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The Oyoshima Campaign, Part 3 (and 3.5): Land Ho!

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Just as the Ōtomo clan forces had begun  mopping up the rebels in the south , a new threat came from the north. Vassals of the Mōri clan on the mainland spotted an opportunity to strike, and so a force under Captain Hiroji was sent out to secure a beachhead as a prelude to an invasion of the island. They took the risky approach of an opposed landing, moving to capture a coastal outpost and thereby challenge Ōtomo control directly. The Ōtomo outpost is an austere one, simply comprising a watchtower to provide early warning of pirate raids. On the beach below are the last crumbling walls of an old estate, built by a long-forgotten nobleman on what was once dry land even at high tide. The Mōri forces would land on the beach directly and attempt to sweep away the defenders in a daring night attack. We ended up playing two consecutive scenarios. The first was to be Seize from the core rules. Three objectives are placed on the table, with victory going to whoever controls the most at the...
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The Oyoshima Campaign, Part 2: The Peasants are Revolting! Again!

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Following on from  the first game , Gareth and I resumed our campaign yesterday with a run through one of the scenarios out of the Sengoku book. The premise for this encounter was that an itinerant preacher had riled up a nearby village to revolt, and the monks were sallying out to link up with them and intercept an Ōtomo attack. Of the three options I offered, Gareth took one where his troops would attempt to attack mine with the aid of some deceptive manoeuvres, leading to the Cunning Ruse scenario. The objectives for this scenario are a standard control-type affair, with three objective markers around the middle of the table, and victory going to whoever controls the most by the end of turn 5. Both sides have equal forces, but at the beginning of the game, one half of the attacker's forces are a decoy which will disappear at the end of the first turn, or earlier if the enemy gets close enough; they then become available as reinforcements at the start of turn 2. In theory, the de...
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The Oyoshima Campaign, Game 1: The Peasants are Revolting!

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For this summer, I've planned to run a multiplayer, open-plan campaign pitting various forces against each other. An introductory post will, paradoxically, come later, once I have a bit more material pinned down, but with a pause in gaming time coming up due to a small trip (a reminder to me that I never rounded out the Kyushu photos from 2024), I thought it'd be best to write up the first battle report first, and then do the general introduction at a suitable juncture. The overall setting of the campaign is a fictional island, albeit heavily inspired by real-world geography, in the Seto Inland Sea. Normally ruled by a branch lineage of the Ōtomo clan, the lord has taken his troops out to fight on Kyūshū, leaving it vulnerable to revolt and invasion. Multiple factions now vie for control of the island. To start with, I am taking control of the Ōtomo clan, centred on an Onna-Bugeisha force; opposing them is Gareth, controlling a band of warrior monks who will be the first challe...
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