GP27. YASHIMA, March 1185

Yoshitsune’s small cavalry force made the two day journey across Shikoku to the Taira capital in exile at Yashima. Yashima was an island separated from the shore by a strait that was easily fordable. The Minamoto set fire to the village of Takamatsu on the near shore and then charged across the strait to Yashima. The Taira panicked, believing that they faced an invasion by a full army. They abandoned their palace and took to their boats with their families and the emperor Antoku.
The Minamoto set fire to the palace and formed up on the beach. Realising too late that they had been tricked into fleeing from a small cavalry squadron, Taira no Munemori ordered his samurai to retake the island. By sustained arrow fire, amphibious assaults and personal duels, the Taira attempted to drive the Minamoto from the beach. Bands of defectors came in from the local area to swell the Minamoto ranks until they numbered three hundred and the Taira were unable to establish a sustained bridgehead.
Late in the day, the Taira rowed a boat off the Minamoto position, bearing a beautiful maiden holding aloft a red fan painted with a setting sun, daring the enemy to hit it at extreme arrow range. Yoshitsune’s most talented archer, Nasu no Yoichi, struck and destroyed the fan with a single humming bulb, a miraculous shot that earned the admiration of both sides.
Night fell and the Taira had been unable to retake Yashima. Having originallylanded on Shikoku with only fifty men, Yoshitsune had now driven the Taira from their last home. The Taira and the child emperor Antoku were cast adrift on Japan’s inner sea with no port of refuge.
The stage is set, the battle lines are drawn, and you are in command. The rest is history.

Taira (Red)
> Move first

Dragon Cards 0
H&F 0

Minamoto (Yellow)
Command Cards 6
Dragon Cards 0
H&F 0

Victory
The first side to start their turn with 15 H&F
(The 30 total H&F token limit available in the game still applies)
The Taira may not win unless they have a unit on a land hex at the same time as they start their turn with 15 H&F.
No Victory Banners are awarded in this scenario.

Special Rules

• Ocean hexes are passable to Taira units and naval rules are in effect.
  Wind/tide is in the direction of the arrow.
  Minamoto units may not embark onto Ocean hexes.
  Green-bordered Ocean hexes denote border hexes
• Gaining and Losing H&F 
  - Neither army may choose to take 2 H&F at the end of its turn but may still take a Dragon Card and discard a Dragon Card for 1 H&F if they have not played a Dragon Card for its effect that turn.
  - Leaders do not gain H&F for committing seppuku.
  - H&F are gained normally on battle rolls and by card text effects.
  - The Taira gain 2 H&F for each Taira unit (not leader) that disembarks from an Ocean onto a land hex.
  - The Taira lose 2 H&F for any Taira unit that embarks from a land hex onto an Ocean hex.
  - Both armies lose 2 H&F for each of their units (not leaders) that is destroyed.
• * Nemesis of the Taira – The Taira army gains 5 H&F if Yoshitsune is destroyed.
• * The Palace - An ordered Minamoto unit that starts its turn in the palace Building hex may set fire to the palace. The palace hex is removed from the board and the Minamoto army gains 3 H&F. That unit may not move or battle that turn.
• * The Setting Sun Fan - The Taira Irregular Peasant Infantry Unit represents the boat bearing the maiden with the setting sun fan (this may be marked with a token such as a coin). It may not be ordered to move and may take hits normally.
  Any ranged attack against this boat by a Minamoto unit that does not roll an H&F symbol loses the Minamoto army 2 H&F.
  If a Minamoto ranged attack rolls an H&F symbol, the Minamoto army gains 5 H&F instead of any H&F rolled, the token is removed, the boat is free to move normally thereafter and the special H&F gain and loss rules no longer apply to ranged attacks targeting it.