Redvers and Son Get Into Bushido

As we now have some new miniatures, my son was keen to see how his new ‘troops’ measured up. I decided to keep my powder dry and try to figure out my existing list before adding the new stuff in. I think there are synergies that I can get with my new models that aren’t necessarily there with my current warband. So, without any paint applied to the new models, we dived in. We opted for an 85 point game and decided on the Very Important Model scenario.

Scenario Objective. With the VIM scenario, each player secretly nominates a single allowable model as their VIM. This model has to make it across the board and exit the opponents deployment zone on turn 6 (not before). And of course you need to prevent your opponent from doing the same to their VIM.

For the Cult of Yurei, I went with,
– Mokoti (dreadful in combat but can control enemy models). I elected Mokoti as my VIM, mainly because it was one of the least obvious targets
The Penanggalan (who we’ll call Penny). A vampiric head that can hold opponents in place with a successful attack
– Yama Uba
– Risu (A pitch fork wielding nutter who can poison people from afar) who I’ve also given an enhancement card Violence Fetish to provide a bigger punch in combat
– Ibara (Can handle himself in combat and can throw some fire around at range)
– 2 Plague Rats. Cheap chaff that if they do get a successful attack in can poison the opponent
Drain Spirit Event. This allows me to steal a couple of ki tokens from an enemy model
Random act of unkindness event. When played, my son must either nominate a model and I can pick an unpleasant state that this model enters. Or my son picks a state and I get to apply it to a model.
Crush the oppressed. When I play this card, all of the state markers on the enemy get doubled
Cursed Honden. This is a terrain piece. At the start of each turn, any enemy model within 4” loses a Ki token

My son went with,
– Master Po. One of his new models and basically a fat monk who is a combat monster. He’s hard to hit and capable of handing out the pain. This was also my son’s VIM
– Tsutsumi. Another new model and another monk. This one provides a decent melee attack but more importantly, some ranged ability with a Sonic Blast ranged attack that leaves the opponent prone
– Oki Shisa. Effectively a temple statue. It’s slow but has the Durable special rule meaning that no matter how much damage to manage to deliver in an attack, it will only ever take 1 wound at a time. Very annoying
– Kiyozumi Hinadori. This is a Ronin from the 2 player starter set and a character that can Heal friendly models
A Gorinto terrain piece which allows 1 model within 6” to generate an extra ki token.
Prayer beads enhancement which allows the model it is attached to to generate 1 extra Ki per turn
Stillness medallion which stops Ki being removed from the model it is attached to
Name of the Wind which gives the attached model an extra 1” movement per turn
Master Po got all of the above enhancements

Turn 1.
This was the usual scurrying forward to get to within engagement distance. I managed to have Ibara use their Dark Fire Ki feat on Tsutsumi but I rolled double 1’s so it failed. I then had Risu cast Mortal Corruption on Tsutsumi but this also failed. Hardly a great start

Turn 2.
My son opened the turn by charging Po into Yama Uba. Yama Uba gets to attack first in combat and Po opted to use their special defence of Counter Strike Defence. If Po successfully defends against the attack then it is possible to cause damage to the attacking model. I rolled poorly, my son rolled exceptionally and he was able to cause 2 wounds through his Defence. Po was also able to land a successful attack, causing another 2 wounds. Yama Uba only has 6 wounds, so not a great start for my most expensive model!
I decide to have Mokoti cast obey on Kiyozumi which, if successful, would give me control of Kiyozumi for one activation. I rolled double 1’s again, so failed.
Tsutsumi then got involved with his sonic blast which knocked Mokoti prone and caused a wound. Mokoti would have to use an Activation to stand up, effectively taking him out of this turn.
Ibara got into an exhausted Po and was able to cause 2 wounds to the fat fella. This was short lived as Kiyozumi activated next and cast Heal to restore the 2 wounds.
Tsutsumi then sonic blasted Mokoti for a second time doing a further 1 wound and already putting my VIM strategy under strain.
I had been advancing my rats up my left flank to bring them round the back. My son spotted this and moved oki Shisa into combat with one of the rats. This was no match up and my rat died.
Penny managed to successfully Hypno Gaze Kiyozumi causing the young lady to lose the remainder of her activations and stuns her. Meanwhile, at the back of the board, Oki Shisa, with a hunger for rats, attacked my other one and killed it. So much for the rats….
With my son now out of Activations, Penny activates and attacks Tsutsumi. He fails his Fear test and, despite him being exhausted, frightened and losing 2 melee dice, I rolled poorly again and fail to hit at all.
Finally, Ibara continues to attack Po who just uses Counter Strike Defence and causes 2 wounds to Ibara, so completely useless from my side.

Turn 3.

Surely this turn will improve for me? I start out by playing my Drain Spirit card on Tsutsumi and taking 2 Ki and give that to Penny. I would have played this on Po but as he’s got the annoying Stillness Medallion, I can’t steal anything. It seems that my son has planned ahead….

I also play Random Act of Unkindness. My son opts for the Impetuous state which means that any model who has it has to activate first. I don’t want to give this to Po as he’ll continue attacking Ibara, so I assign it to Kiyozumi, who goes first and Heals herself.

I have two options, move someone else into combat with Po to support Ibara or try to control Tsutsumi. I opt for the latter with Mokoti using his Obey ability. Yet again, I roll double 1 and fail. 

Clearly my son is confident in Po’s abilities as he activates oki Shisa first and attacks Penny. Penny isn’t able to resist and takes 3 wounds and only deals 1 in return. 

I move Risu into combat with Po. Normally, with two models attacking one, the defending model would suffer a -1 dice pool penalty, but not Po, he’s got the Indomitable trait meaning that he only suffers the -1 when you get to three or more against one. Either way, Risu is not able to hit Po but Po also fails to land a hit.

I then move Yama Uba into combat with Po meaning that I now have 3 vs 1 and Po will suffer the -1 dice pool modifier. I also use Yama Uba’s Morph ability to copy Po’s Melee Statistic of 4. This will then give Yama Uba 4 melee dice against Po’s 3. Additionally, at the end of this combat, Po will be exhausted, removing another 1 from his dice pool for additional attacks! What can go wrong? 

Po declares Counter Strike Defence and rolls all three dice into defence. Yama Uba rolls three in attack and one in defence. Yama Uba not only fails to beat Po’s defence dice, she fails it by enough to give Po a damage roll through Counter Strike Defence. My son rolls high and Yama Uba is dead. Things are unravelling fast.

Ibara then attacks a now exhausted Po. This also doesn’t go well and Ibara ends up dead as well. The bodies are piling up around Po.

Turn 4.

Oki Shisa goes first and makes quick work of killing Penny. I’m not left with much but if I can get Mokoti to the board edge and off on turn 6, I can at least draw, maybe win. I need to support Mokoti and use Risu as a blocking force. I try to disengage Risu from Po but this goes badly. Risu ends up dead.

I do the only thing I can do, and march Mokoti up the board.

Turn 5.

Oki Shisa, as the nearest model, attacks Mokoti and manages to cause 1 wound. Mokoti is not looking too healthy now. Tsutsumi uses Sonic Blast to cause another wound and Prone Mokoti meaning he can’t move any further this turn. Tsutsumi tries to sonic blast again but manages to hit Oki Shisa, wounding the temple statue.

Turn 6.

By this time, Po has leapt across the board and attacks Mokoti. This is not even close to a fair fight. Mokoti tries to defend but to no avail, Po batters him and it is all over, the cult has lost.

Wrap up.

This wasn’t even close to a fair fight. My son has put together some good synergies in his list and played really well. I had no answer. I think we will be seeing a lot more of Master Po in future battles!