Ogam Battle of Uji 1120 the fantasy version 1 of 2

“I'm surrounded by drunken fools,  I need bigger monsters!”

This is a version of the battle of Uji on 20 June,1180. The opening battle of the Gempei war. I've long had a fascination for this battle. My old copy of Steven Turnbull's The Samurai A Military History falls open on p44 after about 33 years of use. There were no survivors on the defenders side, so all accounts come from the winners. The injured threw themselves into the river so as to not make a mess and Samurai on both sides shuttled across the bridge, took a head, returned. I have a vision of everyone politely keeping to the left. I've used this battle several times as a rules test, so the similarity between it and the battle for the fords in the Celtic book made it all the more a candidate. I have used the names of the original participants, no disrespect is intended.

Way back when there was a half decent club here I did this battle with Hordes of Things and 6mm Baccus Samurai. The defenders had a hero, half shooters, half blades facing 2 full size forces. When the archery duel started despite being outnumbered the defenders pushed the attackers back. That allowed the hero to cross the river engage & defeat the blades while the defenders blades filed in behind. They broke.

Now on come the full force of cavalry, facing just the archers. Changing from column to line, they approached, the hero and surviving blades poured back over the river. The archers broke up the oncoming line that hit in bits, to be pushed back or killed. Eventually they broke as well!

I decided that the existing legendary hero did no justice to the monks, so I've added:

Legendary Monk Hero 80 points Q3 C3 Armoured, Shooter (Long), Group Fighter, Add Good Shot and Legendary Shooter for 26 points.

Option b) Q3 C3 Armoured, Hammering blow, Group Fighter, 106 points

Option c) Q3 C3 Armoured, Combat master, Group Fighter, 106 points

Now this is OGAM, not a historical set so I can “do a 300”. Could this be used for a near-historical refight? Yes, if you've got the Samurai!

The Defenders are a family affair, an overprotective great-aunt and a cousin protecting the pampered prince. They get over the bridge and the prince declares he's tired. HE's tired, everyone has just humped their kit from the capital at short notice-. So he takes a nap---.

Amaterasu, Goddess of the Sun 212 points Q2 C3 Burst of Light, Breathtaking Beauty

Legends

Prince Mochihito (Religious Leader) 60 points Q3 C2 Bard

4 Chosen Sohei bodyguard Q4 C3 Fanatic ½ cost, 54

Minamoto Yorimasa 144 points Q3 C3 Armoured, Mounted, Long Move, Shooter (Long), Bard

Monk Heroes Tajima, Jomyo, Ichirai Hochi Q3 C3 Armoured, Combat master, Group Fighter, 106 points

Mortals

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

Samurai (CO) Q4 C2 Armoured, Shooter (Long) and Good Shot for 32 points. 8x32= 256

Sohei of Mii-dera (CO) 19 points Q4 C2 Fanatic 16x19=304

God 212

Legends 586

Mortals 736

Total 1,534

The Attackers. For whatever reason, Raijin commands the force of a local Dai Oni from a local mountain to attack. As in the original battle, the focus was the capture of the prince.

Counters.  Forward point = sober, rear = pissed.  Undead have black & white bases.

Raijin, God of Thunder 368 points Q2 C4 Lightning, Weather Control, Flying, Long Move, Hammering Blow

Legends

Dai Oni 114 points Q3 C3 Big, Hammering Blow, Teleportation .

Oni 2x 84 = 168 points Q3 C3 Big, Hammering Blow

Giant Spider 70 points Q3 C3 Big, Poison

Mortals

Goblin Warriors (CO) 22 points Q4 C2 Armoured, Drunkard 8x22= 176

Goblin Followers (CO) 15 points Q4 C2 Drunkard 16x15 = 240

Goblin Follower archer (CO) 20 points Q4 C2 Drunkard Shooter (Medium) 12x20 =240

Undead 16 points Q4 C2 Undead, Short Move 8x16= 128

Undead archers 21 points Q4 C2 Undead, Short Move Shooter (Medium) 4x21 =84

God 368

Legends 352

Mortals 868

Total 1,588

“Cavalry” outflanking force Each requires a “6” to come on, which takes 1 action or reaction.

Legend Bake-Neko, Giant Goblin Cat 80 points Q3 C3 Big, Stealth, Ambusher, Forester

Ushi Oni spider goblins, Q4 C3, Dashing, Long, Poison @38 8x38= 304

Mounted Goblins Q4 C2 Ambusher, Drunkard, Long, Shoot (Medium) 31points 4x31= 124

Legend 80

Mortals 428

Total 508

The games – game 1 Tony takes the Minamoto. I had a plan, simple, elegant, what can go wrong!

Well, Tony had 2 ways to play it. Defensive like the original battle, defending the river and bridge and using local advantage to overcome greater numbers.

Nope, he played it aggressively. So the first part of my plan, the bridge. My units- I had one sober unit of goblins. One. I sent my cheapest legend spider in. I'd hoped to push back or be pushed back, once I'd spread the load I'd send in my Oni. Spider walks up, dies. Damn. Send in the Warriors. One activation. Tony uses the reaction then his first activation to throw a Sohei unit across and into them. At first I get the better of them, pushing them back towards the bank-. But then that left a gap so he sent in a Samurai unit across the bridge straight into my first Oni – dead. I pulled up my one sober goblin follower unit and sent in my other Oni, who had nowhere else to go and was about to be charged. Dead, do you see a pattern developing here?

On the flanks things developed. On my right my goblin archers spent a ;lot of energy getting out of the way of sohei and samurai rather than, say, shooting. I did get one goblin unit over on my far right who were intercepted by more sohei in a push-and-shove that got them near to being shoved back into the water.

The stars of my force were my skeletons. I nearly didn't include them. I positioned them near the bridge to either effect a crossing, covering for that one sober unit. Tony sent a unit of sohei over the river, my skeleton archers managed to kill one before shambling out of the way. They hit my others but outnumbered and fighting up the bank, they were pushed back. The fighting here, never had we so many tied results that cost both us both multiple casualties. Seeing an opportunity, Tony sent one of the sohei heroes into them, he did well, reducing them to 1. My archers on that side never got a shot off.

So at this stage Tony had a good bridgehead. I kept rolling for my outflanking force. A 6 on one D6 and on it would come. I mean, like buses, they'll be here soon, right? Wrong. My cunning plan was to wait until at least one unit showed up then launch my teleporting Oni at the prince and Raijin to hold up the Lady. What I didn't expect was a depleted samurai unit with 3 passes to crash into the Dai Oni and take him down. I had been looking for a gap to stomp Minamoto Yorimasa .

Damn. If I could take the pressure off my attacking goblins over the river, my force MUST turn up soon! So I sent in Raijin, couldn't resist taking out that pesky sohei hero with some lightning in passing. Up, over the archers who shot and got a pushback result. Up comes Amaterasu and bang, he's dead! Morale, and my drunken idiots cut and run, all except my few remaining skeletons and most useless unit of archers.

Running a mostly drunk unit is a real challenge. Last week with drunk units on both sides it was less noticeable, but my lack of quality allowed Tony to seize the initiative and be aggressive. Still, I'd recommend trying it! I'm going to be buying more skeletons, planning for an undead & ghost army for Izanami.

At the start

Mine at the end, 3 pissed goblin archers, 2 skeleton archers 1 skeleton fighter-.

Next week we're going to run this game again, swapping sides. Having no doubt that Tony's dice-rolling is better than mine, should be interesting. Possibly quick-. After that it's back to the Greeks and the last of the new scenarios, a sea invasion. The last in this series will be as unusual a Japanese game as I can make it. Village based with a Shugenja on each side. I'm also working on a list of the Sengoku range with suggestions for use.

OGAM The Great Arcadian Cattle Raid. This time its bull

There are a million stories in Arcadia. This is one of them. The names have not been changed to protect the innocent.

Apollo. I invited a relative over for the weekend (he doesn't get out much) and a couple of Dryads, who are mad for gods and demigods. I also had the builders in, doing some work on the patio. Next thing we knew, young Hermes turns up with these young lads, looking to nick my cattle! Well, it started off good natured fun-.

Apollo Q2 C4 Bard, Burst of light, Healing, Prophecy, Plague, Legendary shooter, Shooter Long 380

Legends

Minotaur Q3 C3 Dashing, Hammering blow, Labyrinth, Armoured, Mounted, Long, Boasting @164

2 Cyclops Q3 C3 Huge Shooter medium @76 = 152

Mortals

8 Cyclops with clubs Q4 C2 (OO)Drunkard @ 15 = 120

8 Cyclops with stones Q4 C2 (OO)Drunkard Shooter medium @ 20 = 160

2 Dryads (OO) Q4 C1 Forester @10 = 20

Total 996

Hermes. It was a lark, I knew Apollo was a good sport. I got these lads together and we were just going to dash in, sneak off with the cattle.

Hermes Q2 C3 Super speed, Free disengage, stealth, v difficult target. 260

Legends

3 Chariot Heroes (young) Q3 C3, Armoured, Mounted, Long, Boasting @112= 336

Mortals

4 Chariots Q4, C3, (OO) Armoured, Dashing Greedy, Long move, Mounted @ 44 = 172

4 Centaurs Q4 C3 Drunkard, Dashing, Long move @ 35 = 140

3 Centaur Archers Q4 C3 Drunkard, Long move, Shooting Long @ 30 = 90

Total 998

A brief rules summary:

This is the first test of my “upgrades” based on the new Celtic book. Just mine, not official, but please feel free to use, test and make informed criticism.

Bad Form. Killing of horses or charioteers by a hero is bad form. The hero's Q score is dropped by one for the rest of the game. This does not apply to undead or monster-legends.

The chariot has 4 aspects, an attack must contact the most obvious:

Front, if contacting the horses they count as Q4 C2 with a -2 in combat.

Left, the hero's side, any attacks are against him or her.

Right, the charioteers side, Q4 C1. The hero may use the spear but gains no plus.

Rear, either passenger, again the hero get no plus.

Shooting at chariots:

From front-1, side, 0, rear +1

Roll D6 0-3 horse hit, 4 charioteer, 5,6 hero.

Effect

Charioteer killed, hero can take reins and make moves as normal, but cannot use shock of impact, dashing or height advantages.

Horses killed, the chariot is removed from play and the hero is catapulted 1 move distance in the direction of travel. If he lands on or in an enemy unit its an attack, (I'd include shock of impact!) if not count as prone!

Hero killed, the chariot is either removed or retires on the charioteers Q. Any hero with Greedy must stop to strip the body.

Legendary Boast (mine differs from the Celtic original – how? Buy the book!) 8 points

Within 3 turns I will slay (named enemy) legend costing more points. The Legend cannot be in or engage in another fight & target not reduced Q or C.

For 3 turns the hero will inflict at least 1 casualty to opponents force of any tier.

You shall not pass! For 3 turns. Hero must be dismounted and in contact with 1 or more CO units who gain Steadfast as long as they stay in contact. At the end of the turn the whole group and any OO in contact may advance 1 short IF not in contact. I'm thinking a (the) Rock version of Herakles, Ajax or Odysseus here.

If the Legend succeeds they become inspiring. All mortals within 1 Medium gets +1to Q for activation and morale.

Non-heroic, heroic charioteers. These are near identical to the above. In 15mm I use two on a CD, use one 28mm. The CD represents the dashing, maneuvering style of movement.

Q4, C3, Armoured, Dashing Greedy, Long move, Mounted (23+5+4-3+8+7) = 44 Rare (4)

The Game. This is easiest divided into quarters. But first up the deployment- every unit was OO, so despite being short on points, they filled the table and for the first time we had to consider being more than a long away. Incidentally, there were only 14 humans on the field.  Tony took Apollo and the clincher was the cyclops in the bullfield and Apollo just behind the fields.

My far right – chariot unit. This went haring down (3 long moves) down the flank and hit the cyclops clubmen time after time. I only managed to kill one, but they kept being pushed back! Finally I got in LOS of Apollo and a snap shot saw one hero explode in a cyan burst. At this they retreated, being pursued but not caught by the clubmen- who run into Hermes, to the suprise of both. The chariots performed as expected, hitting with glancing blows and lots of manoever. Fun to play, they are never going to be game-changers, but I'll take fun every day.

Right. Legendary charioteer Moudicus, seeing a swarm of sober cyclops before him Boasts (I took a boast to take one action?) that he will kill for 3. Bad move. He moves into contact, but no kill, like his other contemporaries he doesn't kill, just push back, in fact they sort of circle. They never manage to get a throw in though. Eventually he does do some damage, but too late to save his reputation.

Centaur archers slide into a gap, hop (I'd do it very, very carefully if a centaur, no matter how pissed!) over the hedge into the cow field, spread among the cows and look! A cyclops has done the same. Now we debated if he shielded his face or his nuts with a rock, but whichever- one good shot and he's down! Apollo takes exception and opens up, shooting them all.

Add capt

Centre. Mighty hero Curlingus is faced with a cyclops in a field with a bull. His charioteer gives him a “I ain't going in there!” look so he's forced to dismount and advance on the foe. (I'd considered dismounted figures for crashes, here's the hint- you need dismount figures). There follows a ding-dong battle with the cyclops getting the upper hand, forcing Curlingus back and finally killing him with a well dropped rock. The centaur spear took the advantage and moved on the bull, capturing it – but then Apollo starts his murderous assault, chasing the last survivor off the board, aided by a pushback result.

Left. Mighty Larryeathese is faced with the Minotaur and a Cyclops. With a mighty proclamation he informs the Minotaur that “Eee's gonna 'ave 'im” (Look I asked Homer, he was there, that's what he said) and thundered forward. The Cyclops throws a rock and misses (no sense of honour & fair play!) this may have spooked the horses, because the Minotaur coming in strong rolls a 1. Larryeathese rolls a 6, the Minotaur crashes and bursts into flames. Larryeathese fails his Q roll, so stops, dismounts and starts stripping the dead Minotaur. The cyclops has his eye in now, lobs another rock onto Larryeathese head, who looks up- splat! The cyclops then moves into the cattlepen for his fateful encounter-.

You will note that Hermes did nothing other than hide from Apollo's arrows and mighty wrath. My plan had been to use the centaurs & Hermes to shuttle the cattle to other units, then get away with as many as possible. No plan survives contact with a cyclops!

The chariot rules and Boast impose modes of action on the legends. This is a game changer, a game improver! I'm planning a big Trojan War battle for the later Achaean test. Next week its Japans turn.