Warmaster Nippon army list

I am about to kick over a giant hornet nest of nerd rage. No Cav, no dragon, no magic. Peps will lose their shit.

Recent Warmaster PodCast,  Episode 123 of the warmaster pod cast the lads talk about the development of the Nippon list. This is major! They have a strong presents within the community. Being on the development side of Warmaster revolution, TOs for the UK tourney circuit, Hosts of the Warmaster worlds tourney, and host of the pod cast what they state could easily become cannon.

I agree the Nippon list as it stands is proper porked. There are cartoon fan boy entries. Special rules that are war wagon-ish and over the top with no comparable precedence within the system. It is plagued with fundamental gross conceptual errors. The list needs a trimming, a general smacking with the reality stick, and cartoon fan boy clean up.

Trimming;   All special general rules gone. Temple Imps and Oni gone. Warrior monks gone. Shrine gone. Abbot gone.

Special rules 3, 7 ,8, 9, 12, 13, 14 gone. #7 is total villager nightmare cartoon crap. Yes they muck raking peasants believed in such, but there is no other recorded event. There are no dragons in Japan. Its cartoon crap. 11 through 14 have no precedence within the system. Retinue, #9, could be combined with #8 and replaced with a Kensai entry.

Temple Imps and Oni are cartoon crap and extra filler. They have no reference base for in the period of warfare presented.  They can be represented by one entry Temple Dogs.

Warrior monks are also extra filler and represented by Zealot monks. Zealot monks can represented include the peasants/trained warriors/monks of the Ikko-ikki and those trained warrior monks released upon the Christians. 

The Shrine entry is too much and it is not needed. A Daimyo would pray or sent prayers to a shrine. Never was one taken into battle like some holy relic.

                              The abbott is another filler entry. This is not an Ikko-ikki army or to be representive of one.

Fundamental problems;   Temple Dogs. Ronin no max changed to 4. Samurai Cavalry gone. No magic.

Not Dogs, Foxes! Foxes were seen at the time to be super natural. Dogs were never seen as such nor were they display is Temples. Foxes are throughout the temples in Japan.

Ronin must be limited for design purposes. Ronin were hired warriors and money would create a limiting factor. They were known for taking money and not fighting. Also an all Ronin army can not be represented at the Warmaster scale. It would be too small appearing more as local bandits. Limit -/4, no more than 8 in 2000 points.

Samurai Cavalry never existed in the form of Cavalry within Warmaster’s concept of Cavalry. (See my last post.) Samurai Cavalry did not fight the same as western Cavalry. The horses were too small, could not gallop, and did not have the body mass for a charge. Samurai Cavalry should be based length wise. These mount warriors used their horses to move rapidly across the battle field, to see farther, and gain a height advantage. They also fought with retiners on foot beside them. Precedence being the Pikemen are based width wise for their fighting tactic.

No magic. The Samurai lived in a world of super natural and magic. Yet they did not have wizards and hippies casting spells. They would send prayers or pray at temples. If the results were favorable. It was magic. Only Kamizaze and Kami remain.

Changes;   Kensai, Foxes, Ashigaru Tempo, Zealot Monks, Command staff

Kensai were master swords man, teachers, legendary heroes. Ex Miyamoto Musashi. Their actions in battle are mythical. A Kensai being a monster that causes terror with the stat line of a bone giant with the samurai special rule. Kensai will replace the dragon, Temple Oni, and Tengu.

Foxes were Japan’s super natural being. Temple Dogs and Imps are replace by foxes. There are no such things within the temples or records. This is cartoon crap. Foxes will keep the Temple dog stat line. Foxes have rule #11, and can cast Kamikaze, and Kami when touching a unit. This represents their prayers answered favor of the gods or spirits.

Ashigaru Tempo must be added. Samurai armies from this represented period had muskets between 5-10%. There are well documented, legendary, and the usage/technique hoty debated. Tempo armed Ashigaru will have the hand gunners stat line with a -/2 limit.

Zealot monks will resent all combatant Ikko-ikki, Buddist monks, and anti Christian monks. They have the same stat line and special rules as Zealot monks in other lists.

Command staff name changes, and rules. Shogun  general command 10, Daimyo general command 9, Taisho Hero command 8. Rule #9 Retinue allows for an additional Kensai to be added, like a mount, outside of the normal army/points limit. It is limited to one for the command staff and only for a Daimyo or Taisho. Rule # 10 Divine Ancestry remains the same. It is limited to the Shogun and Daimyo. Rule # 11 remains the same. It is limited to Shogun and Daimyo.

The Nippon purposed looks as such;

Troop	Troop	Attack	Range	Hits	Armor	Command	Size	Points	Limits	Rules
Samurai	Inf	3  1	30cm	3	5		3	85		1,2
Ashigura	Inf	3		3	6		3	45
Ashigura Tempo	Inf	1  3	30cm	3	6		3	65	0  2	3
Ronin	Inf	3		3	5		3	65	0-4	2
Zealot Monks	Inf	5		3			3	70		4
Kensai	Monster	6		4	4			135	0  1	1,2,5
Samurai Cavarly	Cav	3  1	30cm	3	5		3	110		1,2
Temple Foxes	Monster	2		3	4		3	100	0  2	9
Taisho	Hero	1				8	1	80		6
Daimyo	Gen	2				9	1	100		6,7
Shogun	Gen	2				10	1	125		7,8

Special rules;

1. Expert Swordsmen. The unit gets +1 attack per stand for the initial round of combat, in any combat phase. This applies to defence or attack. It is not a charge bonus. Not applied in pursuit.

2. Honor Bound. The troops do not like losing face thus: they can not use initiative to evade; always take 1 less from die from drive backs from shooting; always purse if winning combat; never advance. Too busy collecting heads to advance.

3. Ashigaru Tempo. Count enemy Armor values as one worse when shot by a hand gun.

4. Zealots Monks. Will always use initialive to charge, can not evade. They can not be driven back by shooting. If they win a combat they must purse or advance. They are immune to terror.

5. Kensai. Kensai are legendary heroes, master swordsman. They cause terror.

6. Retinue. Any Daimyo or Taisho can add a Kensai as protection. The Kensai stat line is add to the Command stand any any unit joined.

7. Mononobe. The Shogun or Daimyo gives +1 attack per stand to any unit within 30cm of the general for that turn.

8. Nakamoto. The General has one automatic dispel. Sheer willpower can sometimes overcome magical energies

9 Foxes. They have access to spells.

Spells;

Kamikaze             +5 to cast. Range 30cm. Unengaged unit is driven back 5xD6 towards its own board edge. It is confused on any 6 rolled. This move can not be blocked by friends, enemies, or terrain. The unit flys over the obstacles. If landing on an obstacle, the unit is placed 1cm in front of the obstacle and confused.

Kami      +4 to cast. Range 30cm. The spell is cast on any unit joined. The spell last unitl the start of the next Nippon turn. While the spell lasts, the unit can reroll any failed armor saves, one re-roll attempt per unsaved hit.

Army rules

Nippon armies are based on feudal rule – Nippon overlords tends to be focused on their own success and growth. In Samurai armies disregard any samurai losses. As a result of this the break point of a Nippon Army is 50% round up of the total number of non samurai units.