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Welcome to the Blog of a Skirmish wargamer! I hope you enjoy reading it!



All my rule sets are freely downloadable from our club website's Downloads page





If you need to contact me my E-Mail address is richardbradley5@gmail.com







Friday 25 December 2015

Happy Christmas!

May I take this opportunity to wish all my followers and viewers a very Happy Christmas! - especially those new followers who have joined this year!

Thanks again for reading my blog, I hope you have liked at least some of the posts?


Saturday 19 December 2015

Ikko Ikki again, but with new rules!

Today, the last Saturday at the club before Christmas and the New year, when we have a couple of weeks off..we tried my new Samurai Skirmish rules, which have replaced the old 'No-Dachi' rules on our club website.

The scenario was that after last weeks game, where a force of Ikko-Ikki attack a small village guarded by a scratch force of local Samurai, a small force of Samurai remain in the village, while the local lord and the majority of the force are chasing the retreating Ikko-Ikki.

Another smaller force now attacks the village in their absence, and are surprised to find it still defended! 


The Samurai deployed on the track in the village.
 Lawrence put his archers in a wood to the right.
 The majority of the Ikko-Ikki force deployed (randomly on a D8!) on the side facing the hidden archers! 
 A band of Noumin (farmers...Peasants) came through some trees ahead of the Samurai, obviously to divert us from the main attack!
 The diversionary force advanced bravely, chanting 'Namu Amida Butsu'.
The lightly armed Noumin  with the main force swept towards the village supported by some better armed Ashigaru.
Lawrence's archers loosed their arrows. 
 One of the Noumin crumpled to the ground.
 Back on the road, my Ashigaru awaited the Noumin attack.
 Lawrence threw some Ashigaru armed with Naginata against the peasants attacking the right. 
 One of his men was wounded by a Naginata, but the Ikko-Ikki were losing.
Behind them, though, some Warrior monks (Yama-bushi) with some arquebusiers emerged from the wood. 
 A previously unseen body of armoured archers came down the road...
 ...supporting the fanatic Noumin who were getting chopped up by my Ashigaru!
 On Lawrence's wing, some enemy Ashigaru joined in against his Naginata men.
Non too soon, as the remaining Noumin broke and fled! 
 The Ikko-Ikki Ashigaru were a tough nut for Lawrence's Naginata men to fight.
 Back on the road, I put my missile troops in a side alley to support Lawrence, my Naginata men were easily beating the Noumin they were fighting!
 Again, the Noumin broke and fled shamelessly!
 They were replaced by another band from behind a house.
 Fighting the armoured Ashigaru, Lawrence's Naginatas were losing.
 On the road, the second Noumin force was getting butchered like their predecessors.
 I even threw my Samurai in!
 The Ikko-Ikki archers were too far away to intervene.
They dared not shoot for fear of hitting their few remaining men in combat.
The last 3 Noumin fled.
This, however, left the archers with a target!
My Samurai were lucky, but a Naginata man was killed, and another wounded by the arrow volley.
I launched a precipitous charge on the bowmen, but they fought hard, wounding one of my Samurai and a Naginata man.
My Samurai began to win, however, and archers began to fall.
 Lawrence now decided to support his Naginata men with Yari armed Ashigaru.
His archers were still busy... 
 ...and wounded an Arquebusier.
Lawrence was now, slowly, getting on top of the Armoured Ashigaru. 
 The Yama-Bushi now arrived, and prepared to charge.
 Lawrence's archers shot at them...
 ...as did my shooters from the road. One of the warrior monks was wounded by an arrow.
The Warrior monks were surprised,  and paused, allowing Lawrence's men to fight untroubled! 
Things were looking bad for Lawrence as the force facing him mounted. 
Finally, one group of Yama-Bushi charged in, but were mostly repelled by  Lawrence's Yari-men.
 Just in time, the last 2 armoured Ashigaru broke and ran.
 Both sides now separated for a breather! 
The Ikko-Ikki commander rushed forward to press the attack, but he was killed by a ball from my Arquebusiers.  
 The warrior monks flinched, and their attack faded. 
 Lawrence wounded another enemy Arquebusier,
 and they began to fall back.
 On the road, my Samurai were victorious! 
 The last 2 archers fled.
With the enemy Lord dead, all the heart went out of the Ikko-Ikki, and they broke off the action....We had won!

So, how did the playtest go? - I was delighted the way the solo rules and the new skirmish rules played, there were no aberrant results.

The new set of rules, and the modified solo rules are on our club website's downloads page The solo rules are in the Sword and Dagger medieval rules section. I only hope those of you brave enough to give them a try have as much fun with them as we did!

Saturday 12 December 2015

Samurai v the single minded league

Today, we dug out the old Samurai figures to do a skirmish!

As we were only 3, we did a solo game against the Ikko-ikki - we had a small retinue each, they had a large force, would it be too much for us to handle?


Our deployment facing the expected attack! Lawrence deployed on the left in a long line.

The villagers returning from the fields
 The village Samurai (solo run!)- and his Ashigaru.
Phil deployed on the main road. 
I deployed on the right, in ambush position. 
My missile troops, a mix of archers and Tippo (arquebus) armed men. 
Facing me,  a group of peasants, supporting some Ikko-Ikki spearmen and Tippo men.
 Facing Phil in the centre....Nothing!
 Facing Lawrence on the left, Sohei warrior monks supported by peasant fanatics and archers.
 Almost on Lawrence's flank, more Sohei and peasants.
 Phil's Tippo men opened fire at long range...
 ...and lightly wounded a peasant.
On my wing, the peasants came through the woods, and discovered my ambush! 
 Lawrence seemed to be facing the majority of the Ikko-Ikki attack.
 Fortunately for him, the enemy on his flank decided to wait for their Lord to join them before attacking!
 Lawrences' missile troops fired...
...and missed! 
 I decided to attack the peasants in the wood with my Samurai and Naginata men!
My men began to rapidly hew at the hapless peasants. 
 They were hopelessly outclassed.
 The other peasant unit decided it was safer to carry on with their attack on the village rather than help their friends!
They now came in sight of my men. 
 ...Who opened fire...Ineffectively!
 My Ashigaru spears decided to attack to support Phil.
 My Samurai were nearly through the peasants, who amazingly failed to break!
Back on Lawrence's side, the whole force began to advance on him.
Some diverted to attack Phil in the centre. 
 Lawrence had withdrawn his line, and the Ikko-Ikki turned on the village. 
 A group of Sohei decided to attack Lawrence, nonetheless.
They charged in and began a fierce battle with Lawrence's Ashigaru men.
 On my flank, the League Tippo men fired a volley at my spearmen.
 Luckily, only 4 of my men got grazing hits!
 I had detached my Naginata men to help my spears while my Samurai finished off the last peasant, who had managed to lightly wound one of them! 
 My Ashigaru attacked the enemy Tippo men.
Phil's Ashigaru attacked the peasants. 
Phil and Lawrence's missile men fell back... 
 ...as they were attacked.  
My Ashigaru advanced and shot.... 
 ...they wounded another Leager.
 Phil's spearmen and Naginata men were hacking down the peasants easily.
 Some of the enemy archers advanced and shot at Phil's rear. 
 Their shooting was rather effective!
 Phil was still fighting the mass of peasants... 
Lawrence was now engaged along his whole line.
 His Naginata men were losing against the Sohei. 
Finally, the town Samurai decided to move forward to help. 
 In the centre, a Sohei fell...
...shot by Lawrence's Tippo men. 
 Lawrence's Ashigaru spears were getting surrounded as more Leagers attacked.
My spears were fighting as they had been attacked by the enemy's spearmen 
Phil's men finally broke the peasants!
 Lawrence was still hanging on.
..despite the ferocity of the fight.
 My spearmen were losing slightly against the heavier armed enemy, my Naginata men were cutting up the enemy Tippo men.
 Sadly, now... 
 ...Lawrence's force was running out of men.
 The massed Tippo men in the centre, now shot...
...and stopped the Sohei who were attacking Phil. 
 As the Sohei were losing on My and Phil's sectors, and Lawrence's men were just holding on, the Ikko-Ikki decided to call off the attack, having lost nearly 1/3 of their force!
That was a close game! - Poor Lawrence did very well surviving at all!
Amazingly, none of our Samurai were killed, perhaps a first!