#Defense and Holdout Guide — Time Endured from Inside

Contents

Scene Tool. This document handles one campaign in which the defending side closes the castle gate and endures. It is the mirror of the 03-01 siege guide — the same castle and the same dawn, seen from inside. Every ruling follows 02-01 and 02-02, and does not create a new numerical system. The holdout clock uses the format from 04-02.

---

#Scent — Time Behind a Closed Gate

The sound of the castle gate closing changes every kind of time inside the castle.

Hands counting the well bucket, sacks dwindling, eyes on the watchtower looking toward the eastern mountain — will reinforcements come from beyond that ridge? Siege is time that pushes from outside to inside, and defense is time endured from inside. Defense is not defeating the enemy. It is defeating time.

---

#Mode Overview — How Many More Days Can It Hold?

Central question: how many more days can Kageyama Castle hold?

What the defending side is trying to win is not the annihilation of the enemy. It is survival until the 04-02 holdout clock expires — until reinforcements arrive, the enemy reaches supply limits, the season shifts, or negotiation is settled. (It is the exact mirror of the siege-side victory condition.)

Three propositions of enduring choices:

1. Resources are finite. They decrease with every clock tick.
2. Every reinforcement burns another resource. Reinforcing the gate ties down troops, and a sortie wagers morale.
3. Defeat comes not because the wall is breached, but because the inside collapses. Public sentiment, collusion, starvation.

The 02-01 scene pressures turned on in defense are the four of supply + public sentiment + time + collusion (yoma and Spirit Realm elements only when there is a sealed shrine).

---

#Resource Panel — 8 Resources Managed by the Defender

The 8 resources are not 8 new tracks — they are pointers to eight places in the existing co rules. Each resource has only (a) which co rule it is, (b) what scene turns on when it drops, and (c) which skill defends it. Do not create a new number table.

The wounded are Wounds recovery, not HP. A Barrier being "destroyed by N attacks" is an explicit exception quoting the count convention in the co source text (not a new HP system). Public sentiment uses the co 1~10 value as written — do not create a new cap.

---

#Scene Bundle — Independent Scenes That Compose Defense

Each scene = one small map (3~7 zones). Do not use all at once; turn on 1~2 at a time according to clock ticks.

• closure — close and lock the castle gate. The first decision is to block enemy entry with narrow path Blockade (reaching the Domination cap). Pressure: time and forces tied down.
• supply — inspect and ration food, wells, and powder. Nighttime food import (sortie supply) is a gamble. Pressure: supply.
• reinforcement — extend barricades, renew the Barrier, and place watchtowers. Use the "defense" hooks on the 02-02 structure cards. Pressure: forces and Energy.
• sortie — a limited counterattack during holdout (destroy enemy siege engines or supply depot). Example map co-05-06 21 fortress counterattack (from inside to outside). Pressure: morale gamble (success morale↑, failure forces↓).
• search — expose collaborators. Perception (opposed by Infiltration), lies, Negotiation, Intimidation. Pressure: collusion and public sentiment (false accusation lowers public sentiment further).
• public sentiment — manage refugees, starvation, and unrest. Agitation (raise morale), Negotiation, and festival-like action (co-03-10 festival public sentiment +2). Pressure: public sentiment.
• holdout limit — immediately before the clock expires. Branch to reinforcements arriving, surrender, escape, or last stand. Directly tied to 04-02 clock events.

Example defense maps: co-05-06 19 mountain temple defense (main hall objective point + high ground at bell tower), 13 gap in a collapsed castle wall (Core Zone melee after breach), and 21 fortress counterattack (sortie).

---

#Zone and Check Connections — co Gimmicks and 36 Skills

Follow the 02-01 conversion procedure. Individual structure rulings are delegated to 02-02. The following is an index of gimmicks and checks used by defense scenes (no new additions).

Gimmick correspondence (all existing gimmicks):

36-skill correspondence (Target Number usually odd):

• Military Science (initiative and planning) · Agitation (morale raising — cohesion +1 comes from the co-06-06 lord's Presence morale check and the entertainer "battlefield flower" lull recovery) · Negotiation (surrender recommendation, reinforcement diplomacy) · bribery, Intimidation, lies (collusion response) · Perception (search, opposed by Infiltration) · Medicine and Herbs (wounded Wounds recovery) · Survival (holdout food and environment) · Barrier (renewal and upkeep) · Exorcism (Spiritual Taint cleansing) · Archery (wall-top shooting and sortie cover — no separate gun skill; if teppo distinction is needed, use "Archery (teppo)").

Blockade and Breakthrough values stay as the canonical fixed values (Blockade Breakthrough 2d10+Courage ≥ 15, ordinary Breakthrough 11/13). Fortress Defense is palisade 12 / stone castle 15 / great castle 18 from co-03-10 — the Target Number for squad volley fire (2d10 ≥ Defense) and forced charge. Forces are 1 mook squad per 1000 koku, and militia are +1 cohesion 4 squad when public sentiment is ≥7.

---

#Table Hooks — For the GM

Theme. Isolation, patience, betrayal, sacrifice. Defense is not "a story about stopping the enemy," but "a story about the inside not collapsing."

Scenario Hooks:

• Promise of reinforcements — the reinforcements said to come from the east do not arrive. How many more days will they be believed?
• Poisoned well — the water tastes strange. Who put it in, and when? (Perception + search.)
• Collaborator family — one family inside the castle wavers. If exposed, public sentiment splits; if left alone, the gate opens.
• Refugees vs rations — accepting refugees outside the gate means more mouths; blocking them reduces public sentiment.
• Price of the sealed shrine — the Barrier holds off yoma, but if it breaks, something worse than the enemy enters (Barrier destruction → Spiritual Taint, self-contained in co without fc08).

Mode Shift on Failure — Keep Using the Same Kageyama Castle:

Defense is not the mode of "winning"; it is the mode of "not losing." Even if it holds and then collapses, that collapse becomes the entrance to the next mode.

---

"The moment the castle gate closes, battle becomes the work of time rather than steel — and time wears down the inside first."