Test of Honour: The Oyoshima Campaign

[EnclavedMicrostate]

For the next couple of months I'll be running some linked games as part of a multiplayer campaign, pitting various factions against each other for control of the (fictional, but heavily real-world inspired) island of Oyoshima. To copy over my original brief to the players:

Oyoshima lies just off the Honshu coast in the Seto Inland Sea. Unremarkable in most regards, its inhabitants eke out a modest living through fishing on the coast or growing rice and vegetables in the few areas of low-lying farmland. The one significant source of wealth is a small but productive copper mine on its southward-facing slope. Shrines and temples dot the island, of which the largest is a relatively well-endowed monastery on the west coast dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. The only settlement of note, outside a handful of small hamlets and fishing villages, is the market town of Minamiyama, located at a crossroads on the southern side. A narrow pass through the mountains links it to Oyoshima Castle, from which a cadet branch of the Otomo clan of Kyushu has ruled the island for four generations. A few lesser outposts line the coast to deter raiders, mainly those of the piratical Murakami clan, close allies of the Otomo’s old nemesis, the Mori clan of western Honshu.

It is the summer of 1579. The year before, Otomo Sorin invaded the lands of the Shimazu clan, his last remaining obstacle to sole mastery over Kyushu. Otomo Masashige, the current lord of the island, decided to sail out in aid of his distant cousin, leaving his wife Chiho-hime in charge at home. Masahige’s decision may have been a misguided one, however. Not only has Sorin’s campaign gone poorly, but his renunciation of his Buddhist vows and conversion to Catholicism won him many enemies, and the temple guard at the Kannonji now militate against Masahige for aiding his apostate relative. The now-absent lord also raised taxes considerably in preparation for his campaign, and some islanders have turned to banditry and rebellion in response. And then there are vassals of the Mori clan on the mainland who can sense the weakness of the ?tomo position, and may be plotting to take the island as vengeance for past defeats…

The aim is to play through a number of games with character progression as laid out in the rules. As the player who actually has the rules and paraphernalia, I'll be handling the Otomo Onna-Bugeisha throughout, with other players taking up to three other forces. For now I have one taker, who is going for the warrior monks, but I will update as the campaign develops. As of writing, we've played the first game, which ended in a draw. The monks are now in open revolt, but the clan leadership have put up more of a fight than they might have hoped...

Battle reports:
Game 1: Otomo Onna-Bugeisha versus warrior monks – draw. https://cohortsofthedamned.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-oyoshima-campaign-game-1-peasants.html
Game 2: Otomo Onna-Bugeisha versus warrior monks – Otomo win. https://cohortsofthedamned.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-oyoshima-campaign-part-2-peasants.html
Game 3: Mori ashigaru versus Otomo Onna-Bugeisha – draw. (see below)
Game 4: Mori ashigaru versus Otomo Onna-Bugeisha – Mori win. https://cohortsofthedamned.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-oyoshima-campaign-part-3-and-35.html

[Khusru2]

An interesting game.
I would have appreciated a picture of each group before the action.

[EnclavedMicrostate]

Yes, in retrospect I ought to have taken some, but my phone was charging while we were setting up and ran out of battery just after we finished.

[Cat]

Sounds like a fun little campaign!

[EnclavedMicrostate]

Game 2 last night, the Cunning Ruse scenario from the Sengoku book: https://cohortsofthedamned.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-oyoshima-campaign-part-2-peasants.html



Overall a convincing win for the Otomo, who kept their nerve despite some appalling dice rolls, while the monks, stymied by several short turns in a row, were unable to bring their forces to bear.

[EnclavedMicrostate]

Games 3 and 4: a draw followed by a decisive win as a group of Mori ashigaru from the mainland make their own play for control of the island. Game 4 in particular was an embarrassing one for me, as I lost all three characters before the end of turn 1 and decided I'd best throw in the towel rather than suffer the indignity of a complete defeat.



https://cohortsofthedamned.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-oyoshima-campaign-part-3-and-35.html