The Legend of the Monkey and the Ox

[Mo]

Sgt. Hank Castle threw himself down into the dense foliage as the rat-a-tat-tat of the Japanese machine gun played around him and his men. He rolled over and looked back. Besides himself and the company medic, Lt Dotson, he still had 4 men. It could be worse, a hell of a lot worse. They had started as a ten man unit, but four had been cut down by the constant barrage of fire. CO had promised some reinforcements, but he’d believe that when he sees it.
   Dotson edged up beside him as Castle pulled out his binoculars. He took a quick look around. He could see where the shots were coming from, but damned if he could find the nest. That was going to be a problem.       He trained his glasses towards the ground and his heart sunk. Before him laid the ruins of the temple they were looking for. There wasn’t much left of it besides some old columns with a pedestal in the middle, but he knew at once it was the place. He also knew they were too late.
   Laying on the pedestal was the body of a Japanese soldier. Protruding from his back was the business end of a sword. A samurai sword if intellegence knew their business. That means the gate was already open.
   Castle grimaced. Dirty business this super soldier stuff. Of course the U.S. had their own, hell everyone did now, but Castle took some comfort in the fact that the soldiers were created in the lab, using good old American know how. The Japanese had taken a different path. They had learned how to release the ancient spirits of warriors past to possess their men. Most people wouldn’t take that job, since the story goes that the Oni leaves little more than a burnt husk of the body when it is done. The Japanese  though, they got a different mindset about things and these days about anything goes.
   Dotson spoke, “What’s the plan, Sarge?”
   Castle shook his head. He heard himself saying what he was saying, but it still didn’t make any sense to him. “Just like they told us, Dots. We gotta find the Monkey and The Ox.”


In this scenario the Marines must locate the idols of the Monkey and the Ox to shut the temple. (The Oni worship the Ox and fear the Monkey).  The Japanese soldiers are looking for the idols of the Dog, Snake and Horse. These are the final three Oni's and Japanese high command needs them for one final mission...

Japanese Machine gun nest outside a ruined temple...


Dog Oni appears early...


Marines press their attack...


The Snake Oni possesses a Japanese soldier, leaving a burnt husk behind of the man...



The Dog Oni attacks Sgt. Castle...


The Marines were getting no good shots...


The Horse Oni appears, sealing the Japanese victory...


Unfortunately for the Marines, both the Monkey and the Ox idols were far onto the Japanese board edge making success nearly impossible. Plus the Oni were really, really tough. An easy victory for the Japanese!

Marc

[ChukTuttle]

It didn't help that the Japanese were being controlled by such a grand strategist...me!   ::
Honestly, the placement of the Ox and Monkey couldn't have been any more difficult for the Americans to reach.  The machine gunner assistant got the best shot of the game, a head shot, and the machine gun never got a chance to fire.  I think the early deployment of the Dog Oni, plus the discovery of the Snake Oni a few rounds later, contributed to the rapid defeat of the Americans.

It was a great scenario with the Amazing War Story feel played on a great board.  When are the Fantastic World pics coming, or did you even take pictures of it?

[TadPortly]

Really really cool stuff.  Makes a real change to see Wierd WW II based on Japanese legends and traditions. Neat original idea.

[Hammers]

Inventive, that!

The idea to bring japanese deamons into a weird war setting in the pacific is really cool.

[Mo]

My friend Jerry offered to run an Amazing War Stories game at Historicon and since he was knee deep in painting figures for his big WWII Pacific game, it seemed to make sense to design a Pacific weird war game for him.

It helped that Rich kept the origins of the Oni supersoldiers in AWS so vague...

Marc

[supervike]

I have to agree...bringing in the Japanese legends into 'weird war 2' really opens a whole new Theater of Operations!

Cool stuff and very inspirational.

[TadPortly]

Spotted these figures which might tie in nicely:

http://www.tmterrain.com/

Click on link and then JJD Horror Figures in the left margin.

[Driscoles]

Great one Mo....

I will also do something in the pacific theatre now. Thanks for the inspiration !

Björn

[Auton]

Very nice! Are the oni from Dixon's?