate Charge battle back and follow up killed the Tokugawa cavalry and Masamune seppukued but it was too late and a centre advance took the last banner for a janky victory.

Thanks for the match, Ivan. Not your night.

That's my last match. Think I'm out with a couple of dismal results (Samurai Battles is cruel) but I enjoyed it. Thanks for organising, Mark, and good luck to everyone who progresses.

Brent.

I notice that my Rd 3 game with Gileforn is missing from the results table. Perhaps it was not reported ?

The result was

RiverWanderer Red 3 banners, 25 blocks lost
Gileforn Blue  9 banners, 28 blocks lost