Ronin gaming aids

Here's a photo of my gaming aids for Ronin (28mm chanbara skirmish).  The nifty katana rulers are marked for inches (9" length).  They came as part of a set from Sarissa Precision which also includes some stone lanterns - I'm looking at getting some cell-powered LEDs for these...

The dice are the same ones I use for my Crossfire games, & I painted the katana rulers as red & blue factions to match.  The Stunned & Wound markers are Ø10mm laser-cut ply discs from Fenris Games, which I painted as parchment, & then used permanent fineliners to draw on 'Stunned' or 'Wounded' symbols.  The Stunned counters have a single spiral on one side, & two spirals on the other (counts as two Stunned counters).  Meanwhile the Wound counters have a single cut on one side (Light Wound), & a double cut on the other (Grievous Wound). I flicked red paint from a knackered old small brush on the Wound counters, & added a gloss finish to try & play-up the blood effect, but I'm not certain I'm satisfied with the slightly wavy lines.  I may try some thicker, straighter lines, or perhaps use my blood splat (Pinned / Suppressed) markers from Crossfire instead.  

I painted some other laser-cut discs in black & white for the Attack & Defence markers respectively.  A pool of combat counters this large isn't normally required, but this will be enough for larger games involving lots of elite fighters.  The puff of smoke is simply a small piece of pillow filling, used for marking when a matchlock has been fired (& thus requires reloading).

Third Ronin game

Here's a short report on my third game of Ronin from last weekend, against my friend Tim.  For our third introductory game of Ronin, we kept our buntai values at 100pts, but I took on the role of the Koryû (sword school).  Unlike the generally low-skill katana-fodder of the Peasant & Yakuza factions, the Koryû are generally high-skill fighters.  This meant that I only had three figures against the nine of Tim's Yakuza mob!

The Black Hang gang had the same roster as in our second game - consisting of a Lieutenant with katana, a Thug with a tanegashima (matchlock) & katana, five Thugs with katanas, & two Ruffians with ararebō (clubs).  My Koryû meanwhile had a Sensei with the Fast & Intuitive Attributes, plus two Senpai, one with Fast, the other with Intuitive.  All three were armed with the weapons of their school - a katana & wakizashi (sword & short sword).  I liked the idea of each of the Sensei's senior students having focus in one area of his own mastery.

Second Ronin game

Last weekend I had my inaugural games of Ronin with Tim.  Here's a little report (with plenty of photos) on our second game.  We stuck with the basic Skirmish scenario, but upped our buntai to 100pts each, & swapped sides - I played the upstart Peasants, & Tim took on the role of the dastardly Yakuza this time.  I rolled the Minor Goal of controlling all quarters of the board at the end of the game (difficult!), while Tim rolled that he mustn't lose more than 25% of his force (Boss Matsuda was clearly displeased about losing so many of his goons in the last encounter!)

My plucky villagers of Sangawe consisted of local land-owner Ishida Mitsu 'The Red Widow' - a Samurai lady with katana & wakizashi (sword & short sword), her loyal bodyguard also with katana & wakizashi, Bokusui the eccentric Warrior Monk with bō (quarterstaff), a Peasant with bamboo yari (spear), and six more Peasants with improvised weapons.  Tim's Black Hand Yakuza mob consisted of a Lieutenant with katana, a Thug with a tanegashima (matchlock) & katana, five Thugs with katanas, & two Ruffians with ararebō (clubs).

The random starting zones resulted in us facing-off from opposite edges.  The Yakuza deployed their main group (including Lieutenant & matchlock gunner) centrally, while a single Thug & the two Ruffians were heading for the crop field on Tim's right flank.  My armed villagers were split into a group each side of the house, with the Samurai & Warrior Monk on my left flank, & most of the Peasants (including the one with spear) on my right.

First Ronin game

Today I played my first three games of Ronin with Tim.  It was an enjoyable introduction, with the attack/defence counter pool mechanic adding nice granularity to melee, but still being fast to play.  Here is a quick report on our first game - a little 50pts Skirmish scenario between the Black Hand Yakuza (me), & the plucky villagers of Sangawe (Tim).

My Yakuza mob consisted of four Thugs (basic-level) with katana, plus a Ruffian (low-level) with araebō (club).  One of the Thugs acted as the Leader.  They were opposed by five Peasants (low-level), four with improvised weapons, & one with a bamboo yari (spear). The Peasant mob was led by a Warrior Monk (mid-level) armed with a bō (quarterstaff).

The starting zones were random, & resulted in our mobs beginning on opposite table edges.  We both formed tight groups, & advanced at pace along the track towards the central choke-point between the stable & house.