Ronin Rules Query

[cptkremmen]

Hi Guys,

We played a couple of games a short while ago and found that what happened is all the melee troops on both sides just charge each other and we end up with one big melee with about 6-10 figures in it.

Is this correct?

Are we supposed to try and break it down into lots of small melees fought one at a time or is it one big one where you fight in initiative sequence.

We did the latter. Whilst the fighting itself was fun, it seemed the game was very limited in that all the troops just charge and we have one single melee, eventually one side loses it and game over.

We kind of thought we were "Missing something" or doing something wrong?

planning on another game next week with a new player so would like to try and get this sorted out.

All help greatly appreciated

Andy

[wkeyser]

Hi Andy
We play it the same way with one large melee and fighting is based on who intiative roll + mods.

However, the game is more subtle than that. First thing that will affect how you fight is the rank and weapons and armour of  your troops, what you want to try and do is tie up his good troops with some that can survive a turn of combat, then concentrate on killing his big hitters.

I usually use a bandit or peasant band and it drives my opponents crazy because we play 150 to 200 points so I end up with tons of peasants. I use those by throwing them in front of his figures so that I can localize my attack with my heavy hitters. Or one or two teppo armed troops then can then get close to his target and fire at close range.

The game is actually very subtle with the use of the CPs you allways seem to thinking about attack and defense. How to use the lower rank figures for example in passing on thier Defense CPs to the higher rank figures so they can concentrate on attacking.

For us it is far from just a big melee.

William

[Smith]

Take a look at the Combat Phase rules on p.14:

Sometimes more than one model from each side will become involved in a single combat. In this case, the models should be separated into a logical number of single combats, depending on the sequence in which they joined the combat and which models are in base-to-base contact with which. Common sense needs to be applied in these situations, and the golden rule is that only ONE side will ever have multiple combatants in any given combat.

That should cover your query about how to run through large melees.

As to games ending up as a big scrum in the centre... while the focus of the period (and the game) is on hand-to-hand combat, there are plenty of options for a different approach. As William said, vary your tactics - just because you're going to end up in melee doesn't mean that they always play out the same way. You could also change your troop options - while ranged weaponry is limited to a degree, consider increasing the number of teppo or yumi in your Buntai. Also, consider running through some different scenarios, or even creating your own - perhaps one in which a Buntai is forced to divide its forces, or one where one Buntai must evade the other (this works well for a Bandit Buntai attempting to escape from a superior punitive force). You could also use the terrain to mix up the possibilities - a tight urban set-up would reduce the mass scrum effect by introducing a number of routes through the board, and limiting the number of figures that could contact each other at any one time. Throw in routes across rooftops and the aforementioned yumi and teppo become really useful!

[cptkremmen]

We have not found the shooters cost effective so only use a small number

I agree that this game will be best if scenario driven.

I am going to have to reread the combat rules, sounds as though we should be breaking it up into smaller combats.

[wkeyser]

Missile armed troops with bows can fire twice in one turn, and against lightly armoured enemy they are deadly. One thing that will bump up their ability is to give the bows to figures with a high fire value. Teppo are a great weapon but think before you shoot, get close and fire at an armoured enemy, as the teppo shot negates armour down to light armour for the defense.

I dont like the breaking up into multiple small combats. We play it as you seem to be doing we have tried both and the large melees really become intresting and works really well.

William

[cptkremmen]

We did not play as a big melee "on purpose" we just weren't sure what we were doing!

[Timbor]

I find that most games end up as one big melee anyway, so I see that more part of the nature of wargames in general 

[Lowtardog]

I find that most games end up as one big melee anyway, so I see that more part of the nature of wargames in general 

Yep, you often have a wonderful table with all manner of terrain and features and end up in a smal corner amongst the dice, QR sheets and half empty coffee/soft drinks containers