Akodo Kimiko

Akodo Kimiko was the Champion of the Lion in the fourth century. Fields of Victory, p. 30
== Defending the Empire ==
A particularly charismatic leader of the Ujik known as the Lord of Grass launched an offensive into the western border of Rokugan in the year 376. The invaders crossed the Great Wall of the North mountains, entering the Empire through the pass now known as the Ki-Rin's Path. Crossing the Snow Plain, then passing south of Dragon's Heart Forest, they finally encountered the westernmost outposts of the Empire, an array of small strongholds defended by the Lion Clan. The first skirmishes were won by the Ujik, using their mounted archers to gallop into range of the Lion ranks, loose their arrows, and then wheel away again before the Lion could engage them. A final, massive mounted charge overrun the battered lines, swept the survivors from the field, to decisively finish the battle. The Lord of Grass pressed on, leading his enormous army deeper into the Empire. Akodo Kimiko began to trade space for time, withdrawing her forces eastward ahead of the advancing Ujik and avoiding a decisive engagement. She concentrated her forces and bolstered them with hastily formed levies of peasant troops and studied how to develop ways to counter the Ujik's stunning mobility. Fields of Victory, p. 30
=== Battle of Broken Hooves ===
As the Ujik closed in on Kyūden Ikoma, Kimiko arrayed her army to meet them on the plains north of the palace, a flat, open terrain appeared to favor the use of cavalry while providing little advantage for the defenders. Despite having marshaled the largest army she could, Kimiko and her forces were still badly outnumbered. When the Battle of Broken Hooves was joined, sodden rice paddies on her army's right flank stymied the Ujik, limiting their maneuvers to her front and left. The Lion also employed portable shields of wicker and wood which sheltered the ranks of samurai from the worst of their attackers' archery. Finally, most of the Lion warriors armed themselves with overlong spears and adopted square formations with soldiers facing outward in every direction, with archers enclosed in the middle. The Ujik hurled themselves at the Lion again and again. Many of the peasants, who previously had been only shield bearers, picked up the spears of fallen Lion warriors and took their places in the line of battle, and the Ujik attackers suffered the more egregious casualties. After a long, bloody day of fighting, the Lord of Grass pulled the remaining Ujik, raised a single, echoing shout—apparently a salute to their Lion opponents—then turned and thundered off westward, leaving the Empire. Fields of Victory, pp. 30-31
Category:Lion Clan Leaders (TCG)