Portuguese in Ronin

[drong]

Yes very similar ideas

I tried to create a generic european buntai. The others buntai of the book are totally generics too and i like it. I believe more in the story told by the gamers than in specials rules. I added portuguese titles because on the forum the first messages spoke about portugueses but it's just for flavour...

I don't really test the buntai at that time but as i start from the bushi buntai, i guess i can't totally be wrong...
Less armour, more fire weapons, i think it's a good deal... may be the purcentage of fire weapons could be increase to 50%. It needs more tests.

Tell me more when you will have play with it.

[NurgleHH]

Yes very similar ideas

I tried to create a generic european buntai. The others buntai of the book are totally generics too and i like it. I believe more in the story told by the gamers than in specials rules. I added portuguese titles because on the forum the first messages spoke about portugueses but it's just for flavour...

I don't really test the buntai at that time but as i start from the bushi buntai, i guess i can't totally be wrong...
Less armour, more fire weapons, i think it's a good deal... may be the purcentage of fire weapons could be increase to 50%. It needs more tests.

Tell me more when you will have play with it.

Maybe you can put the buntai here and all the readers can test it...

[Roddy]

Awesome idea! Shogun was one of my favorite shows growing up and thanks to you I feel compelled to make an euro warband once I finish my samurai.  

One thing though

I think that the Portuguese would be hilariously outmatched in close combat to the ferocious Samurai

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nossa_Senhora_da_Gra%C3%A7a_incident

And on a more anecdotal way
http://www.tameshigiri.ca/2014/05/07/european-vs-japanese-swordsmen-historical-encounters-in-the-16th-19th-centuries/

[drong]

I put the link to the thread on the ronin forum but i can copy the rules here :

GAIJINS

SPECIFIC WEAPONS
Arquebus : like teppo
Pistol : like teppo with maximum range of 12'', suffers a -1 penalty to hit for distances over 6''.
Brace of pistols : two pistols, you can shoot one in the Move Phase and the other in the Action Phase (apply Modifiers), but each pistol needs to be reloaded one by one.

one hand weapon (sword, axe,...) : like katana
spear : like yari
dagger : like tanto
rapier : hand weapon with +1 initiative modifier
halberd : like naginata
shield : like armour one class higher (for exemple medium armour and shield count as heavy armour), prevents from using any other weapon than one hand weapon.


COMPOSITION
* There must be no more Rank 1 models than the sum of Rank 2 to Rank 5 models.
* There must be at least two Rank 2 models for one Rank 3 model.
* There must be at least one Rank 3 model for one Rank 4 or Rank 5 model.
* There must be only one rank 5
* No more than 33% of the models may have a arquebus, a pistol or a brace of pistols.

SPECIAL RULES
Like Bandits

MORALE
The Morale Rating of Gaijins is 8.

MODELS
(i had only written what is changing from the bushi buntaï - commander and optional competences are the same)

Marinheiro as ashigaru with no armour : 11 points
weapon : one hand weapon and one dagger
options : acrobatics attribut or spear +3, light armour +2

soldado as ashigaru-gashira with no armour : 15 points
weapon : one hand weapon and one dagger
attribut : none
options : light armour +2, shield +2, arquebus, halberd or spear +3

cavaliero as samourai with light armour : 20 points
weapon : one hand weapon and one dagger
options : medium armour +2, shield +2, arquebus, halberd, pistol, rapier or spear +3

Tenente as hatamoto with light armour : 25 points
weapon : one hand weapon and one dagger
options : medium armour +2, shield +2, halberd, pistol (brace +6) or rapier +3

Capitão as bushou with light armour : 30 points
weapon : one hand weapon and one dagger
options : medium armour +2, shield +2, pistol (brace +6) or rapier +3

SWORDS-FOR-HIRE

Gaijins may hired one jesuit priest : ashigaru-gashira profil, no armour, improvised weapon : 23 points
attribut : Commander, Hallowed be thy name
Hallowed be thy name (10 points) : While the priest is alive, the Buntai’s morale could be « Wavering » but not « Routing ».
Gaijins may hired one christian samurai : samourai profil from the bushi buntai
Gaijins may hired up to two christian ashigarus : ashigaru or ashigaru-gashira profil from the bushi buntai


Early Gaijins buntai
Use this modification for less powder weapons

crossbow : must be reloaded before it can be fired again. Whenever a crossbow is fired, it is helpful to place a small counter next to the model to signify this. Models that are fired at with a crossbow treat their armour as one class worse (heavy armour is considered medium, and so on)

New Action : Reload a crossbow : If a model armed with a crossbow did not move, is not Stunned and did not fight in hand-to-hand combat this turn, it may reload. Remove the counter signifying that the crossbow has been fired to denote that it is available to be fired again from the beginning of the next turn. Note that crossbows are considered to begin the game loaded and ready to fire.

changes :
* No more than 25% of the models may have a arquebus or a pistol and no more than 50% may have a shooting weapon.
remove the brace of pistols options
add crossbow +3 points option for Soldado, Cavaliero and Tenente




COMMENTS
the idea of the buntai is european soldiers (rank 2 to 5) with sailors (rank 1) in support.
no horse - they came by sea
less armour than samurai - it's a choice to have a different buntai from samurais.
lot of shooty weapons
Cost of attribute « Hallowed be thy name », i think first : the number of models in the buntai cost in points, but it's too complex. 10 points make the

inspiring miniatures collection
http://eurekaminusa.com/collections/conquistadores-28mm-portuguese

Note : i'm not english nor portuguese. Fell free to correct the text.

[NurgleHH]

@drong: very Talented stuff, Would be a shame Not to Show it Here. Will Test it.
@Roddy: where from Portugal you Are from,  meu amigo.

[Metternich]

Excellent Post.  You beat me to it - as the period covered in Ronin is primarily the 16th century, I've long thought Ronin (with a few tweaks) would be a useful set of rules even for the European forces.  Eureka makes actual Portugeuse of the period (and they are very compatible with Wargames Foundry's Swashbucklers):

http://eurekaminusa.com/collections/conquistadores-28mm-portuguese

[SotF]

Excellent Post.  You beat me to it - as the period covered in Ronin is primarily the 16th century, I've long thought Ronin (with a few tweaks) would be a useful set of rules even for the European forces.  Eureka makes actual Portugeuse of the period (and they are very compatible with Wargames Foundry's Swashbucklers):

http://eurekaminusa.com/collections/conquistadores-28mm-portuguese

There's supposed to be a new game coming that uses a very similar and primarily compatible ruleset by the same people...

[rumacara]

Humm!! Very nice idea.
Although i have the rules i´ve never played Ronin but with this adition i might give a try.
Yes Roddy, from what part of Portugal are you?
I´m in Lisbon.

[Roddy]

@Roddy: where from Portugal you Are from,  meu amigo.

Yes Roddy, from what part of Portugal are you?
I´m in Lisbon.

I'm from Oeiras

[warrenpeace]

Roddy, thanks for the link! I had started watching the Shogun TV series just before the weekend, had read the book many years ago, and didn't realize until I followed your link two days ago that the story of the English pilot of a Dutch ship reaching Japan in 1600 was historical. Interesting info re accounts of historical clashes between Japanese and Europeans.

Tried Ronin a few weeks ago. A friend is producing a samurai scenario for a convention next year. Have some of those Foundry El Dorado packs that I was intending to use for Portuguese in Africa. Now I see that I can also use them for battles with Japanese, either in Japan in the 1500's, or battles with wako elsewhere in Asia. Thanks!

[OSHIROmodels]

and didn't realize until I followed your link two days ago that the story of the English pilot of a Dutch ship reaching Japan in 1600 was historical.

William Adams, born in Rochester in Kent I believe. There's a steet named after him and a small temple that he's reported to be buried at (the street isn't that far from my sister-in-laws house).

Quite an interesting story really 

cheers

James

[warrenpeace]

It seems that fact is usually more impressive than fiction,... or at least that a lot of fiction is merely stolen from fact!

Too bad that it's hard to sort out how European sword technique really fared against Japanese sword technique. That forum debate in Roddy's link just made my head spin.

 

[carlos13th]

Yeah I am not.convinced that some.how the Europeans would be hilariously unmatched by the Japanese In A sword fight. Not convinced the other way around either

[SotF]

Didn't the Japanese end up banning rapiers rather quickly because they tended to be a better weapon for the time

[carlos13th]

For a one on one unarmored duel Rapier is a pretty damn effect weapon as it has advantages over some other swords due to being a specialized thrusting weapon, thrusting is generally quicker and has more range than cutting.