Battle Report - Jung vs Minimoto

It's been a long 12 months for war gamers. Our hobby is primarily a social one and I think the initial humour ("We've trained for this!", "Time to clear the pile of shame" etc etc) has long been replaced with frustration at not being able to meet up and actually play. Although I have managed the odd game between lockdowns, I have not played my "regular" Bushido opponent, Tom, for some time. With one to one games finally permitted (albeit in the garden), we agreed to take some time off from our respective jobs and enjoy a leisurely paced game between school runs.

I played Jung and Tom bought his experimental Minimoto list. We played 100 Rice and I set up the Ichi No Riten Scenario as I wanted to see how it would play for a prospective tournament I am organising. It consists of two 8" zones, one friendly and one enemy. Scenario Points do not reset and VPs for zones are scored at the end of turns 3 and 5. Players also choose an open VIM with the 3rd scenario point scored for the VIM which is closest to the opposing deployment area.

Note - I'm in the process of painting terrain for my beach gaming mat, so we played without it in this game.

The lists were as follows...

Minimoto

• Theme - The Finest Steel
• Hoshi Rinko - Pacifism
• Tetsu
• Minimoto Reo - Absolute Loyalty
• Hoshi Kimiko - Teachings of  Yashushi
• Minimoto Kajiya
• Lesser Kami of Evening Flame
• Lesser Kami of Evening Flame
• Event - Blizzard
• Terrain - Sun Goddess Shrine

Jung

• Theme - Black Sails
• Jung Hibiki - Pacifism
• Jung Tora
• Jori
• Ryota
• Miyakomo Asami
• Sho
• Itsiro Crab Swarm
• Event - Squall

Set Up

Minimoto won the initial Tactical Roll and forced Jung to deploy first. However, prior to the Jung setting up their defensive positions, the Sun Goddess Shrine and Hoshi Kimiko's ice patch had to be placed on the battlefield. Tom chose to locate these in such a way that they blocked/hindered the pirates' route to the closest zone.

Deployment was then carried out as shown below. The VIMs were declared as Hoshi Rinko and Jung Tora.

Turn 1

Blizzard took effect in the first turn meaning that everyone with the exception of the two Ice Shugenja and the Bear were now slow. This actually meant that Minimoto had something of a movement advantage as the Shugenja and Tetsu were able to do Run Actions while the Fire Kami have a high Movement Statistic anyway. Tom used this to good effect to capture his zone while contesting mine. If it wasn't for Jori receiving a 3rd activation from the Black Sails theme, he would not have made it into the zone and Tom would have started the game with a commanding Scenario Point lead. The only conflict in this turn was Jori launching a harpoon at one of the Kami and despite the whirling snowstorm, managed a decent enough hit to remove one of the fire spirit's Ki. 

Turn 1 Scenario Points - Minimoto (2) / Jung (1)

Victory Points - Minimoto (0) / Jung (0)

Turn 2

After Tom won the tactical roll, I chose to use Squall (+2 to TN for all ranged attacks) this turn. Tom's first action was to get Hoshi Rinko to summon another Blizzard. As this grants board wide cover (an additional +2 to TN for ranged attacks), it meant that there would definitely be no ranged attacks this turn! While Blizzard is a Complex Ki Feat, it still allows a Move, so Rinko retreated behind the formidable figure of Minimoto Reo. With Hibiki, Asami and the Crab Swarm threatening Tom's zone, he chose to relocate the two Fire Kami and Kimiko to ensure that the Jung would find capturing it a more challenging proposition. This enabled Testu to leave that zone and charge Ryota. Despite being knocked to the floor by the bear's charge, the Samemiman was otherwise able to fend off the attack. One of the Fire Kami challenged Asami which proved crucial in preventing her from entering the Zone. With Hibiki subsequently unwilling to sacrifice Pacifism, there was no other melee actions. Both sides earned scenario points from controlling their respective zones and for maintaining a peaceful approach to the engagement.

Turn 2 Scenario Points - Minimoto (4) / Jung (3)

Victory Points - Minimoto (0) / Jung (0)

Turn 3

 After Tom once again won the Tactical Roll, Rinko ensured that the Blizzard continued to swirl across the cove before retreating into the sea. The ever impetuous Tora then determined to leave her Zone and challenge Minimoto Reo, thereby preventing him from advancing forward. Her Counterstrike Defence proved unsuccessful but she was able to avoid a blow from the Samurai. She fared less well in Reo's activation who used  Cleave to smash through her defences leaving her with 1 health remaining. At the sight of this, Hibiki finally decided that the time for polite discourse had passed. He engaged Kajiya and hurled the blacksmith out of the Zone via Throw Defence. The now prone Minimoto would not be able to re-enter the Zone. Meanwhile, Jori attempted to come to Ryota's aid and launched his harpoon at ongoing melee between Bear and Shark. Unfortunately, he was unable to judge friend from foe and the harpoon lodged itself in Ryota's back doing no small amount of damage! (see pic) After all other activations were spent in Tom's Zone, Hibiki used Vitality to gain another activation and used it dispatch the Fire Kami which had sustained the harpoon damage from earlier in the battle. Bleeding heavily after friendly fire, Ryota risked a melee action against Tetsu and managed to wound the bear as well as healing himself as a consequence. Tom had felt sure that Rinko was safe from any melee action, but hadn't noticed that Sho had received the additional activation markers from Black Sails. This enabled the Kaizoku to cover the distance and engage the Witch in melee, knocking her beneath the crashing waves with a Sweep Attack. This also meant that the remaining Pacifism was no longer in effect, while back onshore, the Jung now controlled both Zones. However, both Hibiki and the Crabs suffered damage from Fire markers. 

Turn 3 Scenario Points - Minimoto (4) / Jung (7)

Victory Points - Minimoto (0) / Jung (1)

Turn 4

The Jung are one of the factions that don't fare well in protracted engagements especially against a more resilient foe and so it proved in Turn 4, as the pirates began to feel the effects of earlier melee exchanges. The remaining Fire Kami sought revenge for its brother and launched a ranged conflagration against Hibiki which at close range, did sufficient damage to remove him from the field. Tora bravely attacked Reo once again and managed a successful Sidestep Attack to remove herself from his zone of control. However, the Samurai was unwilling to let her escape and once again used Cleave to ensure that his blow could not be defended. At the sight of Tora lying crumpled on the sand, the  pirates swore revenge and Death Sentence markers were duly placed alongside the Minimoto models. However, Tetsu easily shrugged off the angry blows of Ryota and Jori before swiping them aside. Kimiko also managed to kick away the remaining charred crabs, leaving Asami as the only Jung model within the zones. In the last action of the turn, Sho swung at Rinko, but was not able to finish her despite devoting 3 activations to the task.

Turn 4 Scenario Points - Minimoto (8) / Jung (7)

Victory Points - Minimoto (0) / Jung (1)

Turn 5

At this stage, the Minimoto were assured of the remaining Victory Point to be scored via zone control. To win the game however, they would need to keep Sho from drowning Hoshi Rinko in the shallows. Reo could not get there in a single activation as Tora's last act had been to ensure that the Samurai's back was to the conflict between Sho and the Shugenja (I'd like to claim that was intentional, but happy accidents and all that). Tom therefore decided to charge a Fire Kami at the Kaizoku. However, Sho easily dodged the Kami's attacks and stepped away so he could focus his attention on Rinko. The Shugenja was Prone and still had her Death Sentence marker, so Sho was able to deliver the killing blow. Although there were still activations remaining, nothing could change the outcomes in respect of the zones, so Tom and I agreed to end the game there.

Turn 5 Scenario Points - Minimoto (12) / Jung (7)

Victory Points - Minimoto (1) / Jung (1)

Conclusions

Tom's Minimoto list is interesting from the perspective that it allows a surprising amount of mobility.  The two Kami of Evening Flame were able to quickly redepoloy to the other zone while forcing Slow onto everyone for 3 turns of the game counters one of Minimoto's key weaknesses, particularly where many of his models were immune to the effects of Blizzard. After a year of theory crafting... "I could take out that Minimoto model by doing this, that and the other" ...I found both Tetsu and Reo tough nuts to crack with the models I had available. I really could have done with Finesse on Tora. It would have gone a long way to keeping her alive by cancelling out the Brutal (2) that comes with the Cleave Ki Feat. For a 9 point model, Minimoto Kajiya was very effective at boosting one Fire Kami per turn via Inspiration, although he was unable to use his other Ki Feats. Lastly, Teachings of Yashushi proved to be very good value as Tom won every single tactical roll. All in all, it's a bit of a curve ball list and I think it has the capacity to catch people off guard the first time they play it, which will be good in a tournament setting.

My list was just the Jung Starter which I wanted to try as I had finished painting it recently. I added Hibiki to have a go at proper Black Sails while the Itsiro Crab Swarm was largely an after thought. The extra activation marker from Black Sails proved useful as although I kept losing the tactical roll, I was left with bonus activations at the end of the turn. Until he died, Hibiki was very effective and Parley proved to be an interesting deterrent. However, I need to remember how fragile he is as once Blizzard and Squall had lifted, the short ranged Fire Kami attack was lethal. I'm also happy with Jung Tora as I can see the potential she has. Throwing my VIM into Melee was daft, but her exit ensured that Sho could finish off the opposing VIM due to the Death Sentence markers resulting from her unique effect. I'm less content with Ryota. I didn't enjoy the lack of flexibility resulting from the Aggressive trait during the melee exchanges with Tetsu. I think I will swap him out with Hideaki in my next game.

Overall, thank you to Tom for an enjoyable game. I think the zone control element of this scenario makes for an interesting challenge as you need to keep a careful eye on how the pendulum is going to swing in each zone, while the VIM aspect has the potential to force models to leave the zones in order to go VIM hunting.