WAB Samurai

HI

I went to Kublacon in Burlingame, CA this weekend to find someone to play
Clan War with me. I brought over 28mm 1500 Clan War figures to Kublacon this
weekend, each and everyone was at the pro-painted level. Lots of interest
but no one brought their Clans with them to play or were ready to play with
my figures. It seems that Clan War is dead on the West Coast. And that's a
real shame because I enjoyed playing it very much.

However, as a historical miniatures player, I was always disappointed that
most Clan War players never took the time to paint their armies. Maybe
that's why a lot of the historical players by-passed the game system and
just purchased the figures to create their samurai armies and used other
rules systems.

We played WAB and Katana. A lot of the former Clan War players in my area
are getting their armies converted over to Warhammer Ancient Battles. Our
samurai are awesome in WAB. So if you can't find any Clan War players at the
next CON you attend, maybe you should look at putting together a WAB Samurai
list. At least you'll be able to field your army on the tabletop and you'll
get some use out of them. Also, be sure you take the time to paint your
figures.

When my son offered to display a pro-painted level ion / Crane / Crab /
Unicorn / Dragon / Yoritomo armies he was ignored by the guys who put on the
Legends of the 5 Rings card game. I guess the lead figures are no longer of
interest to the WofC folks.

I got a chance to chat with Jervis Johnson this weekend at Kublacon in
Burlingame, CA (SF Bay Area) and discuss Samurais in WAB. He pointed out
that it's not too often that a games author gets to do something special in
a rules set. He loves the Japanese armies and of course the movie Seven
Samurai and the 47 Ronin.

Samurai are an unbalanced army in WAB but there will be a new Samurai list
as soon as Robert figures out what he wants to put it, maybe next summer at
the earliest/latest. Jervis states that he will make changes as needed, but
sees no need to make any further changes at this time to the Samurai Army
List.

Jervis points out that war is never balanced. Real world or historical
armies are/were never tweaked until they are equal on the battlefield. The
best general is the one who takes what he has to fight with and uses his
skills to achieve victory. If an Egyptian goes up against a Samurai Army and
pulls a draw or a victory, then it's a well earned victory. However, if you
the Samurai Army commander fails to achieve victory, then it says something
about your understanding of how to use Samurai properly.

So use what you have to your best advantage in your next WAB tournament.
Exploit all the strengths that your WAB Samurai army has to offer. And if
your opponent loses, it's not because he has the best army, it's because he
let his fear of your army list defeat him.

Oh, yes, I did get both of my WAB books autographed by Jervis.

BANZAI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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