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The sun was setting fast when we saw the first flutters of Daidoji banners. Tsuko-sama was gritting her teeth in glee, much the way our beserkers do. Matsu Gohei stood at the fore the Imperial sentinels, and Matsu Agetoki, caution aside, flew like the wind into the small valley, intent on obliterating the archers of the crane.....
Game turn limit:7 Turn One of Seven Lion has the Hand of fate Primary movement: 1)Asahina Tomo moves 2)Elite archers on the right go into archers row 3)Kenshinzen slightly wheel to the left. 4) The Imperial Sentinels move forward towards the woodline. 5) The Wardens Move toward the archer unit on the right. 6)The Lion Heavy elite remain in place.
Cavalry movement: Matsu Agetoki Charges the elite archers, and becomes unformed. Ranged attack: Crane elite archers fire at the wardens at long range scoring only one hit for four points of damage. No casualties. ... Agetoki, in his brash fashion, charged his wardens headlong into the fray directly towards the fabled elite archers of the crane. Whether it was sheer arrogance, excitement or insanity, Agetoki-san called a charge far away from his intended prey, breaking their previous formation. Arrows flew towards them, but to no avail. From the heights I watched as the Kenshinzen, lead by the notable Kakita Toshimoko, slowly begin to head towards the edge of the hills, I fear a trap for poor Agetoki... Turn Two of Seven Crane possess the hand of fate Special orders: Asahina Tomo casts wind bourne speed on the daidoji iron warriors Primary movement: 1)Kenshinzen wheel further. 2)Elite archers on the left go into archers row. 3) The Lion heavy elite begin to move toward the small valley. 4) The Wardens reform 5)The Imperial Sentinels move toward the wood line. Cavalry Movement: 1) Agetoki moves closer to the archers 2)The Daidoji move forward. Ranged attacks: Elite archers fire at close range at the Wardens scoring 4 hits, 24 damage. 2 Wardens die. ... The Kenshinzen slowly move to the edge of the hill. I saw Agetoki whip his head to the left, knowing that he had fallen in to a trap, but perhaps he yet still had time... Time to tear the smirk off of Toshimoko's face. More arrows flew into the ranks of the wardens, this time striking home, as two of his Wardens are cut down. With a snarl Agetoki quickly assessed his situation, he is almost there, he can either decimate the archers who killed his comrades and be flanked by the numerically superior Kenshinzen, or he could rush head long into the Kenshinzen, headlong into hated Toshimoko... Turn Three of Seven Lions reclaim the Hand of fate
Special orders: Windbourne speed cast on the elite archers.
Primary move: 1) Daidoji move forward 2) Kenshinzen move toward the edge of the valley. 3) Asahina Tomo moves toward the valley. 4)The Wardens oblique towards the right 5) Elite archers on left form into their original lines 6) The Lion Heavy elite move further into the valley. Cavalry move: 1)Agetoki plays the tactical card "charge" and engages the Kenshinzen. The elite archers do reactionary fire hitting once for 6 points of damage. No Casualties.
Close combat: Kenshinzen play defensive position The Wardens (including damage from personalities) score 6 hits for 65 points of damage. 6 kenshinzen perish. While the Kenshinzen (including damage from personalities) scoring 4 hits for 31 points of damage, 3 Wardens are killed. Both sides pass all morale tests. ... Hatred overtakes Agetoki as he spurred his steeds straight into the Kenshinzen. The charge crashed into the Crane dealing horrible casualties, but not without its price... The Kenshinzen still outnumbered his Wardens, and more have just fallen. On the other side of the field, The Sentinels trudge into the woods as the Daidoji lead by the Daimyo of the Crane himself, Doji Hoturi, close the distance... Turn Four of Seven Crane retakes the Hand of fate
Special orders: Toshimoko challenges Agetoki to a dual, and Agetoki refuses, becoming dishonoured, and unable to attack this turn. Primary move: 1)Lion Heavy elite move forward 2)Daidoji move forward 3)Gohei moves further into the woodline. ranged attack: 6 Elite archers have LOS to fire at the Lion heavy elite. Tsuko plays the tactical card "turtle shell". No hits. Close combat: Wardens roll two hits causing 16 damage. One Kenshinzen dies. The Kenshinzen roll 6 hits inflicting 38 points of damage. 3 wardens die. The Lion pass their morale test.
...In the fray between the Wardens' and the Kenshinzen, Toshimoko swung his katana over his head, sheathing it in his saya, and formally challenged Agetoki to defend his honour. Agetoki scoffed at the old man, honour. will not save him now... Until that is, Agetoki reassessed his situation... His unit was inflicting heavy casualties, but not enough. His men where being hacked apart by the skilled strokes of the Kenshinzen... Close on the heels of Matsu Agetoki approached the Lion's best... The Heavy elite, lead by Matsu Tsuko. Agetoki had done as she expected, and she used the time wisely. Soon her elite's would be upon them, soon... Gohei moved deeper into the woods, his unit almost coming to a halt because of it, the forest was becoming thicker, and the Daidoji where closing fast... If he did not soon get into a better situation, The guards of Otosan Uchi would surely be butchered... Turn Five of Seven The Lion snatch back the Hand of Fate
Special orders: Asahina Tomo casts stagnant air in front of the Lion Heavy elite. Primary move: 1) Daidoji Iron Warriors move to the edge of the woodline. 2) Lion heavy elite attempt to pass through the stagnant air, but are stopped. 3) The Imperial Sentinels perform an about-face and move out of the woods. ranged attacks: Crane elite archers target the Lion Heavy elite, and play the tactical card "all or nothing" scoring 8 hits. 73 wounds are inflicted upon the heavy elite, slaughtering 3 and wounding 1. The archers become spent. Close combat phase: The wardens hit 4 times causing 27 points of damage. 2 Kenshinzen perish. The Kenshinzen hit 7 times, causing 58 points of damage, killing the rest of the wardens and carrying over the remaining wounds to Agetoki. Agetoki is broken. ... Seeing that the forest had gotten too thick, Gohei barked out the order for the Sentinels to back up, then turn around. Gohei still saw the opportunity to outwit his opponent, and he had the left side of his formation hug the tree line... A foul miasma had risen before the Heavy elite, Tsuko cursed the Crane as her men momentarily stopped in revulsion. Arrows fell into their ranks killing some of the elite... Damn the Crane! The last of Agetoki's men fell before the Crane, and Agetoki himself bore many wounds, His horse raised up, and began to bolt... Another time Toshimoko! Turn Six of Seven The Crane Control the Hand of fate Special orders: Asahina Tomo casts stagnant air in front of the Lion heavy elite. Primary movement: 1)The imperial Sentinels move along the edge of the woodline 2)The Lion Heavy elite moves through the Stagnant air 3) Agetoki flees from his engagement 4) Daidoji Iron warriors make contact with the edge of the woodline and begins to wheel. ... Amaterasu slowly dips beneath the horizon, as her light slowly fades away. Tsuko watches as more heavy air stands between her and her prey, this time it will not stop her. She holds the ancient Tessen of Hantei high, and her Unit plows through the stagnant air. Just around the corner lies the Daidoji, just beyond the corner lies is their Daimyo. Gohei is charged with fury... But the light of day grows dim.... Final turn. Seven of Seven The hand of fate belongs to the Lion
Special orders: Asahina Tomo casts Stagnant air in front of the Heavy elite. Primary movement: 1)Imperial Sentinels Charge the Daidoji. 2)Heavy elite charge through the stagnant air and engage the Kenshinzen. Reactionary fire on the Heavy elite with 6 hits for 32 damage, killing two heavy elite. Tsuko spends 2 void to get additional attack die, Gohei spends 2 void to get additional attack die.
Close combat phase: Lion Heavy elite play the tactical card "strength of purity" on Tsuko and scores 3 hits (Tsuko) for 99 points of damage. 9 Kenshinzen die. The Kenshinzen roll 6 hits for 36 points of damage. one heavy elite dies, and one is wounded. Crane plays the tactical card "grim determination" Imperial sentinels play the tactical cards "strength of purity" on Gohei, and "Frenzy" for 7 hits at 95 points of damage. Killing 4 Daidoji and wounding one. ...The air rose thick and heavy in front of Tsuko, but that did not stop her, as she screamed into battle against the Kenshinzen like a tsunami against a castle made of sand. Hate enveloped Gohei the butcher as he saw the Daidoji, lead by the personification of the Crane, the Daimyo Doji Hoturi. He whipped his Sentinels into a frothing mass, as they collided into the flank of the Daidoji... The light is gone from the sky, and not even lord moon shows himself, I can hear the clash of steel still, but I can no longer tell what is happening... I do not know what the night brings but this much is sure... The day belonged to the Lion. ~ Kaiu Maatan~ AAR 14FEB99 Battle also known as the Valentines day Massacre (not really). This is the first I hope in a long line of battle reports, since this is one of the first battles, I am bound to have a few misconceptions and errors. One of the questions I am sure everyone is asking is "Where are the duels?" Well we had a big misconception that models needed to be in contact with each other to initiate a duel, which is actually totally wrong. I don't actually think it would have made a difference, since both sides had ample amounts of the tactical card "Another time" in their deck. I this game not many tactical cards where used at all as a matter of fact. The main experiment of the Lion was to 1) See if in fact a Shugenja is absolutely necessary in an army (it is in my opinion), and 2) Since the Lion possess no archers, make a decent Anti archer cavalry unit, by giving Matsu Agetoki the Yari of air, giving his Wardens a TN of 10 against ranged attacks. An excellent idea for an anti archer unit, but it didn't do at all what it was intended to do in this game, I think its a good solid unit to pluck the Crane of their archers, it just has to be used for that purpose. The archers on the other hand, should have been more concentrated in my opinion, the unit on the right performed great despite trying to hit Agetoki, but the archers on the left didn't do anything the whole game. Everything hit the fan on the last turn, and its too bad for that. In reality, we where just playing until everyone had to go, the game actually went on for a little bit further, but the turn was not completed. I think it would have come down to a slug fest between the Daidoji Iron warriors and the Lion Heavy elite... and perhaps those elite archers on the left would have actually gotten a chance to shoot. Oh well, that's my humble opinion Back to
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I marched eastward with the army of the Lion
towards Heigan no Otaku, the sun would be setting soon, and the lion would make sure to
fight with the sun at their backs. "We have been taxed by the Crane for far too
long." "Those weak fools have profited off our lands for far too
long." These are common sentiments which resonate deep in the Lion heart.
Matsu Tsuko herself has allowed me to travel with her army, and she is taking great
pride in the thought of retribution for the five hundred years of taxation the Crane
has made on their lands.
