Experiences with Ronin

[Julfdi]

After four skirmishes impressions seem to be similar to what has been said before:
armour works, bujutsu is really worth its cost.
After action reports on my blog:
http://piikkimies.blogspot.fi/

The game has been good father-son entertainment.
Single game of 100 points has taken as about an hour so far, with all the rules checking included.

No really good pics of the game itself so just a group photo of dipped figures waiting the varnish. Two samurai, some ikko ikki musketeers, sohei and some peasants.

[sepoy1857]

Nice!

[Julfdi]

Some painting updates on the blog - still work in progress.


Varnish should kill some of the gloss of the dip.

Ikko-ikki of 100 points. Mixture of Perry and Black hat miniatures.

[eilif]

Looking good. You're definitely making the most of the dip!

[jagergreen]

Not to cause an argument, but we tried it and found it to be a bit lackluster. Now we just played a brawl and I have read that it works best with a proper scenario with goals, etc so maybe we didn't give it a fair shake. Has anyone else been a bit disappointed with the rules?

[Drachenklinge]

better late than never, so ...

we have played that game a few times now, coming more and more to the well known rule that the more scenarios, missions and terrain the better for the game.

So far, the Bushi can deal a hell of a punch, making japanese sword-fights as they should be ... quick and bloody, usualy for the non-Bushi.
The heavy armour is quite the deal. But that is talking about the Bushi in the less-minis-but-rank3-or-higher version.

However, since we started not just to meet in the middle, but doing missions with say 3 mission-markers far from each other, the game starts to be really really exiting.

I think with ronin, lots of terrain - to counter some bowmen - and all sorts of scenarios is the key.

We also gathered, that as soon as we will paint more peasant for 4 points (I mean FOUR points!!), samurai will have a ... well, not hard, but long time to hack themselves through all the cannonfodder. And to counter one peasant, controlling the marker far away, you need a samurai to do the same, but much more expensive.

I do play Sohei, planning to start ikko-ikki, when I have painted enough peasants. ^^
I played Bushi just at the beginning to get into the game.

Our conclusion is that Ronin is a slender, elegant set of rules, with more depths than expected at the beginning. So far, we were never bogged down in sticky slow-motion fights for endless turns, with no outcome. The fights are quick, but the game's end is often still open, depending more on tactics, than on profiles.
But usualy- though not always - the rank decides, which is quite realistic and peasants are still important (although they die quick).
It is important to know which fight to pick with which mini, for what reason and to which situation.

We are not disappointed but still more and more impressed.

best wishes
DK

[Julfdi]

A game again after a hiatus. Foul bandits led by my son were accosted by troops of Ikko-Ikki


Sharp violent action, peasants have really hard time standing against even the lowliest of actual fighters - this time rank 1 monto.
rest of the story at blog.
http://piikkimies.blogspot.fi/2015/02/foul-bandits-against-heroes-of-pure.html

[Jiron]

I have just played my first game of Ronin with my brother. We have both played first time so there was lots of rules searching and so on. For 100 points our lists were:

Bushi:
Samurai with Naginata
Ashigaru Gashira
2x Yari Ashigaru
Yumi Ashigaru

Koryu (Jujutsu)
Sensei (Intuition, Fast)
3x Kohei

We have found out that "rank matters". I have won because my guys utterly outranked his guys and I had some lucky initiative rolls. Initiative seems to be the crucial stat in this game.
I have enjoyed it very much. I am happy to find out that playing unarmed martial artists is possible and I am looking forward for next game.

[archiduque]

Nice work!