The return match at the previous scenario didn't take much more than half an hour, so nephew Tom and I moved briskly on. It looks like the Hojo have quite an advantage here, with six cards to the Uesegi player's four and outnumbering their opponent.
This time it was Tom (playing Hojo) who got almost all his units into formation. In this case a diagonal line from the centre rear to forward on my right. At least I was able to save the bowmen who were my furthest forward at the start. They didn't last very long, though, as the Hojo line closed in on my Command tent and I scrambled to get my left flank units across to the action.
The next few turns saw Tom's Hojo inflict casualties, eliminating one of my ashigaru and a Leader, but only denting my Army commander's bodyguard. In return, they took out one opposition samurai and badly damaged another. That's 1:3 against me. And it didn't get any better as Tom finished off the two battered ashigaru by the Command tent.
That's a 1:5 win. A bit of luck would have improved the scoreline, but I don't think Uesegi is going to win this one. Time to find out as Tom and I switched sides for the rematch.
Tom quickly pulled the Uesegi forces back. I attacked on my right flank, but lost two ashigaru spearmen to some lucky dice rolls and gained nothing. That's 0:2 immediately!
I shifted my attack to the centre, though the bulk of the Uesegi force was now here. Having an advantage in Honour chips, I played a "Personal Challenge" Dragon card: my Leader against Tom's. And lost! Then the fighting saw me eliminate two ashigaru, but lose a samurai foot unit: 2:3.
Tom played a "Turncoat" Dragon card, something that was a feature of our early games. However, this time, he didn't manage to get a unit to swap sides. Phew! Numbers finally began to tell as I removed two ashigaru (that's 4:3), but my troops were getting battered. A final swap of casualties produced a Hojo win 5:4. That was tough!
And the overall result was 6:9, another win for Tom.
I haven't mentioned the Honour and Fortune aspect as we both managed to keep enough chips in hand. Though Tom was on the limit a couple of times.
Discounting the initial, ahistorical learning scenario, Tom has won nine of those to my seven. However, the aggregate scores for the eight scenarios are 2:6 to Tom! He's clearly losing better than I am.
I've also posted this report on my BGG blog (with pictures!):
boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/163156/
