Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[AntiokosIII]

I cannot wait to see how Ewan slashes into this list. The tension is exquisite.

Oriental List #40, Feudal Japanese

CiC 2E IB EHK/HK LB, 1/2 2HCT, PA 172

Samurai ; each unit 1E IA LEHI LB, 2HCT
2E IB LEHI LB, 2HCT
3E IG LHI LB, 1HCW (Ashigaru)
6 units @ 163 per 978

Ashigaru Scouts 6E IC LI, LB x2 units 98

Followers 6E IC LI, LB x2 units 98

Samurai Cav 2E IA/B HK/HC LB, 1.2 2HCT
x3 units 246

total 1592

I have 8 points left, with which I wll probably buy a ditch, or else 2 more elements of LI, not sure yet. Be brutal, Ewan, you know you want to!

[Tim Grimmett]

Another title to this post might be--"What I learned from getting spanked by Derek at last year's NICT"

I play Samurai frequently

The Samurai foot and cav units are too small (I play 8E and 4E respectively); 8E prevents one knight unit from recoiling you disordered on even die rolls.

Don't buy the LI; any unit other than the Samurai become magnets for opposing units.

DON'T BUY TFF. A strength of the Samurai is their ability to withstand shooting. Buy the TFF and your opponent can buy incendiaries; now instead of being shot at a -1 by bow, you are being shot at a 4.



You have 9 units; close down the board with terrain.

Good luck

[Ewan McNay]

Ye gods, I'm a slasher?

Mostly, though, what Tim said on unit sizes - yeah, I think we concluded that he might [ ] be correct on 8E vs 6E units. I might buy some IrrD LI to take up space on a steep hill or something, but they are indeed a target (and you don't really need them; the Samurai line is just about long enough) so Tim is probably right again.

Incendiaries: We're still in the STUPID STUPID (gee, do I have an opinion here?) situation where if your *opponent* buys a ditch, he may then buy incendiaries - I *really* hope that this is fixed soon, preferably before the NICT... - so avoiding your own ditch is not yet critical; but it will be, I hope, as soon as sense is restored here. Jon would like me to note that this is my _opinion_, in case anyone was unclear on that . And I say this as someone whose current army has a *lot* of bow-armed troops who would just love to incendiarise you.

Oh - finally, one thing I do have to add is to suggest that you take the back ranks as LMI. Much cheaper, and because you now still only give your opponent -1 for fighting shieldless LEHI even when disordered, not that huge a deal. Makes the line a bit longer.

Enjoy - I expect to see several Japanese in the NICT again this year

[Frank Gilson]

I don't see a great purpose for much Japanese mounted, unfortunately. They don't fight effectively at all. You may have a couple such units simply to move as mounted after enemy infantry, but fighting is likely to be done dismounted.

LI or not is personal taste, and based on playtesting and expected terrain.

I generally favor, for Samurai, the larger line units with 2E foot units back behind the line in the gaps.

8E doesn't necessarily prevent a SHK unit from pushing you back disordered if your knight using opponent can draw prep shooting away from the knights, which sound tactics and your passive setup should always permit.

A good knight army is generally your bane in any event and you shouldn't expect to win...and I think this lesson will actually result in few NICT Japanese competitors, as well as the fact that certain well played elephant armies can defeat Samurai too. Note the huge disadvantage of relatively few units and a passive setup.

I'd advise anyone with serious desire to win the NICT not to play Samurai. If you want to enjoy a colorful, unique army that you find fun to play, go right ahead.

Frank

[jamiepwhite]

There are even a couple of samurai armies running around Jacksonville now, so grats to Scot for making a Japanese list that people will play. I painted four elements of Japanese cav for fun, they are colorful and I found painting the figs (Dixon) very enjoyable. On the other hand, HC LB is kind of flaky to use on the tabletop.

One improvement I can point out I think, you need to pay three more points for each second element of Japanese cav so that when they dismount, they will be LB, 1HCW. Otherwise, they are just LB and don't fight.

Jamie

[AntiokosIII]

Don't the Samurai Cav get either 2HCW or 1HCW free when they dismount? First, there's no provision in the list for paying points to give them either one, and second the list rules seem to me to say they get either 2HCW or 1HCW when they dismount, or 2HCT if they pay for it. The list does not have a line for addin 2H/1H CW, so either the list writer meant you to pay and forgot to put it in ( unlikely, smart guys those writers) or simply meant that 2HCT had to be paid for, as the list says explicitly.

Thanks for the help, guys. I agree with Frank that the Samurai cav is mostly useful as fast mounted infantry, and that this is not a serious NICT list. That's OK, I am not a serious NICT player. I don't play enough to compete in THAT shark tank. I plan to play in the 15mm open and have an army that will turn heads and make me the envy of all who see me. I might even win a game or two, stranger things have happened.

My new list has bigger Sammy foot units, 10 units total, and 9 scouting points. Wahoo!

[srawls]

This is from the Feudal Japanese list errata:

Page 69, Line 6: Delete entire line and replace with: "Extra to give Samurai Cavalry 2HCT @ 4 pts if general's element, @ 6 pts if other, or 1HCW/2HCW @ 2 pts if general's element, @ 3 pts if other...any"

Steve Rawls