Thinking about Sengoku Monster Hunter

So about a week ago Alternative Armies talked about an upcoming game they are publishing, that for various reasons really stuck with me.

First of all is the obvious theme of japanees mythology. I am a sucker for pretty much any native mythology, since it tends to be so colourful, varied and also so descriptive of the culture that was of the time. And the imposing images of the tetsubo wielding Oni, paper lantern ghosts, Wanyudo wheel-monks of hell and the ever unhelpful Nurikabe are really evocative images to me.

        

The four above images are painted by Matthew Meyer, over at Yokai.com

And reading over their paragraphs describing it, there are some further things that excite me as well.

Skirmish Level

The game will use smaller groups of miniatures. When I think skirmish its usually 6-15 guys per side. Skirmish Level is my go to size when playing, because it removes the tedium of painting uniform infantry blocks, that being said there is a certain splendor in seeing these huge painted armies. Something that I will never have the concentration to do sadly. Instead skirmish level lets me focus on individual characters, heroes and villains. All the models become a known face and name. Which brings me to the next point.

SGFP23 - Spirits and Infants

Gaining Experience

Another favorite of mine, and a pretty common thing in skirmish games at this point. Often referred to as campaign advances, this is how your small crew or gang of models change over times, as they get injuries, maladies, psychotic breaks from stress, new equipment and learn new skills. Its something that gives variety and story, and something I always welcome as a way to tie several games together into a story.

Solo to Four Players

This leads me to believe the monsters will have some degree of AI or behavior chart, letting one playing hunt on his own or having several players join together for a hunt, supposedly with their own unique samurai and monks. I like this solo with co-op format, that is also present in other games I like, such as Godforsaken Scavengers, Zombicide, Imperial Assault, and most recently Gruff. There is a certain joy in overcoming hardship together that doesnt breed the same kind of animosity you might have when going straight head to head.

SGFP23 - Monster Tokens

Monster Markers

Something I initially mistook for "Monster Maker" which would also be cool for cramming more esoteric beings into the setting. But instead they are referred to as reveal tokens. This leads me to believe there may be some degree of uncertainty in missions, as you will just see tokens representing monster activity, and only on visual confirmation figure out what you are up against. Sort of like with the radar blips in space hulk.

HOTT1005 - Mountain Dwarf Army

15mm Scale

Initially I was a bit "eh" about the scale, as I play 28mm normally so their Sengoku stuff wouldn't fit with any of my existing terrain or minis, not that it cyborgs, mutants and mad bikers are a fit for the theme anyway. But I am quite optimistic about this as a small scale means several nice thing such as: cheaper models, easier storage, quicker paint time, less table space needed. And normally when you go for a smaller scale you have larger groups of models, as with their HOTT line (pictured above), but since this is skirmish scale, this shouldn't be the case at all. And as with their other 15mm lines, the models are about £0.5 a piece, so I should be able to get quite a few of them for the normal entry cost of other games and provide some variety in the opposition.

So the end of March cannot come close enough, and while I am biding my time, I have made a small head-start, by preparing some warhammer fantasy ogre heads to act as tsurube otoshi, aka rude drop-heads.