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Scorpion Tactics

By Bayushi Nishizawa

Forward

In my years of war gaming I have played a lot of miniature games, good ones and bad ones. When a friend first introduced me to the L5R world a few years ago I was truly impressed. I had always been a huge fan of all things “samurai”, but this was the first miniature game out that I had seen dealing with the subject. I decided to bite the bullet and pick up the first edition boxed set. After I got a feel for the game system I decided to pick up just one army… that was years and tons of Clan War blisters ago…

Let me really begin this piece with some general comments about the Scorpion Army in Clan War. In my humble opinion it is probably one of the most complex armies in the game to master. What I mean here is that to take advantage of all the things the army list has to offer one must have a very good understanding of the rules set and tactics in general. If your playing style is not suited to patience and maneuvering, I would recommend against fielding this army. Basically, I would caution a new player about beginning their Clan War experience with the Scorpion.

I have broken this piece into various sections. The first covers some of my general thoughts about Clan War. The second and third sections provide a brief synopsis of the characters and units for the Scorpion. The fourth section outlines some different strategies I have used. The fifth section provides a brief outline of some suggested tactical cards. The final section provides a rough sketch of a 2550-point army I put together for a tournament in the St Louis area and also some of the lessons I learned from the games I played.

General Tactics and Thoughts

Leaving the randomness of the dice rolling out of the game for the moment, the Scorpion’s strategy in Clan War really comes down to two simple ideas: Maneuver and Morale.

Maneuver – The maneuvering aspects of Clan War are some of the best I have seen in a fantasy miniature system. Like most game systems, if you can out-maneuver your opponent and strike their units on your terms you stand a good chance of winning. Typically, a flanked unit will be ground down and break. The real key to Clan War is maneuvering to make this happen, it is all about the flank attack!

Morale – Another feature of Clan War is the system of morale triggers and cascading morale. That is, units that fail a morale test will cause friendly units within 8” to have to make a test as well (see morale triggers on page 43). If you can cause an enemy unit to fail a morale test odds are there is a nearby unit that will have to test as well. Once something like this begins to happen it is very difficult for your opponent to regain their footing and continue to offer resistance, especially if the testing units actually break. Morale triggers are based on a number of situations, the two that are the easiest for the Scorpion to take advantage of are flanking and the death of unit leader. Inflicting large amounts of casualties is possible with the Scorpion, but as you will see later on it can be difficult to make happen. What this all boils down to is that if you are a capable general and able to out maneuver your enemy, forcing maneuver-based morale tests is easy.

The Scorpion army possesses a number of features that allow you take advantage of forcing morale triggers and out-maneuvering your enemy in an effort to carry the field.

Scorpion Characters

Bayushi Shoju: Only character with the Tactician and Fear skills. A little on the pricey side for the skills you get. Look to Bayushi Togai or Bayushi Aramoro for the army general.
Bayushi Aramoro (exp): Has the ability to pick a tactical card from your deck. Has the ability to discard enemy tactical cards, this is especially useful if this is combined with Kachiko’s ability to look at an opponent’s tactical card(s). Improved skills over the non-experienced version.
Bayushi Aramoro: Has the ability to discard enemy tactical cards, this is especially useful if this is combined with Kachiko’s ability to look at an opponent’s tactical card(s).
Bayushi Togai (exp): Free Poison Weapons and improved skills over the non-experienced version.
Bayushi Togai: Free Poison Weapons.
Bayushi Hisa (exp): Ability to buy unaligned troops at a discount and the ability to look at an enemy’s attached tactical cards. He is one of two characters in the Scorpion Army who have the Charge skill.
Bayushi Hisa: Ability to buy unaligned troops at a discount.
Bayushi Tomaru: He is one of two characters in the Scorpion Army who have the Charge skill. Also has the ability to inflict a –2 modifier on a morale test.
Bayushi Yokuan: A decent two-strike character. His blowgun can be useful in picking at characters. I usually place him in command of one of the skirmisher units, Ninja Bowmen or Shadow Assassins, to allow more flexibility in delivering the Ninja Assassin card.
Soshi Bantaro: Only Clan affiliated shugenja. He has the ability to purchase Maho Spells. If you decide you like that feature, I recommend Draining the Life.
Shosuro Hametsu: Handy for the free poisoned weapons upgrade and the bonus damage.
Bayushi Kachiko: Her one trick is to look at an opponent’s tactical card(s), especially useful if this is combined with Aramoro’s ability to discard tactical cards.
Bayushi Marumo: Has the ability to grant his unit the Cavalry trait for one turn, especially useful for going after a flank.
Bayushi Tangen: Kind of interesting “point defense system” for your units, his ability to jump out and engage incoming units works well to keep enemies off your flanks.
Bayushi Tasu: An all-around decent character armed with a Yari for Fast Strike.
Yogo Asami: She is nice because she allows you play Kolat Orders cards without the honor penalty. Her special ability is also nice to reduce a targeted character’s strikes to one.
Bayushi Goshiu: Useful for forcing an honor loss on an opponent.
Scorpion Leadership Packages: These all have slightly better skill ratings than generic packages.

Scorpion Units

As an overall comment about Scorpion Units, in a stand-up fight, one-on-one, the Scorpion’s units will get hammered. The best units available are +1 ATT / +1 DAM and there are four of them, one of which is a skirmisher. I will not go so far as to say that the units suck, however, I will say that if you plan on marching straight at the enemy, you are playing the wrong army.

Bayushi Ambushers: purchasing a unit allows you to get a Trap card. Keep in mind that you will probably want to increase damage of the card so you’ll pay the extra 30 Koku. What this all means is that each Trap card is costing you 150 Koku (this does not include the cost of a leadership package) and you have got 10 guys running around with nothing to do. I would recommend trying to flank with them.
Bayushi Elite Spearmen: Reactionary Fire bonus is nice.
Bayushi House Guard: +1/+1 and your only 2-wound unit (they tend to make an appearance in my armies for this reason alone).
Black Cabal: +1/+1 unit, a good core unit for the Scorpion. Always sees table time because of the +1/+1 and the low ML.
Crimson Legion: cannon fodder, the 6 ATN means these guys die by the handful. I use them in small groups to flank. Head to head they could probably beat Peasant Levies…
Ninja Bowmen: a skirmishing unit with the ability to not be shot at until they do something. This is the best unit for getting out front and slowing the enemy down.
Scorpion Claws: really good unit for the defense as they will negate an engaging units ATT and DAM modifiers. Nice for shafting a charging lion on the first turn, however their staying power is questionable.
Scorpion’s Strike: an OK unit, but they need a tactical card or a character’s ability to increase the ATT beyond the +1 to give them any real hope of doing serious damage on that first round of combat.
Shadow Assassins: smoke is great. Always sees table time. Did I mention smoke is great?
Shosuro Actors: they can be fun for influencing how your enemy sets up his forces, however, once they are uncovered, they are done. I think it might also be cheaper just to purchase unaligned infantry.
Shosuro Spy: do not leave home without them. I typically take two, placing them in mediocre enemy units to make their –2 modifier more effective.
Straw Targets: good for covering your guys from ranged attacks, I find the Shadow Assassins more useful.

Scorpion Tactics

A key thing to think about as you are reading this and playing the game is to remember that most tricks and tactics with the Scorpion tend to “stack”. Some examples include: a character’s ability followed by playing a tactical card and vise-versa, a unit’s ability followed by playing a tactical card and vis-versa, etc.

Probably the single most obvious tactic of the Scorpion Army is the combination of Bayushi Aramoro and Bayushi Kachiko. Kachiko’s ability to first look at an opponent’s tactical cards, either in hand or attached is useful in and of itself. When combined with Aramoro’s ability to discard tactical cards from a named location you have yourself a nice ability to wreak havoc on your opponent’s plans. When using this combination typically the cards that I will go after are Superior Tactics and Grim Determination. Getting back to the earlier comments regarding morale, Grim Determination is the one to discard. Of course the decision on what to discard will be based on how things look on the battlefield.

Another obvious tactic deals with the Ninja Assassin card. First and foremost, if you include Aramoro (exp) in your army there is no need to pay for a second copy of the card. Just include a single copy and on the first turn have him use his ability to pick a card out and get Ninja Assassin. I try and hold the assassin card in my hand rather than attaching it since you commit yourself too much if you attach it. Typically I will use Bayushi Yokuan in a skirmishing unit to deliver it. There are two things to think about with this card, the first is killing a character and the second is to force a morale test for killing a unit leader. Although a good die roll will get you both results, I think it is important to focus on the morale test. I typically avoid trying to kill the enemy’s general as that person has the best stats and requires a good roll, instead go after a weaker character. The weaker characters make easier targets and if you succeed (which your chances are greater since you have only got one card) the resulting morale test could trigger additional morale tests. Your target unit is likely to break since the odds are high that the low cost character was also leading a low cost unit (ie bad ML scores).

To dove tail off of this concept, if you have included a Shosuro Spy in the unit you can then stop a Grim Determination card or impose a –2 modifier on the morale test. You could also stop the Grim Determination and then throw your Loss of Face to impose a –2 modifier on the morale test.

Another tactic centers on the Ninja Bowmen. Use them to push forward and deny your enemy the reserve movement phase simply by getting in front. Meanwhile, you are free to move your units around and adjust your battle line. Casting Wind Born Speed will help out greatly as they will be able to move twice as fast. Once forces are committed to a hand-to-hand fight, I use them to shoot up Shugenja units or other skirmishers.

Poisoned Weapons is best used as a second combat round card. What I mean here is avoid using it on the first round of combat, as you will be throwing more dice (because of ranks) on the second turn.

The lack of a tactician, other than Bayushi Shoju, means that you are always going to include the Fan of Command. The ability to draw an extra card, because someone now has the Tactician trait is really nice, especially since you probably will not ever have a high honor.

Another strategy I have seen is to use the Shadow Assassins and their smoke pots to cover the advance of an Ogre Bushi. As I am rather a purist and untainted in my thinking, I have yet to try this out.

Keep in mind that the previous examples are only a small selection of tactical ideas. Here is a final thought to close this section. As a Scorpion player you must know how to work Clan War’s initiative system, going first is not always best, neither is going last. Since your units are not great, the little bonus MIS numbers that your units grant will be key for the initiative phase. There are times when you will want to lower your initiative to exploit an opportunity, other times your initiative will be increased so that you can see what your opponent is doing. Inexperienced players will almost always force their initiative scores down on all their units. A good player knows that doing a combination of both can save the day.

Tactical Deck Suggestions

There are tons of cards to choose from in building your tactical deck. Rather than examining them in detail, I am going to provide a quick run-down of those cards that usually end up in my decks. Like a collectible card game (CCG) you need to make sure that your deck is balanced and suitable for any opponent. Without fail, the cards that will not change from deck to deck are: Grim Determination (3 copies), Ninja Assassin (1 copy), Loss of Face (3 copies), and Parade Ground Practice (3 copies).

Grim Determination is the all around must have, save you butt card in the game. It stops you from having to make a morale test.
Loss of Face is handy for forcing a –2 modifier to a morale or maneuver test, it also prevents your opponent from playing Parade Ground Practice or Grim Determination.
Parade Ground Practice is nice to save myself a roll as I do a lot of moving about on the battlefield. It is also useful for playing on complex maneuvers such as Hiruma Withdraw, Withdraw, and Oblique Movement.
Strike at the Tail is useful if you have an army built for speed and exploiting the flanks.
Another Time is nice for getting your characters out of jam if they are challenged to a duel.
Resist Magic often makes it into a deck simply to keep a unit from being hit with a heavy-duty magic ranged attack.
Blackmail cards are nice for tying up your opponent’s slots or use them as discards when you want to use Aramoro’s ability.
Trap cards are best used on shugenja units and skirmishers. Typically these units will feel the impact of damage more than a rank and file unit.

Sample Army

In this section I intend to dissect an army list I used in a local tournament with the intent of examining some of the previously discussed tactics and how they look in an actual army list. Following that I’ll outline some things I learned during the tournament and the thoughts that were generated. I ended up placing second in the tournament so I felt like the army performed well and my ideas were fairly grounded.

My initial thinking about this army list centered on morale tests and implementing an idea I had been toying with for some time. The idea was to use lighter units in column formation to move around enemy units that had been pinned down by heavier units, once in position they would execute a 90 degree turn and engage the flank. These units needed to be from 8-12 models in strength and since they were not intended to see head-to-head action so they could survive on a leadership package. Additionally, since they would be used to flank they did not need to have high ATT and DAM modifiers.

To implement the column flanking idea, the choice ended up being two units of Crimson Legion (10 models per unit). The intent was to run the two units on a flank of the Black Cabal and the Bayushi House Guard. Once those units became engaged throw Wind Borne Speed and move the Crimson Legion in for the flank attack. If this could be combined with a Strike at the Tail tactical card, the Crimson Legion suddenly become a +2ATT/+2DAM unit and they force a morale test with an additional –2 modifer. The other option would be to throw Parade Ground Practice on a Hiruma Withdraw, drawing the engaging unit in, and then turn the Crimson Legion and flank.

The role of the heavier units fell on the Black Cabal and Bayushi House Guard as they are the best-suited units to standing firm while waiting for the Crimson Legion to exploit a flank. I placed Aramoro (exp) in command of the Black Cabal and Bayushi Togai in command of the Bayushi House Guard. Aramoro got the Katana of Fire and Togai got the Fan of Command (an item I typically place in any army, except Lion).

I also wanted to try out the Ninja Bowmen, a unit I had never before fielded. I really like their ability to move around and not be shot at with missile weapons. My planned tactic with this unit was to move forward to prevent reserve movement and hold out for a good shot at a small unit or a shugenja unit. I placed a Scorpion Gunso in command, as I did not expect them to come under attack.

The Shadow Assassins were included because I love their ability to throw smoke. There is nothing as satisfying as preventing enemy archers from doing damage. This unit was lead by Bayushi Yokuan with Yogo Asami as an associated personality.

The final unit was the Shugenja Unit with two versions of Tokei, two Yojimbo, and Bayushi Kachiko. I use Tokei a lot as he is cheap. One version got two counterspells and an Ebb and Flow, the other got two counterspells, Wind Borne Speed, and Fury of the Earth. I like Fury of the Earth because it can cause a unit to become unformed, if you can then engage/charge that unit you can pretty much write it off.

The column idea worked great when I was able to maneuver to use it. In one instance I really got burned and learned a valuable lesson: I hate Crab Heavy Elite. I had managed to pin down the Heavy Elite with the House Guard and the Crimson Legion flanked the following turn. The problem came with the Heavy Elite’s high ATN and defense score. It basically boiled down to, I could not do enough damage to exceed the defense (when I did his unit is two wounds) and he managed to force a moral test on the Crimson Legion who then broke.

The stacking of penalties to moral tests and maneuver tests was key. There were a number of times when a failed maneuver test left a unit vulnerable to attack. I also can’t count the number of times a –2 modifier to a moral test caused a unit to break which then caused a section of the army to fold. A well-planned Ninja Assassin can make the difference between Otaku Kammoko slumped over dead and the cascading morale taking their toll or that same Otaku Kammoko and her Battle Maidens smashing the center of your line (normally I wouldn’t have used Ninja Assassin on the Unicorn general, but I was backed in a corner and needed some breathing room… the “10” on the die helped too!)

Epilogue

Well if you have gotten this far I thank you for indulging my rambling treatise on the Scorpion Army for Clan War. If you are feeling up to the challenge I encourage you to try out the army and see if it suits your style of play. Whether it does or does not, enjoy the game and keep the faith. -- JMH