SBVT08 Lesser played scenarios

" The player's army that occupies more hill hexes than his opponent at the start of each player's turn gains 1 Victory Banner. When an army loses the majority, it immediately loses the Victory Banner"
Page link: www.commandsandcolors.net/samuraibattles...-of-komatsuyama.html

I take this to mean there's ONE Banner, possession of which is decided at the start of every turn by the side that occupies 4+ hills.

"The player's army that occupies more hill hexes than his opponent at the start of each player's turn gains 1 Victory Banner. When an army loses the majority, it immediately loses the Victory Banner"
Page link:  www.commandsandcolors.net/samuraibattles...-of-komatsuyama.html

I take this to mean there's ONE Banner, possession of which is decided at the start of every turn by the side that occupies 4+ hills.

Yes. Update: No (mis-read your post; see Renaud's reply below).

I believe that is incorrect. It is enough to occupy more hill hexes than your opponent. You could be occupying 1 hill hex and they're occupying zero, and you get the banner.

Right agreed, the 4+ was me misreading it. My main ask was the "at the start of each player's turn gain..." and the fact there's only 1 block to pass back and forth. We're good.

American Draw: Round 1: G39 Domyoji 1615 AD (Heights of Komatsuyama)

azcat (Greg) (Red(Osaka)): 2 banners won, 17 blocks lost

JimDauphinais (Jim) (Blue(Tokugawa)): 5 banners won, 16 blocks lost

Battle started with me focusing on ranged fire while creeping up and Greg using ranged fire while trying to get to the reverse slope of the ridge.  I was greatly aided by a Serpent Command card and Greg appearing to lack a right card when he desperately needed one.  I then played a Leadership card to hit the weakened remnants of the right side of his line on and near the ridge.  This attack was eventually telling though the ultimate Osaka loss was greatly hastened by two leader casualties.



 

Round 1: Scenario G39

Cavie (Tokugawa) - 5 banners won, 11 blocks lost
EZPickins (Asaka) - 3 banners won, 21 blocks lost

Very good game highlighting the power of Dragon Cards and their ability to change the flow of play. John had some very timely DC plays that stymied me quite well. A classic plunder of a DC play was my Personal Challenge that rolled 10d for NO swords and John's 4d roll that got one sword!!! Fortunately his final unit was down enough on blocks I could still eliminate it.

Serpent Command, Cavalry Charge, and a couple other plays seemed like they would have turned the game but as mentioned above, DC plays kept this game interesting to the end.

 

Round #2: Scenario 40
azcat (Osaka) 5 banners, 12 blocks lost
boredbeyondbelief (Tokugawa) 2 banners, 22 blocks lost

Osaka leaders: Sanada (dead), Susukida (the hero of Osaka), Kitagawa (who did nothing)
Tokugawa leaders: Katsushige (mercurial leader bravely pushing his men into battle), Tadamasa (provides emotional support), Masamune (waves to Kitagawa)

After some minor ranged skirmishing on the flanks Katsushige ordered his Ashigaru and Samurai spearmen forward towards the Tomb of Emperor Ingyo.  But Susukida's loud insult (Insult DC) carries across the fields filling Katsuhige with such rage he forgets to order his Samurai forward.  Initially the two Ashigaru units fare well, forcing the unhonorable Osaka Arquebusiers into the woods.

Seeing his opportunity Sanada and Kaimio lead their troops forward, but are repulsed by the well formed Tokugawa spearmen though not without inflicting some grievous losses.  Katsuhige recovers his composure and leads his samurai forward to assist.  Sanada's cavalry mops up one Ashigaru unit but then (Timid Success DC) doesn't press his advantage against the other unit, his men begin to question his bravery.  A brief gap opens up between the lines and the Tokugawa gunners make him pay, inflicting horrible wounds on the samurai horses and shooting Sanada dead.  Advancing Ashigaru spearmen poor onto the decimated Osaka horsemen, killing them all.

Katsuhige moves forward and challenges Susukida to a personal duel (Personal Challenge DC), still smarting from his earlier insult.  Nothing much comes of this duel (13 dice total, 0 swords rolled) and the Osaka samurai jump into battle first (first strike) sending the Tokugawa warriors into retreat.  Smelling blood Susukida orders a general advance, survives an unexpectedly attack (Ambush DC) and destroys the opposing samurai.  Katsushige takes refuge with his gunners but Susukida's men have the momentum and lay waste to the gunners, signaling the end of the battle.

Eric got one lucky roll (two dice leader check success with his AA attacking Sanada and his cavalry) but I got a few more than that, especially: His 8 dice personal challenge came up empty and his ambush was completely ineffective.  As the battle was reaching its peak in the middle, his best card was a order one unit right while I could play multiple center command cards.

minor point, but Osaka are Red, and Tokugawa are Blue

Ah yeah of course. And I had just played the game too. And my file didn't attach. Oh well.

Round 1: Scenario G40

Mark McG (Asaka) - 3 banners won, 22 blocks lost
Greg O (Tokugawa) - 5 banners won, 20 blocks lost

This was my first game of CCS, having focused on Ancients lately, so I was looking forward to trying out this "new" but no longer new system!  Mark was helpful in keeping me on track and showing me the nuances.

The battle commenced with Osaka moving up in the center and reinforcing the mass by having his forces from the right flank join.   Tokugawa moved up in the center as well and a long, grinding battle took place, with slowly building casualties.   There were several first strikes and a personal challenge, but the overall battle seemed to come down to Asaka not being quite able to finish off Tokugawa and Tokugawa being able to reply in-turn.  The block count was so close, 22 to 20, which reflects this.