OGAM Boasting for Samurai. No.4 in our Gempei trilogy.

Do it, experiment- pull apart. Strive.

I'm soo old I can remember when an “Ap” was a Welsh “son of”. What the traits doo's is add little apps to your wee warriors. If you have a follow-on result you're really bringing your battlefield to life! This is what we are exploring here.

In the new Celtic supplement there's boasting. Doesn't sound much, but it makes your Heroes say “I'm going to do this”. It applies an app. I've already used the Achaean Greek one, more soon- but here is my provisional list for Early & Medieval (as opposed to Age of War or later) Japanese.

The book lists Boasting as 8, I'd suggest that this will also include an element of greedy – the survivor must go and take the head (or for Greeks the armour/body, both taking 1 action).

We sort of forgot about the effects on the mortals, as all the heroes boldly went and did. But IF following a lord, then there should be an effect? I'll explore this more with the Greeks next week.

Lineage. At his first activation the Hero calls out his family history and seeks to engage an opponent of similar lineage. I'm taking points, so a hero will not want to engage a hero of lesser points. A hero isn't supposed to shoot (with, of course, the correct arrow type) another hero of higher lineage. Hand-to-hand is acceptable as a “meeting engagement”. I'd suggest that any close hero Or closest hero of similar lineage be given any reaction in which to respond. Failing to respond, see below.

A good day to die. The hero decides to die by combat, charging into the Samurai (NOT followers) of the enemy. If he defeats the unit charged and no other is in immediate reach, honorable suicide is commited. The hero may use lineage first, in which case the charged unit takes a Q test on 1 dice. If fail, their Q is reduced by 1 until the combat is resolved.

Archery duel. The hero challenges the heroes of the other side to an archery duel. A target is picked (use a standard bearer as target). Each hero in turn rolls initiative and shoots. This can be used only once per game and only as the first boast. Responding heroes must use lineage first.

Winning the Boast. The hero is inspiring, his followers gain +1 Q for activation and morale rolls.

Failing the boast. The loser(s) and his followers Q is reduced by 1 until he defeats another hero.

The players:

Heroes – I've “stepped down” the heroes and given each a band of followers. Both sides are mirror-image.

Gods. These 2 are the closest in points.

Susanoo, God of Storms and the Sea 344 points Q2 C5 Amphibious, Water God, Combat Master, Hammering Blow

Fujin, God of the Wind 340 points Q2 C4 Weather Control, Flying, Super-Speed, Very Difficult Target

A) Legendary Hero Q3 C3 Armoured, Shooter (Long), Mounted ,Long Move, Group Fighter, Good Shot and Legendary Shooter 136

B) Samurai (CO) Q4 C2 Armoured, Mounted, Long Shooter (Long) and Good Shot 4x47 = 183

C) Hero Q3 C3 Armoured, Shooter (Long), Mounted ,Long Move, Group Fighter = 130

D) Samurai Q4 C2 Armoured, Shooter (Long) and Good Shot for 32 points. 4X32= 128

Followers Q4 C2 4x15 points = 60

Follower Archer Q4 C2 Shooter (Medium) 4x 20 points = 80

E) Hero Q3 C3 Armoured, Shooter (Long), Group Fighter = 100

F) Samurai (CO) 22 points Q4 C2 Armoured, 8x22= 176

G) Hero Q3 C3 Armoured Group Fighter = 86

H) Bandits Q4 C2 8x15 points = 120

The Game. Possible error 1- I decided to do a “Battlesworn”setup, to whit, a board was set up across the middle of the table and forces placed. I'm not sure if they were too far apart. Perhaps if we'd used scenery and not within 2 Long?

A quick overview: the emphasis at the start was very much on getting heroes into conflict. The initial gap was too large for the archery competition and setup positioning afforded no opportunity for a good day to die. Once the legends started to die, the gods got involved, particularly Fujin, who decided to “blow off”my forces and flittered all over the board hitting units whilst Susanoo did his best to catch him. Tony lost more mortals to morale than to my actions.

Looking at the heroes, they behaved how they were supposed to behave! So complete success there. A few points of honour arose, to be settled in hand-to-hand.

Eventually the mortals began to move, encroaching moment-by moment on the survivors, who treated them like mobile scenery. Gods picked off the survivors.

This worked well, very well. I like to crow about successes and be honest about failures. This is the start, more will follow. It doesn't cost anything (other than more expensive 3d character- legends.