The Story of the Ako Vendetta

In 1702, the Tokugawa Shogunate was shaken by an incident that seemed completely out of it's proper century, but actually represented the true spirit of the Japanese people. Although the government attempted to suppress the tale, it became rapidly famous and was the basis of the Kabuki play "Kanadehon Chushingura." Many books, plays and two excellent movies were made about the story.

Asano Naganori, Lord of Ako province committed a grave error within the walls of Yedo Castle. He refused to offer a bribe gift to the Lord Chamberlain, Kira Kozukenosuke. Kira abused and insulted Asano publicly, and provoked Asano into drawing his sword on the castle grounds. Asano was ordered to commit suicide by the shogun. His lands were forfeit and his vassals became Ronin, masterless samurai.

One of Asano's chief retainers, Oishi Kuranosuke, gathered all the ronin together and asked how many would join him in revenge against Kira. 46 of them joined Oishi in the plot.

It was truly amazing the lengths to which the ronin disguised their plot. Oishi went as far as divorcing his wife and becoming a public drunk, in order to get the information needed to attack Kira. Finally, on a snowy winter night, they attacked Kira's mansion. They killed his guards and found Kira in a closet. Kira was offered a chance to commit sepuko, but Kira's supporters arrived on the scene. Oishi beheaded Kira with the same blade Asano used to commit suicide in Yedo Castle.

The surviving Ronin took the head to the Sengaku-ji shrine, where Asano was buried. They placed Kira's head on Asano's grave and turned themselves in to authorities. Although he was sympathetic with the ronin (as were most of the people of the country) the shogun could not condone the outlawed practice of vendetta. He ordered them all to commit suicide and buried them at Sengaku-ji shrine. Within a week, a samurai who had stepped in Oishi's face while Oishi was pretending to be a drunk committed suicide at Oishi's grave.

In fact, the incident had a profound effect on all of Japan. The tale contains many key elements of the code of Bushido, including devout loyalty to one's master, the code of revenge, the importance of etiquette and willingness to commit suicide when necessary.

THE SITUATION:

The evil Daimyo has caused the humiliation and subsequent suicide of a brave young lord. This young lord's forty seven former retainers are now masterless samurai, or "Ronin". The Ronin have decided to take revenge. They have spent a year to lay out plans to enter the Donjon of the daimyo, to take his life, and then to commit suicide themselves.

The daimyo, who is the Lord Chamberlain of the Shogun, is unaware of all of this. However, he has many enemies and has taken precautions to make his donjon a formidable defense. He has many retainers guarding strategic locations in the donjon and more retainers patrolling the locale.

THIS IS A CO-OPERATIVE GAME! ALL PLAYERS WILL BE ASSIGNED CONTROL OF SEVERAL OF THE RONIN. THE ROLE OF DAIMYO IS PLAYED BY THE UMPIRE WHO WILL ALSO MAKE ALL (UNDISPUTABLE) RULINGS IN THE GAME. THE ONLY COMPETITION IS IN THE FOLLOWING:

• WHO IS THE BEST SAMURAI?
• WHO CAN WRITE THE BEST DEATH POEM?

VICTORY CONDITIONS FOR THESE ARE EXPLAINED BELOW. IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO KILL THE DAIMYO TO WIN!

Each player (up to twelve) is assigned some of the Ronin. One of the players should also be assigned as overall leader of the Ronin.

Senso rules will be used to play the game. Each player has at least one samurai, who is D6. All other samurai belonging to the players are level D8.

PRIZES

First Prize: Best Samurai

Given to the best samurai on either side. The umpire makes the decision. He will base it on some or all of the following merits:

• loyalty to fellow samurai
• personal bravery
• killed the daimyo
• killed the most enemy

Second Prize: Best death poem

All players are eligible to present to the umpire a death poem at the end of the game or upon the death of their figure(s). As the ronin will have written their poem before starting the battle, you need not actually commit suicide to win. You may write the poem at any time during the game. You will also have ten minutes after the umpire calls the game to write the poem. The umpire decides who wins. He will base this decision on some or all of the following merits:

• Adherence to Haiku style (see below)
• Humour
• Relates to the scenario

Haiku style is a poem of three lines. Rhyming is not necessary. The first line has five syllables, the second line has seven syllables and the third line has five syllables. (5-7-5) Haiku generally contains metaphor, in which the object of the metaphor may be quite subtle.

INTELLIGENCE REPORT FOR THE RONIN:

The donjon is a lonely place, fourteen miles outside of Yedo. On the grounds outside the donjon is an old teahouse, now converted to a barracks for additional guards. There are seven stories of rooms in the donjon itself, including a prison in the lowest level.

Nearby, is a small village. The villagers are of course highly loyal to the lord and may join in the defense of the donjon. A few miles to the south is the donjon of the Ii family, loyal retainers of the Tokugawa shoguns. They may also be able to hear the alarm and rush to the support of the Shogun's Chamberlain. They may arrive by land or sea.

One of your number has posed as a merchant over the last few years, in the vicinity of the donjon. Careful observation of the donjon over this time has led to the following observations:

During daylight hours most of the guards are awake and alert.

During night (midnight to dawn), 90% of the guards are sleeping, either in the teahouse or in the donjon.

There is a mounted party of 4 samurai that patrol the grounds on a circuitous route at all times. This group travels 6" per tum and NEVER change their route. Why don't you ask the umpire to point out this route to you?

You have no idea which level contains the Daimyo's bedroom.

Local gossip has it that the Daimyo has arrested the monks from a local monastary. These warrior monks were not paying taxes and were found to be hiding weapons. The Daimyo probably has them locked up somewhere in the lower prison and is torturing them to death one by one. Freeing these guys might give the Ronin some valuable allies.

THE RONIN'S INSTRUCTIONS:

You may attack the castle in any fashion you please. You may enter the table at the edge from any location(s), and you may specify the time of day or night for the assault. You may specify a certain number of turns before dawn or dusk arrive. No ronin may begin the game on the board.

Up to 12 of the ronin may begin the game mounted.

To release prisoners in the prison, simply kill the guard at the prison door. All prisoners will automatically arm themselves upon being freed.

The castle has many rooms and seven levels. All occupants of a room automatically awaken and arm themselves during the movement phase in which a Ronin enters their room. Thus, they can fight (or shout) in the immediately following melee phase.

SPECIAL RULES

1. The ronin remain undetected until they appear in the line of sight of a retainer, who then may use his next turn to shout out the alarm. You cannot be seen if you remain in cover at night! You cannot see out the windows at night. Remember that maximum vision range at night is 12".
2. Climbing: performed at a vertical rate of 2" per tum. Entering a window takes a full turn.
3. Going over a fence takes a full turn.
4. Mount/Dismount takes one full turn. Horses don't climb stairs
5. River takes a full turn to cross, except at the bridge, move along river at 3" per turn.
6. Junks move 12" per turn. They can't be sunk, but you can burn one if you occupy it with two samurai for 5 turns.

THE UMPIRE'S (DAIMYO'S) INSTRUCTIONS

You may place the Daimyo and his retainers anywhere in the castle that you like. No more than 25% may be on any one floor of the castle until the alarm is given. No more than 10% are awake between midnight and dawn. Some of your retainers may be placed on guard outside the castle. Mounted retainers must follow a route that you will specify to the umpire. They will continue to follow this path until the alarm is given. The ronin will be aware of this route through patient observation.

Roll one die each turn after the alarm is given for each of the Ii family and the villagers. Do not divulge the needed die roll to the ronin. The Ii family take three turns to arrive at the south table edge after activation. You decide if it is best to arrive by land or sea. The villagers appear immediately in the village square.

Only the four patrolling samurai may be mounted during the game. The Daimyo may not leave the table. The Daimyo must start the game somewhere in the Donjon. No one from either side may go on the roof.

Give a Ninja to the Ronin if things look bad. He can appear anywhere, explain that the evil Daimyo has many enemies, and one of them must have hired a Ninja.

The ALARM Is sounded when a daimyo's figure uses a turn to shout instead of move or fight.

Skill Levels Ronin: d6 or d8
Monks: d8
Ninja: d4

Rev: December 14, 1992
David Love

SCALE:

Senso is a skirmish game, 1:1 figure scale, for 25mm miniatures. One scale inch represents six feet and one turn roughly approximates one - two minutes. Bases should be square for foot, approximately one inch. Mounted can be 1" by 2". The game is WYSIWYG; figures are armed and armoured as they appear.

PLAYERS:

Each figure in the game has a skill level represented by a type of die. Better skill level gets a lower die to roll with. All actions taken by that figure use that die. For instance, a skill level D8 figure always uses an 8-sided die for shooting and fighting. That die type/skill level shall be hereafter called 'Die Value' or DV". See examples below. RINGS:

Ring markers are used to record all the negative effects of combat and movement on a figure. Rings are applied every time a figure is negatively affected in combat or is reloading an arquebus. One ring is removed at the end of every turn. If a figure still has two or more rings remaining after ring removal, it is removed from play.

GAME SEQUENCE:

Player turn sequence is determined at the start of the game by dicing off. Umpire always goes last. During his/her turn, each player's figures may either Move, Reload or Shoot. If a figure has a ring, it cannot do anything!

If you move into contact with an enemy figure, you can also fight. Resolve this combat immediately.

At the end of each player's turn, every player can remove one ring from each of his/her figures. After this, any figure with two or more rings remaining is removed from play. There are no other morale rules in the game.

SHOOTING:

Any of the players figures may shoot at targets which they can see. Range limits are given below. Vision at night is limited to 12". To shoot, simply roll your DV. Modify the roll by adding appropriate modifiers below. A "1" is a hit, put a ring on the target. "Zero" or less is a kill, remove the target figure from play. Place 2 rings on a figure that has fired an arquebus (one is removed this turn, and next turn he is reloading). If a hit target is mounted, roll DV again. An odd number kills the horse instead of hitting the rider and the rider is now dismounted with one new ring for having fallen off.

Arquebus targets are always considered unarmoured.

Weapon	Short Range	Long Range
Bow	15"	30"
Blowpipe	3"	6"
Shuriken	2"	4"
Arquebus	12"	24"

Modifiers

Target in cover: +1
Target Mounted: -1
Arqubus: +1
Short Range: -1
Unarmoured Target: -1

MOVING:

Any figure may move up to the distance shown below. Rough terrains halves movement distances.

• Foot figures may move up to 6".
• Mounted figures may move up to 12".
• climbing or swimming is at the rate of 2" per turn.
• Mount/dismount, climb over wall, through window, etc., takes one full move

FIGHTING (MELEE):

Figures may only fight if in base to base contact with the opponent's base. Figures may not be attacked In the rear; always assumetney can spin around to defend themselves. To resolve combat, simply roll the DV's for each figure. Add the appropriate modifiers below. The winner is the lowest die roll. The loser is killed and removed from play.

If more than one figure is fighting a single figure, use the "outnumbered" modifier below and the lowest of the DV's of the outnumbering figures. If the outnumbered guy wins, the enemy figure with the lowest DV is killed.

Modifiers:

Unarmed, Dagger, Short Sword, Wooden weapons: +1
Outnumbered: +2
On foot against mounted opponent (unless armed with Naginata or Yari): +1
Defending Cover: -1

EXAMPLE SKILL LEVELS:

Fencing Instructor (Miyamoto Musashi) or Ninja: d4
Typical Samurai or Monk: d6 pr d8
Typlcal Ashigaru: d8 or d10
Peasant, unarmoured: d12

Part 4 The Death Poems

Dark evening, dark night
Samurai kick ass tonight
Morning sun all done
- Mike Beavers

Ronin down the road
Caring not about the load
Climb stairway to heaven
- Bruce McHugh ^*

^* Lost big points for the bad pun and un-contemporary reference to Led Zeppelin.

The full moon sets
Honor's carnage unfolds
My next life arrives
- Unsigned

Though my life is cheap
I give to my lord body and soul
My enemies cold steel
- Jim Thompson

The seasons change now
The birds fly toward the sun
I will miss the spring
- Bob Burke

The sun rising east
Rivers flowing over rocks
No more will I see
- Mark Hoit

I pick a figure
Umpire-sama says he’s dead
I hope to play again
- Bob Burke

Beheaded dragons
Thrash dangerously about
Avenging honor!
- Dave Grabar

With blades of steel
I seal my fate
Honor dies with me
- Richard Mathis

Lightning in winter
Flash brightly across the sky
So also must I
- Will Tijerna

Like a fallen leaf
My lonely journey breathes
Honor to my Lord
- Vaughan Mannes

What matters my death
When honor has called me here?
Life leaves, On endures
- Mike Simpson

Night has fallen down
On the light of my short life
But not my honor
- Tom Idleman

Morning sorrow
Will come after I have gone
My honor is unstained
- Mark Whisler

Watch out you turtles
Go ninjago
We are getting the Daimyo
- Unsigned

Stones beneath worn sandals, feet
Winds of fury, whip sky of stars
Blade & heart run true!
- Unsigned

Cherry blossoms fall
Hard stone stands against stream flow
A samurai’s life
- Rick Shatto

Southern Samurai:
Southern samurai
Charges with a rebel yell
Dixie rules Japan
- Rick Shatto

Valley Samurai:
Fer sure I am best
Like I have total armor
Now head for the mall
- Rick Shatto

My first Limerick ever:
Though his friends all thought he was nuts
He was brave, no ifs, ands or buts
Till he let out a howl
While slicing his bowel
Now it’s known he sure has no guts

Red blade in my hand
Asks me as I point inwards
Do you have the guts?
- Brad Gallup

So the arrows fly
The enemy is vanquished
And honor returns
- Loren

Your leader is scum
We must have revenge
Kiss your ass goodbye
- Terry Matheny

And this one got the prize for best death poem at 1992 Pacificon:

As the moon rises
A branch is broken in two
The pruning begins
- Shauna Harbridge