Akiyoshi Monogatari: ‘Cutting Off The Serpent’s Head’
Onside report by Jim Wallman
This was the most recent iteration in the Akiyoshi Monogatari (Tales of the Akiyoshi Clan) series of games using the Kozeria Japanese skirmish wargame rules (August 2026).
The scenario was described as follows:
“The Akiyoshi have endured insult, ambush, theft, cowardice and treachery for long enough.
The enemy Lord Minatoro has hidden behind walls, retainers, hired blades and elaborate excuses while others carried out his dishonourable work.
His schemes have brought blood to roads, fear to households, and shame to every banner raised in his name.
Now the Akiyoshi clan has gathered strength, and patience has reached its end.
This is no raid for plunder. This is judgement.
The main Akiyoshi force will launch a fierce assault against the front gate of the Minatoro residence. Drums, banners, shouted challenges and the clash of steel will draw the defenders into a desperate fight at the entrance.
The mansion guards must be made to believe that the gate is the true battle, and that all Akiyoshi fury is concentrated before them.
While the defenders are fixed in place, a smaller group of determined samurai will move under cover of the confusion.
Their task is to find another way into the residence, pass through the outer defences, and reach the inner chambers before the enemy can react.”
I specifically designed a very large hex map of the Minatoro mansion for this game, and then suffered the usual printer problems (as everyone knows printers have sensors that can detect when something is being printed for a last minute deadline, and automatically jam or run out of ink!).
In the event I only managed to have a full size version of the top 20% or so of the map. Fortunately this was exactly where the Akiyoshi assassination force was going to go, so we managed the game just using that. The good news is I have a big mansion map for future scenarios -so long as I don’t leave it too late to print out!
I can’t do a blow by blow account of the action (hopefully those who were there will comment below with their experiences) – suffice to say that the plan was sound, but the attackers couldn’t cover the distance from the wall to the Lord’s Chamber fast enough, especially having been distracted by servants, gardeners and the odd guard tower archer.
In general I try to construct scenarios that the players have a decent chance of suceeding at. This was always going to be a challenging one, but I had high hopes of the team.
As we say, “no game survives first contact with the players” and despite some heroic efforts and heavy casualties inflicted on the defenders, the target of their raid – Lord Minatoro managed to slip away.
From the narrative point of view, this wasn’t a bad result as such, though not what I’d thought was the more likely outcome. So as a result the game represents a branch point in the loose story these games are telling. The attack on the Minatoro mansion has not suceeeded and their Lord has survived. And of course, its always good to have the villain escape…
However, Minatoro knows it was close and will inevitably be planning his response to the affront to the honour of the Minatoro clan.
What would have happened had Lord Minatoro been assassinated … well we’ll never know now will we!
What will Lord Minatoro do next …. you’ll just have to wait until 2027 to find out!
