Time to operate some Cult of Yurei magic and raise this blog from the dead for a battle report (I actually write a lot on it but I don't publish, using it just to consolidate notes and painting recipes).
Battle at the Shibuddha Shrine
Alerted by locals that a ragtag warband seems to be on their lands, the wolf clan makes a move only to realize they are what appears to be Shiho Ashigarus under the influence of a Takuya Impostor.
Guillaume's Shiho Ashigaru List:
Theme: Guerilla Warfare
Shiho Takuya (20pts)
Shiho Misaki (12pts)
Kazuki (15pts)
1x Loyal Kyudoka (14pts)
2x Loyal Yarimen (24pts)
2x Heimin (8pts)
-Vanguard ((x=2)+1pts)
-Eagle Feather Arrow (1pts) - on Kazuki
-Veteran of Sagoya (1pts) - on Loyal Yarimen A
-Wooden Stakes (2pts)
The goal of the list is to have a frontline of archers that can then absorb enemy charges and be reinforced with 'Hold the Line' from the Loyal Yarimen. Thanks to Vanguard giving 'Scout 0/4' those archers are up the field to get good shots or pressure the opponent turn 1 and with 'Move It' from Takuya the list can be even more mobile.
I was facing:
Antoine Prime's Tanaka List:
Theme: Open Rebellion
Tanaka Tsuki (21pts)
Tanaka Gorak (19pts)
Tanaka Yue (13pts)
Tanaka Nobuko (16pts)
Tanaka Muna (14pts)
2x Tsuki's Pack (12pts)
-Primal Howl (4pts)
-Full Moon (1pts)
Classic strong Tanaka list, playable with just the starter (The Wolf Clan is probably one of the best purchase a Bushido player could make).
So two lists with no armor, no tough and with archers decent enough that you have to be careful.
SCENARIO: Idols
We Roll to see which player is Player 1 and Antoine wins the roll.
MAP:
DEPLOYMENT:
We rolled and got 'Corner Deployment'.
As Antoine's whole list benefits from Scout, I Sadly deploy every model, including my scouts, prior to his. I did manage to hinder a little some of his models with my Wooden Stakes.
Turn 1:
Antoine wins the Tactical test and choses to let me go first.We mostly move to cover to avoid giving good targets.
I Fire a Flaming Arrow from Kazuki to try and block some lines of sight and hinder his force's advance.
Antoine manages to get Yue to the center objective, sadly having ran and in cover it is a poor target. He manages to put an arrow with Tanaka Muna in my leftmost Heimin that ran dealing two points of damage to it (thus preventing the Uncloak action later on), two points from an arrow from Nobuko into Takuya which had stupidly moved in the open and one point of damage from a Wolf charge on the leftmost Loyal Yarimen that ran to the objective.
Turn 2:
Things got crazy!Antoine wins again the initiative.
He activates Muna to shoot Takuya who was still in the open. Luckily, I barely remembered the rule 'Bodyguard' from the Veteran of Sagoya card and instead, the Loyal Yarimen that was shadowing Takuya took 5 points of damage from the would-be lethal arrow. I would have been pretty unhappy had this shot hit Takuya as, with the damage from turn 1 I would have lost it top of turn 2 and this is exactly what happened to Takuya the only time I played it prior to this list. Veteran of Sagoya definitely made its '1 rice' back and so did that Loyal Yarimen!
Takuya then activated, moved as part of his simple Ki action and did 'Awe' on every Tanaka model except Nobuko.
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| ''You get a Frightened token! And you get a Frightened token! Everyone gets a Frightened token!!'' |
Now aware of Bodyguard and how it works, Antoine tried to prepare for a Tanaka Tsuki attack by first engaging Takuya with Tanaka Yue. I did not take the bait and instead let Takuya get engaged but relied on the fact Yue was frightened to use 'Sidestep Attack' and left her ZOC thus leaving the Bodyguard option still active as neither Takuya nor the Yarimen were engaged by the end of this activation.
Tanaka Gorak engages Takuya who sidesteps away again.
The Loyal Kyudoka fires its bow at Gorak and kills it at short range, wasting Gorak's remaining action. I did take 5 points of damage on the first turn and another 5 on turn two but this action just brought me back in the game.
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| Gorak Got removed after Takuya Sidestepped, allowing the Loyal Kyudoka to take a clear shot at close range. |
Antoine goes in against Takuya with both Tanaka Tsuki and a Wolf. After having seen Takuya survive so much and with both opponents Frightened, I decided to trust in Takuya's defensive capabilities to survive the turn.
I do bring at some point the Loyal Yarimen Bodyguard to assist vs Tanaka Tsuki, however I goof and went too aggressive, dealing one point of damage to Tsuki but that poor Yarimen takes 1 point back, dying in the process and no longer providing an assist.
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| Trying to bring back an assist after the Bodyguard Veteran of Sagoya died, the second Loyal Yarimen rushes to Takuya's rescue. |
After all of Antoine's activation, Takuya would have survived...Had it not been for Tsuki's last action rolling a success level 1 on Takuya, rolling a natural 11 for the damage roll and with the +1 from her Daisho, manages to deal the exact 4 damages needed to kill Takuya. That 2 damage arrow from turn 1 did end up being lethal.
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| The Heimin went after the Wolf that had partaken in Takuya's demise. Getting a kill. |
Turn 3:
Things get crazier?Antoine wins initiative. (Its a trend)
I declare the use of Guerilla Warfare so that all my Ki Boosts cost me 1 less until the end phase.
Yue activates and re-engage my Kazuki, I instantly use Hold the Line from the remaining Loyal Yarimen to bring her into Yue and roll three dice for Kazuki's defence and successfully managed to Sidestep Defence away from melee.
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| You won't believe what happens next! Read to find out! |
Kazuki then took a shot, Ki Boosted for an extra die and used the Eagle Feather Arrow...Success Level 5 on Tanaka Tsuki at close range in the open. Killing her on the spot. (Thanks to the one damage from last turn)
Later on the turn, Nobuko surprised Kazuki and returned the favor, avenging Tsuki.
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| R.I.P. Kazuki. You did great and killed Tsuki! |
My Loyal Kyudoka reloaded and moved to shoot Nobuko for 3 damage.
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| End of turn 3. |
Turn 4:
Antoine wins initiative. (When will it end?!?) |
| Small blue dice are accumulated Ki, the big dice are damage. As you can see, other than Misaki that just showed up, my forces are weary. |
I declare the use of Guerilla Warfare so that I can reroll defence dice on wounded models.
Shiho Misaki shows up from Elsewhere on my left side. Unfortunately, the Heimin having tried to fight Tanaka Muna in the previous turn, Muna is facing in Misaki's direction and as such is not surprised when Misaki takes her shot. Despite the short range, cover provided by the objective means Muna only takes a damage from Misaki's double Ki-Boosted shot.
Muna fires back and deals three damage to Misaki.
Not to be undone, the loyal Kyudoka, having reloaded, moves and fire at Muna for a now surprise shot and manages to kill her on the spot. (he rolled three six on the dice to hit and I use Guildball Falconer's dice for my Shiho so this was as it was an omen)
Yue and Nobuko fight the Loyal Yarimen and kill her.
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| Another great shot from the Loyal Kyudoka. |
Antoine scored 1 point from controlling two Idols. I remove the center one as to clear line of sight to Tanaka Yue and Tanaka Nobuko and because I'm fairly confident that with Tanaka Muna's death, I can regain control of the left side and maybe turn this into a victory in the next two turns.
Turn 5:
How wrong I was!I Win the Initiative (at long last)
Antoine declares that my wounded models get -1 move (thanks to Open Rebellion theme bonus)
Yue charges Misaki and, on another success level 0, manages to deal the exact three points of damage needed to finish her.
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| A picture taken moments before things go worse. |
The Loyal Kyudoka reloads then gets engaged by Nobuko. I sidestep away which was a mistake as I needed to do damage and no longer have the activation token to finish Nobuko.
Nobuko finishes the Loyal Kyudoka, leaving me with only an Heimin unable to turn idols on this turn...
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| Endgame state. |
Wolf Victory!!!
This was my best Bushido game yet! Everytime I tought I had gained control of the game, Antoine managed to remove a key model to swing things back.
I hope you enjoyed this battlereport as much as I enjoyed the Wolf Clan exposing the fake Takuya for who he was and dispatching the brigands that disguised themselves as his retinue.
