Rindis.com

After trying out Wing Leader, our next Saturday game (for more complicated games) was trying out the short scenario for A Most Dangerous Time, which I got a couple years ago. It’s a Japanese design on the later part of the Warring States period, with Oda Nobunaga already in control of much of central Japan.

I had the Anti-Oda faction, which is a collection of various factions with one thing in common: Stopping Oda Nobunaga. In the game’s chit pull system, this is three different chits (with more that come in later), and you can only act with the active chit’s troops, even if you have other units present in a place.

Oda automatically goes first on the first turn. With an ongoing campaign in the north, he put a small force into Mt. Hiei and moved the big at-start army south to Odani, one of the castles needed for Oda’s victory (well, they need six castles larger than the base size, and this is one of them), and the Azai army there hid in the castle with a 4-14 fight looming. Sieges are expensive to prosecute, since the defenders roll first, and are the only ones to get bonuses, when everyone needs to roll ‘6’s to hit. Four units did three hits, and took one in return.

The second chit was ‘End Turn’, allowing Mark to draw a card (for controlling Kyo), and taking us to turn 2 after Mark regrouped his lost units. Turn 2 starts with a small event where the monks of Enrakyu-Ji on Mt. Hiei seize control of the castle there, putting the recently arrived troops into a siege. This maintains a line of communications through, which was what Mark wanted, as pressing the siege (rolling dice) causes the three neutral powers to each move closer to entering the fight against Oda (Takeda, Uesugi, and Mori all have fixed entry dates that move up 1d6 turns if this happens). And the first chit of turn 2 was End Turn. (Yes, this does end the turn, with another card draw for Mark.)

Turn 3 saw Nobunaga go first (some factions—including Oda—get two chits, one for the clan/alliance, and one for the daimyo in charge), and Mark moved a large army into Sawayama; the south end of Azai’s lands, from the north, he sent one unit to Yokoyama, reestablishing communications through Azai lands. He besieged Sawayama, knocking out my two-unit garrison for no losses, and took out two units in Odani (just leaving samurai Azai Nagamasa there), while losing three units. Next up were the ‘Anti-Oda minors’; five clans in all, but only Miyoshi is at all prominent, and they moved to attack Ibaraki just south of Kyo, with the plan that the Ikko-Ikki forces in the area could clean up what was left if they didn’t win.

Mark had in fact, just reinforced that space, and we had our first field battle, with me having more troops than I could command (which is fine, other than the fact they don’t get a leadership bonus, and again, you want 6s or better on d6 per unit). We tied initiative and both got two hits. Mark retreated, and I got one more hit, leaving Akechi Mitsuhide and Hosokawa Fujitaka to take shelter inside the castle. Azai/Asakura went next and Asakura Ashikage headed south to retake Kanagasaki, and hope to be able to break the siege of Odani next time (units can go time after time, but do permanently stop if they enter a unbesieged unfriendly space.

Oda got the next chit, and Mark pulled out of Mt. Hiei while sending a new army into Ibaraki and activating Odani (if anything moves into a space with a siege, you can press it, but otherwise you have to activate a space already under siege to actually do anything). The battle went poorly for Mark, with me winning initiative (each round you compare die rolls, and if the totals are too far off, only one side attacks that round), and causing two losses, and he retreated the one surviving unit out. In Odani, I caused one hit, while Mark got nothing.

This was critical, because next the turn ended, and the first chit of turn 4 was Azai/Asakura. Asakura Ashikage arrived in Odani with an 8-unit army (including himself, but not the besieged Azai), while Nobunaga’s was down to 7. The first round, we did three hits to each other, and Mark retreated out, but lost all four units in the retreat, with Araki Murashige being killed and Nobunaga being wounded until next turn. (I thought he should have stuck around one more round, but the odds were slightly against him; as it was, he might have killed another couple of units.)

That ended the turn, and now Azai was able to start regrouping, since there was now a space for their troops to show up in. Ikko-Ikki got their first draw as the first action of turn 5, and they sent an army into to besiege Ibaraki (You can only use the active chit’s units, but you can do a siege someone else started—though there are problems.), and knocked out the garrison, killing both Samurai. After that was Oda, and most of the army that had taken the southern part of Azai moved towards Nagashima, but no offensive action was actually taken. Then the Anti-Oda Minors went… and I realized that with Ikko in charge of Ibaraki, Miyoshi couldn’t go anywhere without going out of communication/supply. (They could go by sea to the west, but that’s just neutral territory right now.) So, they did nothing, and Azai/Asakura was up. Their combined army went south and retook Yokoyama, after which the turn ended.

Ikko-Ikki went first on turn 6, and spent their time maneuvering. And then the turn was over. However, part of the reinforcement phase is that Takeda comes into the war, getting their troops set up, and now they get two chits for the cup (regular and daimyo).

Ikko-Ikki went first again, and Saika plus an Ikko force went to besiege Mt. Shigi, with both sides taking a hit to leave Matsunaga Hisahide trapped in the castle. Anti-Oda was next, and merely sent a unit forward to help guard Ibaraki from the large Oda army gathering nearby. Then Azai/Asakura continued south to retake Sawayama.

Then Nobunaga went, and Mark finally got a negotiation to work, converting the minor clan in Totomi, now that Takeda was active. Mark spent three movement putting forces into Nagashima, and then moved another large army into Ibaraki. Nagashima being a large castle (and therefore a victory space), the four units there retreated into the castle, doing only one hit (think I got the modifier wrong, and there should have been a second hit), while Oda did three. The battle in Ibaraki was even with the first round being 5 hits each. I pulled out the stump of my army (two Ikko-Ikki units staying in the castle), with thankfully, no pursuit (failed initiative). The siege did one hit, while Mark failed to get any 6s. This was followed by Oda, giving Mark a valuable double turn, putting more into the sieges and preparing some blocking forces on the route from Takeda lands. He took both castles in return for three more losses.

Takeda went next, advancing into Kakegawa on the coast and taking the castle, but taking two hits inland at Iwamura, and only reducing the defenders to a single unit. That finally ended the turn (only the other Takeda chit was left).

Ikko-Ikki was the first chit for the fourth time in a row, spending their time failing to take Mt. Shigi, then Takeda regrouped a little and took Iwamura. Then Azai/Asakura went, and I had a decision to make. Azai lands are a string of three spaces along the east shore of Lake Biwa, with only the ends having extra connections. Now having recovered the south end, do I go east, west, or sit tight. Both lead to valuable areas, with Kyo being three spaces west, and Nagashima three east. I went both directions, to protect the routes (I hoped), leaving the big army in a siege of Kannon-ji (south of Lake Biwa) while taking Ogaki. Oda went next, converting the minor clan in Tanba Kameyama next to Kyo, and sending the Nagashima army around to fight Asakura Yoshikage in Kannon-ji. This was a disaster, as initiative gave the first round to Oda, and my army was knocked out retreating in the second round, with Yoshikage scheduled to return at the end of turn 10 (effectively after it was over). He also pressed the siege of Mt. Hiei, doing nothing, but the rolls for earlier entry of Uesugi and Mori still put them after the game end (Mori shifted from turn 13 to 12…). Takeda went again, and besieged Toki. Nobunaga went, taking Sawayama, and cutting off the Azai army, while reducing the garrison in Mt. Hiei.

That ended turn 8, and turn 9 started with Nobunaga, who took Yokoyama. Asakura/Azai were next, and four Asakura units (with no leader) went to relieve Mt. Hiei, getting a surprise initiative to kill two units in the first round, after which Mark retreated. (I can’t blame Mark for not wanting to risk Nobunaga here, but given my lack of leadership, the battle could go very wrong for me, and he needed that siege.) Takeda was next, and the coastal force moved inland to take Futumata, while the main army finally took Toki.

This spelled Mark’s doom. The side without Kyo gets a card for every space they take, but we’d largely been getting cards that didn’t do much (having the card that will flip a leader on your side to your side isn’t very playable, though it is good piece of mind). I drew Brilliant Maneuver, which lets you choose between four possibilities as the next chit, including ‘End Turn’. I played it to do just that.

Takeda was the first chit of turn 10, and I took Komaki, bringing me up to the line of small armies between Takeda and Nagashima and Azai’s army. At the end of my impulse, I played Master of Tactics, which lets me take a card out of the discards. I took Brilliant Maneuver, which I used to force and End Turn draw.

Afterword

The Oda goal in this scenario is to have control of six castles larger than size 1. They have three in their own area, and the “Good Fortune” (mulligan) chit counts as a fourth (never used…). Nagashima was number five. That is why I was desperate to break up the siege of Mt. Hiei, and I was concerned about the developing offensive into Azai to Odani.

Overall, the game plays well, and feels like it’s bringing forth the later Warring States period. Sieges are highly annoying though, with the attacker’s only option to throw dice until enough 6s come up. Given turns are roughly six months, some sort of passive starving out the garrison seems like it should be possible. (Admittedly, troops under siege are more vulnerable to negotiations, but samurai and daimyos are immune to that.)

As mentioned, the cards were largely non-starters for a long time. I did get an Ikko-Ikki Riot… just after the last time their chit was drawn, and it has to be done during their turn. The game-ending combination was a complete surprise. I assume normally you see it used for forcing one of the daimyo draws next. Or when you know all your useful chits have been drawn already.

Seeing the war expand with Mori and Uesugi getting involved later would definitely be an interesting experience. Oda is going to take a lot of losses with sieges, so the four regroup/turn is really handy, and the ability to expand that to eight needed, and probably largely likely in a longer game. Mark nearly got Azai as it was, and destroying that clan (taking the main castle) expands the regroup limit.

Overall, its a good game, with very good graphics. The rules are a bit of a mess. There’s a summary sheet on BGG that is essential, as it straightens out a lot of confusion on DRMs.