OGAM Japanese Gempei War inspired by film 47 Ronin

Japanese fantasy has long held a fascination for me, although a mere fraction compared to mythic Greek. 47 Ronin is a great fantasy film, despite Mr Reeves attempt at being an action hero. The film is about the conflict between two rival clans at a time of a strong Shogun. Forget the historical, look at the scenery.

This is a quick preliminary play. I have alreadyvposted suggestions for a campaign, new scenic items and a Legend. First part of this plan was making new gods as described in my recent article on using Dixon's Oni's as featured below - yes, I know they need more painting, but at the moment it's play or do-. Curiously difficult to photograph. I'm quite pleased with my Fujin, god of the wind, his “bag” is inked kapok usually used for explosions. I twisted and glued it, leaving it quite rough, after all it is wind.

The Players 

Lord Asano is the “good guy”, a traditional warlord. So we give him a mountain god and forces suitable to the position:

Raljln, God of Thunder (but not rock n roll yet) Q2 C4 Lightning, Weather Control, Flying, Long Move, Hammering Blow 368

Legends

Warlord Q3 C3 Armoured, Mounted,
Long move, Shooter L, Bard, Rare 144

Legendary Hero, Q3 C3 Armoured, Mounted, Group fighter, 136

Shooter l, Good shot, Legendary shooter.

Mortals 3x Legends – god = 472

Chosen Samurai Q4 C3 Armoured, Fanatic, Shooter L, Good shot. 4x42= 168

Samurai Q4 C2 Armoured, Steadfast, 4x22= 88

Followers Q4 C2 Armoured, 8x20= 160

Followers Q4 C2 Armoured, Shoot (M) 4x25= 100

Lord Asano

God 368

Legends 280

Mortals 516

Total 1,164

I'm very pleased with my kapok bag-of-wind

Lord Kira Boo! Let us presume attacks by “deniable forces” just before the film*.

Fujin, God of the Wind Q2 C4, Weather Control, Flying, Super Speed, V difficult target 340

Legends

Kirin, Q3 C3, Flying, Shooter (M) Dashing, Long move, Armoured 124

Kitsune Q3 C1 Transfix, Forester, Stealth, Danger Sense 66

Dai Oni Q3 C3, Big, Hammering blow, Fly, 104

Oni, Q3 C3, Big, Hammering blow, 84

Mortals

Goblin bandits, 16x15= 240

Goblin archers 8x20 160

Armed peasants Q4 C1 4 x 10 = 40

Kira

God 340

Legends 378

Mortals 440

Total 1,158

*Which gives me the opportunity to use some troops laying around in the bottom of the box. I haven't started on the 2^nd wave of Japanese fantasy from 15mm.co, as I know once started I'm going to spend and spend again.

Starting positions

OGAM keeps giving surprises. We haven't encountered the Weather trait or the same-trait conflict. To be fair, we didn't exploit it to its full as I'd given both sides archers.

The "pre-game" started with Raljln making a failed attempt to grab the power. I think both retaining it cancelled it out.

The Game. For once we did it proper (Tony get these things called holidays? So we get an extra wargaming day, sort of catching up!). I took the baddies and defending. Choosing a big hill (a 3-choice item) and 3 woods in a line, creating a narrow pass.

I put my Oni too far forward and they died pretty quick, my Dai Oni took out an archer but was knocked down then killed (using a reaction) by followers. Having survived a lightning bolt my other Oni was shot by Lord Anso.

My Kirin started a long running duel with the hero, these two were incredibly evenly matched and it was a real see-saw affair. I kept the Kirin in contact as much as possible. Tony brought up his super-Samurai and I got Raljln involved. He got pushed back, fortunately he was pretty invulnerable to arrows.

 The Kirin did a runner to the other side of the table, took on and killed Lord Anso.

Meanstwhile the centres were encroaching moment by moment. In crashes Fujin to my central goblins, knocking them back and killing 3. So in comes Raljln. I'd kept my peasants safe behind the hill invoking for all they're worth. This minor advantage gave me a slight edge and the combat drifted to the woods.

One clash of the gods caused Awe! That mostly affected me (I marked awed units with pennies).
 I sent the Kirin behind the lines, hit a couple of small units before attacking the hero again. This time it got pushed back, then shot. That left the hero to polish off my right hand goblins, 3 shots – 3 kills, who had been holding their own.

As always quality tells. I was going down faster than Tony, with nothing to touch the hero. The gods continued to scrap, obviously enjoying it.

The end, what a bloodbath!

The new players.

The chosen samurai did ok, but I could have had a unit of 8 followers for the same cost.

The Kitsune was a waste, I can see that using it with another forester unit (say bandits) would work if I'd had a much more wooded table, but an open table would be a real, real problem. I put it fairly forward at the start, but dare not move it in fear of drawing down the lightning. I did try to lure his troops close to the woods, but they weren't having it.

I am tempted to try Lord Asano's army against Pallas Athene with Odysseus.   

Note Greenbaku-sama in the thick of it as usual.