Watch Out! The enemy are moving during your turn

As a mainly a solo wargamer, I often employ different activation approaches to introduce a level of unpredictability into my games. This can involve using the traditional I-Go You-Go turn based approach activating all the army units at once with chance cards adding a level of uncertainty; or a unit by unit activation approach where each unit dices for its activation and a failed activation roll either ends the active player's turn or prevents the unit from activating during the turn. All too often, it seems, units can frustratingly fail to activate on consecutive turns. Anyway, in recent games with my Samurai armies I have found neither of these methods are really working for me and providing the type of game I am looking for.

The setup for a recent game.

While I do favour the unit activation approach, because it seems to fit well with the feudal nature of Samurai warfare, particularly when gaming large skirmish games which are more free wheeling affairs. For larger battles where units represent larger bodies of troops it can be frustrating. In these situations, the units should be expected to generally follow orders, even if they are slow in following through with their orders and giving the enemy a chance to react first.

Another game in progress.

One activation approach I do like is from a Ganesha games, where one or multiple dice can be rolled with each successful roll, allowing the player to perform an action. However, with a single failed roll, the opposing player gets a chance to react, and two failures ends the player’s turn. This reactive element prompted me to consider trying the following activation approach where on a player’s turn they get the opportunity to activate all their units. However, each time they activate a unit they must first roll a dice to test to see if the opposing player reacts before their activation. 

The simple rule is, if you roll a 3 or higher for the reaction test, the opponent doesn't get a chance to react. But if you roll a 1 or 2, the opposing player can try to react with one of their units, so long as it hasn't successfully reacted already in the turn. They will need themselves to roll a 3 or higher to succeed with a reaction. If they do, they can take advantage of the opportunity to, for example: shoot, move a unit out of harm’s way, block a flanking move by advancing their own unit, or launch a counter charge.

The reactive dice roll of 3+ can be influenced by the following factors:

• -1 The unit is in or moving into difficult terrain (crossing a river, climbing a hill, etc.)
• -1  For an allied unit with questionable loyal to the Daimyo.
• +1  The Daimyo is attached to the unit.
• +1  No enemy units are visible within 12 inches (my maximum movement allowance).
• +1  An urgent order has been dispatched. I permit one order to be delivered to a unit at the beginning of a player's turn, reducing the risk of enemy interference during its actions. (Note - this does not apply to reaction attempts by the opposing player.)

Here are some examples…

A Red unit of Samurai are going to charge the Blue Ashigaru unit. They roll a 2 (black dice) and allow the opportunity for Blue to react, which they successfully do with a 4, and are able to fire their arquebuses before the Samurai charge in.  

In the same situation, an order has been sent for the Samurai to charge, marked by the messenger (Tsukai-ban) wearing a “horo” on his back. This adds 1 to the dice roll of 2 and in this case there will be no reaction opportunity. 

This approach allows a player to follow through with their plans activating all the units they want as you can with an I-Go You-Go method, while presenting the opposition the occasional opportunity to react and attempt to spoil or disrupt the other’s plans. I now need to play a few more games and if all goes well update my rules.

The Daimyo’s headquarters with Maku screen. The Tsukai-ban can be just seen inside getting new orders.