The Temple of the Iron Hand

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This list is intended as a (in the very loosest sense of the term)
"historical" opponent for the Nipponese. It was developed to provide
a yin/yang counterbalance to the current Nipponese list, sort of a
struggle between Heroes vs. Magic. The historical equivalent of this
list would be the Ikko-Ikki fanatic armies of the 15th-16th centuries
in Japan. They lasted for several decades until Hideoyoshi and Tokugawa
decided to wipe them out. This list has not been playtested yet, so
I'd be interested in feedback from others as well as my own observations.

I have been working this concept in my head for several months now,
but in the last month or so, finally got it down on 'paper' so that
I could look at it and analyze it. It doesn't seem overly powerful
to me, given that it has a few core units balanced by a lot of
difficult to manage troops (pilgrims). So, we'll see.


Enjoy! 


                                                        Honda

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Temple Head Priest: Char, Atk=+2, Min/Max=1, Cmmd=9, Pts=125
Notes: Same as an Empire general.

Priest Adepts: Char: Min/Max=-/2, Pts=90
Notes: Same as Undead Liche.

Samurai: Inf, Atk=3, Hit=3, Armr=5, Min/Max=-/1, Pts=55
Notes: Same as High Elf Spearmen. Armed with katana or naginata.

Warrior Priests: Inf, Min/Max=1/3, Pts=70
Notes: Same as Empire Flagellants.

Pilgrims: Inf, Atk=3, Hit=3, Armr=0, Min/Max=1/-, Pts=30
Notes: Same as Brettonian peasants 

Mountain Giant: Monster, Same points, rules, values as O&G giant, Min/Max=-/1 
Notes: Same O&G giant. 

Elementals: Inf, Min/Max=-/1, Pts=110 
Notes: Same as O&G Trolls.

Shinto Priests: Artillery, same as Undead Bonethrower, Min/Max=-/1
Notes:

Temple Dogs: Cav, Atk=3, Hit=3, Armr=0, Min/Max=-/1, Pts=30
Notes: Same as Chaos Hounds.

Portable Shrine: Same as Empire War Altar, Min/Max=-/1, Pts=10
Notes:  


General Army Notes:

A differentiating type of "Eastern philosophy" magic is still being
worked on so for the time being, use High Elf spells for the Priest
Adepts.

In a way, this list is similar to the Undead list in that there are
masses of troops that cannot move with initiative, however it is
sprinkled with a few core troop that are of good quality and a few
monsters for flavour.

The Shinto Priest unit, as I envision it, would be a group of figures
or perhaps another shrine type model that uses it's elemental magic
in the same way as an artillery piece might. So, it is a fragile unit,
but will be a real pain to troops with heavy armour.

I guess the army can be built around two concepts (at least these are
my initial thoughts). Do you bulk up your pilgrims into large blocks and
use your warrior priests and Samurai as attack forces, or do you assign
the Samurai and warrior priest to regiments of pilgrims to ensure that
they become more mobile?

Sample 1500 Army:

Characters
1 x Head Priest
2 x Priest Adepts

Units
2 x Samurai
3 x Warrior Priests
10 x Pilgrims
1 x Shinto Priests
1 x Mountain Giant
2 x Temple Dogs
2 x Elementals


19 units, Breakpoint of 10