(Also known as Vanquisher of Peasants and Obliterator of the Dishonourably Surrendered)

















With our plan foiled, we had to quickly came up with a new plan where we would still try to engage the samurai on our own terms and overwhelm them with numbers.





Combat was joined with the two peasants entering combat with a Sohei monk. Unfortunately as the peasant rabble was so large it took a little while to get them all into combat, all the while they were being shot at by the Aris and Neils ranged troops, which was taking its toll with many a peasant being slain. Arrow + no armour = bad times





We found that the Teppo was largely wasted by shooting at the peasant rabble as they had no armour (Teppo ignores armour or reduces heavy to light) but the Yumi was starting to inflict heavy damage with the peasants easily becoming grievously wounded. In Ronin an archer can elect to shoot both in their movement and action phase, making them quite the machinegun if they have a high shoot statistic. Thankfully there is a limit to the amount of gun/archers that are allowed.. :P

Having visions of grandeur a peasant vaulted over a fence to prove himself in the samurai vs samurai fight. His dreams were however cruelly cut short as he was t was immediately shot with an arrow right in between his eyes and became grievously wounded.

Once grievously wounded you get -1 to your combat pool. As peasants have a combat pool of 1.. they go down to 0 and are unable to contribute to the fight! So quite worthless and only good for getting in the way or maybe starting to grow a little paddy field.





Battle was joined and everybody turned around to face their opponent. Fights are resolved 1 vs 1, but with more figures you can pool your "combat pool" and then distribute it as you wish. This can be very handy as you can modify the distribution of attack/defence after you see your opponents tokens.

















Before the peasants could join combat an arrow came streaking out from long range and grievously injured a peasant. With no combat dice to contribute he withdrew from combat having suddenly realised he left his stove on at home.









The Teppo armed monk and highly dishonourable bow wielding samurai kept their distance and kept on shooting into whoever (friend of foe). For them everybody was just target practice.





Grievous wounds started to build up in the melee with the archer and gunman continually shooting into the scrum and making many a widow back at the farm.





The remaining monk was providing difficult to kill due to the high armour value and combat pool. So the peasants attempted a"subdue" action, which amazingly worked! A captured opponent is valued at a whopping 5 victory points, although you need a mini to stay and guard the prisoner and if your guard should die then the prisoner is immediately freed, so it is a somewhat risky strategy.





Aris trying to dissuade Neil from shooting into the fight for fear of shooting his own characters. (it didn't work)





Success! The oh so noble Sohei monk was humbled by two peasants. The monk was bound and thrown with his face to the ground as a prisoner of war.





Peasants are cheap so we had plenty spare to guard the prisoner BUT the opponents had other ideas.. Neil must had been appalled by the idea of his allies Sohei monk having been taken captive by filthy mud dwellers that he let loose a volley of arrows into the crowd. We will never know whether his objective was to kill the peasants and free the captive or to put the Sohei monk out of his misery with a quick death? Needless to say it was hilarious when the arrows immediately killed the Sohei monk and deprived us of our victory points. MOST DISHONOURABLE!









The fight was drawing to a close with the either side ready to crumble due to grievous wounds a plenty, however my team had the numerical advantage and all we needed was a lucky round of combat to swing the game.









And we had it! An absolute killer roll .





Within a single round of combat the tide had turned with Neil's samurai having been cut down. Heads were rolling around all over the place on the floor, so I set my now grievously wounded samurai to start collecting them for those precious victory points.





Screaming "Death to the cowardly scum hiding behind the fence while shooting into combat" or dttcshbtfwsic for short, the remaining uninjured troops started sprinting towards the firing squad. Troops that are grievously injured can only stumble ahead at half their movement, meaning they would never had made it alive.





The firing squad took no prisoners and continued shooting with reckless abandon. Only 3 of our troops managed to get to the firing line alive but once they did a red mist descended as they quickly hacked apart the unworthy.

With all that occurred during the battle it left myself wondering, who was truly honourable and who was the real scum? I like to think the rabble proved themselves with their unfaltering bravery in the face of such dishonour coming from the monks and samurai.

















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For this game, we used the Ronin ruleset by Osprey.Aris & NeilSohei monks armed with naginata + 1 Teppo)4 Samurai armed with Katana and + 1 YumiWilliam, Paul & JamesIkko ikki peasant rabble with improvised weapons, spears and one unarmoured samurai/leader4 Samurai armed with Katana and one with katana bujitsuWe took alternating turns for the setup with no grand tactical plan in mind.My team split up and rushed forward. We had the idea to rush a few of our samurai into the Dojo for a sneaky flanking maneuver.However our opponents had been operating their crystal ball and beat us to it by rushing two of their samurai into the Dojo before us.My team split up to bait the samurai out of the dojo and then turn-back to crush them with highly dishonourable 4 vs 2 fight. The peasants carried on with their charge hoping to completely surround the monks as we knew the peasants could be easily killed on a 1 vs 1 fight.Confident in their skill and armour the monks went forth to attempt a peasant massacre.The peasants quickly mobbed the monks and somehow managed to slay the Naginata wielding monk. I suspect he succumbed to one of the many disease the peasants would had undoubtedly been carrying.With no lone targets in sight, Neil started recklessly shooting into the fight hoping that the numbers will be on his side. (If you miss your shot then a shooting attack is then made upon a randomly selected mini within the group). Neil lost his gamble and an arrow was planted in the knee of Aris's remaining monk. Injured but still full of hatred for the ikko ikki peasants he fought on with vigour and introduced the mighty tetsubo to many a soft squishy (and unarmoured) peasant face. Like the melon he had been growing back at his farm their heads splattered into a red gooey mess.