Battle of Nagakute 1584 Game Report

Over the past few weeks, I have been making some dice trays and mountainous-looking terrain, with the aim of getting my Samurai armies onto the tabletop for a game. I have decided to try a slightly modified version of the Arrowstorm rules, part of the "You Command" Series of rules by Daniel Mersey and on Wargames Vault.

The rules being used with some house rules for managing Sonae as units.

I have used the Arrowstorm rules before for some Hundred Years War games, and I have always thought they could work quite well for Samurai battles. There were a couple of things in particular that made them appealing for this use.

The first is the limited number of actions available to units. This naturally encourages units to operate in groups, which fits quite nicely with Sendoku period combined-arms formations (Sonae). For my house rules, a Sonae is treated as a single group consisting of Arquebusiers, Ashigaru and Samurai, with the three elements remaining together throughout the game.

The second is the tactics chart and limited number of orders. These provide some interesting choices during a turn, while also allowing units to be ordered more than once. I like this combination of limited choices and the ability to give units additional orders, as it provides more player decisions especially when all your units (Sonae) are essentially the same.

I made my own tactics chart so my Samurai messengers (Tsukai-ban) could fit and used as tokens.

I did make one house rule change to the combat rule. In the original rules, I found combat to be a little too advantageous for the attacker, as the attacking unit rolls for hits first and removes casualties before the defender gets a chance to respond. Instead any Ashigaru in the defending Sonae roll first, with casualties being removed from the attacking unit before the attacking Samurai and Ashigaru get to roll for their hits. Finally, any remaining Samurai defenders roll for their hits. This seems to even things up a bit.

This house rule is intended to reflect the role of the Ashigaru, particularly those armed with spears and longer weapons, in absorbing and holding off the initial attack before the Samurai became involved in the fighting.

A game underway using a mix of miniatures I have collected over the years. Most of the models are from Minifig S-Range, but there are some Dixon models, 25mm Minifig Samurai, and even some plastic 1:72 scale (which work best with the S-Range).

For the first game, I wanted something relatively simple, so I had a look through "The Samurai: A Military History" by S.R. Turnbull, and I found a useful diagram of the Battle of Nagakute, 1584. 

The battle was part of the Komaki Campaign, where a series of battles were fought between the forces of Hashiba Hideyoshi and those of Oda Nobukatsu and Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Battle of Nagakute ended in a convincing victory for Ieyasu.

A battle map from "The Samurai: A Military History".

Battle Setup

The game uses a hex grid with each Sonae consists of seven bases: two Missile bases, two Ashigaru bases, two Samurai bases and a commander base. 

Dice trays containing 3 dice are used to track the strength of each Sonae. Black dice represent the Arquebus and bow troops and start with 2 pips, white dice represent the Ashigaru with 3 pips, and red dice represent the Samurai with 5 pips. When the overall army commander is attached to a Sonae, the Samurai receive an additional pip, giving them a starting strength of 6.

These starting strengths are based on the equivalent unit strengths used in Arrowstorm for bows, spears and men-at-arms units.

The tabletop can end up looking a bit messy when two units move into the same hex as an enemy unit so they can engage in combat. The combined 14 bases do not fit in a hex. Fortunately, this does not matter, provided the commander's base and the dice tray are in the correct hex. Any remaining bases are simply positioned around or near the hex as neatly as possible.

For the game, initiative was diced for, with Ikeda winning the initiative. On the tabletop, Ieyasu's forces are represented by the red army, while Ikeda's forces are represented by the blue army.

The battle setup on the tabletop.

Battle Report

The battle opened with Ikeda's right wing advancing and engaging Li Naomasa. Ikeda's forces gradually gained the upper hand as additional Sonae from both forces were fed into the battle. Oda Nobuo moved up from Ieyasu's left reserve, while one of Ikeda's Sonae joined from the centre reserve.

The battle begins on Ikeda's right wing.

More Sonae move up to engage as Ikeda's forces gain the upper hand. (I should have painted the backs of the mountains!)

As more Sonae moved up to join the battle, the fighting gradually shifted towards the centre. Ikeda's right and centre continued to hold the advantage, while Ieyasu with his Sonae on the right flank eventually joined the fighting in the centre hoping his presence would help to turn the tide. Despite these reinforcements, the momentum still remained firmly with Ikeda's army. 

Ieyasu and his Sonae join the fighting in the centre.

Things are looking pretty bleak for Ieyasu.

In a final attempt to change the course of the battle, Ieyasu committed his last remaining Sonae to the fight. By this stage, his forces were heavily outnumbered, but they fought on bravely against the odds. In the end, however, numbers told. Ieyasu's Sonae was finally routed, and Ieyasu himself narrowly escaped being killed in the fighting.

All Ieyasu's Sonae are committed to battle.

The sound of musket shots,

Echo beneath the mountain tops.

The brave stand and banners fall,

While dice and fate decides it all.

Wrap up

A convincing win for Ikeda and a complete reversal of history!

The Arrowstorm rules create some interesting decisions throughout the game, particularly when picking the four orders on the tactics chart and having to trade-off between movement and combat. On more than one occasion one side or the other wasted a battle order as there were no units to battle.

When a Sonae has lost its Arquebus strength, it needs to close quickly with the enemy. Else, it risks having its remaining strength gradually whittled away by enemy shooting. 

The special tactics also add to the decision-making, as some tactics improve movement, combat or shooting, and they need to be used at the right moment to maximise their effect.

One of the things I particularly liked was being able to treat the Sonae as combined-arms units, with Arquebusiers, Ashigaru and Samurai all operating together. This seemed to work well on the tabletop and is the way I want my Samurai armies to operate.

The house rules all seemed to work well, with the changes to combat reducing the alpha strike effect and making it important to retain some of a Sonae's Ashigaru strength to help against combat attacks.

I now plan to carry on using these modified rules in a few One-Hour Wargames scenarios and see how they play out.

Making some dice trays to track unit strengths

I am currently playing around with some hex-based rules for my Sengoku period samurai armies, and one of the things I needed to do is keep track of each Sonae-sized unit's strength. I do this using three dice, with each die representing one of the three elements of the Sonae: arquebuses, Ashigaru armed with Yari and pikes and Samurai.

I have been using 12mm dice in different colours to track these strengths, and I soon found they were quite fiddly and easily knocked out of position when moving units around the tabletop.

Messing around with some Sendoku period rules.

There was definitely a need for some sort of dice tray. My initial thought was to make them from MDF, but I felt that they might end up being a little too bulky as well as fiddly to make. In the end I opted to make them from cardboard, the type you get from cereal packets, which proved to be to be a neat and tidy option.

The dice trays in use.

The base of each tray is cut from cardboard, measuring one and a half inches by half an inch, with an additional quarter of an inch on each side to form the walls. These dimensions work well for 12mm dice. Once cut out, the sides are bent upwards and strips of masking tape are used to hold the corners together.

The tray measurements are drawn on the cardboard and cut out.

The sides are bent upwards and strips of masking tape are used to hold the corners together. Masking tape proved to be easier than sticky tape as it can be repositioned if you attach it crooked.

All the trays prepared and tested with the dice.

Once all the trays have been assembled, they are glued to another piece of cardboard. This adds some strength to the tray base and also makes the remaining painting and flocking stages easier.

The trays are then given a coat of PVA glue. This does cause the cardboard sides to warp slightly, but once the glue has dried it is easy enough to bend them back into shape.

Once the glue is dry, the trays are painted green to match the bases of my armies, then a second coat of PVA glue is applied.

The trays are glued to another sheet of cardboard and given and overall coat of PVA glue.

The trays are given a coat of paint and once dry a second coat of PVA glue.

The final step is to glue flock to the sides of the trays. This serves two purposes. It ties the look of the trays in with the unit bases, while also adding some additional strength to the sides. Once the flock is in place and the glue dry, another coat of PVA glue is applied to seal it and hold everything securely in place.

After all the glue has dried, the individual trays can be carefully cut away from the cardboard they were mounted on.

Flock is added to the tray sides and sealed with a final coat of PVA glue.

The trays are cut away from the cardboard they are mounded on.

Having now used the trays in a couple of games, they have turned out to be a simple and cheap solution. The dice fit quite snugly inside the trays, but can still be easily lifted out, rotated to show a different face and placed back in position. On the occasions a tray gets knocked over, which has happened once, the dice remained in the tray.

The next post will likely be about one of the recent Samurai games.

The trays in action. It can get quite congested in a hex when two units melee.

Scratch building some mountains for my Samurai games

I am always impressed by the screen paintings of Samurai battles. Many of them depict armies fighting in mountainous terrain. So I thought it was time to have a go at making some mountains for the tabletop.

A scene from one of the screens I always enjoy looking at again and again.

I decided to use upholstery foam to make the mountains. It is a firm foam that can be shaped with a large, sharp knife, and for this job I used my sharpest carving knife. I cut out two identical pieces of foam, or as close to identical as possible, then placed them back to back and began carving them into shape.

The foam is carved using a large sharp knife.

Once I was happy with the shape, it was time to start painting. I use a household acrylic paint. I have a tin of green paint which I use for my basing and other terrain pieces so I have a consistent colour tone to my tabletop. When painting the foam I occasionally dipped my brush in water just to help make the paint flow better when using a scrubbing motion with my old brush.

Before the paint was dry, and it does take a long time to dry when applied to the foam, I added some brown paint which I blended in with the green. Finally, I used a sand coloured paint to lighten up areas, again blending it in with the brown and green.

A completed mountain.

Once the paint has dried, you can dry-brush a lighter sand colour over the surface to highlight any raised areas if you wish. I decided not to do this, as I was happy with the overall effect as it stood.

The mountain can be used as a single large feature, or the two pieces can be separated and positioned along the edge of the tabletop.

The two halves of the mountain.

The mountain was looking a little barren, so I decided some vegetation was needed. The simplest approach was to take some cocktail sticks, push them into the foam and hang pieces of lichen from them to represent vegetation.

Cocktail sticks are pushed into the foam at different angles.

Lichen is hung off the sticks.

A game in progress using the mountain along the table edge.

This is not the first time I have used upholstery foam for terrain. I have previously used it to make English Civil War fortifications and hills for my Sci-Fi games. As I still have some foam left over, I plan to make another two mountains.

One of the benefits of using foam for terrain features is it is light weight, pretty much unbreakable, and easy to store away (generally thrown on top of cupboards or shelving units).

A little bit a painting

The past few weeks of posts have been mostly about gaming, but I have not neglected the painting side of the hobby. I have been adding a few more models to my Star Wars collection and also making steady progress on the Anglo-Zulu War project.

My Star Wars collection generally only grows these days when I spot something in a sale and can pick it up at a reduced price, or when there is a particular character I want to add to the collection.

A rebel squad.

The Mandalorian (Din Djarin), Grogu, and Boba Fett. The Grugu figure was converted so he sits in a hovering saucer, the figure just looked too small on the base without the saucer.

A WLO-5 Speeder Tank as used by pirates.

Cassian Andor, Jyn Erso, and their friendly K-250 robot.

Moff Gideon. A useful villain figure.

The Anglo-Zulu War project began at the end of March this year and is now into its seventh month. There are still a few more British units, wagons and pieces of terrain to complete. I reckon I am now about 75 percent of the way through the project and hopefully in the next two to three months will get the figures onto the tabletop for a game.

2 British infantry units added, along with a mounted rifle unit and some lancers.

I had great fun with the lancer unit, which were converted from some spare mounted infantry.

A big battle fought in three games - Part 2

Following on from my previous post, where I described the setup and preparation for a larger one-off Napoleonic battle which would be fought as a series of three games, with each game representing one section of the battlefield: the centre and the two flanks. This post covers the battle report.

The idea for this approach came from Donald Featherston’s book War Games. In the Franco-Prussian War campaign described in one of the book's chapters, whenever the opposing armies met and a major battle developed, the battle was fought as three separate games, representing the centre and two wings of the armies. The overall winner of the battle was the side that won two of the three games.

A game in progress with a mix of old plastic 30mm Spencer-Smith figures and 25mm Minifig artillery.

My initial thinking was to write a separate game report for each of the three actions, followed by an overall battle report combining them into a single battle narrative. In the end I decided against this as it is a single battle which just happens to be played across three tabletop layouts.

So, here is the overall battle report, bringing together the three games into a single account of the battle.

Background

A French army has crossed into northern Bravance with orders to march south between the Pies and Zoilern Rivers with the aim of preventing an Austrian advance. The French commander, Marshal Victor de Launay, has organised his army into three Corps, supported by a small reserve.

The Austrian army, under the command of Marshal Karl von Hohenbruck, is marching north in three columns between the two rivers, unaware of the French army commanded by Marshal Victor de Launay. Both armies are organised identically into three Corps and a reserve.

Battle positions using ChatGPT to generate a map from my original line sketch in my previous post.

The first contact between the two armies occurs along the banks of the Pies River, near the towns of Gelsen and Bernsdorf. As reports of the enemy's presence reach both commanders, their armies begin to concentrate, and deploy ready for battle between the two rivers. The ground between the rivers is mainly farming land with a few woods which is intersected by several roads connecting a number of small villages and the regional town of Lemback situated on the Zoilern River.

Opening Clashes

The first clashes were between the scouting parties along the banks of the Pies River, where the French III Corps, on the army’s right wing, came into contact with the Austrian I Corps. These were the first formations to deploy, and by midday the opening attacks were underway around the villages of Gelsen and Bernsdorf.

The setup of the tabletop for the first game.

The French occupied Gelsen, while the Austrians established themselves around Bernsdorf. The high ground on the French right flank, north east of Bernsdorf, soon became the principal objective for both commanders. French infantry were initially able to secured the position, but determined Austrian attacks drove them from the hill. The fighting then developed into a struggle for possession of the high ground as the French brought forward reinforcements in an attempt to recover the position.

The French initially secure the high ground north east of Bernsdorf.

On the Austrian left, their cavalry moved along the banks of the Pies River, seeking a ford where they could cross and threaten the French rear. However, upon reaching the ford they found it held by French infantry who had recently arrived from army reserves. After a couple of charges they were forced to retire.

Austrian cavalry move along the river seeking a ford where they can threaten the French rear.

The Austrian cavalry are unable to cross the river.

Meanwhile, the contest for the high ground continued. Additional French troops had now been committed to the fight, which enabled them to successfully retake the position. The Austrians, having committed their last available reinforcements and with no army reserves available to them were compelled to withdraw, leaving the hill firmly in the hands of the French.

The French are able to retake the high ground.

The French had gained the upper hand in the opening action, as the larger battle began to develop.

A map showing the main thrusts by both sides (French blue and Austrian red) and the held objectives. French 2 objectives and the Austrians 1 objective.

Attack on Lembeck

By mid-afternoon, the French I Corps had commenced an attack along the banks of the Zollern River, with orders to seize the town of Lembeck and the overlooking hill to its north-west. The Austrians had quickly occupied Lembeck and were in the process of deploying their troops to secure the heights. Both forces were still receiving late unit arrivals from their rear as the first shots were exchanged.

Tabletop set up for the second game.

The French advanced in two columns. The main column followed the road towards Lembeck, while a second column moved around the woods and along the Zollern river, with the intention of attacking the town from the north-east. The French skirmishers moved through the woods to be the first to reach and occupy the hill. The Austrians hurriedly formed to meet the French advance with the bulk of their force positioned west of Lembeck.

The French seize control of the hill with their skirmishers as they march towards Lembeck town.

Commanded arms of infantry and cavalry secure the hill for the Austrians.

The Austrians launched an attack the hill. Supported by cavalry, their infantry succeeded in driving away the French skirmishers and secured the hill. The French, continued their attack and fresh troops were brought forward and committed against both the hill and the town.

The second French column attacks Lembeck from the north-east.

The struggle for Lembeck intensified when the second French column emerged from the north-east, advancing along the river and threatening the Austrian flank. With both corps now heavily engaged in the action, all available troops were being thrown into the fight. The French were further reinforced by troops drawn from their army reserve, allowing them to maintain the pressure despite their mounting casualties.

Austrian troops rush to defend the town from a French assault.

The Austrians troops held their ground against repeated French assaults without having to draw upon their army reserves. As the afternoon wore on, and with the hill and Lembeck still firmly in Austrian possession, the French commander was compelled to order his troops to retire. The attack on Lembeck had failed, leaving the Austrians very much in control of their right flank on the Zoilern River.

Key tabletop movements and objectives held on the Zoilern river flank.

The Assault on the Centre

Following their success on the right wing, the Austrians now sought to press their advantage in the centre, advancing II Corps against the French position. The possession of the centre would hinge upon the villages of Herzburg and Offingen, together with the commanding hill to the west of Herzburg.

Game three setup for the centre action.

The Austrian advance met with early success. Their troops were able to occupy both the villages of Herzburg and Offingen. The hill west of Herzburg was soon contested with Austrian skirmishers. Making good use of the broken ground upon the summit, the skirmishers repulsed multiple charges made by French cavalry.

The hill to the west of Herzburg is contested.

The initial fighting around the village of Offingen gradually subsided, with the opposing forces exchanging artillery fire. Meanwhile, the French had concentrated their attacks against Herzburg. Supported by fresh troops, they launched a determined assault that succeeded in driving out the Austrian defenders and seizing control.

French gain control of Herzburg.

The French also succeeded in clearing the hill of its Austrian skirmishers, but their success was short-lived. Nearby Austrian cavalry quickly seized their opportunity and launched a counter-attack, driving back the French and claiming the hilltop.

Austrian cavalry counter-attack and seize the hilltop.

With both commanders committing all available troops, the fighting around Herzburg and the neighbouring heights became increasingly fierce. Eventually Austrian infantry were able to retake the village. Both sides desperately looked for reserves to arrive to tip the balance of the fight.

Austrian infantry retake Herzburg only to lose it to a final French attack in the evening.

Austrian cavalry rush to secure the hilltop before nightfall.

As evening approached, the French once again forced their way into Herzburg, while Austrian reserve cavalry, under fire from French artillery, moved swiftly to take possession of the vital hilltop. With darkness fast approaching, neither commander was able to renew the contest. 

The Austrians held the more favourable position and the French withdrew from the field, leaving the centre in Austrian hands.

Key advances and held objectives in the centre.

End of the Day

The battle had opened favourably for the French, but the terrain on the other flank and centre was just a bit more favourable to the Austrians. Resulting in their failure to capture the town of Lembeck and inability to secure the centre where the Austrians had successfully weathered the French assaults and retained possession of those key positions. The result was therefore a marginal Austrian victory.

I added some arrows to the map to indicate the objectives taken.

Wrap up...

Having now set up and played the three games that make up the overall battle, there are quite a few things that worked out well, along with a couple of changes I would consider for future games and battles.

Tabletop Layout

The tabletop setup for each engagement worked out very well. I drew up three alternative layouts for each game, with each having broadly similar features but arranged slightly differently (using ideas from Grant's "Programmed Wargame Scenarios" book). Once the players had decided on their deployment, the dice determined which of the three layouts would be used. This added a level of uncertainty without making the terrain completely unpredictable. I will definitely be using this approach again.

Layouts A1, A2, and A3 are possible tabletop layouts of the left flank. Layouts B1, B2, and B3 are the possible centre layouts. C1, C2, and C3 are the right flank layouts. Hopefully you can see the variations between tables A, B, and C.

Each layout also had three objectives, represented by significant hills, towns or villages. The winner of each engagement was the side holding the most objectives at the end of the game. This did mean that some thought was needed when positioning the objectives to ensure that neither side gained too much of an obvious advantage. I did not try to apply complete symmetry. These variations made the tabletop much more interesting and made players have to adapt their plans to the terrain.

Random Sequence of Games

The sequence in which the three games were fought was randomly determined, but based on suggestions in the comments (thank you) I will change this next time. Rather than using the dice to determine all three engagements, I will only use it to determine the first. After that, the winner of each game will have some influence over the next game. For example, they could either choose which flank or the centre is fought next, or perhaps have the advantage of being the starting player in the following game. 

Reserve Chance Cards

The use of Reserve Chance Cards did not work quite as well as I had hoped. Each side had a deck of 15 Chance Cards, including three Reserve cards. When a Reserve card was drawn, the player could bring one unit forward from their reserve.

Chance cards in use as reserves arrive in the shape of Spencer-Smith 30mm ACW figures converted to French infantry.

I originally had six reserve units available to each side, but in hindsight I think this was probably too many. I would reduce this to four reserve units in future games.

Another possibility would be to have each player begin the battle with six cards and, before the start of an engagement, select up to three of these to be shuffled into their Chance Card deck. This would force players to decide when and where they wanted to commit their reserves, rather than simply having them available throughout the game. The reserve cards would be three infantry reserves, two cavalry reserves, and one artillery reserve. Once used in a deck they would be unavailable for use again.

This could work well for solo games, with the opposing side using a dice roll to determine how many cards are added to its deck.

A close up of the action around Offingen village.

What Worked

The combination of late-arriving troops, variable terrain layouts and pre-planned deployments produced some interesting situations. The fact that terrain was not finalised until the basic deployment and late arrivals were determined meant that players had to make plans without being able to rely completely on the tabletop they would eventually fight over.

Taken together, these mechanisms created a good level of uncertainty and decision making for me as a solo player while not being too swingy. I will definitely be using them again, including for my one-off games.

This set of games played over a week also got me thinking about using the same approach, but with smaller games where three games could be completed within an evening. I am thinking along the lines of One-Hour Wargames, with its smaller tabletop and six units per side, plus a maximum of one late arrival and one reserve unit.

Anyway, this post is much longer than I expected and I will call it a day.