Wargames Weekend: Who will rid me of this turbulent (Shinto) priest?

Our fourth game was a chance to try the Bushi no Yume rules by Rich Jones of Surf Shack Games.  We decided on a simple scenario with me playing some Ninja (or is it Ninjas?) who have been sent to deal with a Shinto priest who has been causing trouble; however, the priest is currently being guarded by several samurai.  I was given the choice of having more cinematic ninja (i.e. easier to kill but more of them) or more "realistic" ones and chose the former.

Lenin set up with the samurai on guard and I approached from the wood and the stream.

Things started well with my stealthy approach going undetected but, as was bound to happen, one of the samurai spotted one of my ninja.  Combat ensued but the samurai didn't simply slice my ninja in two as I had expected (result!).  Meanwhile my other ninja continued to sneak closer using all the available cover.

Eventually some of my ninja reached the compound wall but another had been spotted and was quickly dispatched by the samurai.  My leader lept dramatically over the wall followed by two other ninja and dashed into the building in which the priest was hiding; however, my first attack only wounded him.

The samurai were about to rush to the priest's aid but found the doorway concealed one of my men and the others took the opportunity to throw shuriken at the other samurai but they managed to close for combat.

The ninja guarding the doorway was quickly dealt with and one of the samurai moved to engage my leader, giving the priest the chance to escape from the building.  More shuriken were thrown by the other ninja but priest slipped around the back of the building.

With most of the samurai outside the wall occupied with dealing with my ninja, I managed to slip past one and follow the priest.  More combat ensued and finally I managed to dispatch the priest.

It was a fun game.  I had been worried that with my record of dice rolling, I would find the activation system frustrating but things did even out a bit (probably as I had quite a few figures).  My ninja didn't turn out to be quite as easy to kill as either of us had expected but I'm not sure how much of that was simply the luck of the dice.  It's clear that these rules have been a labour of love for Mr Jones as they are stuffed full of theme and appropriate terminology which did make them a little daunting to those of us with a lesser level of knowledge of the genre but helps the feel.  Overall I wound't mind trying these again.